The Billings gazette. [volume] (Billings, Mont.) 1896-1919, 1902-09-02
CHESSATS SEA
Game Played When Liners
Were Eighty Miles Apart.
ONE PLAYER PITTED AGAINST SIX

eaaf ~ esS~ Hai,
ONE PLAYER P1TTED AGAINST SIX
Sharply Contested Game Carried ON
Between Players nm Campania and
P~hiladelphia - Moves Yer Made
For Nearly Five Hours, interrupt
ed by Business Talk with Lucania.
To play chess by wireless telegraph
while the players sat in different ships
miles apart was the expe-
rience Of chess players who arrived
at New York the other day on the
Campania and the American
liner st. Paul. Paul Ginther, an Eng
was the champion on the C%unarder.
In midocean he played against a party
OF six on the Philadelphia. When the
game wal interrupted at $50 p. m. Of
June 10 he was prepared to win in
three more moves, says the New York
Journal. On the Philadelphia a draw
was claimed. at
Gilman, the Marconi operator on the
Cunarder, has the credit Of starting
this curious game. He had heard that
Mr.. Ginther was an expert amateur.
He asked him IL he would play a man
-on the Philadelphia in case a match
could be arranged and Mr.. Ginther
consented. The saloon yoyagers heard
of it and were on the qui vive when
the Philadelphia was spoken.
Would the Philadelphia play chess?
It would. Bring out the chessboard
and place the men," was the instruction
from the American liner. No word
came as to who was to play on the
Philadelphia, but MI. Ginther took 1t
for granted that he was to be pitted
against a single player. He did not
know that half a dozen were to take
a hand in moving the pieces on the
Philadelphia's chessboard.
1t was Just 2 p. m. when the game
began. The ships were then some
eighty miles apart, the Campania to
the southwark and slightly leading her
rival. No effort was made to speed
either vessel. They were steaming
. westward over a calm sea at about
eighteen knots an hour, and this speed
was kept up on both ships for the att
ernoo
Mr.. Ginther placed his board in the
grand saloon Of the Cunarder, and that
apartment speedily filled with ad-
mirers Of the game, anxious to look on
and mark the various moves. Mr.. Gin
Their gave warning when he began that
he wanted no advice; that he would
play his own game to the finish. One
Of the stewards was placed at his dis
posal, and his moves were carried on
slips of paper to Operator Gilman,
who at once t~elegraphed them to the
Philadelphia. The answers, taken down
on slips of paper, We're sent back to
Mr.. Ginthel, who moved his oppo-
nent's piece to correspond with the tel
egraphed m0ve.
The same order Of things was OBJ
served on the Philadelphia, except that
the board was placed in the smoking
room, and six instead of one took part
in the play Who these players We're
it was impossible to ascertain the other
day on the American liner.
Operator Lindsay of he Philadel-
phia, like his fellow operator on the
Cunarder, knew the game, and his mes
sages We're exact transcripts of the
moves made on the ship. Around the
operating room on the American liner
the passengers stood twenty deep wait
ing the result of each move made.
One of the first efforts of the seXtet
on the Philadelphia was to catch Gin
~ 4l,or -, 4hD tsoCJIarn r,ofn fS.icly This
means to checkmate in three moves.
This the shrewd Ginther avoided, and
then he had to head off q dozen trick
moves, while he gradually drew his
net about the players on the American
liner.
The game had reached a critical
point for the Philadelphia players at
$50 D. M, when the dinner bell stop,
ped further playing. Messages and
promises to resume the game immedi-
ately after dinner were exchanged
The pieces were left on the two boards
and on each ship a watch was placed
to see that no one meddled with them.
But the game was destined to end
there, for after dinner the Campania's
sister ship Lucania. eastward bound
spoke the Campania. and an exchange
of business messages for half an houl
followed. The connection with the
Philadelphia had been lost by thai
time, and it was never possible to re
sume it for the rest of the voyage.
Newest Kind OF Endless Chain.
The latest form of the endless chail
is that devised by a contributor to tn
English newspapers. who incloses witt
his articles a polite letter and tw'
dozen stamps, says the New York Mai
and Express. II the article is foun'