Even if they didn't need that much money, I would say offering prizes for merit-based performance was a nice side-effect. The amount that they needed was the a

Even if they didn't need that much money, I would say offering prizes for merit-based performance was a nice side-effect. The amount that they needed was the amount required for N chess sets, while the amount that they were able to put to good use was significantly greater. And even if* they were essentially taking money from other clubs, who's to say that those other clubs would have used the money as effectively? *My reading of the article agrees with the other commenters that this is not the case.