PROPOSED CHESS CONGRESS.

Kumara Times, Issue 733, 4 February 1879, Page 2

PROPOSED CHESS CONGRESS.

THE CHAMPIONSHIP OP NEW ZEALAND. A telegram from Christchurch published last Friday evening, stated that a Cl less Congress was proposed of players within a radius of 15 miles of Christchurch.” This, we may say, was quite contrary to private letters we have seen and received on the subject, and our tiles to hand explain fully its intended general character. A special meeting of the Committee of the Jurist church Chess Club was held at the Public Library last Tuesday evening, relative to the proposed Chess Congress. The chair was taken by Mr J. Colborne Yeel, the President of the Club, and Mr Jaco'>sen was then elected secretaiy and treasurer in connection with the movement. After discussion, Messrs Mainwaring and Jacobsen were appointed to make a pielimiiury canvas in Christchurch in aid of the required funds, and it was resolved that the tourney should be open "to all bona fide residents in New Vealand. No general entrance fee is to be charged, but players residing within a radius of

fifteen miles from Christchurch are to be required to .pay a siih-eription of five guineas before entering the tourney. A further meeting of the Committee fc to Be held on-the I Oth of February. The Lyttelton Times, in an editorial article makes some excellent remarks on chess from which we extract the following

The game is, of intellectual games, the highest in the w< rid. In New Zealand, the athletic has hitherto kept pace with the outside world in its pro|iortionate relation to the population, but the intellectual—we are speaking of games—has yet to take its due place in the comparison. The Colony is fond of its outside spoi ts, and is proud of its cricketei-s, its footballers, and its oarsmen. There are comparatively few who know or care anything for its chess-players and their achievements. The advantages of chess are never* theleas great, In the exercise and training of the mind it is especially Useful, and as an amusement it is superior to a Vast number of the p*stimes Which engage the attention of inany in the evenings. As a mental exercise the practice of chess quickens the memory, improves the Judgment, and consolidates the reasoning power. The first comes into play, in the knowledge of the ope dngs of the.gaUies, the second is cultivated liy the practice during the middle jiortions of the game when the player is left entirely on his own resources, and the last proceeds from the habit of chess- which is to follow out every idea to its logical conclusion. The lowers of combination, foresight, subtlety,' promptness, and boldness of decision, are all called into play by this game, aiid cultivated to the keenest extent A man who has disciplined himself by the study. ot problems has qualified himself to face every difficulty of life, without seeking for other conditions of success than those he finds around him. The game is a splendid- training foryouth,' giving breadth, insightyotirmneHs,:. sense*!and ■the habit of application to- .the mind. In the accounts <d great matches we read of the placidity . anil courtesy of the players in the.;., midst of', great excitement. In the history of chess, m,en are known to. .play at once many,.games without Seeing a hoard,, and . tlm; jfpweir .is.r.expLiped .hyi-ojie” .writer to.be “tbepo Wer of,phbtographiug a picture, on the mind, not in yaiige dim, shadowy outline, hut in ail its minutest and it is a power which belongs to the ’quality ’ ot' abstraction which the practice of chess develops in the highest degree. The game c-*n he ahnSed like every other good thing, hat its abuse is not aii argument for its discouragement. Practised within, reasonable limits, it will be found to give a mental’ training ami a mental training of incalculable V due besides affotding amusement of extreme fascination. But it is unnecessary to say more of the social and intellectual advanta es‘ of 1 the game; At present, it unfortunately does not enjoy from the Colonial public that appreciation which it deserves. We hope that the efforts of the chess players of Canterbury to forward its interests will meet with a large measure of success.