Evening star., 1908-01-12
Department CHESS LEAGUE
TREASURY RETAINS LEAD IN
CHAMPIONSHIP TOURNEY.

There was much interest evinced in the
opening battles of the second series Tor
the chess team championship of the de-
partments. 1t was chiefly centered IN the
meeting of Interior and Government
Printing Office. These teams had ended
the first series tied for second place and
only half point behind Treasury, the
leader. The winning of the match was
therefore of great importance. Treasury
was drawn against Navy. and was ex-
pected to remain at the head of affairs.
The battle between the Printers and
Interior proved to be as keen as was
anticipated; 1t is. in fact, still undecided.
Walker. the Interior champion, added one
more to his unbroken string of victories,
and so placed his team one to the good.
But the rival team captain. Arends, rose
to the occasion and drew his team level
by defeating Pratt. A little later Byler
of Interior placed his team In safe posi-
ton by winning from Kistler. On the re-
naming board Graham and Cohen were
playing great chess. and this game, al
though it was going long after all the
others had been finished. had finally to be
adjourned. owing to the lateness OF the
hour. The Printers are thus In less
favorable position than Interior. as the
latter have won two of the three games
decided. and so have sure draw in hand.
with good chances OF scoring whole
point
Treasury fulfilled predictions by defeat
ing Navy, to /. Smell of the latter team
kept up his winning streak by handily
defeating Telling. but none OF his team
mates could register another tally. Hal
stead and Tupper continued their consist
emily good work by scoring from Molkow
and Cleaver. respectively, and Satterly
accounted for Collins.
The match between Agriculture and
nj oh hnr vxrac
nary one. To begin with, Huntington and
Guyer, on board one. had a short session.
which was a veritable comedy of errors.
After several amusing episodes 1t was
seen that Guyer apparently had win t
his leisure, as Huntington (black) had
but a solitary pawn against rook and
pawn. But the black pawn was on Its
seventh square with the king supporting 6
it. and the position was SO peculiar that
it was not easy to see the proper move
move however, as Guyer demonstrated
later on, but in the meantime he had con-
ceded a draw, which was a piece of luck
for Agriculture. On board there was
more luck. and this time Commerce and
Labor was the recipient. After long
played Ruff and stood with an easy win
In hand. He had only to guard against
a draw by perpetual check, and. In fact
had made the necessary provision for this
emergency, but possibly this had unset
tied him somewhat; at any rate he not
only failed to see ridiculously easy win
in a few moves, but placed his queen on
a square where his opponent could pick 1t
up as a free gift. This fiasco left Com
merce and Labor a whole point ahead
Later, however. Agriculture's position
was redeemed by the excellent play OF
Woodw I'd. who had Richardson for his
opponent. The latter, who had the black
pieces, offered dogged resistance, and
for a long time neither could gain any
material advantage, but Woodward's end
tactics were decidedly superior. and he
scored meritorious win. The match now
stood all even, and as Hitchcock and
zimmerman had arranged to play their
game on later day the final result can
not now be given.