Evening star., 1938-08-07

competition In an open market. The
the rich heritage that only 40 years
Of eventful times could yield. They
would take the birthright Of Esau and
exchange it for q mess Of pottage.
They would have the lesser
hsh swallowed by the larger
and who dare say which Is
which?
Aye. Ludwig T. Taenner, Of blessed
memory, and all those stalwarts who
founded the Northwestern Chess Asso-
ciation on the shores of the blue Lake
Minnetonka at Excelsior, Mimi, Sep
tember 3, 1900, would shudder In
their caskets OF copper and stone
II they but knew.
The Northwestern became the
Western and then at Chicago, in 1894
the American Chess Federation. Al
belt q change Of names, the purpose
remained unaltered and the fine ira
ditions have been continued.
This past month the seth annua
congress Of the western" was held
at Boston. Out of the business meet
ing was born a committee to seek
unity with the National Chess Fed
Grafton, United States Of America
which came into being in December
1926, with Maurice S. Kuhns Of Chi.
cago Is president.
Analgamation Questioned.
There ever has been a spirit OF
Jealousy between the two competitive
national chess organizations. Each
stands for different principles. Each
is governed by different code.
II the two federations could be
brought together, new name selected
. compromise constitution evolved and
the spirit of open annual competitive
tournaments blended with biennial
United States title trays then amalga-
nation might be desirable and would
be best for the American chess public
But II the fusion would lead to dis
content within a few years, an interna
schism develop as to how to operate
the amalgamated federation. and the
rift so widen as to bring about sever.
ance Of the unity into warning fac
tions. then whose pride would 60 be.
fore the fall?
Sould q federation internal battle
ensue. and 4 split occur, where would
the Western" traditions be? Whai
would happen to the IL years Of
growth of the National Chess Fedora.
ton?
From the ashes of a future discord
it would be most difficult to reassemble
the two patterns as they are today.
Competition Is desired in the
current annals Of United States
chess.
Each federation moves within 1t.
own orbit even as the National anc
American Baseball Leagues occupy dis.
tinct spheres of.influence. Who advo.
Gates the merger Of the two renowned
baseball leagues? No one But with
chess. suppose. some wag will chirp
That's different"
There Is no difference. Competi
ton IS an asset to the game. To de-
stroy 1t and substitute monopoly o.
czardom is to cast a blight on the ad
vancement of the royal game" IL
America.
But what Of the acrimony, the welte
OF anathema. the apparent discors
that exists between the two nationa
chess institutions. Can the differ
ences be ironed out? Or rather d.
they wish to cooperate one with tn,
other?
The answer is that today there ar,
no personal differences. Hence tn,
movement for amalgamation.
The American Chess Federation
continues to have 100 per cent re-
cord for annual tournaments for 3!
years. The tournament record of tn
National Chess Federation in its /:
years of operation is not as good, bu
the N. c. F. by virtue of an agreement
with Frank j. Marshall, retired ches!
champion Of the United States, nov
controls the biennial tournament fol
the title surrendered by Marshal
three years ago-and that's some.
thing!
Twiddledee or Twiddledum.
Candidly, there Is little to choose
from with respect to the champion.
ship chess titles of the two federations
unless you would say the Marshal
toga is Of . more royal purple because
its origin was individual match chal.
lenge that had for its forerunner ths
immortal genius, Paul Morphy of New
Orleans, who became the first Ameri.
can champion in 1887, by winning the
title. paradoxical indeed, in open com.
petition.
In 1900. L. Uedemann was "West.
ern" champion and in 1894, at Chi
cago, Samuel Reshevsky and Reuben