The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1905-03-18

I0uE nourS anu uIly-nNe nlnuktSS WAX
ming twelve, drawing three and losing
one.
OF course, Mr.. Pillsbury has a system
for memorizing the various games. By
courtesy he is allowed the first move
on each board. So he resolves the va
rious boards into mental groups. In a
twelye-game circuit he would probably
group boards one, four, seven and ten
together. Boards two, five, eight and
eleven would comprise the second
group. Thus he would need but three
styles of openings on the twelve
cards. If the standard or what are
considered the best replies were made
to these openings, he could make coun-
ter replies that would carry him seve-
raj moves into each game. After that
he would probably begin, to sub-divide
his groups, or if player tried a special
variation, he would individualize that
board and place it in class by itself.
Thus, eccentricity of play al any board
presents no terrors for the blindfolded
master. Rather does he welcome it.
since it gives that particular board a
character of his memory. After a
while each of the boards takes on a
character of it's own, and then he is
compelled to depend upon memory pure
and simple, but that is so marvellous
that it seldom fails him. AS an in
stance of its far-reaching power, if any
portion of pack of cards is called off
to him, he can successfully call the
names of the remaining cards.
All of the masters indulge in blind
folded play, but none has equaled the
Pillsbury feats. What is known as
simultaneous chess is, however, a very
popular recreation of the masters. In
this, as in blindfolded chess. one man
plays many games, but with all the
| boards in sight. o. S. Bernstein, OF
Berlin recently engaged seventy-flve
boards at one and the same time
Pillsbury has engaged as high as fifty.
The strain on the mind is not so great
as in blindfolded chess, and the MASTER
walking around and around the circle
of boards, is able to engage them one
after another with comparative ease.
| Nevertheless, highly specialized mind
| is necessary for a successful perfor-
| nance. Naturally, such a mind con-
centrated on one board displays the
most precise foresight, for not only
| does the master know fairly well in adj
| vance just the kind of moves he will
make throughout a game, but his
knowledge of its technique enables him
to divine the kind of moves his oppo-
nent will make. lit comes very near
to mind reading.
| Marshall's play has all the brilliance
demanded by the one school and all the
modern science which has been the
mainstay of the other And as he is
| but twenty-seven years old, his vogue
must strengthen rather than decline,
| that Is, unless he inadvertently over
taxes his powers That, by the way,
seems to have been the ultimate fate of
| most of the great chess players of the
past. The emoluments of the game
are not so great that ease Of living is
always to be enjoyed even by a cham
pion, and this fact, with the inevitable
mental strain, has been productive OF
a number of sad endings to the lives of
masters of days gone by. .......,
Morphy early went insane, although
| his financial circumstances were easy.
| Kieseritzky and Neumann both died in
an asylum. Goring committed suicide,
and Buckle tried to. Labourdonnals
and Leonard died of starvation. Wis
ker died drunkard. Zukertort latter
ly became almost imbecile in converse
| ton. Steinitz broke own in 1897 and
| his death followed soon after. Thou
sands of devotees play chess by cor
respondence, and there is a game now
| going on between a man in Canton.
Ohio, and another in Warsaw, Russia,
that it will. take several years to COM
pfete, each move being sent by postal
| card from one player to the other. Ca.
BILE matches are Of frequent occurrence,
and many persons will remember the
internationa game that took place
| some years ago between a team made
| up of members of congress and one
| composed of members Of the house Of
commons. During that contest one
move was cabled across the Atlantic
/ and reply received in forty seconds.
And now that wireless telegraphy has
become the feature Of ocean crossing
there are few days when some big liner
| is not exchanging a series of "moves"
with sister ship. So that it is to be
doubted If the sad fate OF some of the
masters has been any ietriment to the
game of intellect.-Everybod Maya.
! zine.