Blackburne... Anderssen Bird... Rosenthal Heral Fleissig 20 3 Blackburne 1st SEPTEMBER 1873. THE CHESS WORLD. "The whisperings of our petty burgh." NEVER in the history of our game has a contest of Chess players excited an interest so general as that occasioned by the tournament which terminated on the 27th ult. in a tie between Blackburne and Steinitz for the two principal prizes. In 1851, it was soon discovered that Anderssen was very much superior to any of the players then opposed to him (with the exception of Szen), and his victory was discounted in the earliest stages of the combat, while in 1862, so firmly was the fame of the same great master established in the mind of every Chess player that, from the announcement of the competitors' names, the result was considered a foregone conclusion. It may be safely averred that, notwithstanding the defeat he sustained in his set match with the Austrian master, Steinitz, a similar sentiment prevailed regarding Anderssen's prospective fortunes in the Vienna Tourney, but as tidings of the result of each round of matches reached England and were despatched by us to the daily papers and public Chess rooms, announcing an equality of score between him and Mr. Blackburne, the excitement spread beyond the clientèle of Chess rooms, and became almost national in its universality. Among English Chess players the interest was intensified by the close running made by Mr. Steinitz and Mr. Bird, who followed the first-named pair up to the 7th round, when Stenitz, defeating Anderssen, took second place, which he held until Rosenthal's victory over Blackburne in the last round gave him a "tie" with the latter. Mr. Bird, unfortunately attacked by his old enemy, gout, who regards not time limits, and whose ingenuity (in phases of torture) cannot be mated, succumbed and falling an easy victim to Paulsen, retired to the fifth place, being succeeded by Rosenthal. The latter maintained a gallant fight for the fourth prize up to the last minute of the "stop clock," used for timing his moves, and eventually secured it by defeating the hitherto unconquerable Blackburne. Mr. Paulsen shares with Mr. Bird the somewhat barren honour of being "placed." Herr Gelbfuhs, the lion of Leopoldstadt, has, to some extent, disappointed his many admirers; but we understand that, like Mr. Bird, he suffered throughout the tourney from indifferent health. Herr Pitschel, whose exploits went not beyond endangering the chances, such as they were, of Dr. Heral, by scoring a unit against him in the fifth round, and winning a game from Mr. Blackburne in the seventh, left Vienna on the 20th ult., resigning all his subsequent matches. The full score of matches and games are appended, and are given separately, that our readers may have the tourney in all its details placed clearly before them. Of Mr. Blackburne's performance it becomes us not, as Englishmen, to boast, but we should fail to interpret the general concurrence of opinion among Chess players if we did not express their admiration of the sustained power he has evinced in scoring every match but the last one. Whether the "tie" will be played off, or the prizes divided, we cannot at the present moment say, but be the ultimate victor Mr. Blackburne or Mr. Steinitz, the honours of the great battle of Vienna may be claimed for English Chess. Since the above was in type we learn, by telegram from our correspondent, that the tie has been played off, and that the first prize has been won by Mr. Steinitz. Mr. Blackburne therefore takes the second prize, Pro fessor Anderssen the third, and M. Rosenthal the fourth. SCORE OF GAMES TO END OF ELEVENTH ROUND. NOTE. The players whose names appear at the head of the columns Win, Lose and Draw against those whose names appear in the margin. 18 5 2 17 4 914 1916 29133 8 6 8 15 85 15 6 11 12 6 9 15 8 7 14 34 20 NOTE.--The players whose names appear in the margin Win or Draw against those whose names appear at the head of the Columns. I, Signifies a match won;, a match drawn; and o, a match lost. The annual meeting of the Counties Chess Association was held at Clifton, near Bristol, on the 4th ult. and following days, and was attended by most of the leading provincial players, and by Messrs. Macdonnell and Wisker, of London. The competitors were divided into three classes, the first, including such well-known names as Skipworth, Burn, Wayte, Ranken, Thorold and Burt. The result of the contest in this class was a tie between Messrs. Skipworth and Burn for the first and second prizes, and a tie between Messrs. Wayte and Archdall for the third and fourth. For lack of time to play out the contest, the prizes were divided between the combatants. In the second class the first three prizes fell to Messrs. Moseley, Ryder and Berry, and for the fourth prize Messrs. Tibbetts and Banfield had equal claims, which have yet to be decided. In the Handicap Tourney the three prizes were carried off by Messrs. Wayte, Moseley and Fisher, in the order named. A match of five games was arranged between Messrs. Macdonnell and Wisker, which was won in brilliant style by the former; a consultation match between Birmingham and Bristol terminating in a drawn. game. The meeting, which ended in a luncheon to the visitors, given by Mr. Burt, of the Bristol Club, appears to have been a most successful one in all respects. M. Sanson, the author of several elementary works on Chess, and who some of our readers assisted during the Siege of Paris, died on the 23rd ult. BLACK. Notwithstanding the absorbing interest felt in the progress of the Vienna tourney, an incident of the seventy-first day's proceedings of the Tichborne trial must have attracted the attention of most Chess players. In referring to Sir John Coleridge's cross-examination of the Claimant on the subject of Chess, Dr. Kenealy explained his client's ignorance of the term "Rook" by stating that he had been told that Rook was a new name for Castle, when the Lord Chief Justice, interposing, remarked, "It is as old as the hills. I can recollect it as long as I can recollect anything." As regards the antiquity of the term Rook applied to one of the Chess pieces, his Lordship is undoubtedly right, for the fact is that Castle is a comparatively modern name and Rook the ancient one. The Rook is invariably so called by the early English Chess writers, and by modern writers as well indeed, for in England Castle is a term only heard among the merest tyros of the game. It seems indeed to have been derived from some fanciful notion of frontier defences, suggested by the corner or outer position of these pieces at the commencement of the game, and hence the French Tour, German Thurm, &c. A curious illustration of the properties of the pieces and the board is displayed in a two-move problem published by a contemporary a few weeks ago. The problem is one of the set competing in the Tourney, bearing the motto "Mens agitat molem," and as it is printed it admits of two solutions, but if the board is turned so that KR square becomes K R 8, the author's solution is the only possible one. We give the problem in the margin. As turning the board does not strictly, at all events, involve an alteration of the position, it will be a nice question for the examiners to decide whether this problem is right or wrong. Turning over the pages of an old volume of the Home Circle, an excellent weekly journal, which WHITE. White to play and mate in two moves. flourished some twenty years ago, we came across the following "Chessikin" contributed by Mr. Boden, who gives the odds of a Queen to a young lady :— The Illustrirte Zeitung has published a biography of Mr. Steinitz, which has been reprinted by the Deutsche and by Sissa. From the latter we learn that Mr. Steinitz, on his journey to Vienna in July last, stayed a few days at the Hague, to the great gratification of the Netherland Chess players, and on the 9th of that month, at the "Keizershoff" he contested eight games simultaneously against as many players, winning six and drawing two. La Stratégie of the 15th ult contains the score of the players in the Vienna Tourney to the 9th August; the number contains besides a selection of the games played, which together with the notes, is gracefully acknowledged to the WESTMINSTER PAPERS (Illustrated London News please copy). La Stratégie gives also a most interesting tabular statement of the relative value of the Chess pieces, compiled from fifteen different authorities, and a selection of the competing problems in the English Tourney. We are indebted to the Leipsic Illustrirte Zeitung of the 17th ult. for a most flattering notice of this Journal. "Praise from Sir Hubert" is indeed a gratification. (Illustrated London News please copy.) The Chess Record (G. Reichelm, 323 Walnut Street, Philadelphia) for August is brimful of interesting and instructive matter. Mr. Ernest Morphy's Logic of Chess Openings is continued, as is also Herr Schwede's articles entitled "Winks for Composers." We have in addition some polished verses, "To mate in three moves," and some humorous rhymes by Mr. Elson on false pretences in Chess, besides excellent games and problems. The subscription from England is only one dollar and a quarter per annum. CLASSIFICATION OF PROBLEMS. To the Editor of the WESTMINSTER PAPERS. SIR, I find myself-as your correspondent "X"-charged by Mr. Carpenter with wilfully perverting the sense of his definitions. A reference to my letter, in your Papers for April, will be sufficient to disprove this accusation. The use that I have made of the definitions, taking the general sense of them, is to point out that they do not refer to quality of play. Mr. Carpenter admits it. There is therefore no question of perversion-wilful or otherwise. The only two problem properties to which Mr. Carpenter's definitions do refer, are accuracy and variety of play. It is therefore a fair inference, confirmed by the importance apparently attached to every variation by Mr. Carpenter, that in an assortment of "perfect" problems-using the word perfect "in its Pickwickian sense," as referring solely to accuracy-the problem that he would rank "first" would be that which combined complete accuracy of detail with the greatest number of variations. Mr. Carpenter will not admit this inference, and I accordingly withdraw it. He calls it a wilful fabrication. He calls it a wilful fabrication. "Nothing" he says, "could be wider of the mark." "So careless of the type he seems, So careful of the single life." This indifference to the number of accurate variations limits considerably the scope of his system of classification. In venturing near Mr. Carpenter's stronghold of accuracy, I do not like to be dogmatic with so redoubtable a critic, but I certainly cannot see why a composer should be bound to provide one effective move only against any wretched move the defence may have on the board. The true principle seems to me to be that there should be no waste of power, not particularly, at every point of every variation, but generally, with reference to the number and arrangement of the pieces on the board; that, in fact, strict accuracy of detail may yield a point to concentration with advantage to the problem. Perfection does not mean merely "accuracy," nor even faultless in all points "created of every creature's best,” but also faultless in the relation of one point to another. With regard to the question put in your April Papers, as to what it is that constitutes quality of play, I may say with Socrates, "Nobly and munificently, my friend, when asked for one thing, you give many and various things, instead of the single one." I look in vain for more light on the subject from Mr. Carpenter. "Beauty and elegance" he says "are qualities difficult to grasp. In generalizing, it is proper to make no distinction between leaders, and variations, or sub-variations." It may be proper, but it is not common. Mr. Carpenter no doubt uses the word " proper" as referring solely to accuracy. But what shall we say to the following: "As no two persons can always agree as to which variation is the leading one, it seems idle to make any distinction!" There is much virtue in that "always." The strength of Mr. Carpenter's argument depends upon it. For the rest I sincerely hope that Mr. Carpenter does not believe in a proverb quoted by Shakespeare:-"Who understandeth thee not loves thee not." Yours, &c. E. FREEBOROUgh. OUR PROBLEMS REVIEWED. No. 298, by T. HENDERSON.-"A very fine and difficult problem," W. L. N.-"Pretty, but easy," T. Crossley."Well constructed," Iago." This has beaten me," W. Nash. No. 299, by RICHARD ORMOND.-Second solution, commencing IQ to K B 6, by J. N. K; T. Crossley and W. L. N. ; the author's solution by W. Nash. No. 300, by T. N. KEYNES.-" A capital conception," W. L. N.-"Difficult," T. Crossley.-W. Nash is wrong; IR to Q B 6 is impossible. No. 301, by SHERIFF SPENS, solved by J. N. K.-" Common-place," T. Crossley.-"Easy," W. L. Ñ.-"Very good," W. Nash. No. 302, by F. W. FORDER.- Poor," J. N. K.; "Class A, extremely neat," C. W. M. D.-" Very striking, and not easy," T. Crossley.-"Clever," W. L. N.-" Very neat," W. Nash. No. 303, by H. M. GRANT. "Very easy," J. N. K."Class A, easy," C. W. M. D.-"Very neat," W. L. N. "A pretty little novelty," W. Nash. No. 304, by J. W. ABBOTT.-"Poor," J. N. K.-"Unworthy of this fine composer," W. L. N.—“ Elegant, T. Crossley. "A weak defence," W. Nash. No. 305, by J. MENZIES.-E. W. W., Kt takes P ch will not answer.—ED.—"Very fine," W. L. N.-"Quite a happy thought," T. Crossley." A very pleasing and well-constructed problem," W. Nash. No. 306, by P. T. DUFFY. -None of our reviewers appear to have solved this problem.--ED. not answer.-"Easy," J. N. K.-Correct solution, W. L. N., T. Crossley." Good," W. Nash. No. 309, by Dr. S. GOLD.—“Good," E. W. Walker.-F Cundall, Q to Q R s is wrong.—“ Very good," J. N. K."Class A, extremely good," C. W. M. D.-Correct solution, W. L. N. T. Crossley is wrong.-"Very good," W. Nash. No. 310, by F. W. LORD.-"Suitable for warm weather," E. W. Walker.-Correct solution, by F. Cundall.—“Easy,' J. N. K.-" Class A, a little beauty,' C. W. M. D.-Correct solution, W. L. N. and T. Crossley.-" Rather poor," W. Nash. No. 311, by R. ORMOND.-E. W. W., 1 B to K B 7 will not answer.-ED.-F. Cundall, Kt to K B 7 is wrong.-Ed.— Easy," J. N. K.-"Class A, middling," C. W. M. D.Correct solution, W. L. N. and T. Crossley.-"Very neat," W. NASH. No. 312, by JAMES PIERCE."Excellent," E. W. Walker. -Correct solution, by F. Cundall.-Ingenious and interesting," J. N. K.-"Class A, obvious," C. W. M. D.-Correct solution, W. L. N. and T. Crossley.-" Pretty," W. Nash. No. 313, by W. T. PIERCE.-"Very ingenious," E. W. Walker.Correct Solution, by F. Cundall.-"Original and clever," J. N. K.- "Class A, this is something quite fresh,' C. W. M. D.-"Very difficult," W. L. N.-Correct solution, T. Crossley." Capital," W. Nash. I No. 314, by H. RICKARDS." Delicious," E. W. Walker. -F. Cundall, B to Q R 6 is wrong.-"The main idea is good, J. N. K.-"Class A., easy," C. W. M. D.-Correct solution, T. Crossley.-W. L. N. is wrong." Ingenious," W. Nash. |