CHESS.

Otago Witness, Issue 3426, 11 November 1919, Page 53

CHESS.

OTAGO v. AUCKLAND,

The decisions of the adjudication board of the Wellington Chess Club on the unfinished games in the recent telegraphic match between Auckland and Otago are now to hand, and the following are the final results which, it will be seen, give a decisive win to the local club: Otago. Auckland,

Board. Wins. Wins. I.—O. Balk ... h V. C. Evans ... it 2.—11. J. Armstrong 0 M. Foreman ... 1 3.—R ev . jr. Priberg 1 A. Pickett ... 0 4. —A.Ellis ... 0 P. ST. Stewart ... 1 B.—J. H. F. Ha-mel 1 Rev. 11. Wingfield 0 6._w. G. Stenhouse 1 H. Y. Evans ..... 0 7.—S. S. Mj'ers ... 1 J. S. Cos'es ... 0 B.—L. D. Coombs 1 G. E. Adams ... 0 9.—0. Amtman ... 1 H. Hemus 0 10.—G. D. Wright 1 J. Sim 0 11. —A. E. Ward ... 1 J- W. Bavidson 0 12.—W. H. Allen ... 0 P. J. Senior ... 1 13.—H. H. Henderson 1 B. Putman ... 0 14.—P. Warman ' ... 0 E. Barker ... 1 Totals • Pi 4 i AMAZING CHESS PLAYER. CAPABLANCA THE CUBAN. The most notable figure in the world of chess is just 30 years old. Senor Capablanca, that amazing Cuban who played in the Victory tournament at Hastings recently, is already a veteran. In those circles whero they talk a language which sounds like algebra gone mad, he has been known for 10 years as one of the masters, and it is 20 years since he scored his first big success. And it is longer still since he won his fi~tst game. At the age of four he played and defeated his own father. , _ , At the age of 10 he played in his first tournament at Havana, and won all his games except two, in which he was/beaten by J. Corso, the champion of Cuba.» Corso, however, was so impressed by the small boy who put up so good a fight that a match was arranged between them —and the small boy won! In time he left school and began to study mining engineering, with chess as a hobby. So sensational was his progress that in 1909 he toured the United States, played 580 simultaneous games (in batches of from 25 to 48), out of which he won 560 and lost only 12. Following that _ho played Marshall, the champion or America, and beat him by eight games to one, 12 being drawn. Two years later he toured Europe. He had his nearest approach to disaster when he met 28 members of the City of London Chess Club, and won only 16 of the games. In 1913 the Cuban Government sent him to the town which in those days we knew as St. Petersburg, as Assistant Consul, and there in 1914 he met the gtreat Lasker. Experts will tell you still that Capablanca played by far the better game, but he lost. It was one of his few defeats. _ In London recently he played 28 simultaneous games, won 21, lost 3, and drew 4. /The chess experts get notes of reverence into their voices when thev talk about him. Swift in decision, he moves quickly from board to board when he is playing one of these large-scale battles. fie _ can see at a glance the perils and possibilities which tho ordinary player can only discover after long study. His brain is so constituted that to him the most elaborate and complex of all games is a .simple thing. And the careful skill of opponents is useless against his liglhtning moves. —H. L. in the Daily Mail.