DRAUGHTS.

Otago Witness, Issue 3339, 13 March 1918, Page 47

DRAUGHTS.

CONDUCTED BY JOS. ABERN'ETHY.

Solutions of problemß, games, and analyses Inrited for this ooluinn. Games 6hould be written In six columns as below, and all oorrospoudenM iddressed to the Draughts Editor.

PROBLEM" 4378. By the late D. A. Brodie Black.

White. White to move and win. This is a. "Double Corner" ending. PROBLEM 4379. (Author unknown.) Black.

White. White to move andl win,

GAMES. In the year 1900, having just wen at Inverca-rgill the New Zealand . Championship for the second time in succession, Mr Brodie was engaged for some time with surveyors in the Quarry Hills district, Fortrose. During his stay there a 10-game correspondence match was arranged and played with Mr F. E. Hilliker, of Dunedin. The match was a long one, and many of the games interesting; and it is safe to say that both players had their powers of analysis stimulated by the contest. Mr Hilliker is handing over the score of several of the games, taken from his scrap book, and we shall be able to give them to our readers. Another point that makes this match interesting is the fact that Mr Brodie's lines of play and analysss were worked out at the house of Mr Duthie, a great admirer of Mr Brodie's play and one time school master on the Otago Peninsula and the leading light among the strong band of draughts players there in his day. Following are two of the games: Game 3602—"Alma-Whilter." . Black: Brodie. White: Hilliker.

(a) This move is published as a loss. At that time Mr Brodie thought Whit© could still draw after Q 3 18, and it was agreed to play this pair of games to test it; the results did not uphold Dave's view. (b) 1 10 also loses. Game' 3603—"Ahna-Whilter."

(a) Same to her© as preceding game. This 24 20 much Better than 24 19 as there played, hilt, properly met, loses. (b) Dave expected to draw with this 29 25. It was a "long trail" to find out the ultimate benefit of the 6 10 move following. (c) 15 19 at previous move and this backhand out seem to destroy "White's hope and save the situation.

THE LATE D. A. BRODIE. (Continued.) Although the Australasian and South Seas Championship was played for in Duneddn in 1890, as outlined last week, there was then no recognised champion of New Zealand. Early in 1892 the question of the title was discussed in this column, and in February of that year Mr J. .a.. Boreham (then of Oama.ru) issued a formal challenge to play either J. Little (of Christchurch) or D. A. Brodie for the New Zealand title and a stake. Nothing eventuated from this defiance, however, until 1894, when, after the usual sparring in the papers, a match was arranged. BOREHAM v. BBODIE. The contest was for £SO and the.championship of New Zealand, to consist of 24 games, of which each player would nominate six openings. The whole point about the nomination system was secrecy—each contestant prepared! his attack in his selected games; therefore no one knew what they were until the players alternately announced their openings as the match proceeded. For this contest Brodie was' "trained" by Mr Bachlan Shaw, who afterwards went over to Sydney and became a leader in the game tbero. Mr Shaw was then a, strong player, with a very wide- knowledge of the books, so he was just the man to take Brodie in hand. Thus, to Brodie's natural abilities and intuitional o.uickness was added a stoie-house of good things—the discoveries of the masters in the game for a generation before. Shaw's real difficulty was to make his protege take things seriously. The deliberate, rnathemati-

cal etylc of analysis adopted by all studems was irksome to Brodie. The average player in cross-board analysis mentally pictures the various evolutions of' the pieces as bo calculates, and the measure of his skill is the measure of hia accuracy in the process. Ld, practice, his analysis by eight is tested by and he ia upset or confirmed in what ho "saw," thus developing his skill in tne mental process, to which he is limited in match play. A "good'" player is one who is both quick and accurate in sight analysis; ■but the process is the earn* When "Alf" Jordan was here he frequently mado his calculations audibly in a jocular spirit: "If I go there, he must go there, and that forces mo there and there—no, that won't do!" and so on. Now, with Brodie in his early days this process seemed to be dispensed with, or, rather, was unnecessary. He appeared, by a kind of intuition, to see all the possibilities in a flash. Here is an illustrs tion. At iho close of play one night Brodie hacJ to seal his move. This is done by instruction from the referee when time is up, and on announcing "sealed move," the player whose turn it is to meve is allowed full time to do so. On this occasion "sealed move" was declared t. immediately Boreham played, and Brodie at once replied: "All right; will you take the position?" and began leading off the figures. Then, taking the paper, he wrote his move without having taken any time for examination. As Brodio walked out briskly his trainer whispered: "you "are in a bad way there, Davie." "No fear," was the reply; "I have a win on." As may be imagined, many people analysed the position before play was resumed at 1 o'clock next day, but we never heard of anyone striking a win. When play was resumed, however, jarodie demonstrated his assertion, the win culminating in a beautiful shot, to everyone's surprise. The match, was played in Watson's Hotel in August of 1894, and created great interest. Boreham was accompanied by his brother "Steve," who proved an able supporter. We acted) as stakeholder and referee There were some funny incidents during the match, which lasted four days. The result was a win for Brodie by the score of 7 to 4, and 11 draws; and Brodie became first champion of New Zealand. Writing from memory, this is the only occasion on which Boreham suffered defeat in a set match, although he has played quite a number, and was always thirsting for more. N.Z. DRAUGHTS ASSOCIATION. In 1896 the bustling, little town of Wanganui inaugurated the New Zealand Draughts Association, and) held the first tournament for the New Zealand title. Unfortunately the birth of the association -and the tournament were attended by much acrimonious writing in the press over the question of the title, all due to misunderstanding on both sides. As after three years the dispute was amicably settled, no good puriDose would be served by recapitulation here. Suffice it that in 1896 the first tournament was held m Wanganui, and was won by J. A. Borsham, with the late H. Montgomery in second' place. In 1897 the second tourney was held in Oamaru, first place going to Boreham again, with J. A. Lucas close up, and J. Murray third. Next year, 1898, the scene shifted to Wellington, and for the third time Boreham won first prize, Lucas and Mulvey being equal for second place. These tourneys did much good in postering the game throughout New Zealand, and everywhere keen interest was taken in draughts. Next week we hope to resume this notice with the fourth tournament of the N.Z.-D.A. (To be .Continued.)

11 15 23 1S-A 8 11 27 18 26 80 31 8 23 19 16 23 15 8 19 23 21 17 29 25 7 11 17 13 4 11 21 17 16 20 8 3 22 17 10 14 22 17 1 6 82 28 25 21 11 16 24 19 16 19 17 13 30 26 17 14 26 23 15 24 17 10 12 16 18 14 21 17 3 7 28 19 6 22 80 25 9 18 14 9 25 22 11 16 IS 6 23 26 29 25 5 14 7 11 19 15 2 9-B 25 21 22 29 B.wins.

Black: Hilliker. White: Brodi©. 11 15 7 11 6 10-c 14 23 10 14 28 30 23 19 23 18 13 6 21 17 13 9 18 15 7 11 16 23 2 9 9 14 14 18 19 23 22 17 17 13 18 15 17 13 9 6 6 2 11 16 10 14 11 18 14 17 18 22 12 19 26 23 24 20-A. 22 6 31 26 25 18 2 7 3 7 15 19 1 10 17 21 21 25 B.wins. 25 22 29 25-B 27 18 20 16 30 21