CHESS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LI, Issue 15516, 24 January 1914, Page 4 (Supplement)

CHESS.

TO CORRESPON DENTS.

Janus. —Very glad to hear from you again. -We agree with your views to tournament, ihe episode mentioned was before the writer 6 time, but is fresh in the minds ot many players.

n£" oSk Witty '' Gisborne.-Your solution of fA?" w wasDr rect. but reached us too late lor. last week s issue.

' F.C.L. - xnanKs Tcr letter. Will write you. ~£ os -.?? 9 »nd 3000 correctly solved by -lenei, 'Akarana." and "F.C.L."

SOLUTION OF, PROBLEM No. 2999. (By G. Hebkask. Norwich.) (W. 4. B. 6):, k7. p4p2, 4pK2, 1ßp2p2, 2Q5„1P6, 8, 8. . White to play and mate in two moves. « Key-move: 1 R-St'4.

SOLUTION OF PROBLEM No. 3000. (By C. D. P. Hamhtok.) '. (W. 9, B.'Bi: 4K3. 6pl. 1b283. sßsk2pl. IP2S3, IP4BI. SPPI. lboQ. White to play and mate in three moves. Q.QB 1. ?* W; L QxP c k~ Kl 3 Q-K 5 mate. . If.KxEt (K6), 2 QxP-Kt-Q 6, 3 B-Q 7 mate. « "QPi- ( %'- 2 Q lB ch - etcIf KtiKt .(K 6). 2, B-B 6 ch-Ktxß, 3 ■ Q-B 4 mate. • If KtxKt- (K 4). 2 Q-B 6 ch-KtxQ, 3 B-B 4 mate. If B-B 7. 2 QxKt ch. etc.

PROBLEM No. 3003. (By- P.; H. Wim-uks.—Composed for the solving tourney at ' the ' British * Chess Congress.) - , ; .

Black, ' 7,

White, 9.-

- 2P18p2, 2k5, - P3bK2, B6Q. s2P4. 8, White-to play and mate in two moves.

PROBLEM No. .3004. (By W. Geary, London.—Specially - contributed.) '

Black, i.

.*,• "-. , WHITB, 6. ,<* 4•, "t . 2KS, 6pX. ,2p3pl,;lP|kl ? ' 5S2| ' 3S3Q, 4E3. J 8. :'. White to play arid mate- in three moves. A; game from'' the';.Sciieveningen'. International- Tournament:'^ '■'.,.':•■■ -■;■■•■■■■ ; '.-- ■•'.'• •'*- ' Vxb if jta OPBirrsc. •'- «>•»-' ■-• White, -'J.- Miese's; - Bk'ek. :F. ; ' D. Yates.' IE-K 4— v 4 : » '. 19 R-Q 1 (b)—P-KB 4' . 2. Kt-QB 3-Jit.Kß 3 20 2-Sb i 3 P-KJvlyJ laj-rP-Q 4 SL'XtxKt—PxKt: •/ ;4. PxP—KtxPs ~.,'• -22;Q-K2—B-B 4 o B-Kt 2 (bH'-BiKi3'-J 23. r Q-QB-aiCW3 5-' : - 1 6 gKt-E ?-%QB 324 &£l-3£p V (h> %, 1 S a A l L e6 7; 8 2 25 Rxßch(i)-BxR . • ? BP-0 \, >26Q-Q2-B-QB4 ' jIOPtP d)-KtiP : .;28 QiQ--BxQ - ° - II Kt-B 4-TXtxKKt 29 B-OSV-5-K 7 12 BxKt—Q-&5 ch 30'RiQJaeh-i-K-B 2 13 I—Kt-kt 5 • ". 3l:B-Q 2-E-Q 6 " r W &?J-^"-,§5 3; ' <*" itxJ*-BsR < ■■•-'.- ■'J! #$ 1 ~&&? W ** P-Kt-4-rB-Q 5' 16 Kt-K.4-QKKI 34 P-Kts-BxF - 17 P-B 4 «}^P«R.3 35 ? PjcP-PxPr ■ "- • 18/P-Et 3—B-Zt 5-36 BxBP—'. " ' ; '•'•■} v And Black wins. *-". - ; ■■"-■■-- ; Notes':(from;the Morning Post).- -'■■'. ' _u»):RB 4.0r is better? after .Black's At-KB,. 3. , By afterwards playing P-y 4 Black gets a free development-. . - . ' , ■ (?) More usual is KKt-K 2, for after 5 B-Kt 2 Black may continue with KfxKt - and EB-B 4. ; --■'-■■■'.- . .'.- : - (c) Preventing P-B 5.' (AY If 10 P-B S-KtrKt. 11 Pxß—KtxKt "ch, winning a pawn. ' ■ • '-- • •-• -■ Q (g.On;.account' of the * a * ;KxßWd in ordei-.to prevent. B-Q 4.-WlfS-Ka, Black sacrifices-by KtxßP, $2& I P&P&*1 Q- B Qiß-1 ■tMi-tt 4, and wins. • " .-; '• ~ • (h)Jhe initial; move of a beautifullyconceived combination ." , " ' * Position, after-. White's. 24th- move:*.; ,;.,'. White ' (Mieses). . -

y Black (Yates).'' •« (i) If Rxß— ch, and Q-Kt 8 mate; and if 25 Qxß-Qxy, 26 Rxy-flxß ch, 27BxR-K-K 8. with a far superior game.

FASHIONS.

It is hard to account. for fashions, there is fashion in chess, and its vagaries are as unaccountable as those of say. women's dress. One of the outstanding te&tures at the recent chess congress i a Auck la.na was the increase in popularity of the Kuy Lopez opening. It was adopted in 27 out of IUS- games, or rather more than 25 Decent, lhe next . favourite debut was the Queen's Gambit. This gambit was ottered lb times and invariably declined. As a rule it was met by the orthodox 2. . . P-K 3 but sometimes Black offered Albin's vor Charlicks) Counter Gambit, The next favourite the fcriuoco Piano, was a bad third, Deins played only seven times. After that come the Four Knights' Game, the Centre Counter uaratat, and the King's Bishops Opening, with. six each. How can one account tor thus extraordinary popularity? It certainly is not warranted by recent experience in these Dominion championship -cSntests: For instance, at the Timaru Congress (1910-1911) the Ruy Lopez was adopted in 12 out ol the 55 games played—nearly 22 per cent. There was nothing inspiring in the result, tor White won tour games. Black four, and four were drawn. The Queen's Gambit was played nine limes, and the score was four against four and one draw At Napier (1911-1912) the Lopez was still first favourite, being adopted 13 times m 66 games— under 'u per cent. The result this time was that White won seven games against Black's two tour games being drawn. One might naturally have anticipated that at Nelson Congress the following year players would exhibit increased fondness for this particular opening ft ♦;£»! f ° ccaßlon '* w ? 5 played only 11 times out of 66 games, and out of. these White.only won four times, whereas Black won. six times, and one game was drawn Again, one would suppose that thereby its p i!-LWk , : ece ! vetl a ca eck. Nothing of the kind! This time, at Auckland, it has become more popular than ever. If any of our readers will take the trouble to construct a. graph, or " barometric chart," showing the ups and downs of choice and achieve mant in this respect, they, will be mueji struck by the divergence of the two- UnesT The result of.the 27 essays in Auckland was that White. only won in nine cases. Black in 10 and eight games ended in draws. In the' i case of the Queen's Gambit (including the solitary occasion when it, was accepted and | also including the.occasions when it was met by counter gambits), its fate has been as ' follows: -At Timaru. 4 wins. 4 losses 1 draw: at Napier 3-4-3; at Nelson, 1,2-2-2; and at Auckland, 7-7-1. Evidently its success does not fluctuate as does that of ! the-Lopez. The latter was at its zenith at Napier, and has since declined. We hava neither time nor space, to tabulate results as regards the success of the other openings, but. on the whole, they must i have baen less successful than the Queen's Gambit, for. taking the gross results of the tourney, Black scored 48 wins against White 42 wins, and lo games were drawn. The final round of the tourney was quite remarkable. The White pieces did not once achieve success. Black won six games and one was drawn! Truly, it was " Black Monday!

A second edition of Messrs. Griffith and White s Modern Chess Openings" has been published. The variations, are up-to-date,, the Ruy Lopez and Queen's Gambit especially being, fully, treated.. -Footnotes enable the student to trace the source of the variations.