CHESS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLV, Issue 13745, 9 May 1908, Page 4 (Supplement)

CHESS.

: ;10 CORRESPONDENTS. . ' ' <5 ' . CEC33.. - - T' " Problems -No?. 2431 'and 2.-3. Marshall should hove been credited last, week with the correct »olution ot both these problem?. Problem So. , 2435.—X1u» fine problem .is ,un fortunately marred br a Rccond key. ■ Wairoa, ■** T.K//-' and the four already acknowledged sent "Sin the. author's, intention, while ' .1. B.uett, •$. Utidfon, and J. Marshall have hit upon the " cook" (QxR at B5). The following foKers gend' botlikpyf. and will be entitled to. double points:— E. Herbert ("To correct tins position I sueeeit that the Black I' at K 2 should be ot KU 2") " Amandns"' (" a pity that this tine twomover " should be spoilt by a 'cook J. and " F.C.L." Problem No. 2426.— al.«o by -T. Bluett. " Wairoa." J. E. Herbert, •'T.K.," " Amaudus, • " K.C.Li.," and .T. Marshall. Problem No. 2437—Solved by J. E. Heibert. "T.K.." "Amandns," "F.C.L.. M.A.L., "4.11.,'" and "Knight." ' Problem No. ?433.-Sdlved by " Q" <" a beautiful problem"). J. E. Herbert. (" marred bv dua a and short-mates, but a skilfully-constructed problem. nevertheless"). " T.K." ('' a very good J er. containing some nice play t. •; "Knight." Aniandns, and t.(.L. i glad to see new men still entering your lists"). I Bluett. —Pioblems received. In the self-mate uosition if on Kt-Kt 4 Black K moves to Kt7. mate bv compulsion does not follow nest move. A rapture key in a two-mover is rarely permissible. DRAUGHTS. Problem No. Correct solution from Albert Herring. SOLUTION OF PROBLEM No. 2-135. Authors key : lit (Q 2)-Kt 3. Second solution : QxR (B 5). SOLUTION OF PROBLEM No. 2436. " Key : Q-K 6. PROBLEM No. 2441. rtlr AKTOXIO COBRIAB - Second pi i/.e m the First Problem Tourney of the Biitish (.lies* Federation). Black. 9.

V White 7. b7, 2pi'2Pl, kt3pKt2, 4Q3, lp6, 3kl|)2, PIR4K, lßlkt 4. White to play and mate in three moves. NEW ZEALAND CHESS CONGRESS. A KW JOTTINUS ON Tilt: RIiCKNT CIIAMPIONvSHIP TOI'UNEY. BY I-'. K. KKLLIXG. The 21fi tnuriiey for the chess championship oi Ne\.' Zealand «as commenced ill Wellington oil Faster Monday (April 20). ami occupied a week and a day. Owing to the tl-atb of Mr. C'. W. Benbow (who has been president- of the Wellington Chess Club ever since the late; lion, John ltallance vacated tlmt office in 13731 the was op' T.ed by llis- Worship the Mayor, lion. '1. W. Ilislop. himsell u v-.-ry strong player. After His Worship bail " kicked-ott"—to use a Rugby expressionthe usual pie-tourney meeting was held by he competitors to decide on the hours of play ami other preliminaries. Although the boms fix»d for play were somewhat shorter than usual—and frr tin Hist time a player was not required to make 18 moves m the first hour (having, of course, to show 36 moves, or more, at the end of bis second bouO. only some half-a-dozen games were mutked incomplete at ditfei?iit stages. Tiiese. ever, were all got off :.s opportunity otteicd without any extension of schedule time. The action of the competitors at the pre-touine.y meeting on the question of giving the prizes in trophy form having unwittingly been misrepresented by a local paper, I would here like to state that we merely pointed out to the Management Committee thut prizes had not been presented in trophy form {or some 14 or 15 years past at least, and" that to change such a longstanding practice, after the entries were in would be distinctly irregular The committee subsequently fell in with this view, ami the old order of optional trophy pre\ailed—except that the brilliancy prize must be a trophy. The committee, wcio piejiured. if desired, to .post, up the whole of the drawings on the opening day, but the competitor* preferred to have .'the drawings disclosed round by round as in previous ears. While the pre-totutiey meeting was in piogiess Mr. Sharp (hon. secretary ot the New Zealand Chess Association! was having a lively live .or ten minutes in the corridor with three repri-hiMi-t:ith of the piess. T.'iey were complaining about " -i lack of the usual courtesies." ami clamouring for the appointment of a piesu-sMv-at'il. and generally anting everything for nothing." Mr, Simp most ulily kept liis end up. and anneals to have had no oil. so the waters remained tioiibled right through the congress, 'the Fourth ljstaie clearly tlnew on the confess . the wet blanket of indifference. When at going will Mr. Sliuip they professed to have several teporters who knew something of chess. t'nfoitiinatelv we never ■ saw any of that brand. Tlio-ie. they sent round tor reports from time to time were singularly untitled for the purpose. It is not very encouraging lieu you start dictating copy to n repoiti-i, and get as far as " Barnes —."'and h" rcplie«. " Hold on, how do von spell thai name Fancy a cricket reporter in Australia hesitating between Noble and Nobel, or a Rugby reporter in Auckland two years ago not knowing about that famous goal-kicker Dufty. whose admiring friends wanted him to have a shot at the Manakau liar! 11l short the congress reports on ibis occasion were the poorest I have PVPI pppn ; neglect and inaccuracy were sticking out- very prominently in til) directions. We may or mav'not have suffered very much by being at loggerheads with the press, but it must, at least. I think, be admitted that we have lost a good opportunity of increasing public interest in the " royal game." It recall* forcibly to oiie-=s players "the trite old saying, that " if you want anything done von must do iv youiself." The championship was, of course, decided by n full-round tourney as on the twenty previous occasions. Twelve players had entered, and of these only one dropped' out, viz., laud Sainsbury. of Uisborne (who represented Argentine 15 months ago at the big Christchurch congress). The South Island only contiihuted two players: Kx-cham-pipon Joe arils, who from 1893 onwards had only missed the 1901 contest, could not conic up from D-.inedin. ami was greatly missed. The most, noticeable feature, however, is the fact that on this occasion for the first time in the historv of New Zealand congresses tile Otago Chess Club was not represented Consequently, Otago and Wellington now- divide honours, each having been represented in 20 out of the 21 championship meetings. Wellington had no competitor in 1879 and Otago none in 1903. The Queen's Gambit Declined was the opening used ill three of the five games of the fiist round, the attack winning twice and the defence once On the second day the Rev. Fox (Tinwald. Ashburton) arrived from the South, completing the party. Mr. F. A. L. Kuskop, New Zealand's ablest problem composer, kindly sent along two problems, which, as in former years, he had composed in honour of the Congress. I am afraid the fascination of filling up odd moments with the Riga defence in the Ruy Lopez militated against these problems receiving the attention thai their merits entitled them to. The best game on the second day was the fixture, Davies v. James. It. was the only one lost in the contest by the champion, who parly won a piece for a pawn, but then got into difficulties through taking things too easily —an oft-told story that will doubtless be re-told many times in the ages to come. -i In the game Barnes v. Rutherford the foi-mer arrived 40 minutes lute, but the cool old campaigner soon made the time up. In the game Rummer vr. Helling, the pieces alter the fifth move formed a perfect oval, which was promptly christened " the Easteregg opening"! "Fritz" at one stage had to make 11 moves in as many minutes, and in the end Rolling von by taking a risk which should have, lost him this partie! On the third day Helling celebrated a birthday became 43 years of age. A fraternal wire wa*3 sent to the Draughts Championship Congress in Dunedin. who ino.-t cordially reciprocated with a felicitous wiie. which reached us early the same afternoon The only other feature of this round was Mr. Council's losing a game on time allowance —the only game so lost in the tourney. Oil the fourth day (M. George's Day) a general fit of lateness overtook the players, all the " white" clocks being in motion before anyone was ready for the. fray! Despite the late start the fifth round was got off. and all back games wiped off into the bargain. Council bad the honour of playing the first King's Gambit, which the Rev. Fox gallantly accepted, the attack, however. ultimately pievniling. This concluded the. first half of the tourney. In the " foreign half" B. Mason was leading with 4- 0 (and a bye), and in the "Wellington half" Messrs. Davies." James, and Helling each had four wins one loss. The rule tequir.ng those from the same club or centre to meet in the opening rounds had now ! been satisfied, and during the remainder of the contest there was a constant mixing of "Foreign'' and " Wellington" player?, the latter, for convenience. in eluding Rummer and Rutherford On \pril 24 lotind seven saw two of the " guns" paired, viz . Mason v. Davies. It was unfortunate for the'former that he had contracted a very severe ' cold, and was consequently not seen at his best. ! Davies won in fine style, a win that was thought I to put him in » commanding position for the championship, and this ultimately proved to be ' correct. During this round Mr Mara, the ; Tim am crack, (hopped in. and by some suggestions he made in a post-mortem convinced me . that lie is an exceedingly able exponent of tin: ! game. I am very glad to" learn that he will most 1 likely be « competitor at the next championship congreis (in Dunedini. I The eighth round coninuiKied on Saturday I (\pril iO), Davies again won, while Mason drew with Bar lies, and James lost to Freeman. Connell scored the shortest game in the congress ill moves). Rutherford unfortunately placing n valuable piece on a square next to the intended _uare A post-mortem vigorously conducted In ' Messrs. Barnes and Mason in the ante room h-'d • visitors to think that those two lmd finished their game. But, no, the former's clock was ticking away faithfully in the hall of play. How ' the slower players, must envy those who caa ' successfully' take these gloriously unconcerned I liberties ith the time limit! On the Saturdaj evening Hummer, who was pitted against B

1 Mason, inforn.ed mo that "he had * broken . loose. v . f; |- It ; transpired that: he , had r made eight moves 'in the first five minutes! This • bout ./ended.ln a draw, further improving Davies' position, especially as freeman cleverly Helling at ail : points. , ... .' . „ ..■ * AUCKLAND CHESS CLUB. Jit a nice ting "of the Management Committee held onThursday evening the '' Ladder" rule* were revised and the liandicapper (Mr. Wievie) is arranging the: members in" licit order of strength. It. is to be hoped members will make full use of this interesting form of : 'competition as it is the best- criterion after ail of the relative strength of the players. Iters**. Alfred Hosking and the Rev. ft. Miller were elected vice-presi-dents to the Ji Z. Chess "Association,, The annual opening of the season will take place on Saturday evening next. 16th inst., at eight p.m.. at the club room No. 24, His Majesty's Arcade. Sides will be picked by the president and senior vice-president, and all chess players in the city are invited to attend. Messrs. J. Clark and H. Heap were elected members of the club The practice match in the " Queen's l'awn' opening was post|>oned owing to the committee meeting. li will take place next Thursday, and all tourney competitors, especially, are requested to attend when sides will ly> picked Entries for the tourney close oil Thursday, May 21Mr. E. .1. Miles writes:—" t have carefully examined the game. Mason v. I) a vies, won by the latter, and it is evident that Mason therein plays much below his true for;-e. After Black's move cf 9 KtxKt, he should have played 10 PxKt. It is evident that Black must continue 10 — QxPch. as otherwise the sacrifice of the piece would be quite useless the game might then continue : — 11 K-K 2-Q-Kt 7 ch. 12 K-B 3—Q-Bsch. or (a) 33 K-Kt 5. If. now Black plays 13 —y-Kt3ch, White interposes the Q. and Black seems to have no equivalent for the piece .sacrificed. If he continue r-R 4 or Kt 4. with the object of pressing a king's side attack. White can advance either the K. it or BP—probably the latter is best—and retire It or l> second and develop his same with a piece ahead If (a 1 12 K-ll 3 —P-yKt 3. 13 I'-Kfl 3-B-Kt 2. 14 K-Kt 3. and however Black may continue White can retire to It 2. having a pi"*ce ahead and the .-upt-rior game. Or to go hack to Black's eleventh move. 11 K-K 2 — l'-yKt 3. 12 P-B 4—B-H 3 eh. 13 K-B 2- -Q-Kt 7 ch. 14 h'-Kt3. and however Black may continue While remains a piece ahead with the superior gallic.