The citizen. (Honesdale, Pa.) 1908-1914, 1911-09-29
CHECKER PLAYING
AS A TRAINING
develops Caution and
Foresight" Says Expert
LOCAL TALENT is NOT VERY
STRONG; BOSTON THE GREAT
CHECKER TOWN.

Checker playing is one of the
. very best trainings for the memory.
1t teaches a man caution and fore
sight. 1t also brings into operation
h all the powers of calculation. /
consider it better than mathematics
I for developing the powers of calcu
| lation."
Such, in the opinion of George l.
Griswold, Factoryville, Pa, champ
- ion checker player of Northeastern
4 Pennsylvania, are some of the bene-
T. fits to be derived from the playing
of draughts.
Concerning the relative merits
! of chess and checkers" he said,
there has always been a dispute.
Edgar Allan Poe stated, in some of
his works, that he considered
checkers the greater game. Benja-
min Franklin considered checkers
i superior to chess.
The greatest argument in favor
! of checkers is this: That although
4 Plllsbury played them both he was
4 never top-notcher, i.e., he was nev-
er able to reach the first class in
. checkers. Pretty good evidence that
. checkers is nearly as good as chess
i Pillsbury never could be anything
4 but a second-rater in checkers.
Advice For The Beginner.
The best thing for a beginner
to do is to secure good book on
the game. | would name Lees
Guide. 1t can be secured through
The Draughts' World Publishing
Company" Edinburgh, Scotland, for
fifty cents, in paper edition. 1t is
an elementary work.
Then l would advise him to
take one or two of the popular mag
aZines, such as the Canadian Check
er Player and The Draughtsman's
. World.
Then l would advise him to
meet some player who was stronger
than himself, and play with him
regularly.
=" would also advise him to take
up regularly and Systematically the
study of problems. | believe the
study of problems does more to de-
velop mans checker playing abili-
ties than anything else
Mr.. GrlswoId, VINO is man of
80 years of age says that he was led
into playing checkers by meeting,
some fifteen or eighteen years ago,
an expert from Buffalo by the name
of Compton.
Four or five years ago." he
said, " l met Pillsbury in Scranton
and defeated him. ! won two games
p and drew the third. He charged s.
i to play three games.
q claim the championship of
Northeastern Pennsylvania l play
blindfolded. l have played twelve
games simultaneously at Y. NJ. C.
AS.
There are perhaps twenty news
' papers publishing checker columns.
| One is edited by Newell Banks and
is published in Detroit, Mich, The
Pittsburg Dispatch publishes very
fine checker column edited by Hugh
Henderson. l take that.
The San Francisco Post pub
fishes very fine column. DR..
Schaeffer, of New York city, pub
fishes an excellent column in one of
matte player at the Eden Musee has
been manipulated by DR.. Schaeffer
New York City boasts of very fine
checker club. So do Boston, Chi
cago, Pittsburg and Detroit.
They're trying to form a ma
tional association at Pittsburg. The
checker champion at present is Ne
well Banks, of Detroit, but he has
just been defeated for the champion
ship of the world by Alfred Jordan,
of London, champion of England
He is touring the United States at
the present time, and appearing in
all the principal cities.
Hugh Henderson, a Scotchman,
who came to this country four years
ago, has recently played a match in
Boston with Dorio of Chicago for
$1,000 side which Henderson won
by the score of ~ to 5.
The checker players are now
4 talking up a national tournament,
same as they have in Scotland every
year. They already have $1,000
raised for purses. The first prize
will be $500; the second $3.50, and
so on.
This tournament will be held at
Cedar Point, Ohio, and any player in
the United States will be eligible by
paying an entrance fee of $40.
Boston The Checker Hub.
The great checker center of the
United States, you know, is Boston.
When Jordan was touring this coun-
try he playing the members, $50 in
all, of the Boston club, simultane-
ously, without losing a game.
played him two games at the
Scranton Y. M. G. A. last July. +
lost one and drew the other. We
made up purse for him of $25 for
coming there.
1.-THE leading checker magazines
are The Draughts' World, published
in Glasgow, Scotland, at so a year.
Then in thi country there are two,
of which The Canadian Checker
Player is the most popular. The
Pocket Checker Magazine, published
in Chicago, and the Checker World,
published in Manchester, New
Hampshire, are good.
"There are probably 800 volumes
published devoted entirely to check
ers. The literature is very extern
sive. Probab the greatest play