CHESS TOURNAMENT.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1330, 6 January 1912, Page 13

CHESS TOURNAMENT.

MR. W. E. MASON WINS THE CHAMPIONSHIP.

THE PLAY DESCRIBED. ffly Telcerash.—Presj ABSocI&tlon.l Napier, January .">. Tho twenty-fifth annual contest for the chess championship was continued, and concluded to-day, Mr. W. E. Mason, last year's champion, being again tho winner. ADJOURNMENT GAME. The game, Soverno v. Connell, adjourned from the tenth round, was resumed in tho forenoon, and ended in a draw. Tho official report is as follows:— Soverno (white) v. Council (black).— Sicilian defence. The game was even till White, in an exchange, left his queens' pawn to be taken, which gave hira a hard game to defend. Black pushed on an attack, but overlooked that White could win a knight by sacrificing two pawns. On the end game the forces had bron reduced to a rook and knight on White's side, and a rook and two pawns on Black's, whereupon a draw' was agreed upon. ELEVENTH ROUND. The eleventh round was then continued. Tho results of the remaining games, Mason having beaten Jones on tho previous afternoon, were as follow:— James beat Connell. Kelling beat Sainsbury. Miles beat Hicks. Gyles beat Grierson. Jourdain beat Severne.This left Mason and Gyles with an equal number of points to their credit, and the play-off botween them for the championsliip began shortly before 3 p.m. The following are the official reports on the eleventh round games, with the exception of that between Mason and Jones, previously published.— Connell (white) v. James (black).— On the resumption of play, a keen contest continued for some moves, after which James seized his opportunity and gave up a rook for a bishop and j pawn in order to force his opponent's king into a weak position. He then, by exchanging queens and his remaining rook, was able to queen one of two advanced pawns, and after a needlessly prolonged but quito futile resistance, Connell was mated on tho 75th move. Sainsbury (white) v. Kelling (black): Caro Kaun. This was a tough battle to decide which of these two players w'ould squeeze into the prize list. Kelling obtained the better position in tho end game, winning a pawn at movo 52. Pursuing this advantage carefully, ami avoidiug a few traps, he finally scored at move 72. The Wellington Working Men's Club has thus annexed prizes at no fewer than 20 of the last 23 championship congresses. Miles (white) v. Hicks (black): Centre counter gambit. Hicks played his favourite defence, but did not make the best of the opening, wasting several moves with his king's knight, and allowing Miles to work into a fine position. At the 18th movo, Miles threatened to capture king's bishop's pawn with bishop or knight, and so gain a commanding positiou. To avoid this attack Hicks castled, and did not sco that this move was useless as defence. Miles captured the bishop's pawn with hi 9 bishop, and Hicks was forced to give up tho exchange or be mated. After this he struggled on gamely, but Miles was able to shut out Hicks's Bishop from the gamo and commence a strong attack witli Queen s Rooks and Bishop. Mate being inevitable in a few more moves Hicks resigned on his 35th. Gyles (white) v. Grierson (black).—This game resolved itself into a form of the dcuble Ruy Lopez. When Gyles played Knight takes Knight, Grierson retook with the Bishop pawn instead of the Rooks. This landed him in difficulties. At one stago Gyles could havo won a knight and pawn for a bishop, but he preferred to increase his attack. Shortly afterwards ho won tho exchange at the expense of a pawn. After the adjournment Gyles gave up the exchange and obtained a mating position when Grierson resigned.

Jourdain (white) v. Severne (black).- ■ When this gams wai resumed white was a long time before ho conll make any impression. By advancing his queen side pawns and exchanging three pieccs black was unable to prevent white queening a pawn, so ho resigned on tho 59th movo. The position at the end of Ihe eleventh round, showing Mason and Gyles to be equal, was as follows:—

Played. Won. Lost. Drawn. Pts, Mason .... 11 G 2 3 74 Gyles 11 .7 3 1 "I Grierson... It ,5 2 4 7*

Jourdain ... 11 5 3 3 61 ' Hicks 11 '5 a 3 0} Kelling ... 11 4 a 4 6 Miles 11 i 3 4 (j James II i 4 3 55 Sainsbury 11 1 5 2 5 Severno ... 11 14 fi 4 Connell ... 11 2 8 1 21 Jone3 ...... 11 1 8 2 2 THE PLAY OFF. The play off for the championship honours took a shorter time than was expected, concluding about 4 p.m.,' and resulted in a win for Mr. W. Mason. As tho final and decisive contest of the congress it created considerable interest, the space reserved for the players being surrounded throughout the match. The actual time taken by the winner was CO minutes, while the loser's moves were made in 30 minutes. The following is the official report of the closing game. A. M. Giles, Westport (white) v. W. E. Mason, Wellington Chess Club (black): The former had tho first move, Mason defending with the Centre Counter, which is such a favourite defence with the German master, Mieses. Gyles quickly assumed the aggressive, possibly too quickly, and allowed Mason a strong counterattack, winning queen for rook and bishop. Gyles resigned at move 23. The players were entertained in tho evening by the Napier Chess Club.

PREVIOUS CHAMPIONS, The following is the list of the winners of the New Zealand chess championship since 1879 :— 1879— H. Hookham, Christchurch. 1888—A. M. Ollivier, Christchurch. 1889 —H. Hookham, Christchurch. 1890 —R. J. Barnes, Wellington. 1891— F. V. Siedeberg, Dunedin. 1892— F. V. Siedeberg, Dunedin. 1893— J. Edwards, Wellington. 1894— W. Mackay, Wellington. 1895 —W. MeUlruiu, Rangitikei. 1896— R. J. Barnes, Wellington. 1897— R. J. Barnes, Wellington. IS9B—lt. A. Cleland, Dunedin. 1900 (Easter)—W. E. Mason, Wellington. 1901 (Easter)—D. Forsyth, Dunedin. 1901 (Christmas)—R. J. Barnes, Wellington. 1902— J. C. Grierson, Auckland. 1903— W. E. Mason, Wellington. 1904 —A. W. O. Davies, Wellington. 1905— R. J. Barnes, Wellington. 1906— W. S. Viner (Perth, W.A.). 1908 (Easter) —A. W. O. Davies, Wellington. 1908 (Christmas)—F. K. Eclling, Wellington. 1909— J. Mason, Wellington. 1910— W. E. Mason, Wellington. 1911— W. E. Mason, Wellington.