Evening star., 1938-05-08
BY PAUL ]. MILLER.

According to Irving Chernev Of New
York City the most remarkable man
chess ever produced was Johannes
Zukertort.
"Zukertort spoke English, italian,
French, Spanish, Greek, Latin, Hebrew
and Russian. and he was we'll acquaint-
ed with Turkish. Arabic and Sanskrit
He learned Italian in order to read
The Divine Comedy Spanish in order
to read Don Quixote' and Sanskrit in
order to trace the origin of chess!
He wrote extensively on philology
and theology. took deep interest in
all questions of social science and
wrote on prison discipline. In addition,
he was a pupil of the noted piano in
structor Moscheles. and from 1862 to
1866 he was music critic of the Silesian
Journal. He obtained the degree of
M. D. at Breslau in 1865, having spe-
cialized in chemistry and physiology
He was on the staff of Bismarck's
paper. the Allegemeine Zeitung, and
was at the same time editor of one of
the leading political journals of the
day.
1T also may be mentioned that he
was an expert swordsman. the best
domino player in Berlin, one of the
finest whist players of his time and so
good pistol shot that he was certain
to hit the ace Of hearts at Is PAGES!
In the field of chess he played
matches for the world championship
with SteinitZ; he won the London 1883
tournament Zone Of the greatest in the
whole history of chess, in which he
came out three points ahead Of the
then title holder Steinitz he broke the
world record for blindfold play by con-
Quoting Is games simultaneously; he
wrote several books on the game and
edited the Neue Berliner Scachzeitung |
and the Chess Monthly for many
years; with Andersen alone he con-
tested over 5000 games, starting as a
rook-odds player!
"One would suppose that his intel |
lectual labors were continuous, but at |
the age of 80 he was a military vet
eran. having engaged in the Danish,
Austrian and French campaigns of the .
Prussian army At the battle of Grave
lotte every officer in his regiment
either was killed or wounded The
regiment was exposed to the enemy's
fire for six hours without being able |
to return a shot. They went into &C
ton 1900 strong, of whom 400 sur
vived. During the Prussian wars Zu-
kertort served with the rank of lieuten-
ant, won nine medals for bravery, was .
wounded severely twice and once left .
for dead on the field of battle!
"zukertort died at the age of 46. "A
man., said the profund Bacon. may be
young in years but old in hours, If he |
mas lost no time"
Chesspourri.
Paul Morphy Chess Club is inii-
ating a title bout at 1903 Fourteenth
street NV, with shake-up in the
classification OF all players as a re-
suit Of the general tourney. Rounds
are played on Thursdays, pm.
B, c and D groups in the Chess
Divan Clubs general fracas are
plodding along at snails pace
Surely President Anton Hesse will
speed up this commendable under
taking. Wednesday night at o'clock
the Divan will feature a dark-horse
event at 1886 1 street NV.
College chess falters as exams come
to the fore. But the Interhigh Chess
Association champion, Robert Hostler,
recently was tied for honors in the
spring semester tournament by Paul
Miller of Eastern and Samuel Bass.
mutual scoring being 3l2 wins No
play-of
Forfeits will be declared if pre-col-
lege matches for the "Y" Trophy are
not finished according to schedule, by
June l.
April Chess Review" portrays an
essay by Vincent Eaton of Washington
on Black interferences and cross
checks. and Problem Editor Cheney
hands Eaton the gilded lily
Femmes in Triple Tie.
1t was one of those 100-to-1 shots
and it happened. Mesdames Anna
Bran and Eugene Kittredge emerged
from the punched players to amass
nI