September, and whereat a Handicap Tournament with sixty-four entries was resolved upon, thirty-three names therefor having been already received. In our November number we announced the successful formation of this tourney, and we published the names of the sixty-four Competitors. We appended some remarks complimentary to Mr. H. F. Down, and proceeded to state that the production of a "Chess-Board" Handicap had been thrice accomplished in the City Club, but not so much as once in any other Chess Association. It would appear that by about the 12th of December this statement of ours reached the eyes of Mr. Higginbotham, the Honorary Secretary of the Manchester Athenæum Chess Club, and he thereupon hastened to inform us that a handicap of sixty-four entries was then in progress at his Club; that it consisted of five classes, was commenced the first week of November, and at the time of writing there were only six players left. We are glad to receive these particulars, and should not have minded having them earlier. We feel much sympathy with the fifty-eight unknown competitors who have fallen, and a deep interest in the fortunes of the six anonymous gentlemen who survive. Some of our readers may perhaps wish that their appetite for further intelligence concerning this contest had been whetted by the publication of the names of at least the fortunate six with whom the final struggle now rests; but we at any rate are able to repress any such unbecoming spirit of curiosity, and shall be quite prepared to announce when the proper time arrives that the prizes have been won by those skilful players, Messrs. Anon. There is one salient fact which merits, and to which we gladly accord our recognition, viz., that Mr. Higginbotham if a reticent must at any rate be a zealous secretary, for otherwise he could not have started a tourney with the very large number of sixty-four entries.

We have received from Mr. G. H. McLennan, of No. 176 Alexandra Road, St. John's Wood, a letter respecting the newly formed Belsize Chess Club, which meets every Tuesday evening (from 7 to 11 p.m.) at the Princess of Wales Hotel, Abbey Road, St. John's Wood. Mr. McLennan is the Honorary Secretary of this association, and we extract from his letter the following paragraph. "The club has now been inangurated some four weeks, and bids fair to be a success, although at present the membership is hardly sufficient to keep it well afloat, and a few more members would be sincerely welcomed. The difficulty is to acquaint local players of the existence of the club, and you would aid us in surmounting this by giving publicity to the whole or an abstract (as you may think fit) of this letter." The writer goes on to add that he shall be glad to answer any communications addressed to him at his above-mentioned residence. We very willingly aceede to Mr. McLennan's request, and may mention that by a coincidence there is lying before us a letter from a correspondent asking whether there is a Chess Club in St. John's Wood, and if there be one, desiring to be favoured with its address. Now we cannot refrain here from observing that the difficulty which obstructs the opening career of the Belsize Club cannot fail to affect unfavourably all the other local Chess Associations of the metropolis, not excepting the very oldest of them, unless they have recourse to that publicity upon which we have so often insisted as essential to their well being. There are now a great many local Chess Clubs of London, two dozen at the very least, we should say, whereas ten years back there were perhaps not half-a-dozen, a most telling proof this of the increasing popularity of the game in the metropolis. Nevertheless nearly all these bodies exist as it were in skeleton only. The number of their members in the aggregate would probably be found if computed to be under five hundred, although the number of Chess amateurs in London and its environs cannot well be short of ten thousand Each Club in fact is a circle, composed mainly of a few mutual friends and persons whom they happen to know. Nearly everyone of them lives a precarious existence, and very few of them attain the years of a well-kept canary. The reason of this is obvious; members die or go away, or get married to masterful wives, and soon the small stock of acquaintances gets used up, wherefore, and in consequence of the club being unknown to the general Chess public, it dies. The remedy for this otherwise sure process of decay is of course publicity. Each club should take care to get itself well advertised, and, so far as our columns are concerned, it can do so at the cheapest possible rate-viz., merely at the cost of the postage stamps required for notifying us of its proceedings. So willing indeed are we to assist in this matter, that we propose in a subsequent number to give a list of all the metropolitan Chess clubs, with their addresses, names of secretaries, evenings of meeting, and amount of subscriptions; or, in other words, devoting a page for the purpose of forming a metropolitan Chess Directory, to which amateurs desirous of belonging to clubs in their neighbourhood may have recourse. We shall be glad to receive the necessary information from club secretarics for this purpose.

Continuing our monthly record of such Metropolitan Chess Matches as come to our knowledge, we begin chronologically with the South Hampstead and Kentish Town Clubs, between whom a contest was fought at the rooms of the former in Bridge Road, Chalk Farm, on the 21st of November. Twelve games were played, all of which were won by the Kentish Town players. On the 25th November, the Hackney Club beat the Clapton ditto by four games. The fight occurred at the Hackney Institute, 194, Mare Street, and there were nine players on each side. On the 27th November, a battle upon a small scale took place at the rooms of the St. James' Club in Eden Grove, whereto four representatives of the Eclectic came, saw, and conquered; the score-sheet showing a majority of three games in their favour. On the 30th November there was an encounter between the Excelsior

of Camberwell and the Peckham Mutuals, the champions of the latter being at home at the Collyer Memorial Schools. The Camberwell Club was successful to the extent of being two games ahead.

The newly-formed Belsize and South Hampstead Chess Clubs have lost no time in displaying that spirit of pugnacity which is such an excellent quality in Chess-players. Conclusions were tried between them on the 2nd of December, and the contest resulted in Belsize winning by 9 games to 1. Two of the games were left unfinished, one of them, as we understand, being in favour of the victorious club, while the other was quite even. The following is a list of the players as they were paired upon the occasion.

On the 3rd of December a match was played at Wilkin Street between the St. Pancras Church Institute and the Kentish Town Chess Club, victory declaring for the latter, with a score of five to one. On the 5th the Railway Clearing House defeated the Shaftesbury by seven games to two, with one draw. The action was fought at the rooms of the victors in Seymour Street. On the 7th the Athenæum and the Eclectic had a bout at the rooms of the former in Camden Road, Holloway. The home team was victorious by nine games to three, with two draws. This is the second defeat sustained by the Eclectic at the hands of the Athenæum during the present season. On the 10th the College Chess Club was defeated by the Eclectic, who gained thirteen games to eight, with one draw. The lady combatants were very unsuccesful upon this occasion, only one of them making anything like a stand against their opponents. This was Miss Rymer, who secured a draw. She would most likely have won, but for the adverse influence of the clock, for just before closing time she had two pawns to the good, and an excellent position. The match was played at the Ladies' College, Little Queen Street, the home team being composed of Messrs. Potter, Lord, H. F. Down, Stiebel, Manning, Hearn, Richardson, Hall, M. Down, Mrs Down, and the Misses Rymer, F. Down, and H. Down. The Canonbury Club was represented by Messrs. Hodge, F. Hoon, C. Hoon, Lurcott, G. Gibbs, Johnston, E. Schmidt, W. Gibbs, H. Schmidt, Chase, Lans lale, Palmer, and Vane.

A contest took place on the 17th of December between the Athenæum and College Clubs, at Little Queen Street, with eleven players on each side. The gloomy vaticinations of certain Collegians were verified by the result, for the Athenæum won 14 games to 6, with 1 draw. However, to the credit of the lady combatants be it said, that they gained a moiety of the victories scored by their side. Two more games were won by Mr. Lord, this being the third time consecutively that he has distinguished himself in a similar manner in the College matches. He has, therefore, proved himself a most valuable member of the Little Queen Street Club. The remaining game was secured by the skill of Mr. Manning, while the one draw goes to the credit of Mr. H. F. Down, who, however, would probably have won had time been allowed for the conclusion of the game. Subjoined is a list of the players, with the scores they made :

ATHENEUM CLUB.

COLLEGE CLUB.

A contest was fought upon the 11th of December, between the Greenwich and Peckham Mutual Clubs, at the Greenwich Institute. The home players were victorious by nine games to one, with two draws. Their representatives were Messrs. Piper, Jennings, Fewings, Huntley, Pettitt, Smith, senior, and Smith, junior; the

Peckham club by Messrs. L. Knight, Woodward, senior, Tuckfield, B. Woodward, Cook, A. Woodward, and Jeffries. We may mention, en passant, that the new Honorary Secretary of the Greenwich Chess Club is Mr. Henry Banks. On the 12th, a match took place between those near neighbours, the Ludgate Circus and the Ibis Clubs, the rooms of the latter on Ludgate Hill being the scene of action. The Circus players were successful with a score of five to three, and one draw. Their champions were Messrs. Tudor, Imbrey, Hum, Duncan, and MacDonald. The Ibis was represented by Messrs. J. Schooling, F. Schooling, Herbert, Williams and Rowbotham. On the 14th. Eden Grove was the scene of a conflict between the Athenæum and the St. James's, with a victory for the former by seven games to two, and two draws. On the 16th, the Hackney and Eclectic Clubs met in battle at 194 Mare Street, but were unable to make much impression on each other, for each side could shew three wins, and there were likewise two draws. The Hackney colours were upheld by Messrs. Provost, D. H. Scott, Cooper, Brodribb, Hodge, Connery, Hopwood, and G. Scott, while the invading team was composed of Messrs. Hodge, Hoon, Mainland, Lurcott, Schmidt, Chase, Palmer, and Gibbs.

On the 17th of December the St. George's Club (Barnsbury) and the Kentish Town Club encountered each other at the rooms of the latter, in Welkin Street, the home team being victorious by 61 to 5 games. On the 18th the Excelsior defeated the Ludgate Circus Club, with a score of 8 games to 4 and 1 draw. The match was played at the People's Café in Ludgate Circus, and the Camberwell Club was represented by the following very strong team, viz., Messrs. Wilson, V. C. Peyer, C. Kindell, MacLeod, Keene, Gortley, Holmes, and Matthews. The home team consisted of Messrs. Imbrey, Tudor, Hum, Keyworth. Rix, Wheaton, MacDonald, and Dalton.

In concluding this summary, we beg to express our acknowledgments to the various club secretaries who have sent us information, and we have pleasure likewise in recognizing the help afforded by the columns of the Holloway Press wherefrom a portion of the above detailed intelligence has been derived.

We have to record the formation of two new clubs devoted to the game, one of these is the Morphy Chess Club, which on and after the 2nd instant will meet at the Mason's Hall Tavern, Mason's Avenue, Guildhall, E.C. The evenings of meeting will be on Mondays and Thursdays at 7p.m., and the subscription 10s. per annum, payable half-yearly in advance, or Is. per month. The Honorary Secretary is Mr. J. E. Imbrey, to whom all communications should be addressed. The other addition to the ever increasing circle of metropolitan Chess associations is the St. John's Working Men's Club, Kirkman Street, Tottenham Court Road. A tournament is now in progress there, and when it is finished a match with some other Club is contemplated. Full particulars may be obtained of the Secretary, Mr. Walter Grantham, 22, Charlotte Street, Fitzroy Square, or by personal application to Mr. Frost, at the Club, any evening after 8 o'clock. In wishing these two new comers all prosperity, we cannot refrain from expressing our gratification at the upspringing of so many associations devoted to the practice of Chess. We note with pleasure that they are all amateur organisations. As such they are proofs of the increasing popularity of Chess as a recreation, and not as a means of making money. Each of them is a nail in the coffin of Professionalism. That loafer is dying hard, but the end, we fancy, is not very far off. We judge so because the inevitable gaps made from time to time in the faithful band of victims do not seem to be filled up with fresh recruits. Amateurs begin to recognise that no improvement, and very little amusement, is to be obtained by preventing strong players from earning their livelihoods industriously like other men. When this fact is universally accepted and acted upon so much the better will it be for eminent experts themselves. No longer lowered by being at the beck of every fool who makes himself their superior by being their hirer, they will have that honourable esteem, which is their rightful due when not forfeited by an abasing course of life.

On the 9th ult., Mr. Potter paid a visit, by invitation, to the People's Café, Ludgate Circus, and played ten simultaneous games against the following members of the Chess Club there established, viz.:-Messrs. Imbrey, Tudor, Hum, Moore, Duncan, Macdonald, Fazin, Dalton, Hammond, T. Paul and R. Paul, the two latter being in consultation. The contests with the first six of the above-named players were upon even terms, and with the others at the odds of a Knight. The visitor drew with Mr. Fazin and the Messrs. Paul, but the remaining eight combatants allowed themselves to be defeated. The allies conducted their game remarkably well, and ought to have won. They played weakly towards the end, but even at the conclusion had such an amount of numerical force, that they would have been justified in playing for a victory. This they were afraid to venture, and rather than bring their King out, they submitted to a draw, by perpetual check.

OUR PROBLEMS REVIEWED

No. 1092.-Black would be mated on the move, only there is one square into which he can retreat. Well, White has a B entirely useless where it stands that can prevent this retreat. What, then, can be more tempting, even to a learner, than to play it thus; commonplace and very suggestive initial moves have many times been adopted by our best composers, and in their happiest efforts, too, but they have generally culminated in an ingenious trick or a very interesting or original mate But this cannot be said for 1092, nor many more of the multitude of "blocks" that have appeared latterly. To huddle together some dozen or more pieces out of which may be extricated three or four mating positions of a very ordinary type is not, I think, an advisable practice, nor one that can be expected to leave any impression in a competition. Very probably many of such problems are entered on the hazard that those competing with them may be no better.

No. 1093.-Four solutions, IQ to Kt sq, 1 R to K 6 ch, 1 Kt to K 2, and 1 Kt to K 6 dis ch.

No. 1094.-Two solutions, IQ to Kt 5, which looks like the author's intentions; also IR to Q 2 ch, followed, if 1 Kx Kt by 2 Q takes R ch, &c.

No. 1055--1 R to B 4 ch. I doubt very much if this is the composer's design here; yet it baffles me to find any other way of mating. 1 to Q Kt will not do, neither will any other that I can discover, except the one named,

and it seems absurd to begin a two-mover with such a common-place check.

No. 1096.-Two solutions, IQ to Kt 2, and 1 Q to Kt

sq ch.

No. 1097.-Here, again, I fancy everything is not as it should be. There is as a solution in 3 by 1 R takes P ch, but I cannot believe it to be the author's. More probably it was intended to be, B takes P, and then when the Rooks attempted to defend their K the Q would be sacrificed, and the position wound up in fine style. Black's Q and Kt's might also interfere, but they also would succumb to the apparently powerful move B takes P. Should, however, Black, instead of any of these selfishly interpose his B at Q 4, the play is most unpropitiously broken up, and further scheming on White's part rendered useless.

1092. Of the conventional type.
1093.-Three solutions.

1094. All thunder and lightning.
THE SET

Would not have been any the worse for a little more

care.

1095. About the worst two-mover in the tourney. 1096. The only problem on the page which repays the trouble of setting up.

1097.- Much ado about nothing.

MY CHAMPION.

THE LADIES' CLUB.

X.