CHESS ITEMS
Mr William Pamuel Viner, chess champion of Austiaha and New Zealand, has announced that he will not be able t o journey from Pcith to Wellington next Apiil to maintain his claim to the championship of New Zealard L Ciakanthoip, a competitor in the contest now proceeding for the chess championship of Kew South Wales, retired horn the tournament owing to " noise " caused by a musical entcitainment being held in a loom near the scene of the contest. The prizes offered to -whmeis in the JSew South Wales championship tourney consist of three trophies of the respective values of five guineas, two guineas, and one guinea, and an additional biilhancy prize of one guinea in cash or trophy It is anticipated that the winner of the championship will be a competitor m the content for the New Zealand championship at Easter. Mr C Janion, a veteran chess-player and one held in great esteem thiough the Dominion, has recently retned from the civil service of New Zealand. An appreciatoiy reference to his pubhe service* appeared a short time ago, paiticular attention boing directed to the fact (hat he was the originator of " The New Zealand Official Year Book." Mr Janion is the only representative in this Dominion of those who competed in tha first championship tournament, held in 1879, and he also took part in the fir.st tele-gi-aphic contest (Nelson v Canterbury). When in Dunedin on holiday leave last year Mr Janion spent a pleasant time looking up his ! old chess cronies and reviving what he hap- ' pily teimed " sunny memories of the early seventies." ; The long arm of coincidence is to the foie again! Mr E. Wallis, of Scarborough (England), inspired by Mr F Baird'a d-fficult six-move sui-mate, of which mention was ms>de in this column last week, composed a pair of problems some time ago on somewhat similar lines to the one contributed to the Otago Witness by Mi X J Barnes, of Wellington, and the pair weie published in a trade papei— the NA. Re\iew. The idea was fiist shown in seven moves, and then enlarged to 16 moves, but no one solved either in the N.A. fieuew. Mr Wallis struggled in vain to =olve Mr Baird's now famous problem, and a most remarkable circumstance is that belaud Mr X J Barres, woiking absolutely independently of each other in diffeient hemispheres, sho\i!d ha^e evolved practically the same modification of Baird's position The 16-movei is here piesented and it will be ea=y enough to thote who aheady know the idea- — 5b2, 4plpß; 2QIPIPI, 6RI , lklPjKt . pPlp* ; P2P4 , K7 White to nlay and compel Black to checkmate m 10 mo\es Captain Kennedy, in his " Waifs and Stiajs," sa\s "I hardly know anything moie tantalising" than the suspense that is undergone m the coui^e of an important ' part:e ' while your adversaiy, yet undecided, is making up his mind lespecting a move which, you feel a dieadful comictiou, must exeiuse a disastious influence upon your foitunes dining the remainder of the You ha\e long ago gone thiough the position and are awaiting his decision with what <,)-o'-'->"eh i'ou ti)s-\ The flip ir>inules previous t» tke extraction of a molar tooth is a joke to wnat you aie now obliged to endure. You fidget on your °eat look out of the window with an air of pretended indiffeience, or affect to address a caieless observation to a looker-on, throwing the while furtive glances upon the field of action. Your opponent's digits wander toward a certain piece, and your heart beats furiously with apprehension , they aie withdrawn from it, the quickened pulse moderates, and you breathe more freely again. His glance is directed to a different part of the board, and your lips involuntaiily form themselves into the semblance of a whistle as you lay the flattering unction to your soul that he is about to overlook what you see but only too well. Ah, confusion! His countenance suddenly lights up; he ogles that Black knight with the eye of a rattlesnake; his hand is upon it; your fate 13 sealed; the midnight of despair falls iipon your spmt, and the full bitterness of desolation is pictured in your woebegone visage." But if losing at chess be like wormwood to swallow,, on. the other hand what a soothing and delicious diaught it is to win, especially if your antagonist happens to be one against whom you are not oicunarily successful 1 A joy, to which few other joys aie comparable, thnlls through you, as. step by step, you build up an attack befoie which you feel assured that your enemy's po=ition stiongly foitified though it be, must ultimately give way How gently and gmgeilv you handle the men ' With what bland politeness you say " check." your outward features piickeied up in hypocntical composure, while your inner physiognomy chuckles all over with delight l And, firaUy, what a sensation of triumphant pleasure is yours as you queen a, long-chenshed pawn or obtain the crowning honour and glory of the finishing checkmate! " Oh, ma," she cried, rushing into the kitchen and flinging her arms around the parental neck, "he loves me!" "My dear child, I'm so glad l Has he told you? Has he asked you to be his wife?" " Xo, but , he's in the parlour learning to play chess [ -with pa."
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Otago Witness, Issue 2814, 19 February 1908, Page 67
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888CHESS ITEMS Otago Witness, Issue 2814, 19 February 1908, Page 67
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