Three Countries Begin Antarctic Chess Tourney

Press, Volume XCIX, Issue 29269, 29 July 1960, Page 12

Three Countries Begin Antarctic Chess Tourney

An international chess tournament is under way in the Antarctic, with Americans. New Zealanders and Russians sending their moves by radio across thousands of miles of frozen wasteland. The plan tor the tournament was developed by LieutenantCommander J. McEnearney, the supply officer at McMurdo Sound. At his invitation, the New Zealanders at Scott Base entered, and their opponents are Lazarev Station, a Russian scientific base in Queen Maud Land, with a population almost equal to that of the New Zeeland station. Four games are now in progress Commander McEnearney has two games going with the main Russian station of Mirny, another American has begun a game, and Scott Base is competing with Lazarev. Once each of the players has decided his move, Sveneldt Evteev, a Russian scientist with the American base at McMurdo Sound for the winter, relays the information to the Russian stations. He has drawn up the chess boards, and as each move is made, an erasure and an entry on the master boards moves a man

to his new position. The Russians use a special grid letter system instead of the standard chess shorthand method. Plays are made by each station every other day for each game being played. Other competitive winter pastimes are also being decided in the Antarctic, says a United States Navy newsletter which gives news of the chess tournament At the South Pole station, the winner of the shuffle board and ping pong championships has been found. The darts championship and horseshoe pitching competition are well under way. At Byrd Station, a new recreation centre has been completed, with a bar, stools and revolving seats the centre of attraction. The Winter Knights’ Club has been chosen as the name.