CHESS.

OTAGO CHESS CLUB.

NOTES.

" Weekly Press and Referee.'*

The Canterbury Chess Club meet in the Chamber of Commerce, A.M.P. Buildings, every Tuesday and Friday, from 7 p.m. to 10.30 p.m. visitors are always welcome.

TO CORRESPONDENT& ' A. McD., Springston.—Thanks for complimentary memo. Glad you are solving again. T.S.G.—White always has first move, and -the winner of the toss of course takes the White men. J. White.—Thanks for your pamphlet Will • - examine it as time permits. Problem No. 640.—Correct solutions have been received from Sibyl, A. McD., Springston, Poneke and Gambet' SOLUTION OF PROBLEM NO. 640. White. Black. IRBS PROBIJEMNO. 642. By A. M. Snarke. » BLACK.

WHITE. White to play and mate in two moves. Position of pieces.—White—X on X R 8, Q on X Xt 4, R on Q B 5, B on Q 5, and Q Kt,4, P on X R 2, X B 4, and Q E 2. Black—X on QS,BonKR3, Xt on QXt sq, and Q Xt 7, P on X R 2, X R 6, and X 6. MATCH- JANOWSKY V. SHOWALTER The following is the fifth game in the above match.:— Queen's Gambit Declined. Notes by Jas. Mason. WHITE. BLACK. (J. W. Showalter.) (D. Janowski.) 1 PQ4 . 1 PQ4 2 PQB4 . 2 PK3 3 Q Xt B 3 3 X Xt B 3 4KtB3 4 P B 4 SBPxP Letting out Black Queen Bishop—truly no great matter, seeing that he may isolate the Queen Fawn—no great matter either. A comparatively light and open game ensues, agreeable to the genius of both players. SKPxP 6BKtS ' 68K3 7PK3 7QKtQ2 8BQ3? 8BK2? 9QRBsq 9P85 . .... A move * fate,—"White Bishop having now a good retreat, as it were, behind the Rook. 10 B Xt eg 10 P Q R 3 IIPQR3 HPKt4 12 P R 3 .12 Castles 13 Castles 13 R X sq 14 Xt X 5 With this, and the advance of his Bishop Pawn, White secures a fine, attacking position. Black can hardly afford to exchange, and have his Knight driven away from B 3.; for then his Queen Pawn would be in danger and the operations against his King no less formidable than they actually appear. Any way, the defence is extremely difficult. • 14. Q B 2 15 P B 4. 15 Xt Xt 3 To guard the Queen Pawn. If IS. . . ~ Xt B sq?; 16. P B 5, and may be 17. B X Xt, loss would be almost inevitable. So the weakening 16. . . . ~ P Xt 3 must come. - - 16 QB 2 '" 16 PKt 3 17Q82 It is said that Mr Showalter afterwards expressed an opinion that 17. -P B 6 would have been stronger,—an opinion which seems to be perfectly correct. The clearing of the Bishop file in that way, at expense of the exchanger would greatly, intensify his> attack —already very nearly irresistible."v.-. 17 KtR4 18PKKt4 IBBxB 19 Pxß- - 19KtKt2 20 RB2 '~ 20 QK2 21 QB4 21 KtQ2 22 Xt B 6 22 Q B sq 23QR82 23 Q R B sq .... Of course -Black sees he loses a Pawn in consequence of this, but he diverts his adversary's main attack, and, on the whole, gets off rather cheaply. 24 Xt Xt 4 24 P Q R 4 25 Xt (Xt 4) x P 25 P Xt 5 ! 26Px;P 26PxP 27 Xt B 6, eh 27 Xt x Xt ' 28 P x Xt 28 P x Xt 29 P x P 29 R Xt sq' 30PxKt . . No hurry to take the Knight. 80. P X 4 seems stronger. Then, if 30 R Xt 2; 31. B R 2, Black's course would not be so simple,—in order to arrive at a draw. 30 Q x P : 31 P X 4 31 R Xt 2 ' • 32 P X 5 32 R Xt 6 .... The Book is no longer wanted to defend, as the Bishop cannot be'easily driven off from K. 3. M, Janowski's play is very ingenious. 33 R B 3 33 R Q rq 34 P Xt 5 Or, perhaps better, 33 B K'l The ending is indifferently conducted by White. When Black recovers his Pawn, as he does presently, a draw naturally results. 34 Q B sq^ 35 B X 4 . 35 Q R 6, 36 Q B 6 .. 36 X R Xt sq 37 P Q 5 37 Q B 4 eh 38KKt2 38BxQP 39 B x B 39 Q x B 40 Q x B P eh 40 Q. x Q 41 R x Q 41 R x P 42 PK6 42 RK6! 43 PK 7 • 43 RKt7 eh . 44 X Xt sq • 44 R Xt 6, eh 45 X R sq 45 R x P, eh 46 KKtsq; . 46 RKt6, eh Drawn by perpetual check Position after Black's 23rd move:— • Q R—B sq. •BLACK.

WHiTJE. CHESS BY CORRESPONDENCE. The following game was played by correspondence between the Chess Clubs of Brunn (Horavia) and .Troppan (Bohemia): — Evans' Gambit. WHITE. BLACK. (Brunn). . . , (Troppan). 1 P X 4 " 1 P K4. 2 Xt X B 3 2 KtO B 3 3884 3884. 4PQKt< 4 B x P * 5P83 * 58R4 6PQ4 6PsP, 7 Castles \ .7-,J5Kt3"' 8 P x P 8 P.Q 3 9K839 Xt R 5 10BKKt5(a) 10,PB3(b) 11 B B 4 11 Xt x B 12 QR4, eh 12 QQ2 13 Q x Xt 13 Q B 2 14 Xt Q 5 14 B X 3 (c) •■ 15 Q. R 4, eh 15 B Q 2 16 QR3 16 RBsq, 17 X R X sq 17 Xt X 2 18 Xt x B a. . 18 RPx Xt 19 QRB sq " 19 Castles 20BKt3{d) 208Kt5 '21Kt Q 2 , 21 Xt B3 * . 22 PB3 22 BR4 23 Q Xt 2 23 l» Q 4 . 24 Ktßsq 24 PB4 : 25 P x Q P (c) 25 Q x P ; 26 KtK3 26 QR4(f) ■ S7 P Q 5 27 Xt Xt 5 28KRQsq : 28P3 s(flr) 29 Xt It 4 . 29 Qx R P 30QxKt , -SO.P'xB 31 PxP 31 BB2{h)

32 Xt X 3 32 X R X so (i) 33KV85 33RK7 34 Xt R 6, eh (j) 34 X R sq (k) 35KtxB, 2h 35KKtsq 36KtR6,ch .36KB.eq 37KRsq 37RxP 38QK.R4 , 58RQ7 , 39 RxR 39QxR 40QKt5 40QK7 j 41 Q B 5 41 R X sq 42KtB7,ch 42KKteq 43Kt'Kt5 43QK4 44 Q x P, eh 44 KJB sq 45 Kb X 6, eh Resigns. (a) The celebrated Goring attack, which came into fashion after Tchigorin played it in. the London Tournament, 1883, against Steinitz.. Tchigorin scored his most brilliant successes with this variation. (b) Tho whole variation has been published on several occasions in the Field, whero it was pointed out that 10. . , . Xt X 2 would be inferior, because of 11. Xt Q 5, P KB 3; 12. B x P, P x B; 13. X* x X P B, eh, X B 2; 14. Xt Xt 5, oh,.with a powreful attack.

(c)Best. Stein it z played in 1883 against Tchig'orin 14.- . . . P Xt 4 previous to the continuation in the text, and so compromised his position. (d) The (difference between this .and the position above-mentioned is that Black lost a move with P X Xt 4, driving back the B Xt 3, whilst here the Bishop has to retire of his own accord, and Black has not compromised his pawns.

(c) P X 5, although a passed pawn, would make Black's position perfectly secure after Xt Q sq and Xt X 3; especially as he is a pawn ahead.

(f) 26. . . . Q x P; 27. Q x Q, Xt X Q; 28. R x P would have led to an uneventful. draw, which Black wanted to avoid. The manoeuvre with the Queen, however, is not altogether without alloy. Black gets the Q R -P in exchange for the X B P subsequently; but his "Queen remains "in an inactive position, and he gets the inferior game. (-,•» 28 '. . . . P Q H;t 1 might Oe suggested here. It prevents the Queen being attacked with Xt to B 4, defends the Q B P, and leaves an escape fat'the Quten at Q Xt 3. In some variations Bishops of different colour remain, which in itself goes a long way towards a draw.

(h) Here we suggest "81. . . . P Q Xt 4; 32.. Q x P Q B 2, eh; 83. X R„2, B x F; and he might get a draw if 34. P x B. Instead S3. . :'■. . B x P, Rx P doeß not answer, because White does not take the Rook. (i) After this move the- game is lost; it is difficult to save it, the Queen being in a helpless .position. He might, however, have played 32. . . . Q R 4; 33. Q Xt 4, B Xt 3; 34. P Q 6, P B 8, etc., this being the best alternative.

(j) Now comes a pretty conclusion, "winning by force."

(k) Obviously if 84. . -. . J? x Xt, then 85. Q Xt 4, eh, wins.

The fifteenth annual general meeting was held last week. Mr 0. Balk, president/was ia the chair, and advocated the establishment of a. championship club toi__ai_e_t by ■telegraph. He regretted the possibility of the lady contingent of the club becoming a thing.of the past. Mr J.- B. Borton was made an hon. life .member. , . The followino; officers were elected: —President, ,Mr J. Edw_rda; vice-presidents, Messrs J. Gk Moody and A. R. B_«_ay; . hon. secretaries, Messrs R. M. Balrd and J. Crow; committee, Messrs 0. Balk, R. A. Cleland, H. J. Cleland, H. J. Lyders, J. Hamel, and L. Warsaw The meeting closed with a vote of thanks to the chair: ,

' At the annual meeting of the Roslyn (Otago) Chess' dub, the following offlcers were elected: —Pr__de_t, Mr O. Balk; hon. secretary and treasurer, Mr J. H. Reade "(re-elected); committee, Messrs C. Wilson, Chase, and W. D. Wilson. . A,rather peculiar innovation as regards telegraphic chess match play was recently adopted in • a .match between" Gothenburg and Stockholm. -The tame-limit was iwvi<r& moves per hour, and the players were . Hi wed to analyse the positions (presumably by moving th© pieces), though they might not. consult books. - In-the England and America, cable ru itch, Mr Burn elected to play for L-**ca.jire against Yorkshire—-which took place «.n the same date in March—rather than play "n the former match. We leairn tha* tbie chess public did not relish tihis decision. The American team in the Anglo-American .cabhjmfttch-was^tobe:—PiUsbury, Showalter, "BaiTy, Hodges, Hym.es' Baird, A, K. Robinson, S. P. Johnston (Chicago). If Mr-Voight's candidature should be accented, he was to be ninth, and Mr Marshall would probably complete the list. The reserves were:—Messrs Bampton, Kaiser, Young, Walcott, Hannon, and McCalla.

Mr Blackburne had a formidable task before him when he encountered) thirty-seven' local exponents of the game at Norwich. The first win was obtained by the master after a trifle over an hour's play, and from that time till the last player resigned, a period of five hours' continual strain, the interest was kept up to an exciting pitch. The final result showed the excellent score for Mr Blackburne of thirty wins, seven draws, and no loss.

The tournament at the Berlin Chess Club, in which the leading players are engaged, is drawing to a close, the favourites being: —H. Caro, -won 12, lost 5,, with one more game to play; T. v Scheve won 11, lost 5, with two more games to play; E. * Schallopp, won 10, lost 5, B|, lost 2£, with three more games''to play. Dr. Lasker won three games and* lost one, and will probably retire from the contest. The great event at the City of London Chess Club, the Championship tournament, entered its last stage in March, when the last round in the final contest was played. Mr Herbert Jacobs stood then best for first honours with, three points; Howell, iLeye, Lomon were two points eaoh, and Zangwill and Lawrence one and a half each. If in "the last round Loman beat Lawrence and Howtell beat Jacobs, a tie with three points each amongst, three players would have been the'result. Consequently the last round was watched with keep, expectation. Herbert Jacobs beat Howell, consequently he is first and champion of the City of London; Messrs.Zangwill and Howell tie for the next prizes, whilst the game between Loman and Lawrence stands adjourned in favour of Lawrence. If he wins it he will tie with, the two others, and Loman will tie with Leye.