CHESS

Southland Times, Issue 20615, 13 October 1928, Page 19 (Supplement)

CHESS

CONDUCTED BY J. K. CAMPBELL. All correspondence in connection with this column should be addressed to the Ches Editor, Southland Times, Invercargill. Attenpt th« end. and never stand in doubt; Nothing's so hard but search will find it out. —Herrick. PROBLEM No. 3. By J. Scheel. BLACK (Three Pieces).

WHITE (Four Pieces

White to plav 2nd mate in two moves. 8 B 6 r k 5 p 1 IR6|B] 8 ; K Q 6 I 8.

PROBLEM No. 4. By J. Colpa.

BLACK (Four Pieces).

WHITE (Eight Pieces). sVhite tn play and mate in two moves. 8 ' 7 B 2Kt2b2|lK3P2|2Plk 2 p 1 1 Q 5 Ktl , 3 P 2 kt 1 | 8. Problem No 3 is another Miniature and I think you will find it neat and attractive, and the key-move good. No 4 is a “Meredith,” rhe term applied to problems which contain not less than eight or more than twelve pieces. Those with more than twelve pieces are Known as “Heavy-weights.” In so far as “weight” is concerned, problems are divided into the three classes named. No 4 should not give you very much trouble. The key-move is good inasmuch as it changes one of the set mates and introduces an added mate. The changing of set mates is a device that is much in favour with present day composers and you will occasionally come across problems in which all the set mates are changed by the key-move. When well carried out, thia adds a peculiar piquancy to a problem and although the device may deceive the solver for a time, he is constrained to acknowledge its charms when he has succeeded in unmasking it. In some future issue, I will give examples of this class of problem and go into the matter in more detail. By the way, I would suggest that you cut out the problems each week and paste them in a scrap book as I may have occasion to refer back to some of them. In any case a collection of problems is worth having. "Chess problems are the cream of Chess. They contain the highest class of Chess play within the limits of a few moves; and in their composition there has been evolved an unwritten code of rules which from time to time has been modified by the refining process it has undergone in the minds of composers. This code has given to the art of composition characteristics distinct from chess playing. A Chess Problem is an arrangement of chess pieces illustrating chess strategy. Its purposes are to act explicitly as a challenge to the solver, and implicitly a« an appeal for appreciation when the solution has disclosed its merits. Strictly, a Chess Problem may be defined as a proposition requiring the discovery of some concealed chess truth, and the demonstration that the discovery is accurate and exhaustive. Besides this, it must contain a more or less marked ‘idea,’ by which is meant some specially beautiful or intricate movements of the pieces, some ingeniously or quaintly devised mate.”—B. G. Laws in “The Two-move Problem.” END GAME No. 2. (From actual play.) BLACK (Ten Pieces).

WHITE (Seven Pieces). White to plav and mate in five moves. R 7 R 5 p p 3r 2 k 1 | Ip3p 2 | 1 P p 3 P b 2Bbrß2|6Kl|B. It is not to be expected that the inexperienced player will be able to solve many of these end games but he should play them through carefully from the solutions when they appear. By doing so he will get a valuable insight into the strategy employed by good players and will be better able to recognize mating j ositions when they arise in games. Dr Alekhin, the present champion of the world, once made a sacrifice introducing a combination which extended to more than twenty moves. This means that when he made the sacrifice he must have seen right to the end of the combination. But of course there is only one Dr Alekhin in the world. GAME.

(a) An idea of Alekhin’s introduced by him at the Baden-Baden Tournament, 1925. (b) Building up an impregnable centre, with the intention of preparing an attack on the wing. (ci This move, made early in the game, is almost invariably a bad one. It weakens Black’s position and wastes time. (d» White is plainly working his pieces round to the King’s side in readiness for a vigorous aasaul*. Black's King’s side will be all the more vulnerable by reason of the pawn at R 3. (et Black proposes to counter-attack on the Queen’s side, but such an attack unjustified by any weakness in White’s position is foredoomed to failure. (f) The strength of White's attack is now very evident. (g) And now Black has every reason to regret that he advanced his KRP at his fifth move THE ORGIN OF CHESS. The orgin of Chess, to use a well-worn phra«, in lost in the mists of antiquity. Quite a number of nations and peoples have claimed the honour of giving it to the world, among them the Chaldeans, the Arabians, the Saracens, the Persians, the Greeks, the Italians, the Chinese the Japanese and various tribes of Orientals. For a long time it was believed that Palamedes, one of the Greek chiefs at the seige of Troy, was its inventor, but although he seemed to have been eminently fitted for the task, for among his inventions are the alphabet, lighthouses, weights and measures, dice, backgammon and the discus, modern researches, have proved that such a belief has no foundation in fact. The best modern authorities consider that India has the best claim to the honour, for the game appears to have been played in that country long before it is known to have been played anywhere else. William Fiske in his book “Chess Tales and Chess Miscellanies” quotes an address said to have been delivered before a groun of Pompeiians some two thousand years ago by a cultured Indian traveller while on his way to Rome. The traveller addresses the Pompeiians in these words: “This, 0 courteous Remans is not the least remarkable production of the land of the Ganges and the Indus, and is called Chaturanga (Chess). It is a representative contest, a bloodless combat, an image, not only of actual military operations, but of that greater warfare which every son of the earth, from the cradle to the grave, is constantly waging—the Battle of Life. “Its virtues are as innumerable as the sands of the African Sahara. It heals the mind in sickness i-nd exercises it in health. ' It is rest to the overworked intellect, and relaxation to the overworked body. It lessens the grief of the mourner, and heightens the enjoyment of the happy. It teaches the angry man to restrain his passions, the light-minded to become grave, the cautious to be bold, and the venturesome to be prudent. It affords a keen delight to youth, a sober pleasure to manhood, and a perpetual solace to old age. It induces the poor to forget their poverty, J and the rich to be careless of their wealth. “It admonishes Kings to love and respect their people, and instructs subjects to obey and reverence their rulers. It shows I how the humblest citizens, by the practice of virtue and the efforts of labour, may rise to the loftiest stations; and how the haughtiest lords, by the love of vice and the commission of errors, may fall from their elevated estates. It is an amusement and an art, a sport and a science.” It- has been claimed that Chess is at leaet four thousand years old but the best modern authorities are inclined to the belief that it had its origin somewhere about twelve centuries ago. However, unI til further evidence is forthcoming, its age must remain, to some extent at least, a matter of conjectures. Although mankind have now been playing the game for twelve hundred years at hast, the greatest masters of to-day have to admit that they have merely explored the fringe of its possibilities, nor is this to be wondered at, for it can be mathematically demonstrated that the number of ways in which the first ten moves on each side can be plaved is 169.518,829.100.544.000,000.000.000.600. a number so stupendous that is eludes the grasp of the human intellect. News and Notes. The Invercargill Chess and Draughts Club took possession of its new room in the Arcade (upstairs facing Esk Street) on the 3rd inst. There was a good attendance of members who spent the evening pleasantly after the usual manner of devotees of the “Silent Games.” A number of prominent New York business men have subscribed 12,000 dollars for a tourney in America during the coming winter and negotiations are now in progress to secure the participation of all the leading chess players of the world, including Dr Alekhin. Capablanca, Dr Lasker. Bogoljubow, Nimzowitsch. F. J. Marshall, F. Samisch, Dr Vidmar, Reti, Rubinstein, Yates, Tartakover. Euwe, Spielmann, Grunfeld> Maroczy, Ed. Lasker, Kupchik and Teuner. It is also proposed to invite Miss Vera Menchik, the young Russian girl who so brilliantly won the women’s championship of the world. If she accepts, it will be the first occasion on which a woman has taken part in such a contest. The Melbourne Chess Club is holding a "Chess Week,” a feature of which is a problem composing tourney open to the composers of Australasia. The tourney is divided into two sections, one for twomovers and the other for three-movers. Entries close with the Secretary of the Melbourne Chess Club, 188 Collins Street, Melbourne, on October 29. Book prizes will be given for the best problem in each section.

WHITE. BLACK. Andre Cheron. A. Fabre. (Giuoco Piano >. 1 P—K4 P—K4 2. Kt- KBS Kt—QB3 3. B—B4 B—B4 4. P—B3 B—Kt3 (a) 5. P—Q3 (b) P—KR3 (c) 6. QKt—Q2 Kt—KB3 7. Q—K2 Q—K2 8. Kt—KB1 (d) P—Q3 9. Kt—K3 Kt—QI 10. B—Q2 P—QB3 11. O—O—O P—QR4 12. B—Kt3 B—B2 13. K—Ktl P—QKt4 (e) 14. P—KR4 R—QKtl 15. P—R5 B—Kt3 16. Kt—R4 B x Kt 17. B x B P-R5 18. B—B2 Kt—Kt5 19. B-Q2 Kt—B3 20. QR—Ktl B—K3 21. P—KKt4 Q-Q2 22. Kt—B5 (f) K—Bl 23. P-KB4 Kt—Kt2 24. P—Kt5 (g) Kt—KI 25. Kt—R4 P x BP

26. P x RP R x P 27. B x P. R—KR1 28. Q—B3 R—QB1 29. Kt—Kt6ch P x Kt 30. B x QP dbl. ch. K—Ktl 31. Q—B8 ch. K—R2 32. P x P, mate.