DRAUGHTS.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 10619, 14 March 1896, Page 7

DRAUGHTS.

OOHDCCTED BY JOS. ABERNETHY.

yßlutinna or problems, E aoics, and »nalj«es Inrited for this ~i!uinQ. Gonies should be vrlttcu In five column* as below, and *1 correspondence addrciised to Hie Uraosbts Kdltor.

PROBLEM 159, By W. Dunn. [Black.]

[White.] Black to play and win.

PROBLEM 160. By D. Gourlay, Glasgow. [Black.]

[White.] Black to play ; White to win.

. ' ' . ' . GAMES. GAMEi>62-"Whilter.'" By D. G. M'Kelvie, in Glasgow Herald.

11 15 26 25 11 16-6 27 2 15 24 23 19 '16' 20 ■'. :23 ; :.18 20 27 2S 19 9 14 30 20 ]5-22-c 2 U- d-4 S 22,17 2 7 29- 25 ?, 8 2a 18 7 U 17 13-« 22 29 3i 23 8: 11 25 22 8 It 26 22 8 15 Drawn. 11 16 22 17 16 23 23 39 (a) This I consider a much better move than the itandard23lß.

(b) Allowing a very pretty stroke, which, as far as I know, has never been previously published. It gives White a tine game, aud Black has nothing better (nor anything so good) than to allow it. (c) 14 30, loses by 1714, 4c. id) 1 had noted here that this was the only move to draw when I observed the following continuation .—29 25, 2218, 25 22,18 H, 22 18,14 7,18 23, drawn./ .■ ■ .-,..-■. ■' ■ '..- ; ■ " '■ .

THB PROPO3BD NEW ZEALAND CHAMPIONSHIP TOURNEY. ;: IO THE DRAUGHTS EDITOR. '■ .

Sir,—Would you be good enough io bring before your readers that at a meeting of committee held here on the 26th inst. it was decided that a match between the North and South Islands should' take place after the conriusion of the tourney for a trophy, to be held each year by tho captain of the Winning team for pjinugl competition. As we hope for a good representative meating, would you kindly give the matter publicity, sq that an early meeting of enthusiasts .could, be held in your city and a team from the south nominated- for '.the .contest.*. Perhaps with your assistance some of your local players would take action in this matter. lam surprised that a great deal of apathy has been ■shown to our project by some southern writers; We waited long enough for some of tho larger centres to take this mattor up, and it is,with the yiow to form an association •Dn similar lines to our chess brethren we me now tryin«; to make a begiiining. As very liberal prizes /are offered it is surely due td those who have so liberally' subscribed that tho draughts editors throughout New Zealand should give us their hearty support and co-operation in this matter, and by so doing foster and encourage that most' ancient aud innocent of all pastuneß— ' «heck«ri<.'.'—l am, ic., ~ '-.-.. . , .

1 ■■'•.,■'■ H. B, WILLUMSOM, Hon. Sec. Wanganui Chess and Draughts Club, Wanganui, February 29.: ■■-:.■■

The foregoing letter was, of course, written bafore last week's, WijnesS'reached Wanganui. Still 'it is furprining that our correspondent should complain of • receiving'no support, if th^t were true, seeing that' no steps were taken to secure Bven publicity. Press Agency telegrams go for nothing in a matter ef this kind; as they are unofficial, indefinite, aud sometimes without sufficient fdundatfori, and a player would be gullible indeed who^ should go to truuble and expense on: the strength of auch information. So far we have done liiore than should have been expected. , In last week's Draughts column, under the heading "New Zealand Championship," we concluded some remarks \yitb,this sentenci:—"However, if Mr Brodie' either enters the tourney or ireUgos, we earnestly hope Mr.Ahdorson's efforts will meet. with unqualified;"smc,d«sß."i We,ivrp.tu,that^en. tence under the* sicret conviction (without authority) that-Brodie w^uld finally "enter and play, althdugh.the committee had really courted refusal- by.Jgnorißg his right to the. title.. But that conviction, is pretty well reversed now; and unlesß Brbdie plays or resignß it-is useless to expect,that assistance will go froni .Dunedin While idmiring thuxeal and enterprise of our Wangsuui brcthreni it seenis inevitable that their course of action will lead to trouble, and bring about the very reverse of what they aim at. A writer in the Christchurch Press, who by the uee of the pronoun "our" seems to voice the sentiments of the Warigahui committee, delivers himEelf.thiis.— ": ' . : '"■■lt- will only require the entries to make this, the firsfdranghts congress in Naw Zealand, b thorough triumph. If the present champion does hot care to defend his title that in his own business;. he will know. through the Press Agency that,sach a tourney will take place, and if he doe; not think it worth his while to contest his position li 6 must give pluce to a better man. Only fancy the present chess champion absenting himself from the annual meeting, and still claiming the premier position. The thing ia absurd/.. '■ ."'■ '■;. ■■ :•.-■ ■ ■■ : : ■

Lack of space aloiin forbids dealing with the foregoing as we should like, but surely only a little thought is required to make its weakness obvious, to anyone acquainted with the facts of the cases.' The chess cbaiflpien wins his laurels under the condition that his title has to be resigned or competed for at the end of 12 mbhths. No one objects to. thatr-it is an excellent plan. But until the Boreham-Brodie match tho title of draughts champion of New Zealand did not exist and was pnly created at the risk of a large, stake, and without any such condition as governs the chess championship, which alone should entitle the holder to at least a little consideration. There are, in fact, no points of analogy whatever in the conditions of the two titles. With whom then lies the absurdity ? ■'■ ■ . It is announced by telegram that at a committee meeting for the Draughts. Championship Tournament it was decided to: adopt Anderson's rules with the'exception of rule 8, referring to time limit, and that the nuiaher of moves per hour be left to the players at the tournament. It was also decided to allow all priza-winneri to deduct travelling and hotel exponscs up to half the'value of the prize :Von. It was finally decided that entries close on March 25

SCOTTISH DRAUGHTS CHAMPIONSHIP.

' Richard Jobdan, Champion, 1896. Diis contest took place aa announced, coniroencmg on January 1 and concluding on the 10th at a very late. hour. This year there were 2B entries,: and several long-drawn contests prolonged the tourney; to our mind, ■ unduly. As an example— Bryden and Battersby were paired for the first round, and they proved to be so evenly matched that they.had to continue play right through five day«, or 11 sittings. That is just the sort of thing to kill the annual tourney, or at any rate to destroy the interest of leading players, and prevent their entering. But there was uo help for it,'as the rules provided for uo such emergency^ The committee displayed their impotence by offering the couple l(fo each if they would toss np "who should be winner 1 ■ This teems astounding; and yet th* Glasgow Herald thinks provision should be made to compel that course after reasonable tiiiie has been given for the decision of a heat"1! -The "toss" was eventually resorted to, and Batteraby won. There can be nothing but dissatisfaction over the whole affair. Fancy a national cnampionship.being decided by the turn of a coin I And the same thine, if we remember rightly, occurred in another Scottish championship tourney. The rules which we submitted for the conduct of the forthcoming Southland championship.'if adopted, will obviate any •uch occurrence. Theyprovide that if a tie is undecided at the end of eight or ten games (this is in a " two-life " tourney), both players count as winner's, and the tourney proceeds. " Any player who has thus drawn twice shall count as a loser." That puts a check on possible collusion between, players, and the chance of its working to the defeat of a contestant is bo remote ac to be almost oat of the question, as that clause does not apply to the final round. For the Scottish tourney surely some similar arrangement could be made, and thus reduce the element of chance to a minimum. V „■/.' ■ ■'■■.' ■■' '.'" ■' '■' .

In arranging the draw for the first round, the committee had, in accordance with the rules, to provide for all byes rendered necessary by the number of contestants. Last year, as well as in 1893, an even 16 entered; but this year there was, us already mentioned, a total cf 2<i. It was, therefore, decided to give six of the players a bye, which would render any more unnecessary till the finish of the tournament. The pairing was as follows: —

- . ,-...- First Round. N. Currie v.J. Kirk J. C. Brown v. H. Friedmann James Feme v. H. M'Kean John Burns y. George Will It. Jordan v. Win. Campbell • ! K. Scobiev. A: B Scott . Win. Bryden v. A. Battorsby II; Barrie v. W. K. Campbell Buchanan v. M'Millan • ' James Wilson v. John NeilL Btes, H. Holmes John Jl'Kay Jas. Robinson Geo. Croolcaton H. Henderson B. G. M'Kelvie. There' was a very large turnout of spectators both from the city and country, and many of the Edinburgh experts were through to see their champion play. Neil Currie, at the lost moment, had to send ■ word to the committee that he could not get away from his work to play. This is.a matter to be regretted ; Currie is a grand player, and would have made his mark in the tournament. , ;

Shortly after resuming at night, M'Kean, who was a game down, retired in favour of Ferric. Wilson was the nert to finish against Neill, who Buffered defeat by the odd game, five having ended in draws. • Then Scott's victory over Scobie was announced by 2 to 0, with 4 games drawn. An hour and a-half after thia Will, of Aberdeen.

succeeded in throwing out Burns by 2 to 1 and 3 draws. Tbe following table shows the scores in full of all haished heats:— . . . • . • ■ Wins. Draws. Wias. 0 ICirk . 0 Currie (absent) 0 1 Brown 4 Friedmann 0 1 Forrie 4 M'Kean (retired) 0 1 Jordan 2 Wu. Campbell 0 2 Scott 4 Scobio ■ ■ • 0 ' 1 Batteraby 1 Bryden 1 ■ 1 Burns 3 SVUI 2 1 Barrie 3W, K. Campbell 0 0 Jjndianan 4 M'Millan 0 1 Wilson 5 Neiji 0 (To be continued.)