Jacoba ('Cobie') Ives - First Woman to Play for Yorkshire County

[Ingrid Ives]

Cobie was my mother and she would have been 100 years old today, 9th February 2023. Sadly I am not a chess player myself but I thought these press cuttings and photos might be of interest to this community. She was taught how to play by my father, Ronald Wilson Ives, who at the time wrote the chess column for the Yorkshire Evening Post.

[Ingrid Ives]

More photos and press cuttings including one with my father, Ronald ('Ronnie') Wilson Ives, who taught her how to play chess.

[Kevin Thurlow]

Excellent - thank you!

[NickFaulks]

Yes, it is wonderful that these pictures and articles have been preserved. You would think this is much easier in the internet age, but we can only hope that turns out to be true.

[Ingrid Ives]

Yes, it is wonderful that these pictures and articles have been preserved. You would think this is much easier in the internet age, but we can only hope that turns out to be true.

It is lovely, Nick. Both of my parents kept all their press cuttings and chess photos (we have quite a collection!) and as a family, we treasure them. Mum was, and remains, an inspiration to myself, to my sisters and to her grandchildren. It's hard to imagine now but it really was unusual for a 'mere' woman to play in congresses in those days, or play chess at all for that matter. Smiling, Mum would tell us stories about some of the men becoming really annoyed if she beat them. Thankfully, times have changed.

[Ian Thompson]

Smiling, Mum would tell us stories about some of the men becoming really annoyed if she beat them. Thankfully, times have changed.

If you were a chess player you would know that that aspect of playing chess has not changed.

[Ingrid Ives]

Smiling, Mum would tell us stories about some of the men becoming really annoyed if she beat them. Thankfully, times have changed.

If you were a chess player you would know that that aspect of playing chess has not changed.

That's interesting to hear, but also quite sad. I didn't know.

[Ingrid Ives]

This newspaper seems quite astonished that a woman could 'help' with the win. I shouldn't laugh, but honestly....??!

[John Saunders]

Fascinating material - thanks very much for sharing.

The Yorkshire Chess History website has a biographical record for Ronnie and Cobie Ives: https://mannchess.org.uk/People/Ives,Ro ... Jacoba.htm

There is one game played by Ronnie Ives at BritBase.info

[Event "Bognor Seven-Day Premier"] [Site "Bognor Regis"] [Date "1955.04.18"] [Round "1"] [White "Buckland, Roy Thomas"] [Black "Ives, Ronald Wilson"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "E30"] [PlyCount "97"] [EventDate "1955.04.18"] [EventType "tourn"] [EventRounds "7"] [EventCountry "ENG"] [SourceTitle "BritBase"] [Source "John Saunders"] [SourceDate "2022.08.30"] [SourceVersion "1"] [SourceVersionDate "2022.08.30"] [SourceQuality "1"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Bg5 h6 5. Bh4 c5 6. d5 O-O 7. e3 exd5 8. cxd5 d6 9. Bd3 Nbd7 10. Nge2 Ne5 11. Bc2 Bg4 12. O-O Bh5 13. Ne4 g5 14. Nxf6+ Qxf6 15. Bg3 Qe7 16. e4 a6 17. f3 Nc4 18. Qd3 b5 19. b3 Ne5 20. Qd1 Bg6 21. Bf2 Rae8 22. Be3 f5 23. h4 f4 24. Bd2 Bxd2 25. Qxd2 Rf7 26. hxg5 hxg5 27. Kf2 Ref8 28. Rh1 g4 29. Rag1 Qa7 30. Rh4 c4+ 31. Nd4 Rh7 32. Rxh7 Qxh7 33. Kf1 gxf3 34. gxf3 Qh3+ 35. Qg2 Qxg2+ 36. Rxg2 cxb3 37. Bxb3 Rc8 38. Rc2 Rxc2 39. Bxc2 Kf7 40. Kf2 Bh5 41. Nf5 Nc4 42. Bb3 Bg6 43. Bxc4 Bxf5 44. Bf1 Bd7 45. Ke2 Kf6 46. Kd3 Ke5 47. Kc3 a5 48. a3 Be8 49. Be2 {Source: R T Buckland. Contributed by Brian Denman, 28 August 2022.} 1/2-1/2

[Peter Shaw]

I have some old Wakefield Chess Club minute books where she is mentioned a couple of times. There are a couple of newspaper cuttings of Woodhouse Cup results from 1947 before she was married. Miss Rosema lost both games, to Miss G Wilson and SC Wheuay. Then in the 1951 AGM minutes it is recorded that she finished in 'second place in a second class section at Ilford'. Meanwhile in the same minutes Mr Ives won the Kitchin correspondence tournament.

[Reg Clucas]

One thing I noticed in the report of the event at Thoresby High School - "The players must make at least 20 moves every hour....Juniors are allowed an extra four moves." The word 'allowed' is a bit puzzling - it seems to imply a concession - does this mean they only had to make 16 moves? It would be more appropriate if they had to make extra moves!

[Roger de Coverly]

One thing I noticed in the report of the event at Thoresby High School - "The players must make at least 20 moves every hour....Juniors are allowed an extra four moves."

Perhaps a journalist not understanding move rates. It could have been 40 in two hours for adults and 36 in 90 minutes for juniors. But this was the eraly 1950s, so perhaps the move rates were not as set in stone as they might have appeared fifteen years or so ater when I first encountered them. If it was a Congress then 20 per hour and 24 per hour for juniors in the adjourned sessions.

[Ian Thompson]

One thing I noticed in the report of the event at Thoresby High School - "The players must make at least 20 moves every hour....Juniors are allowed an extra four moves." The word 'allowed' is a bit puzzling - it seems to imply a concession - does this mean they only had to make 16 moves? It would be more appropriate if they had to make extra moves!

I noticed that and assumed it meant 24 moves in an hour for juniors.

That report also says "one woman settled down for a pleasant game of chess - scheduled to last about 24 hours - ...". I think it's safe to assume the journalist was not a chess player. What did he mean? Perhaps 24 hours of play in total for the whole event. That's plausible as one of the other reports says the YCA Easter Congress was a 3 day event, so 2 games per day each lasting about 4 hours would fit.

[Ingrid Ives]

Fascinating material - thanks very much for sharing.

The Yorkshire Chess History website has a biographical record for Ronnie and Cobie Ives: https://mannchess.org.uk/People/Ives,Ro ... Jacoba.htm

There is one game played by Ronnie Ives at BritBase.info

[Event "Bognor Seven-Day Premier"] [Site "Bognor Regis"] [Date "1955.04.18"] [Round "1"] [White "Buckland, Roy Thomas"] [Black "Ives, Ronald Wilson"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "E30"] [PlyCount "97"] [EventDate "1955.04.18"] [EventType "tourn"] [EventRounds "7"] [EventCountry "ENG"] [SourceTitle "BritBase"] [Source "John Saunders"] [SourceDate "2022.08.30"] [SourceVersion "1"] [SourceVersionDate "2022.08.30"] [SourceQuality "1"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Bg5 h6 5. Bh4 c5 6. d5 O-O 7. e3 exd5 8. cxd5 d6 9. Bd3 Nbd7 10. Nge2 Ne5 11. Bc2 Bg4 12. O-O Bh5 13. Ne4 g5 14. Nxf6+ Qxf6 15. Bg3 Qe7 16. e4 a6 17. f3 Nc4 18. Qd3 b5 19. b3 Ne5 20. Qd1 Bg6 21. Bf2 Rae8 22. Be3 f5 23. h4 f4 24. Bd2 Bxd2 25. Qxd2 Rf7 26. hxg5 hxg5 27. Kf2 Ref8 28. Rh1 g4 29. Rag1 Qa7 30. Rh4 c4+ 31. Nd4 Rh7 32. Rxh7 Qxh7 33. Kf1 gxf3 34. gxf3 Qh3+ 35. Qg2 Qxg2+ 36. Rxg2 cxb3 37. Bxb3 Rc8 38. Rc2 Rxc2 39. Bxc2 Kf7 40. Kf2 Bh5 41. Nf5 Nc4 42. Bb3 Bg6 43. Bxc4 Bxf5 44. Bf1 Bd7 45. Ke2 Kf6 46. Kd3 Ke5 47. Kc3 a5 48. a3 Be8 49. Be2 {Source: R T Buckland. Contributed by Brian Denman, 28 August 2022.} 1/2-1/2

Thank you so much for posting this information. It would have meant so much to Mum to have known one of Ronnie's games was online. I'll be sure to share this with my family, some of whom do play chess.
I'll post some of Ronnie's press cuttings a bit later too, as his name has cropped up.

[Ingrid Ives]

I have some old Wakefield Chess Club minute books where she is mentioned a couple of times. There are a couple of newspaper cuttings of Woodhouse Cup results from 1947 before she was married. Miss Rosema lost both games, to Miss G Wilson and SC Wheuay. Then in the 1951 AGM minutes it is recorded that she finished in 'second place in a second class section at Ilford'. Meanwhile in the same minutes Mr Ives won the Kitchin correspondence tournament.

Again, thank you so much for posting this. If it's not too much trouble, I would love to see a scan or photo of what you have? I don't think we have any material from before my parents were married in 1948.