Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-12-16

the world, and the only one which is
played in every civilized nation, the in
vention of wireless biography is a boon
to mankind, largely because it furnishes
another means of carrying on chess tour
naments at sea, as we'll as on land and
on opposite sides of the ocean 1t was
only few days ago that the press as
sociations of the world announced a chess
game which was played on two ocean
liners crossing in opposite directions.
This use of the wireless is not a sur
prise to those familiar with the history
of the most remarkable and scientific
game ever conceived by man, for every
invention of. a new means for rapid
5transference of Information between dis
tant points has been utilized by the chess
player. Matches are said to have been
played by correspondence between Fred
erick the Great of Germany and Vol
taire, when a swift courier service be-
tween Potsdam and Paris was inauSu-
rated to carry the news of the next
move" With the improvement in post
roads, contests between the champions
at Edinburgh and London We're inausu-
rated as early 1896, and the first chess
game by telegraph was played between
players in Washington and Baltimore in
1874, in the very infancy of the Morse
telegraph. Cable matches between the
United States and England came with
the laying of the first cable, and these
continue to the present day, the George
Newnes trophy being the chief stakes.
:. =:
The practicability of chess by cable,
telegraph and wireless is due largely to
the great Syrian
Some Remarkable player, Stamina Of
rA AleppO, who invented
|"s"' the present system
of notation. From this region of the
world we are indebted also for our prob
lens in chess, as Mutasim Billah, son of
Haroun-al-Raschid of Arabian Nights
fame, was the man who first gave the
world its "chestnuts' to crack. And the
chess player Is debtor to still another
inhabitant Of that region. for it was the
Saracen Buzecca who first startled Eu-
rope with the power to play chess with
out seeing the board. This feat of mem
ory was performed first in Florence in
1266. Since that time chess players have
developed their powers of memory and
Vsuanzation to a truly marvellous de-
gree. Leon Matteo Ii Genchie, a Span
lard, who lived during the sixteenth GEN.
fury. astounded the courts of Europe
by playing, blindfolded, three games at
the same time, and carrying on a lively
conversation while his opponents were
planning their modes of attack. But
these performances have been outshone
many times in the nineteenth century,
especially by the young Boston player,
II. N. Pillsbury, who played twenty two
games at one time, blindfolded!
X *
The origin of chess is yelled in the
mi nf hut -
lieved to have come from
UT1gln OF India. The first intima-
rh... tons of chess go back
O~S0' 5000 years before the
Christian era. In the early days it was
played by four persons. instead of two,
and the moves Of the four principal
pieces were determined by throwing an
oblong dice. From India chess was car
ried to Persia, and from there it was
introduced into Spain by the Moors.
This is the generally accepted theory Of
the origin of the game, but others trace
the royal sport to Palamedes, son of
Nauplius, ruler of the Island of Ne
gropnte, who is also credited with the
invention of weights. measures and num-
bers, and the idea of establishing the
solar year and the lunar month.
If there is any doubt as to the origin
of the game, there can be none as to
the nation most devoted to it's intrica-
cies today. The Japanese are chess
mad, according to our western standards,
for every officer in the army and navy
and every common soldier is more or
less of an adept at the game. There
are many "cauSe-seekerS' who profess to
find in the mental development which
has been brought about by chess the I'M
derlying principles which resulted in the
victories over the Russians in Manchuria
In Japan today 1t is a common sight to see
the 3tnrikisha men squatting on .le street
corners engrossed in chess while waiting
for customers. The Japanese millionaire
who wishes to make a donation which
will bring happiness to the unfortunate
buys a hundred sets of chessmen and
boards and presents them to some hos
pital.
Whether or not there is as much in the
theory of Japanese mind training as the
chess enthusiasts would
The Chess have us believe. it is
Automaton. military geniuses as Na-
poleon and Charlemagne were great low
ers Of the game. The name of Napoleon
is connected with one of the greatest
chess marvels Of the age, the automaton