Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1913-06-29
Capital City Chess and
Checker Club Notes

Without doubt the most interesting
event in the series of exhibitions given
by Newell w. Banks. the United States
checker champion. during his stay at
against six players4 simultaneously,
four checkers and two chess. Mr..
Banks carried this through without
losing game. the final result being
two wins at chess and two wins and
two draws at checkers
A large crowd was in attendance at
the Capital City Club to witness this
remarkable feat of memory and play
ing skill. OF course, it does not rank
with the stupendous feats of the late
Pillsbury in this line. but then. there has
been only one Pillsbury during all the
centuries that the ancient game has been
in existence. Banks method was some
what similar to that Of Pillsbury. except
that the big black cigar was missing. He
sat al the end of the room looking out
on the street; behind him were the six
players. each seated at his board. all
OF which were known to Mr.. Banks only
by numers. The umpire. or announcer.
would proceed from board to board CALI
ing off each move as made by the play
ers and moving Mr. Banks pieces in
reply as directed by him.
Thus it would appear that each of the
six games was locked up i'm a separate
compartment of the performers brain,
identified only by its number. and when
the announcer would call Off say. Boa I'd
No. >, he plays bishop to queens rock
four, Mr.. Banks would open up COM
partment No. >. think over the position
as changed by the move just called. call
off his reply. and then close it up until its
turn came round again. When it is con-
sidered that six games would generally
mean 2.D or more positions to be separ-
ateiy memoriZed, it can easily be seen
that this was quite a feat Of memory.
A very classy little affair took place
at the Capital City Club last Tuesday
night in connection with Mr.. Banks
visit. This was a rapid transit" chess
tourney. In which the time limit per
move was ten seconds. A hurry up"
call was sent to several of the best
local players. and in spite of the hasty
arrangements first-class array of
talent showed up. There were eight
contestants. Messrs Banks. Whitaker,
Napoleon. Walker Adams. Pratt Trabue
and Knapp. This necessitated the play
ing of seven games by each one. all on
even terms and the whole was ac-
complished in about two hours
After the smoke had cleared away IL
was found that Banks had nosed out
Whitaker by. half point. and there
being two prizes. they were awarded
accordingly. ZapoleOn and Pratt were
tied for third place.
Mir. Banks extraordinarily quick sight
of the board. coupled with his superior
experience at rapid chess. made him
Just a little 100 EOOQ at THIS sly ~ VI
play His record in this seance was
very fine. winning six and drawing one
with Zapoleon) out of the seven games
played. Mr.. Whitaker's score was al
most as good. He won six games also,
but lost a whole point to Banks.
To Mr. L. o. Robbins belongs the
honor of being the only checker prayer
to score a game from Champion hanks
during the latters visit rms occurred
-s,,, 4 x
hibition Monday night; On ms oc
casion there We're twelve boards and
two rounds were played
II may he gathered from the pre-
ceding notes that Mr.. Banks prowess
as a rapid chess player Is OF very
high order. 1T is of Interest. therefore.
TO get a line on his standing In the
realm of serious chess In chess OF the
highest class ample time Is given the
players for deep analysis during the
progress of game. CLOCKS are IN
yariably used in the big matches ana
tournaments, for Whlcu the iifne Al
lowance is usually fifteen moves an
hour for each player. so that at the
end of two hours play game may
haye reached only the fifteenth count.
In club Journeys the rates Is generally
extended to twenty moves an hour.
Mr.. Banks played individual games
with a number of strong local players
and had the better OF the argument
with all except Messrs. Zapoieon and
Whitaker With the former ne played
three games. losing two and drawing
the Other: In his first sitting with
Mr. Whitaker they played TWO games.
18Th NJ which were won by the local
man. They subsequently played two
more games. breaking even. On the
whole therefore, Nj. Banks stands
somewhat below our best local chess
talent.
n is understood. however. that the
checker champion has not long taken
m chess of this class so that in
year or rwo. il he cares to go In for
4 II is not unlikely he may figure
among the topnotchers in national
chess.