CHESS TOURNEY.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1635, 30 December 1912, Page 5

CHESS TOURNEY.

THIRD AND FOURTH ROUNDB PLAYED. GYLES LEADING. (By Telesraph-Press Association.) Nelson, December 20* The' third round of the New Zealand ".' ohcs9 championship tournament was con- '. eluded yesterday morning, the following ■< boing the results:— Barnes v. Mason.—Barnes having tho White, opened with the Ruy Lopez, and . was met by tho Stcinitz defence deferred. - Barnes threatened by exchanges-to break ■ up his opponent's centre, but Mason re-' took with a Knight's Pawn. Later.Barnes., placed his Knight at tho Queen's sixth,' I '-, and Mason, exchanging the threatening-, Knight for n Bishop, left Barnes WithV, a strong Pawn position on tho Queen's' side. Exchanges of Books aild of a Bishop •' for a Knight by Mason prepared; for tho end of tho game. Exciting piny took placo when Barnes advanced a Pawn. to. the Bishop's sixth, and later took the '" Pawn on Knight's seventhi Mason-won-back tho Pawn, but Barnes by splendid"!? play took full advantage of the weakness '. ho had mado on Black's King's side, and - won a well-fought game. '■' : ' •••..". Maunsell v. Griersou.—Maunsell opened,', with tho Scotch Gambit,-which': soon-do--veloped into a lively' MaxLarige attack'to the ninth move, identical withthefamous.--• Marshall Tarasch game. From- here,'" Maunsell proceeded on less brilliant lines, but Grierson gradually-staved off the attack, and by a counter-attack with his Queen and a Rook threatened to: mate at tho Knight's seventh. Maunsell latercap-'-' tured a Pawn with a Knight,.butTost this ft piece, and the superior forces:-of his: op-'-i ponont caused him to resign-on- Royal on the 39th move. : ■ - :,"•'. "'::; K-VCICi James v. Kelling.—To James's opening,'!: Kelling replied with tho.French defence,'' 1 James securing a strong centre. On James castling on the Queen's side; -Kelling quickly advanced Queen side Pawns and brought his .Rooks to bear upon•■ tho■-■ castled King. James's counter-attack-' upon the King's side was too late to inter-".'i' fero with Kelling's strong attack;' The'" result of this was the loss of a Knight to James, who being unable to 6avo tho position resigned a few moves later, Dddds y. Hicks (Centre Counter;' Gam-, bit}.—This was a free,-open game, in which tho pieces were quickly brought"!': into play. Hicks mado a Pawn attack upon Dodd's King' 6 position, and both players worked up a game full of possibilities. Hicks forced open the Rook's file, and brought on a strong attack with-; Queen and Rook. Dodds could not break V up the splendid combination worked, up .' by Hicks, who forced a win on the 28th move.

Sainsbury v, Gyles.—This was a Giaco Piano opening, and Sainsbury, pushing, forward his Queen's Pawn, broke up the. 1 ': centre. Gyles opened irp his King side' Pawns to drive back Sainsbury's attack, and an exchange of pieces in the middlegam© left Sainsbury's centre weak. Gyles pressed the attack, and although'. Samsbury put up a good game, ho could not prevent Gyles from queening a pawn; and „ resigned. •".'".■'■'. '.

-Severno v. Cole—This "game constituted;,' the Four Knights' opening, and was very even and euntful until Cole threatened with a good move with a Queen. Severne thereupon exchanged Queens, and later an exchange of pieces left a blocked Pawn game. To open up the game, further ex- • changes were.made. In.the end.of,the game Severne easily out-manoeuvred his opponent, and won. / Grierson .v. Hicks.—The- following is the result''of the game, Grierson v. Hicks, adjourned from; the second round:—Grierson. opened with. Kuy Lopez,. and transposing the moves troubled Hicks'a Knight, which was ultimately placed in a secure position. An exchange of pieces and Pawns opened up the game, and left Hicks's centre Pawn 3 weak. At r the 16th move a critical stage.was.reached, and Hicks, failing to make the best moves, lost a'.Rook for a Knight in'the succeeding exchanges. In the end of the games Hicks made good use of his passed Pawns on the Queen's side, and Grierson, in endeavouring t) save a Pawn,'gave Hicks! a chance to force the exchange of Rooks, obtain a Queen, and win the game. Fourth Round. - ' ' ' The fourth round of the championship,' was concluded last'night, and produced some' exciting contests. The following are details of games played:—... ■ Mason -v. Dodds.—Mason opened with" tho Ruy Lopez, Dodds responding with thu Sieinitz Defence Deferred.' At move 83 • Mason won a Knight for two Pawns, and lataerlgavo up'a Knight, regaining th« piece by' a discovered check. This ex. change, however, gave Dodds a fine open; game of a strong attacking position. An'. exchange of Rooks by Dodds rolieved him of immediate danger, and enabled him to attack strongly. On the'2Bthmove Mason, gave up a Knight for a dangerous Pawn, but Douds was able to maintain the pressure, and Mason ;was forced to resign a few moves later. '

Barnes 'v'. Gyles'.T-Barnes opened with tlie Ruy Lopoz, Gyles answering with tho classical defence.; On his fourth move the latter advanced a Pawn to the Bishop's fourth, and next move opened the Bishop's file. Barnes prevented- Gyles from castling, and thought to win a Pawn or position by exchanging a Bishop for a Knight. Gyles, however, made good use of thoonen; file, and piled up a splendid-attack, ■ which made it sp difficult for Barnes to Securesafety for his King and his Queen that he exceeded his time, limit. 7 , Tho game was awarded a win for; Gyles. ; -,

Grierson v. Cole.—This game was a quiet variety' of the Ruy Lopez," in the opening of which Cole seemed to have tha best development of pieces. Grierson,, not: waiting to castle, gradually'worked'.'.iip.-a'r strong. attack on Colo's King's side, and won a Knight on the 22nd move. He pushed his,advantage, and Cole sacrificed a piece to delay, the crisis.., Grierson iotced the exchange of Queens on a pretty, mating position, and Cole, unable to- meet' tho final attack, resigned. James v. Hicks.—To James's opening, Hicks leplied with the Centre-Counter ; Gambit. Knights were early exchanged, and James harassed his opponent's Bishop by a bold Pawn advance. ' Hicks mado', a counter attack which - Jameswas able to withstand. ' Throughout the middle of- the game ,the position was extremely, critical, and towards the end of tho game Hicks, by a series ,of checks, won n Bishop as some compensa-' tion for the Pawns he had lost.; Tho end of the game proved most exciting.and exacting, and only careful play on Hicks's part prevented James from queening, his well-advanced Pawn. This well-fought game ended in a draw. Sainsbury v. Maunsell.—Maunsell adopt? Ed the Petroff defence in reply to Sams' bur.v's opening, and- early gave his opponent a chance to break up the position by checking at' Bishop's seventh. Difiicuk . ties increased for Maunsell, who had- to givo up a Queen to prevent a mate. Maunsell resigned on his 11th move. Up ; till now this is tho shortest 1 game of tho tourney. Rolling v. Sevcrne —Tho opening constituted tho Queen's Gambit declined, and for many moves proceeded steadily and evenly.. An attack' by Kelling was frustrated by an exchange of-pieces. In the middle game tho struggle centred round the Queen's Pawn, but neither player could gain any apparent advantage. Further exchanges, brought about a very even end to tho game, which-was still unfitt- . ished, when the session closed. -.:■ -' The position of players at the end of the fourth round of the chess championship tournament is as under:— Unfin-. Won. Drawn. Lost, ished. Gyles .3 - 1 - Hicks 2 . 2 ■-■■-. ; Severno 2 — — ■ 2 Barnes j 2 - 1 1 Mason ......... 2 — 2 . — Dodds 2 - 1 1 Grierson ...... 2—l 1 Sainsbury 1,1.2Kelling 1 - 1 ; -3 " Colo 1 - 2 1 James .— ' 1 3 — Maunsell ..:...— . — 4 —