Evening star., 1897-05-11
WANT TO PLAY SOON
Parliamentarian Chess Committee De-
sire an EARLY Date for the Match.
THE GAME IN TIE HOUSE OF COMMONS
Congressional Objections to Taking
Part.
THE PROBABLE CONTESrAN

The committee Of the house Of commons
Is desirors of an early date for playing
the chess match by cable with the Ameri-
| can House of Representatives. The Eng
| lishmen have picked their team and are
ready to play. Any one convers ant with
| the facts would expect as much There has
been a chess club in the house of COM
mons for years. A room is set apart for
its convenience. and the members have
played together and know who are their
| best players. -.
AS long as April, 1888, steinitz in his pub
lication. the International Chess Maga-
zine, quoted from Scotsman as follows:
"Chess has become one of the institu-
tions of the house of commons. Since the
introduction of the board to the smoking
| room many stiff games have been fought
every night. Gladstonians challenge Union
lists. and Parneliites come within the chess
circle. On Tuesday Mr.. Bradlaugh and
| Mr.. Hennfker Heaton were the center of a
| group of interested Observers and still
stranger conjunctions have often been seen
! across the board. The players are now be-
coming fastdious. Two weeks ago they
were delighted to have a movable board;
on Tuesday night they were agitating for
| a fully equipped table. A petition in reg
| uiui pdiilduleHtdIy lOTm mas D6en pre-
pared, and to 1t one hundred signatures
have already been attached. In this doc
ument. the defects Of the existing arrange
| ments are grayely enumerated. and the
/ chief commissioner of works is requested
| to furnish forthwith all that the PLAYERS
| DESIRE -a
Mr.. Henniker Heaton. mentioned above.
| Is conducting the correspondence concern
ing the match on behalf of the English
men He Is not one of their regular team
Dut IS named as an assistant to Mr.. John
| Parnell.
!, The team of the English house of COM
| mons recently played a practice match with
1 picked team from the press gallery, and
won by the score of AZ. to 21a Mr. H.
| Piunkett won from B. F. Busy of the
| Glasgow Herald; Mr.. Parnell lost to Mr..
| An:phiett of the Press Association: Mr..
Strouss won from ]. G. Turner of the Lon
| con Times; Mr.. A. Jones won from Mr..
Broadribb of the Times; Mr.. Cosmo Bouser
| lost to Fl. Y. Bussey of the Morning Post;
| Mr.. Seton Kerr won from Mr. McCrae of
the Liverpool Courier, and Mr.. McKenna
drew with Mr.. Heald of the Times.
Many of the members of the house of
commons are gentlemen of leisure, who
| have time to devote to sports and games
BESIDES, there are nearly twice as many
members In the lower branch of parliament
| as there are ~ the most numerous body of
Congress-,
| The representatives in the American Con-
gresss are mostly men of professions, who
practice their professions in addition to
| they play chess, 1t is only occasionally and
without much deep thought study of the
game: There is no one. among the members
who has ever been a distinguished player
Besides, some of the congressman who are
| believed to play fairly good game, do not
care to participate in the coming match
| for fear of the effect it may have on their
| constituents, believing that should it be-
come known that they are devoting their
time to playing chess, 1t will hurt them In
the future.
Chess Players in Congress.
After inquiry it was ascertained that the
following congressman play chess, viz:
| Richmond Pearson of Asheville NC; R. C
Shannon of New York city; Joseph Wheeler
of Alabama, D. A. De Almond of Butler,
Mo-; Levin I. Handy of Delaware, C. A.
! Swanson of Chatham, Va; r. G. Cousins of
| Upton. Iowa; D. 3. Henderson of Dubuque
| Iowa; W. T. Foote. jr., of Port Henry, N.
e.; DeK. C. Graffenreid of Texas. c. B.
Beach of Cleveland, Ohio;John F. Shafroth
Of Colorado, R. w. Parker Of Newark, N
j.; A. Meyer of New Orleans and John S.
! Williams Of Yazeo, Miss.
| Some of thesesmembers have brushed the
| dust off their men and boards, and have
| commenced to practice for the match. The
| most of those whose names are mentioned
| have not given the matter any thought.
| General Henderson is quite i'll at his home
| in Iowa. He comes from the same place as
| cid Paulsen, a celebrated player, and may
be a strong player.
! While two of the players were talking
about the proposed match John F. Shafroth
| Of Denver, Cox, intimated that he played
the game. though he had not played for
| seventeen years. He was desirous of trying
| his hand, and suggested an immediate trial
| board was obtained, and the two men,
| hers went at 1t. Mr.. Shafroth played very
| cautiously at first, and showed surprise at
/ some Of the moves made. In about ten
| 10 q
| he was In tangle, and shortly thereafter
| resigned. A second game was started his
opponent using more care this time, the re-
suit being the same, though longer delayed
! In the third game Mr.. Shafroth purposely
| gave his antagonist a chance to win, which
| was at once accepted After the sitting Mr.
| Shafroth said he used to be president Of the
| Denver Chess Club. as we'll as Its best play
| er. He was absent from the city at one
time. and when he returned he found that
| a stranger. some one from the east, ha(
proposed that Mr.. Shafroth should meet
him. They met and Mr. Shafroth won one
out Of thirteen. He says he threw away
his board and has not played since until
NOW. The incident narrated happened
| seventeen years ago.,
Another member who has shown consid-
| cradle ability as a player is Mr.. Levin l.
| Handy of Delaware Mr.. Handy has been
a frequent visitor at theTWashington Chess
Club since the cable match was proposed,
and has met several d. the strong local
PLAYERS with VARYING success: @ rs He I,, lost t. to
out ahead with Messrs.5 Hanna and Mar
tin. Mr.. Handy has met the good players
of Delaware. though he never played a
match at chess. With Mr.. w. J. Ferris of
Newcastle, who is probabiyi the best. player
in Delawale. he played three games, win
ming one aid losing two
Mr.. r. c. De Grafenreid of Longview,
Tex. is another congressman who has
shown considerable strength. He is not q
book player. and is said to be the best nat
ural player Of all those mentioned.
The Probable Team.
From Indications the American team will
be chosen from Messrs. Pearson. Shannon,
Wheeler, Handy. shafsbth, De Grafrenreid.
Bodine and De Armond
The Englishmen. asl has already been
stated. favor playing sthe match on five
tables. with two saasisfans to the player
at each table. The AaaeEicsns are not in
favor of having assistants to the tables. as
1t will be difficult to secure the requisite
number Of congressman who have suff1-
cient knowledge of the game.
Pillsbury Wanted az Coach.