CHESS.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 780, 11 February 1887, Page 5

CHESS.

All communications for this department must be addressed to the Chess Editor, Mr C. W_ Benbow. 11/2/8? ‘ Te Ika a Maui.’—Problem No. 769 cannot be solved by 1 R to K B 4, because of the reply of R to K R 3. A.L.T. (Winganui).—Kindly have another look at Problem No. 772 with the solution before you. It is an excellent composition, as you will say. SOLUTIONS TO PROBLEMS. No. 771 (J. Pierce, M.A.). 1 Q to B 3 1 Any move 2 Mates accordingly Solved by C.S. (Masterton) ; O.P.Q. (Foxton) ‘ An excellent problem, and it took me a long time to solve for a two-mover (9)?;’ A,L.T. (Wanganui); T.E. (Picton); H.D. (Bulls); It.P. (Gisborne) ‘A sparkling and interesting composition (8J) D.T.C. (Blenheim); T?. ,T T., (Palmerston North) ; and R.J.D. (Clyde) ‘The most ingenious conception for_ a two-mover I ever saw. There is a feature in this position worthy of note, viz, the White K B mates on any move that Black can make, with the exception of those by his own K B (10).’ YV# agree with our correspondents that this is a fine two-mover (9). No. 772 (Geo. Chocholous). 1 Q to Kt 7 1 K to Q 3 2 Kt to K 3 2 Any move 3 Q or Kt mates The variations are very interesting. Solved by T.E. (Picton); R. J.L. (Palmerston North); ‘Te Ika a Mauiß.P. (Gisborne) * Much beyond the average (9) ;’ H.D. (Bulls) ; and R. J.D. (Clyde) ‘ This is another admirable specimen of this celebrated composer’s skill (9).’ A.' problem calculated to give great pleasure to the solver (9). PROBLEM No. 753. By George J. Slater (Bolton) Black.

PROBLEM No. 784. By Geo. E. Carpenter, (Tarrytown, N. J.) Black.

THE CAFE DE LA REGENCE. (From the ‘lnternational.’) (Continued.) Harrwitz had the leadership at the time ■when he had such competitors as Journaud. and Devenck; hut when Morphy came to Europe to cross sword* w£h the champions of England, Germany, and France, Harrwitz was defeated hy the young American, and soon afterwards quitted Fans, France and a Pole, grew up ®M}|® I B^graoe,, and became, in lus turn, its leading player , but he is now seldom seen at his old haunt in the Rue St. Hon ere'. There have been personal feud« and he stays away, but his time is profitably devoted elsewhere to a club of wealthy gentlemen, with whom he has a lucrative and unique position, such as { and Labourdonnais would have deemed an earihlv paradise.’ The first representative-m----chief of the Re'gence is Arnous Rivifere. He received his first Chess training from Kiezontsky, and became the intimate fnend ot Anderssen, Staunton and Morphy. He may now justly be called the doyen or veteran ot living Chess players in France. But a rumour has just been set afloat that this accomplished man is shortly to be appointed to a position in the Governmental commission for the coming Centennial of the French Republic In case of his retirement from the Cafe, which seems presumable, his successor in the chieftainship will he his young and amiable rival, Johann Taubenhaus, who last summer came within a hair’s breadth of winning the first prize at the International Tournament in London, bo tne long and unbroken chain of master-players at the Rdgence, extending over a period of 159 years, shows no prospective sign or a missing link. The game of Chess, however, is the public property, r.ot of its few masters, but ot its many'amateurs wbo support the professors, the Tournaments, the DivaD, and the KCgence. I mar say that the amateurs, even more than the ‘ Pawns’or the ‘pieces,’ are ‘the soul ot Chess.’ The present amateurs who flock to the RtSger.ce are a busy bevy. The cool weather of autumn having set in, the dingy old rendezvous is now so crowded that a be.ated comer sometimes finds no vacant chess-table. I will not undertake to catalogue the company, for its name is legion. I will merely mention ten or a dozen prominent names not in the order of merit, but at the haphazard of memory : Chamier, of the Westminster Review ; Clere, the well-known French jurist; Ladislas, a young Servian student os_ science , Macaulay, a nephew of the historian; Del Dosso, an Italian artist; Pagonkine, a Russian count: O’Galligban, formerly professor of English at the University of France ; Boiron, a French professor of billiards; -May, the American coadjutor of Gambetta in some celebrated baloon travels ; Duff, a Fleming ; Weissman, a Prussian ; Fliegel, an Austrian ; Makowsky, the well-known prolemist; David, a French musician; Joliet, of the Comecue Francaise; Bartelmg, the strongest Parisian player of draughts ; Pasquier, a lawyer; Tauber, one of the most promising of the younger aspirants ; Selouchine, from Russia ; George Vail, a former secretary of Ferdmaud de Lesseps ; and last but not least the venerable William Young, a ‘fine old English gentleman,’ now on the verge of his eighties ; and who, for many years, was the editor of the Albion, in New York. I have mentioned these gentlemen as ‘amateurs,’ but some among them, especially Chamier and Macaulay, belong to the small class of players of the first order. Americans, on visiting the are proud to see the honor which it renders to the memory of Morphy ; it has put his bust en face with that of Philidor. My recollection is fresh and vivid of Morphy’s pale, intellectual face and forehead; and I regret that in 'this

bast, though it was the work of no less a Bcnlptor than Lequesne, I do net find a satisfactory image of the marvellous young man. It lacks what Shakespeare’s description gives to Cicero, and what nature gave to Morphy—‘fiery and ferret eyes , 9 I3ut as the bust was moulded from life, it can never have a rival in authenticity, and must be accepted as historical. I happened to be at the Regence when the news came of Morphy’s death. The immediate and unanimous verdict of the whole chamber of experts was that he had proved himself the unrivalled and supreme player of his time, and that his only predecessor of equal grade was Labourdonnais. Morphy had never been a daily comer and goer at the Bdgence, like Labourdonnais, and yet Morphy’s connection with the famous Cafb was sufficient to give the house a unique addition to its historical celebrity; for it was at the that he made his most surprising exmbition of blindfold play ; it was at the Rbgence that he vanquished Harrwitz; and it was under the shadow of the Rbgenee, in a private apartroent, a few steps distant, that he affixed his final seal to his patent of supremacy by conquering Anderrsen. —Theodore Tilton.