CHESS

Evening Post, Volume CVII, Issue 18, 22 January 1924, Page 5

CHESS

RECENT CONGRESS

REVIEW OF THE PLAY

New Zealand's thirty-third championship tournament, which was looked forward to with exceptional interest, has now _passed into history. -> The various district champions have returned home, and local enthusiasts are naturally feeling- a bit lonely after the great stir and bustle of Christmas week. As Kipling has it:

■"The tumult and the shouting dies, The Cf.plains and the kings depart."

For the -benefit of those readers who ■were absent on holiday leave'when the tourney concluded on the sth instant, it may be mentioned that there were twenty competitors—which ,equals the record made in 1906. Of these, no less than ten were making a first appearance. Several of the competitors could not spare time for a full-round tourney, and section-play was therefore resorted to in order to shorten the contest. Care was, of pourse, taken by the Playing Committee when dividing up the talent offering so as to make the two sections as equal in strength a* possible. The four highest scorers in each section - qualified to play in the finals. Messrs. fi. Crakanthorp (champion of New South Wales), J. A. Moir (champion of Auckland), A, W. Gyles (Wellington South champion), and E. E. Hicks (who ia leading- for the Ngaio ." championship) qualified from one section, and Messrs. J. -B- Dunlop (Oamaru and New Zea,land champion), R. J. Barnes (WeUitigton ' Worki^gmen's Club champion), E. H. Severne-(Nelson champion), and F. L. Vanghan (Auckland : C.C.) from the other section. Those who had opposed each other.in the section play did not meet .again in the 'finals. In other words, the section '.play automatically supplied the results of three of the seven rounds comprising, the finals. The following table gives a bird's-eye view cf the points scored:—

Section and Finals. Finals. •Crakanthorp, S. (N.S.W.) 6 11'*Moir, J. A. (Auckland) ... 4* 10 *Gyles, A. W. (Well. S.) ... 44 9 Severne, E. H.-(Nelson) ... 4<l 8 Dunlop, J. B. (Oainaru) ... 3A 8A ' Barnes, R. L. (W.W.M.C.) 2£ 7 Vaughan, F. L. (Auckland) 1A 6i •Hicks, E, E. (Ngaio) ....;.. 1 6 The scores of those who failed to qualify for the last four rounds, are as follow:— Won. Lost. 'Miller, A. (Westport) 5 \ 4 Hicks, E. A. (Well. C.C.) ... 5 4 'Kummer, P. (Masterton) ... 4^ 4A Hughes, W. H. S. (Ohura) 4£ 4| Anderson, G. P. (Well. C.C.! 4 5 Kennedy, H. (Canty. CO., 3A. SA. •Armstrong, W. J. (Can. C.C.) 34 5A •Kelling, F. K. (W.W.M.C.) 3A. 5? Hawkins, T. (Canty. C.C.) 2 7 Pleasants, L. (Wanganui) ... 2 7 •Pihl, D. (Canty. C.C.) li 7A *Fairburn, W. J. (Well. C.C; £ 8a *These players were in section A. The remainder played in section B. As a result of his fins play, Crakan- . thorp, who scored 10 wins and 3 draws, is now champion of New Zealand, as well as of New South Wales. His win was very well received, one and all recognising that he played better chess than any of his nineteen'rivals. When the New Zealand Ches3 Association went in for the "open" door policy" "in" 1906, Crakanthorp was runner-up to W. S. 'Viner, ,the then Australian champion. In 1912 ha competed for the British championship,, and made a good" showing, winning exactly-half his games in a. formidable field of twelve. In his 6pm-* '. ion New Zealand chess has' improved markedly since 1906. V V... It will be seen that J. A. Moir (Auckland), A. W. Gyles (Wellington South), and E. H. Severne (Nelson) all tied for second place, and divided the second, third, and fourth prizes. Moir, like the champion, went through the contest ■without losing a game, his -full tally being seven wins and six draws. There are' only three precedents for a runnerup going through without a defeat. Moir's was a most creditable first appearance, and he well deserved the tele-' grams of encouragement and congratulation that reached'him from day to day. Moir, who is only 27 years of age, recently won the Auckland championship forythe third time. He'is regarded by several good judges of the royal game as the New Zealander with the-greatest ■possibilities. A.- W., ; Gyles is now runner-up for the sixth time. No wonder he has been dubbed "hard-luck :Gyles"! Sorely the door cannot be ..barred .much longer? E. H. Severne— 'four times/champion of Nelson, and six times champion of Canterbury—is anethervery consistent prize-winner who ias several times gone very near to winning the Dominion title. On this occasion a win from Crakanthorp would • 'have; given him; the championship, - but $he contract was -too steep. Severne, as becomes.;.a. member of the teaching .profession, has a very wide knowledge Sf the books.' The dictum of Lessing, ;the great German poet, that "the chase is worth more than the quarry," will, perhaps, not appeal overmuch to Messrs' Oryles and-Beverne. They will doubtless both 'get their names on the championship roll in the not-distant future J. B. Dunlop, of Oamaru, three times champion of New Zealand, came next. He .was a little rusty at first, but soon' got into his formidable stride, and played some fine chess. He declined a draw offered by Crakanthorp in the last round, and took a risk, as he needed a win to get into the prize-list. In the end he lost the game, the moves of which Were also made on a duplicate board for the benefit of the large number of spectators who wished to follow 'the.play. It is. generally expected that Dunlop will be to the fore again later on. R. J. Barnes, five times champion of the Dominion, did well in the sectionPlay (four wins, four draws, one loss), ■the strain told on him at this stage - but. he struggled on gamely and finished up with a tally of 7-6. Considering that he had only recently recovered from an illness, and that he was conceding a handicap of twenty-five years to Crakanthorp (and still more to Messrs Moir, Gyles, and Dunlop), his showing j Is really a praiseworthy one. F.\ L. Vaughan, Auckland's popular second string, also showed up well His enthusiasm and Ms, industry in copying the best games of European masters with elaborate annotations, into a huge notebook augurs well for a " topt seat" in one of New Zealand's later congresses Mr. E. E. Hicks, of Ngaio, is an other young player who- made an excellent first appearance. His mid-game play was especially good. So far, however,, he appears to have'confined his attention to on e or two openings. This will, , no, doubt, be remedied now that Mr. J. H. .Blackburne, the grand old man .of English che^,'once femarkeS the person who can/only play one or two tunes is not a good'fiddler. Space, or. the lack of it, forbids a detailed reference^ to the fine efforts of the Rev. A: Al Hicks, P Kummers, -and. the other competitors who did not qualify for the. final stage. 8u oi tnene alayers took part in a cai.

solation tourney, in which the acceptance of the Danish Gambit was' compulsory. The three prizes in this supplementary flutter were won as follows: Ist, Edwin A. Hicks (Wellington); 2nd Rev A. Millar (Westport); and 3rd, il. .Kennedy (Canterbury C.C.). The various prizes were very happily presented at the conclusion of th e tourney by Mr. F. J. Brooker, chairman of the Wellington Chess League. Mr. H. Kennedy, who was unable to attend, kindly donated his prize to the funds of the New Zealand Cheess Association. Before the players dispersed, a presentation was made to Mrs. Gyles in appreciation of. her valued assistance and kind hospitality. The brilliancy prize and the " bestrecovery " prize, both kindly donated by Mr. Dirk Pibl (pronounced Peel), are to be awarded by Messrs. Balk, Coombs, and Davies (all of Dun- I edin). • The matter of granting Sieger prizes, to those who hav e scored mare than 50 per cent, of wins is to be looked into by the New Zealand Chess Association.

A motor outing round Wellington's extensive sea front, with a halt for afternoon tea at Happy Valley, was greatly enjoyed on the Sunday afternoon.., No less than 30 of the 106 games" comprising the recent tourney were drawn. This percentage of drawn games—viz., 28.3—is the highest in the history of the New Zealand Congress. It was 27.3 per cent, at Napier (1911---1-12),.. and 25.3 per cent, at Wanganui (1895-6). [The only congress at which there were no draws was that held in Dunedin in December, 1898.] In the recent tourney several draws were agreed to round about the twentieth move. When editing the'book of the Napier Congress, Mr. H. L. James, of Wellington, commented as follows on a game of this type:—" This early decision in this class example of perfunctory wood-shifting argues on the part' of the two guilty ones either a far-reach-ing insight or a reprehensible indifference. It also shows that the Management Committee should be indued with power to ..prevent such trumpery tinsoldier sham-fights, and to compel competitors to display a little more of the praiseworthy spirit of the Kilkenny cats of famous memory: '' They scratched and they spit, " And they fought and they bit, ■" Till, instead Qf two cats there weren't any!"

The large attendances of spectators was a very gratifying feature of the recent tourney. The oversea visitors included two strong players—viz., Mr. Page (London) and Mr. Erskine (Melbourne). Mr.' Crakanthorp, when leaving, had a good word to say for the conduct of the tourney. He said he had taken part in more than a score of such contests, and in none of them had the treatment of competitors ' been more scrupulously fair, nor the management better, than at the recent congress. Great praise is certainly due to the joint hon. secretaries—Messrs. S. Faulknor and W. Toomath— to the umpire and reporter, Mr. George A. Jones, and to the various committeemen and supporters, who also gave of their best. The balance-sheet, which has been duly audited by Mi-. A. W. Gyles, shows that there will be a. small credit balance after the remaining prizes have been paid over. The two innovations—viz., section play and the faster time limit of 20 moves per hour—have both worked well, and appear -to have given general satisfaction. The 33 championship, winners have been supplied from the various centres, as follow:—Christchurch 3, Oamaru 3, Dunedin 4, Rangitikei' 1, Australia 2, Auckland 2, and Wellington IS. lo'save complications with 'the ' insurance company, the championship trophy (a large silver castle, mounted on an ebony plinth) is not being taken from New Zealand. An excellent phato of it, combined with New Zealand's championship roll (1879 to date), is, however: to be presented to Mr. Crakanthorp, so that he will have a lasting memento of his. fine win. It may be added that on his last evening in Wellington Mr. Crakanthorp gave a very successful exhibition of simultaneous play. He faced 20 opponents, made about moves in" three hours, -and emerged from the strenuous ordeal with the good score of losses (to Mrs. CJyles and Messrs. D. Pihl and 8. FaSlknor). He was even more successful in a simultaneous display at Auckland on Thursday evening when he encountered a strong team of eighteen players, and made the excellent score of sixteen wins, one draw and one loss (to H. N. Madddx)