Evening star., 1909-05-30
LANDRY WINS RICE
CHESSCHAMP|0NSH|P
0utstays ZapoIeon in Annual
Test of Famous Opening
at Chess Club.

Prof. A. E. Landry OF the Catholic Uni
versity of this city has proved himself
to be the most expert of the local eN-
ponents OF the world-renowned chess
debut invented by Prof. Rice OF New
York. the wealthy patron of the game.
This has come about by means Of the
second annual Rice gambit tourney.
which has Just been brought to con-
clusion at the chess club. Last years
winner. 1t may be remarked. was ]. w.
Byler. the Interior Department player.
and 1t was greatly regretted that he could
not defend his title by entering the tour
ney this year.
The contest on this occasion was en-
tered into by a representative field Of
sixteen players. and although most of
them showed in the initial stages that they
were sadly lacking in proper knowledge
OF the intricacieS Of the Rice debut.
rapid improvement I'm this respect took
place later on. As a consequence num-
ber of the less known defenses achieved
a success far beyond their deserts. In
fact, the gambit did not receive anything
like true test until the tournament was
well toward completion. In this connec-
tion 1t is interesting to know that OF
been won by the white against five by
the black forces. This speaks highly for
the real merit of the Rice attack
Furthermore, in the individual encoun-
ters between the winner and. runner-up
of the tourney it is interesting to note
that each one won game with the
white pieces.
1t may be remembered that for some
considerable time past the issue OF the
tournament had resolved itself into
duel between Landry and Zapoleon. tho
Agriculture Department expert. They
ran pretty race for quite a while, but
Landry proved to be the better slayer and
won comfortably I'm the end. Zapoeon,
however. is entitled to much credit for
the persistent and highly successful man
ner In which. for long period. he main
tanned a stern chase after the leader
Owing TO an unfortunate start-his first
two games were losses the odds We're al
ways greatly against him. That he failed
in his attempt was, therefore, no dis
credit TO his ability. 1t was impossible
ANYWAY, to withstand the impressive way
in which Landry wound up his schedule.
His last four games were straight wins.
two of them against Pratt and the final
one. described below. against Zapoleon
The Deciding Game.
The final meeting between the two
leaders naturally created more interest
than any previous game in the tourney.
At this point Landry had 15 wins and
6 losses to his score, while Zapoleon was
credited with 1919 wins and 81 losses
This game completed Landry's schedule.
Zapoleon having three others to play
in addition. Thus 1t can he seen from
the respective scores that a win for either
player would settle the tournament then
and there, whereas IL the result were
draw the issue could not be decided until
Ix... .yn,-
The game proved to be worthy of the
occasion Landry had the white pieces,
so that the task of demonstrating the
soundnesS of the Rice attack deyolved
upon him. Zapoeon selected the we'll
known Jasnogrodsky line of play for the
defense. In response to which Landry
was bold enough to try an innovation
whereby he avoided the usual sacrifice
of the exchange. it being the universal
procedure when meeting this defense 10
give up the kings rook for a knight
early in the game.
There were many exciting periods
during the play. and several sensational
moves were made. Zapoleon was not
uuite i'm his best vein, he made more
than one weak move in the game He.
however, at one period initiated clever
combination which came near giving him
an enduring attack. But Landry was
equal to all emergencies; his play was
fault!ess throughout the game. and he
never failed TO take full advantage OF
every chance offered to him.
One sitting was not sufficient to COM
plete the game. An adjournment was
agreed upon at late hour. at which
time the position had been reduced to an
even ending of king and four pawns on
each side. The game should unGuestion-
ably have been draw, but such ter
mnation was not to Zapoleons liking,
and in his eagerness to bring about a
more decisive ending he took an un-
warrantable liberty with the position and.
Of course. suffered the inevitable penalty
for trying to win drawn game.
The principal scores of the tournament
are as below: