CHESS MASTERS AT MONTE CARLO.

Otago Witness, Issue 2676, 28 June 1905, Page 62

CHESS MASTERS AT MONTE CARLO.

EXPERIENCES AT THE CASINO. During the visit of Mr F. J. Marshall to New Orleans last December one of the reporters of the New Orleans Picayune caught aim in a quiet hour at the club and listened to stories of chess players' experiences at the tables of the famous gambling resort during the international "chess tournaments held there in recent years. The stories are interesting read- t ing, and we copy the articli fromthe Picayune. "Yes-, , I've seen a bit," said the chess jnaster ; " and ■ during my journeys to Europe , Fv© been up against all sorts of propositions, j out I think my saddest, and at the same time j most costly, experience was my attempt to emulate the man in the song who broke the bank at Monte Carlo. " Oh ! the fascination of that gaming place, ■which is run under the supervision of the Prince of Monaco, the way it gets a fellow going and the excitement he experiences while be is on the toboggan! That game, with its •jllurins possibilities and it» g«ner»lly sure .

results, was the cause of my losing first place in the great Monte Carlo chess tournament; and I'll tell you how it happened. " You know, we chess players are a nervous lot, and after we have bucked against profound problems on the squares for hours, and our brains begin to feel fagged, we need some relaxation. Most of us get that relaxation in playing some other game not requiring the brain exercise of chessi, billiards, pool, poker, seven-up, or maybe checkers ; and when the sittings at Monte Carlo were on and the contests were hard-fought, we found ourselves in need of our pastime. " Everybody knows of Monte Carlo's big resort. I believe the benighted heathen in faroff China and the naked black skulking in the jungles of Darkest Africa have at some time or other heard of it and of its temptations. It's needless for roe to say the majority of the Chess Congress at Nice didn't fall back upon their usual source of relaxation. They went as far as the roulette tables and the banking games and there anchored, forgetting all about billiards, pool, checkers, and the like, and seeking only to immortalise themselves by winning everything in sight. " Janowski was up against it, and so was I, and we both went it strong. In the chess tournament I was doing well — very well, — and I really, believe I would have captured the first prize had I not been so wrapped up in ' roulette. During the day, while sitting at the chess table contesting with some clever expert, my mind would, constantly revert to red and Mack, eagle bird and double O, and of course my play was ragged enough. "The games over, I would hurry to the pavilion and play roulette with feverish excitement. Did I win? Yes, I won— that is, ,at first, — and was maybe several hundred dollars to the good; but I hadn't the sense to quit, and kept at the thing evening after evening, until I was shy about 2000 dollars, and barely had railway fare to Paris andT expense-money home. "And, worst of all, I lost the chess tournament, when I should have won it, all through my lack of attention to the game. I was a sore and sorry individual when I landed in Paris; and although the thing is past and gone now, I still look back and say what a fool I was. " Janowski had an awful run at Monte Carlo. He captured the first chess prize of 8000 francs, and, realising his weakness for roulette, sent a}l <o_f the money to friends in Paris to keep for him, with the exception of about a thousand or' so, and also sent instructions to his bankers, doubtless seeing what might come, not to send him the money under any circumstances should he wish it. " Janowski bucked the tiger, and the tiger clawed him in fine style, with the result that in a little while the_ French champion hardly had cab hire. He wired to Paris to his friends to send "him his money, but they refused, following his instructions. "Janowski had. the gambling -fever hot, and fired another, and this time peremptory, order for his wealth. His friends sent him a few thousand francs, and Janowski dropped the coin "in a night at the game. He wired for more money; another refusal came; then Janowski, waxing wroth, iheaten«ol suit, i arrest, and everything else dire-, if his beloog.ings were not forwarded to- him. I - "The friends in Paris sent the money on, and, poor Janowski gave it "away to the men who sit behind the green-covered table, 'and, having no more resources to fall back upon, left Monte Carlo ye / much poorer in purse and spirit than when he arrived there. . " I believe every chess player of note who has visited Monte Carlo, with the possible exception -of Pillsbury and Blackburn, have been bitten, by the gam© at the pavilion. I lost out all right, but J gained a new experience, and sometimes., even though considering myself a j fool, I think it worth the money. "_We went against the game for a little [■relaxation, and, of course, we had to pay for our fun. There are lots of poor devils who start out' as we started and end up pemiiles. and it is largely the dead bodies of these usnfortunate wretches which go to fill what is popularly called 'The Suicides' Graveyard' at Nice. " I went-through that place, and my guide pointed out to me the resting places of several distinguished men who in fits of despair at haying lost their all blew out their brains or suicided in some other way right in the/ gambling hall, in sight of all the guests. " I recall now with a shudder of horror a tragic incident that transpired! at the pavilion ' one of the nights I was there playing. A young Russian was in the baccarat room playing desperately, and risking vast sums on the turn of a card in a mad endeavour to retrieve his heavy losses. Fate was against him — he couldn't win a franc ; and with his last rouble i gone, and ruin staring him in the face, he I sprang up from the table-, raaa out into tha I main hall, and sent a bullet through his heart. j There was wild excitement in the place for a 1 few minutes; women screamed and men struggled and fought to get a view of the body. Finally the gendarmes came and carried the f -dead man off. and play was resumed as though ■ nothing had happened. The gruesome tragedy queered me for the night, though, and I was one of those who took a hurried departure. " The women seem crazy for the game at Monte. Carlo, and around the tables one can see the -fair daughters of every race and from, eyery clime gathered in the whirl of the thing, and sometimes even risking their 'jewels when their woney is gone." Mr Marshall kept the company interested with his stories until the hour had grown late and it was going-home time.