OTAGO CHAMPIONSHIP.

Otago Witness, Issue 2756, 9 January 1907, Page 63

OTAGO CHAMPIONSHIP.

The combined Otago championship and j handicap tourney was concluded just before Christmas, and then the club closed down for the holidays. The dub resumes again on Saturday evening, January 19, when the prizes in the tourney will be awarded. As •Iready announced, Mr J. A. Boreham secures first place for the championship, in which, , pf course, handicaps do not count. The ■winner of first prize in th« handicap is Air 1 Halliday, who played slightly better than hia ' anticipated form. The other prize-winners are Messrs Mathieson, Mask, Lucps, and Hutton (equal), and I/angston. A full attendance of , competitors and players and friends generally is looked for on the 19tb, when a social hour •will be spent in the club.

The proportional system is easily explained. I If A scores botk games from. B, tlieii A. is I credited with the whole of B'a actual score at the close of the tourney (say 20). If A -wins 1 «nd loses 1 or draws both game?, agsinst B, then he takes half B's actual score (10). If he loses 1 and draws 1 with B, that is quarter of the possible, then A would be credited with a quarter of B's total score, which would be 5. If A loses both games to B, of course h« gets no proportion of B'a score, while B takes all of As. And so on all round. This gives to every player the real value of his win. To win a game from a first-class player is more creditable than a win from a novice, and the proportional system takes cognisance of that fact. Therein lies the merit of the proportional system. Also it reduces the possibility of a tie for first place to a minimum.