DRAUGHTS ITEMS

Otago Witness, Issue 2730, 11 July 1906, Page 62

DRAUGHTS ITEMS

Death of Mis Wm.' Houston.— The Melbourne Weekly Times of June 16 has the following paragraph, which will be read by many) of our readers with sympathy: — Our readers will regret to hear that Mr William Houston, o:ie of tho bsst known draughts players in Melbourne, h»3 suffered a sad bereavement i:t the death of his wife ai Inverma-y Grove, Aubuiu, at the ago of 61 y-ears, on sth June, after a lingering illness of three and a-half years. Besides being one of the founders of the Melbourne Draughts Club, Mr Houston n one of its bust players and; enthusiasticsupporters, as iveil as champion for one ye»r. Before coming to Melbourne, Mr Houston was sctt'ed iv Dnnediu, N.Z.. for about nine years, and was president and treasurer of the Dunedin Draitgljts Club, and also champion for one year. The late Mrs Houston was a. great favourite of the late Mr James Wyllie, tho famous " Herd Laddie," who made their home his headquarters for over six man-tha while lie was in New Zealand and Victoria, lie has often said that ho would noi have stayed bo !<">a^ m the colonies had he not felt so much nt iionis' in their honsehold. for Mrs Houston lookeci after hii comfort with great devotion and kindly sympathy. She was of a, q-uiet and retiring disposition, but deeply affectionate at heart. By desire of the members of the Melbourne Draughts Club, after f. feeling allusion to his lops by the president (Mr David I?. Hay) at tho club-room on Saturday iiijrht, a tetter of condolence has been forwariTtvl by the secretary (Mr L. Bees) to Mr Hoiuton. The lato Mr* Hous-ton has left an cmly son, who is married. s»nd is headmaster of one of the State school?, of Victoria.

R Atwell i-. rut with a challenge to play J. Alexander (champion of England) for dKO »-!»jd-e, play t' h<! wii the two-move restriction. P. A. Crabby beat J. Tadgell «asi!y in their ruateh for £10 by five wins to one, and sis drawn.

Four rf the leading Lcnclon player* '.say« the Biadford Budget) are engaged in a little contest for a prize offered by G. Jewitt, the Sheffield ch.wnuion. Tim is to be a knife containing 100 blades! When offering it, George facetiously remarked he would have a keen edge put upon -every blade for the London players, to sharpen t-heir wits with against the next tourr.ey. CiEOj-ge disp'ayed fin« form in tho tourney, oiiiy losing to Jordan by the odd game. Thrre is some ta'k of holding- the next touincy at Sheffield.

The Chelsea Pxoblemati«t.— ln reply to a special request (says the Aberdeen Free Press), our esteemed coiiiribnloi, Mv H. T. Smith, Chelsea, has favoured 119 with a Biimmaiy o£ his record in problem* for the past year. We find Mr Smith bag published no less than ■116 problems (Turing the year 1905, "a record that will b* difficult to equal. It is astonishuijf the Rcute'jcs and accuracy of Mr Smith's* analytical abilities in epotting the weak noii' is :n s. game, mid all the more %o as he luTo-ms us that »H Ms analysing is doup rlur.i:g 1113 dinner hour. In the above total no duphcitei or faulty positions ars included. For December Mr Smith created a new record for on* month, having published 49 problems-, thus capping his previous best of the preceding year, which stood at 48. This is a remarkably fine performance, and one that will rank alongside anything hitherto attempted in piobleinq by any other individual. Besides the above, Mv Smith has published numerous, corrections of game*, etc., which classes him a* orp of the most astute analysts of the present d^v.