ECCENT RICITIES OF CHESSPLAYERS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXV, Issue 9094, 30 June 1888, Page 4 (Supplement)

ECCENT RICITIES OF CHESSPLAYERS.

— — It is doubtful whether there be any men who, as a class, are more eccentric than great chess-players. Mr. MacDonnell has set forth the peculiarities of some of the most distinguished masters. Lowe, when lie played, invariably emitted a curious sound, half-way between a hum and a whistle. In the meantime he always kept a cigar in his mouth and occasionally struck a match., apparently with the intention of lighting his weed. But he never did light it, for he never allowed the match to get within a couple of inches of its end. He was, however, quite ignorant of these facts. Boden, while playing, talked to himself, and brought each of conversation to a conclusion by indulging in a short, sharp laugh. Burder, if he obtained a good position and was satisfied with his game, folded his hands together, sat upon them, and remained swaying backwards and forwards till the end. Anderson rested his two hands on a stick. Steinitz leans over the board in such a manner as to almost conceal the two rear rows of squares on his side. Towards the end of an exciting game he hums a kind of funeral march. Horwitz, who died a year or two ago, was fond of exclaiming, when the position was bad, "Brandy can't save it." One thing is noticeable with chess-players of the first rank, and that is that, almost without exception, they also excel in some walk of art or literature. Most of them, too, are admirable whist - players.From Cassell's Saturday Journal for May.