CHESS

Evening Post, Volume XCVIII, Issue 144, 16 December 1919, Page 17

CHESS

NEW ZEALAND CHAMPIONSHIP

The tournament to decide the above title is scheduled to commence in this city on Boxing Day. Assuming thai a nomination has been posted by the Napier Club, there will be fourteen entries, as follow : F. C. Ewen (Auckland Working Men's Club), P H.Smith (Gisborne), E. A. Hides (Napier), J A. ConneU (Masterton), W. E. Mason and T. Fouhy (Wellington Chess Club), B J Barnes, F. X.' Kelling, and S Faulknor (Wellington Working Men's Club), G. P. Anderson (South Wellington Chess Club), J Lindsay (Ngaio Chess Club), D. Wild (Wellington Watersiders' Chess ahd Draught Club), E. H. Severne (Canterbury Chess Club), and G. F. Dodds (Nelson Chess Club). It will be *een that twelve competitors belong to the North Island, and two to the South Island. This championship tourney has not been held for five years, owing to war conditions, and the championship title has been vacant since Ist January, 1916. More than. ordinary interest, therefore, is attached to the impending contest. It is several years since a South Island competitor won the championship, and it may be added that the title has been woe twenty times by a. North Island representative, seven times by a South Island player, and once by an Australian (W. S. Viner, 1906-7). This disproportion of wi_» between the North and South Islands is the toore remarkable because the first six tourneys only yielded one North Island win!

A few notes on the players who are to be seen in action on Boxing Day will be of interest at this juncture. Mr. F. C. Ewen recently won the Auckland championship, despite strong opposition from Messrs. Grierson, Stewart, and Pickett (previous winners), and J, Moir, the brilliant young university player. The Queen City is thus sending a strong candidate. So is Napier, in the person of E. A. Hicks, who tied for the Doiniiiion championship at Nelson in 1913, but lost the play-off, after a hard fight with Mr. Grierson (Auckland) Hicks has lately had good practice at Wairoa with Mr. C Sainsbury, a former Congress player of note. Mr F. C Smith (Waimats Valley) re-enters the arena after an absence of twenty-five years He has given the game considerable study of late years, and is looking forward, with much pleasure to the renewal of old associations, and to the making of new friendships. Mr. J. A Connell, the Wairarapa champion, learnt the game in 1869. when a'boy in Ireland. This is, therefore, his jubilee yeaT, and his many friends naturally hope to see him showing his best form right through the tourney. He has at different tittles successfully organised chess in Gisborne, Napier, Masterton, Wanganui, Nelson, Blenheim, and Timaru, and when stationed in Wellington he was for some years' a very live honorary secretary to the New Zealand Chess A6sociation. His services to the cause of New Zealand chess are numerous, and so are the triumphs that he has gained in playing the game that is so dear to him. Mr. E. H. Severne, the very formidable Canterbury champion, was a frequent prize-winner before he went to the war. His form -has been better than ever since his return from France, and he should either win or go very near winning the championship on this occasion. He has acted as captain in fifteen of the Canterbury Club's matches, and only on one occasion did he lose his game at board 1— a very fine record, in the making of which he his downed some of the Dominion's ex-champions. Mr G. F Dodds recently again . won the Nelson championship, in doing which he scored the possible (8 —0). Before moving to Nelson he was the Otago champion. Although he has only attended four congresses, he has twice won the Brilliancy Prize, and he also gained a place in the prize-list of the big Auckland Exhibition congress (1913). His play on that occasion, was exceptionally fine, and pleased the' critics immensely Of the eight Wellington competitors,' the bestknown are Messrs. Barnes and W. E. Mason, who share a record, in-that each has won the Dominion championship on five occasions. Their many other triumphs are tod numerous to dwell upon, ana it is only necessary to add that their present form is quite in keeping with their splendid achievements in the past. Barnes is leading in the Wellington Club's current championship tourney, and has only one more game to play (Barnes v. James). Messrs. W E. Mason and G, P. Anderson are half a-point behind him. The latter should worthily, represent the South Wellington Club, of which he was the champion in 1917, and again in 1918. He Was a very prominent Bristol player before coming to New Zealand. F. K. Kelling has attended a number_ of congresses, gaining a place in the prize-list on some occasions, and failing in, others. His performances h_vo been very uneven, and he is handicapped by, having neglected the study of the openings, while pursuing the beauties of the end-game. He has only taken part in two local tourneys during the past six years, and this, perhaps, helps to account for his poor showing in the Wellington Club's 1919 tourney. In Mr. •S. Faulknor,. the Working Men's Club has a colt of exceptional promise. He has come to the front very rapidly, oiie of his prizes being that offered two years ago by Mr. W Mackay (president), to the player who gained most rungs on the Wellington Club's Ladder during the year. He has a- useful knack of rising to the occasipn when pitted against tough opponents. Mr. Fouhy has a fine knowledge of the theory of chess, and has frequently shown that he can apply it to advantage in match play His recent win from W B. Mason, in the Wellington Club's tourney, was an exceptionally good effort. He is an expert solver of difficult problems and end-games. Messrs. J. Lindsay (Ngaio), and D Wild (Watersiders' .Chess. Club) both have au :idvaricsd knowledge of chess. They arc formidable opponents, who can be, relied dn to take advantage of any slip made by an opponent.- Wild won the 1915 tourney of the Ngaio Chess Club, and Lindsay was the runner-up in this year's tourney of the same club. Six of the competitors are making their first bid for the championship on this occaslohj viz., Messrs. G P. Anderson, Ewen, Fouhy, Faulknor, Lindsay, and Wild. The task of sustaining form continuously for nearly a fortnight will, presumably, be a novel experience for these debutants.