Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1875-12-31

AorPhy's Condition.
Mr. III. f. Bird, the distinguished English
chess player, who arrived n short time ago
| IN this country, will 90 TO Philadelphia sooa.
| when arrangements are expected To be ma1e
| for q grand chess tournament OF the world
he will De able to speak better tnsn any
| country, and is expected to suggest such
| notifications in the proposed arrangements
as VIII 9e a s TO European contes-
| Dament one of the marked features OF the
| Centennial Exposition, and IL Is proposed
mat representatives. from every nation
be consulted in devising the rules aud
regulations under which the matches
| communicated with the proper committees
he Will probably be accompanied to Phil
| adelphia by Mr. McKensi e, the chess cham
pion ofthis city: MT. Mex ensie has played
with him and won the odd game, but IL was
by the courtesy OF the English player who
declined an opportunity To make the game
drawn. Since he has been in New York he
has frequented the Cafe International
where be has played nearly every day be
tween the hours of twelve and three O'Clock
The hrst player with whom he engaged I'm a
series of games was Mr.. Rice. OF this city
AT first the American won, but before the
close of the series Mr.. Bird was considerably
ahead. a small stake was ventured on each
game. He plays a remarkably quick ami
clean" game. Hitherto his countrymen
have been distinguisbable for the sIowness
rather than the rapidity with which they
made their moves The French PLAYERS
move with the greatest Tapidity: the
Italians are next in order, the Germans next
and the English last, according TO the ira
ditions OF the game. The "'cleanness" OF his
game shows itself in the absence OF all un-
certainty after he has once made up his mind
10 make a move. He sits well away from
the board, and seldom allows his hands or
even his elbow TO rest on the table unless il
is his own turn to move. When he has de-
cided upon move the decision is indicated
by sudden movement of the hand, which,
with the precision of machine, takes up
the piece and deposits it in the centre of its
rev square. He has been able to play, wi in
out noticeable nervous exhaustion, as many
as seventeen games in one day, though they
were not played with persons whom he great
ly cared 10 beat or for stakes. He has quiet,
gentlemanly, pleasing address, is about IS
years old short in stature, portly, bald, flor
id, and good natured, with light soft whiskers
fripging his face, on his cheeks and beneath
his chin. His residence is in London, and he
is an hOnorory member of the City of Lon
don Chess Club. He often plays in the St
Georges Chess Club rooms, which are largely
resOrted To by the wealthy and titled lovers
OF the game. Stanton, who lately died was
an intimate friend with whom he spent
many hours in conversation and studies OF
difficult positions. In his life he has played
with some OF the best players OF Europe, tay-
ing had varying luck with WiSker, SJeinetZ,
Andersen, Macdonnel, Boden, Blockburne,
and Zukertort. Buckle, the author of
the "History OF Civilization" who was
naturally one of the greatest of chess
players, though his practice did not equal bis
against him. In no regularly contested
match has Mr.. Bird ever won less than half
the games. In match with Steinitz he
only Won five out of seventeen games played,
while SteinitZ won seven, but the match was
rot finished, being broken off by the neces-
sIty of Mr.. Bisit 10 this country in 1856. His
game with Anderson and Boden are quoted
in chess publications as among the most
brilliant on record. They are not a original
in design as some OF Morphy's, but in fer
tility of resources and in building up ua-
promising positions there is no better expo
nent of chess, probably, In this country or
his own.
By profession Mr.. Bird is a railway &C.
countant On the visit to this country al
luded TO above he came in the capacity of
auditor OF the Atlantic and Great Western
railway. He played during that trip q few
games only besides the series with Mr.. Nc
kensie. He had before been in this country
| in 1860, and again in 1865, but had played
| many games, the report of which found re-
| cord in chess publications. Indeed, few of
the gentlemen with whom he transacted
business were aware that he was a master of
the game. Recently he wrote a book en-
| titled "Chess Masterpieces" which con-
| sists OF his annotations on various remarka-
| bic games. 1t is dedicated to Kolisch. He
has not hesitated during his visit to the
| United States to avow his readiness to play
| with any expert with whom a match can be
\ arranged. He has been invited to visit Bos-
| Ton and Buffalo by the chess clubs of those
cities, and in the course OF the month, which
| is the time he has fixed for his stay here, he
| will probably contest the palm of victory
| with all our principal players. He will, 1t is
expected, be handsomely entertained by the
/ chess players of Philadelphia. A series of
| games was begun the other day with Abe
| roni in this city. The stakes were small
| with Mr.. Bird, though by not large major
ity of games.
| The New York Chess Club, soon after the
death OF Mr.. James Thompson, whose nat
| alive, ceased to be supported, and the prn-
cipal gathering place of chess players in this
city at present is the Cafe Internationale at
No. 294 Bowery. Here Mr.. Bird has been
| nearly every afternoon, the centre Of a large
| circle OF lookers-on. Among the latter are
| many gentlemen who are famous in New
| York chess annals. There has been seen here
1 DIR. B. /. Raphael, OF No. 10 East Ninth street
| who was one of the four persons who won
prizes In the great American chess tour
| nament of 1857. There were thirty-two
| contestants. Paul Morphy won the frs,
1 prize, Paulsen the second, Lichtenstein the
third, and DR.. Raphael the fourth. This
| tournament IL was that gave Mr.. Morphy
his prominence in the world OF chess, and
which led him to make the tour to Europe
| which covered him with glory and brought
credit TO his native country for a kind OF
| ability which IL had been supposed, and as q
| result of very natural reasoning, to be en-.
| tirely lacking. Here, also, have been seen
Messrs. A. Zerega, +. Bernier. P. III. Wor-
| rell, Mason, Richardson, OF williamsburg;
| DIR. Barnett, OF Brooklyn; Delmar and Near,
| of New jersey. Many of these men have
long since ceased to Ia Ike much active inter
|
| Mr.. Bird has stimulated them to revisit the
| old haunts of the game. Besides these aud
| q large number of lesser notabilities, the
| room was crowded with amateurs.
PAUL MORPHY.
| A private letter TO a gentleman in Column
| bia, s. c., by personal friend of Mr.. Morphy
| In reply TO request for Information as tC
1 the mental condition of the latter, says =
81 am sorry to say that the reports con-
corning him have been grossly exaggerated
| in the newspapers. He is not In any sense q
| lunatic, though his mind is affected some
what. The statement that he is hopelessly
| insane Is far from the truth, for we all have
confidence that in time he will be al
! right again. The fact that his mind
was not right was observed by his init
mate friends some months ago, when he
was laboring under the delusion that un.
| known persons were circulating calumnies
| abOu. him and iTn"~i
' viu-,x. ,,----s,ss Iurl mat ne was Tn
!ielm or petty Prosecutions, the aim o
when was TO drive him from the country
The idea constantly haunted him and drove
MIN at last to the point where he publicly
accused several Individuals with being con.
| cerned in prosecuting him. The thing gre y
upon him until finally he challenged the
supposed authors of the imaginary calum
| MES TO mortal combat with deadly weapons
| After this, OF course, the matters was made