CHESS

Evening Star, Issue 22723, 10 August 1937, Page 4

CHESS

OTAGO CLUB A meeting of the committee of the Otago Chess Club was held on Saturday evening in the club rooms. Those present were Messrs J. J. Marlow (president), H. Herbert (hon. secretary), W. Lang, J. S. M. Lawson, R. M'Dermid, R. E. Williamson, and Drs E. J. Rawnsley and E. W. Bennett. The captain of the telegraphic team, Mr R. M'Dermid. reported that unfinished games in tne recent match with Wellington had been completed by the team captains, and that Otago had won by Hi to Bi. Congratulatory messages had been received from Wellington and other clubs, and the president reported that they had also been conveyed to him verbally during a recent visit to Wellington. . The forthcoming congress in Dunedin was discussed, and the new method whereby the New Zealand Chess Association charged clubs at the rate of Is per member, towards congress expenses, was approved. The assessment of honorary and some other members appeared to be undefined. . The instruction class was reported to be flourishing, and it was announced that a vertical demonstration board and set of hanging chessmen had been provided by Mr J. S. M. Lawson, and would be available for other purposes also. TELEGRAPHIC MATCH. The final results of the telegraphic match were as follow, Otago players having the white pieces on odd-num-bered boards;—

Otago won by three points, and ranks for the ensuing season as the premier club of New Zealand, and will hold the Bledisloe Cup accordingly. The distribution of points in the above table is very regular; the draws, save for that at board 13, are symmetrically placed, and on the other boards wins and losses alternate regularly, except for three wins for Otago on the last three boards. The tail, in fact, can claim to have decided the match by scoring 4J points on the last five boards. More remarkable is the distribution of points in terms of colours. With the advantage of the opening move, white expects to win about 60 per cent, of games, but in this_ match white won only five games against 10 by black; white did not win a single game above board 14. This seems to show that the opening advantage is all too easily lost, and the moral, especially for candidates for the forthcoming congress in Dunedin next Christmas, is that more attention should be paid to the openings. This was the main contention in the lecture given by Mr L. Steiner in his recent visit.

It was recently stated in a Wellington paper that there had been 22 matches between Wellington and Otago and that the score was in favour of the former by 17 to 3, with two ties. This requires an important qualification. The telegraphic contests have been used since 1922 to determine the club championship of the Dominion, hut until recently only 12 boards counted, though usually about 16 games were played. From 1930 onwards 20 boards have been engaged and have counted officially, and the scores for the significant boards give Otago wins against Wellington in 1922, 1923, 1927, 1932, and 1937, with a draw in 1933. INSTRUCTION CLASS. Attendances for the first four weeks have averaged 12 to 15; the moves and rules are now known, some principles of opening and end-game play have been studied, and some themes such as pins, forks, and time have been discussed. This work is carried out with the aid of the vertical board, and the evening concludes with games. The class is reported to be highly successful.

Otago. AVellington. 1 J. B. Dunlop 1 G. P. Anderson 0 2 R. M'Dermid 0 A. W. Gyles ... 1 3 \V. Lang ... i E. H. Se verne 1 4 R. Watt ... 0 AA r . E. Mason 1 5 Dr E. W. Bennett ... 1 G. A\ T ighani ... 0 6 R. E. Williamson ... 0 J. C. M'Cvae ... 1 7 L. Coombs 1 A. T. Craven ... 0 8 0. Balk ... 0 P. K. Kelling 1 9 6. H. Seddon 1 A\ r . J. Fairbairn 0 10 A. J. M'Dermott 1 J. Morton 1 11 D. Langley 4 J. L. Hardy ... X 12 A. H. Fraer 0 J. Otto 1 13 F H. Neville 2 R. G. Sim ... ■i 14 G. D. Wright 1* D. Wild 0 15 E. F. Evans 0 A. E. Jessup 1 16 J. Lang ... 1 J. K. Webling 0 17 Dr G. Barnett R. C. Glass ... i 18 A. E. Ward 1 \\ r . J. Emery ... 0 19 AV. H. Allen 1 H. P. Yarrell ... 0 20 J. S. M. Lawson ... 1 F. Grady 0