CHESS PROGRESS

Otago Witness, Issue 2454, 27 March 1901, Page 56

CHESS PROGRESS

The Morning Post recently piiblished a leading article on chess, from which we extract the following : — There is no denying that chess is by long odds the noblest and most ennobling of intellectual games. Chess is a far better form of mental gymnastics than whist, if only because chance is not an appreciable factor in the result of a content between good players ; it is infinitely superior to draughts, not only in variety, b\yt also, despite Poe's criticism, in depth and subtlety : and to compare chess with backgammon— the name smacks of vulgarity — or with " Halma," or any other product of the toy shop, would be much the same as to compare the Iliad with a short story from the last number of " Snippets." It is justly called the " Game of Kings," and a- good catalogue of moDarcai-ramojlj; ikem our. own Queen akcl thg

; Empress Frederic — who have played it with ] distinction could be compiled, thoiigh the , most careful inquiry into rts remote and xnysI terious origin has not revealed the name to j be set fit the head of the list. "We are glad ! to sea that the game is becoming so popular not only in London, but also in the provinces. Thcie are now at least a hundred chess clubs in the metropolis , each of the provincial > cities is the centre of a laige group of these fraternities; and if we add tho3e in the small towns and the coun'v associations, wo have a total of between five Rnd six hundred chess clubs, with a membership of at least ten thousand militant chess players. Again, for every member of a match-playmg club there must be at least a dozen chess players who practise the rudiments^ of the game in private. The vast and rapidly increasing popxilarity of the game is not less significantly demonstrated by the fact that nearly every newspaper which appeals to intellectual readers publishes a weekly chess column. These facts clearly prove that i a purely intellectual game, whose fascination I is ?n antidote to the spirit of petty pambmg has taken a firm hold of the affections of all ] classes of society. Not only on the Continent, but ako in the United States, first rate players are constantly appearing, but Great Britain seems incapable of producing the equal of Mr Blackburne or even a successor to Mr Bird. The reasoir*of this strange sterility is not far to seek. Nowhere except in Great Britain is any distinction between '" amateur " and " professional ' chess: player recognised, and the master, who devotes hJ3 life to the game, j excluded from tournaments for no reason save his artistry. Insomuch as money prizes are invariably offered by the promoters of these tournament?, the exclusion of the masters oannofc be justified by a consideration of the laws affecting any other sport. The result of their absence is "that the so-called amateur player never obtains really good practice, and, even if he be born to mastery, never becomes a master of the game.