DRAUGHTS ITEMS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2456, 10 April 1901, Page 56

DRAUGHTS ITEMS.

New Zealand Championships — Although either two or three days' play has taken piace m the Championship Tournament at the time of wilting, not a single detail 13 to hand, beyond the single fact that theie weie only 12 entries. Wo have not even been given the> names of the competitors. We had ofier 1 ? c" daily information from pnvato sources^ bit decided not to bother any friend with such work when there was an agnnt of the Pie-,s Association in Palmerston Noitb. We, however, erred in counting on the agent as a man having an eye- to his duW=. But, if we possess ourselves in patience, we shall get the information m the sweet by-and-bye, and that independent of the overworked Press Association representative. By the publication m the Times last Monday of the results of the November examinations of the New Zealand University, we aie reminded of the marked success oi Mi John Alex. Hay, son of Mr D. R. Hay, late of Dunedm, now chess and draughts editor of the Melbourne Weekly Times. Mr J. A. Hay has pas=ed the final section of the B.A. examinations, and hr.s baen awaided the John Tmhne scholarship for excellence m English language and hteratuie, the examiner being Professor John W. Hales, M A., of King's College, London, a well-known authority on English studies. Mr Hay, who has thus gained the highest honour open to students of English :n the New Zealand University Co' leges,. h?.s had a most distinguished career. He is the seventh Ot<\go student that has gained the Tmhne scholarship. The younger daughter of Mr D. R Hsy (Elizabeth) has also been piomment in hor studies. She last year gained ■> university scholaiship, tenable for three years, and has since passed the Senior Civil Service examination. We corgratulate Mr Hay on the success of his children.

Last Tuesday evening Mesns Mulvpy and Gardiner, of Gorp, on their wav to Falmeiston Noith for the toiirnament, wore the contre of aUrantion at the Otago Draughts Cub loom. Thee was a good attendance oi players, and between play and chat a veiy pleasant cver.uif; was spent. Both vis-tois c'.ioplajed excellent; fo-m.

At Lo,igngge;id Richard Jordan recently p^yeJ 75 games on 11 different boards, v. nmng 62, balance drawn, all finiihe-l m three hours '

Harry Freedmaa, the ex-Scottish champior, is now located in New York, and is crnulcyec! aa instructor for the New York Club, from which he receives a fee for each lesson. At the fifth annual team content between the North and South of London, Mr 11. Atwell made a long speech, m the course of which ha mentioned that he had often l.stened to discussions about the relative merits of tho game oc chess and the game of draughts. The cosmic i belief among draughts players is that it -ieasier to reach a certain standaid of picficiencv at che33 than at draughts; but m ordci to te-,:. the correctness of this bplief, the London War.dereis' Club is prepare! to play a match at both games for any reasonable stake with aiiy one of the metropolitan chess clubs. Apropos of the foregoing R AtweU had an amusing bout with a strong chess player recently. He lost two games at chess, and then invited Ins opponent to put on a good chess problem. He"cou 1 d not do this to his ?ahsfaction, whereupon Atwell set a small problem nt draughts and showed him hew to do it. He then challenged the chessist to take either sido for a small stake, which he did, and lost. Atwell again showed him how to do it, ar.d the chess player again tried and f.iil=d. After being shown again, he had a further trin-1 but could not master the problem. Atwell's opponent departeel with his pocket lighter and a greater respect for the game of draughts.—Glasgow Weekly Herald. Messrs Diuiy and Brcnnan. ol Sydney, hava played four games in their match oT 12 ?ame°, now m -Dio£ vess,v ess, of which Biennan Ins won two, the other tuo were drawn. At the Manchester Central Club's a-inu"! social, held on February 9, Mr J. Townsend, piesident, presented to Mr Allan Hynd, the captain of xhe club and English draught charrpion, a very handsome <rentleiaa-iN dressing case, as a. tokc ■> oi tbe esteem m which he was hrld by his fellow members, and also as a rerogmt'ox of the services he had rendered to the club since its formation, some ten years ago. He hoped that Mr Hvnd would be long spared to assist m promoting the popularity of their grand old game. Mr Hynd, n; reply, said he felt deeply gratified by the kmdies3 shown him by his club mates m presenting b.m with. such a token of their good fse'ng. He highly appreciated their good wi=hes, of which he would always letam a kincHy remembrance. Under the auspices of the New "Vi*k Checker Club, Mr Pilhbury recentiv met 12 of tho strongest players in New York :n simultaneous bhndfofd play, his final score being two wins, six draws, and four losses. Tho Brooklyn. Daily Eagle gives the following description of the exhibition " The quarters provided proved entirely inadequate, and when a crcwd poured m and packed them, the management was completely taken by surprise. The atmosphere became anything but delightful for the performer, who was hemmed in closely, and was not able to obtain even an occasional breath of fresh, air. Anything like silence wajtout, of the question. Most of the spectators pushed and struggled for points of vantage, and some la.c arrival? took possession of tables m a dist?nt part of the hall and became the centres of none too quiet groups. Conversations and controversies were indulged in to such an extent thafc the teller, unable to make himself heard, had repeatedly to call for order. Moreover, a band was catering to the music-loving fiequenteia of the nether regions, and waiters bustled to and fro, both above stans and below. Fiom a chessplayer's point of view the place was simply bedlam ; and to enter on such an undertaking as the champion had in hand woa'd have been, to an ordinary mortal, an absolute impossibility. Yet Mr Pillsbury did not seem to ba affected to any serious extert by what would have driven most men crazy. He kept constantly in touch with the changing positions : his replies were distinct and prompt , and! everything in his demeanour indicated th a t, despite the inauspicious surroundings, he was qxnte at his ease. His record pgpinst the champion team opposed to him of two wins, six draws, and four losses was not meiely creditable, but, considering the conditions under which the feat was accomplished, it was simply; marvellous.' 1