Democratic messenger. [volume] (Snow Hill, Md.) 1869-1973, 1896-02-22
SNOW HILL MARYLAND. SATURDAY, FEBRJ AIRY - 1896
PROFESSIONAL CHESS PROFITS.
The PecuniarS Rewards Small In View of
Demands ON the Intellect.

/
| Demands ON the Intellect.
Professional chess players, consider
| ing the laburious nature Of their work,
the character Of mind, and the long pre-
paraiury study required, aIe probably as
! i'll paid as any kind uf intellectual
workers The professional chess player
who earns by his play more than de
cent modest living Is Il highly successful
mm An expert may be hired to run a
chess automaton and play with all
comerS AT a salary less than some type
writers earn. There are in all the world
probably less than half a hundred high
ly skilled professional chess players.
I The Hastings convention brought to-
gethcr %, and the number was notable.
y few professional chess players are
men of means. Int for the most part the
passion for the game leads the profes-
sional player 10 put aside material con-
sidoratiuns IN order to follow his bent
Some Of the best known players dress
shabbily and live plainly. The ablest
and most successful usually exc ont their
incomes made directly from the game
!
Ions, aud the like. Books ON chess sue
ceed one another rapidly, but none has
a large sale They are costly to produce,
and the stereotype plates are Of small
value. The aggregate of considerable
prizes offered in chess contests through
out the world amounts i'll any one year
to only few thousand dollars, and a
] In = 4 -.
who far outnumbcr the professionals,
| provide the purses and meet the expenses
of the match games. 1t. Petersburg is an
| important chess center. and there the
travelling expenses of the professionals
are made up hy the local clubs.
| Professional chess players are rarely
men of liberal education and usually
men of one idea. Chess has been the di-
version Of great and broad minded men,
hut it is commonly the business Of men
devoted To enc idea. The professional
chess player seems tireless in the pursuit
of the game. one whose duty il was to
| play six hours "a day with all corners at
place Of amusement was accustomed
to follow his day. work with two hours
/ lens. 1t was this spirit that made Paul
Morphy Of New Orleans abandon Il
promising career AT the bar and cling to
/ the game until his physician warned
him that he must give it up or lose his
reason.
| Famous as chess has long been, there
are comparatively few really skilled
amateurs, and il is impossible to main
tain anywhere very large chess club
4 Ono of the largest in the world is i'll this
/ city, yet il Is not Il large clun compared
with other successful clubs formed on
| different lines IL is almost impossible
/ in this country To form large chess
| club On any hut socially democratic
lines. Some Cf the best amateur chess
players are mechanics who would find
the atmosphere Of the ordinary social
club quite uncomfortable. There is a
strong contingent Of good chess players
i'll the Gerran quarter They frequent
a locally farous club. lodged i'll an old
house down ccond avennue, but known
| TO chess experts the country over.
There an some oddly placed chess ex-
periS i'll remote villages who come to
New York perhaps once a year, as to
the chess headquarters of the country.
/ One such man Is a bank officer and gen
4 eral factotum in small border state
city. Although occupied with II thou
sand business details he finds time TO
conduct games by correspondence with
/ European experts, 10 arrange chess tour
namSn;> and towrite upon chess. When
he comes to New York, he busies him
self among chess players to the neglect
of all his friends not equally devoted TO
| the game Now York Sun.