The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1916-06-11
CHESS FOR PLAYER,
LOVER and STUDENT
kOstic Makes Marvellous
Record at BlindfOld
Play.
M.ARSHALL'S GREAT LEAD

The hungarian master Boris kostic
save his record breaking simultaneous
hlirdfold exhibition at the Isaac L. Rice
Progressive chess Club on sunday evc-
ming and within hvc and a half hours
he made the astounding record OF win.
with NJ. S,oner After the conclusion ~
tho games he aat down with Assistant
Secretary Kahn and dictated the scores
of all the twenty games without maxi
ing y solitary error. In order to get
an idea Of this wonderful feat Of
memory. chess PLAYERS are advised 70
~ down in a quiet corner and try TO
mennonite twenty openings. say. in the
following manner BOARD ! Ruy Lopez |.
board : Queens C;ainbit Declined: board
that this would he n mighty hard thing.
rot 40 much to inemorize the openings
but the numl.r ~ the board on which
each opening was adopted.
What makes matters s',ll more dim
cult would he to remember the vsria.
tions selected on each board. When
kos'ic started play some three to six
, moves were made on each board and
.ter doing likewise on the twentieth
hoard he took the precaution Of stop.
rim. plaS and announcing that he would
Tow state what openings and what par
ticulsr variation thereof had been Sc
lected on all the twenty boards. lie did
this with marvellous rapidity and then
the performance was continued.
"" accompanied, in a great many in
stances. the calling out Of his moves
with some funny remarks. and often
times he advised his adversarles TO axe
moves back when they happened To
leave a piece To he taken. Don't vol,
see that my queen il flirting Nth your
queens rock. AMI " YOU dom move that
piece from Il. that ] should take Il
with my queen I've said to a player
who had overlooked that kostic's queen
attacked his rook. When another q! his
opponents offered a draw. pleading that
the material left on that board was even,
he said NO. ny dear sir. with an
express pawn N the queens rook' file
carno, accept q draw Ey express
pawn he meant 10 say that he had a
passed pawn which would queen without
fail sure enough. he Uor tina, ga
However. q couple Of games which are
: appended below will give the reader ar
Idea hpn ouirkly kostir was able ~
TAX advantage Of the weak play 81 his
adversary.
People pho hesitate 10 believe in won.
derful 'feats of memory are reminded O.
the fact that IN the realm OF music
sinila" INSTANCES can he quoted. Ever.
famous musician. be ne 4 ,iol.n,st. plan.
list or other instrunenta,ist appearing
before the public in a concert. will al
WAYS play his music by heart, and II is
a we'll known fact that these men have
Il repertoire of hundreds aud hundreds
Of pieces before Nen;ur.ng to appear II
public. Visitors 10 the Metropolitsr
Opera House may have noticed that ;hs
famous Italian conductor Arturo Toeca'
mini conducted all his operas without a
score. and what made this feat all thu
more wonderful is the fact that he no
only conducted light Italian and Frencf
operss. bu, also the modern operas IL
Italian ard French and those most IA
NOUS OF Wagners operas, Die Meis,er
singer and Tristan and Isolde"
The following incident. which happened
many wears age. when T%oscan:ni va.
quite = young man. shows the p.ieno;ne
nal memoir OF this Italian musician
creating quite a furore a. tho time
Everything was In readiness for IN
rehearsal OF a neN opera. whi,h VA
irst 10 he performed that very sans
evening at the famous Theatre dc Ia
Scala in Milan. when the director an
! l'illNNh Nll'N r''llt a-tAi'AA ~ brl'
pened 20 the conductor. and he inquired
of the gentlemen in tho orchestri
vhether any of them would undertake
10 conduct IN" opera. NJ first there Wa
silence, but seeing the despair Of tn
director. the nrst ce!.,st said that IN
would try. as he thought he knew TN
score and the libretto Of the opera h.
heart. having been present at ever,
previous rehearsal. Without much adj
and after closing the score ot the operi
on the conductors desk. he went bril-
iiantly through the rehearsal AM
achieved tremendous success at the per
Torrance in the evening. Since tina
time Toscaniri has heen considered tn,
greatest musical conductor OF the age.
Kostic stated after the Performance
on sunday that there Is really no linn.
TO the number OF boards he could pla'
blindfolded, provided the surrounding
are congenia,. ~ could start In
big banquet ball some time in the after
noon" he said, Il don't see any reaSc,
why ! could not play for i've hour
against thirty 70 forty men. take a din
ner hetween , and s AMI wind up tn
performance before midnight II is n
eXertion 10 me at all. and what is NOR
troubling tn me than the chess game /
The smoke"
Following are the scores Of two game
played by Kostic IL his exhibition: