Evening star., 1950-07-09
Chess
By DonoId H. Muqridae

The open tournament of the
Southern Chess Association at
Durham, N. c.. July ! to A, at
tracted SO entries. George S..
Thomas of Washington served as
tournament director, handling the
intricacies of the Swiss system
with ease and disposing of all
problems with impartiality and
firmneSS.
Four Washingtonians were
among the participants: Hans
Berliner, who won the event at
Richmond last year; D. II. Mug
ridge, Edmund Nash and John
r. Rice. Three competitors came
from New York City and one flew
from Dallas.
The result was a victory for the
veteran master. Norman r. Whit
aker of Shady Side, Nd. who won
six games and lost one. Eliot
Hearst. a young New Yorker of
great promise, took second place
with 5h-1h: he won four games
and drew three. Six players scored
So and the three remaining prizes
were decided on Sonneborn- Berger
pointage. This gave third prize
to Donald H. Mugridge, whose S-B
score of 24.25 was the highest in
the tourney, fourth to Kenneth
r. Smith of Dallas. holder of the
Southwestern title and fifth to
James Sherwin, another young
man from New York City. There
followed in the So bracket Hans
Berliner. Karl Burger Of New York
and Harold Mouzon. who stood
highest among the genuine South
erners in the event.
The following IL players fin
ished in the next three brackets.
the order within the bracket being
determined by the S-B points:
Martin Southern of Knoxville.
Tenn, and Edmund Nash of
Washington, 412-2h; j. B. Holt
OF Sarasota. Fla; E. NJ. Faust of
Montgomery. w. Va: C. Critten-
den OF Raleigh. N. c.: A. T. Hem
derson OF Tazewell, Va, and w.
Long of Mayfield, KY. 4-3: j. G.
Sullivan. jr.. Of Knoxville, Tenn;
G. A. LYLE of Annapolis. Md: r.
Brand. E.. Lipinsky OF Asheyille.
N. c.. and Prof J. Mcclure of
Nashville. Tenn, 3a-31a. John
Rice of Washington stood 25th, in
the ga bracket.
In the first round Whitaker lost
to Mugridge. but in the next three
made short work Of E. r. Hagner,
j. B. Holt and E. Lipinsky. In
round 5 he had a hard battle with
Nash. who passed up an oppor-
tunity to give perpetual check,
and went into a rook ending which
was adjudicated against him.
Whitaker overwhelmed w. Long
in round 6. and in the final was
paired against K. r. Smith. He
sacrificed pawn in the opening
and obtained a strong attack
against Smiths king side; an
omission by Smith permitted al
rook sacrifice which won at once
the game and the tournament.
Hans Berliner's failure to re-
peat his triumph at Richmond
was disappointment. He won
from young Kit Crittenden in the
first round, but failed to press an
advantage against G. A. Lyle in
the second, and had to split the
point. After defeating r. E. Con-
don and Jerry Sullivan, in round
S Berliner was paired with Eliot
Hearst, and essayed the hazard
Gus Hampe-Allgaier gambit. It
was Hearst and not Berliner who |
shortly obtained an overwhelm-
ing attack. Berliner defeated E.
M. Faust in the 9Th round, but
failed to win from James Sher-
win in the 7th. and finished just
behind the prize winners.
Mugridge played the shortest
tournament game in his career in
the second round. 1t lasted just
8 moves and 10 minutes, and is
given as curiosity: / P-K4,
P-K4: 2 N-KB3: 3 P-Q4. PxP; a
P-B3, PxP: S B-QB4, B-K2; 81
Q-Q-5, Pos: QxP ch, K-Q2; 81
B-K6 checkmate.
The following Sicilian defense,
from round 5. has more substance.
Blacks 9 Nos could have been
refuted by IL P-K5t