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From Leisure Hour
Chess is generally regarded by the uninitiated as being the dullest and most selfish
of games, an opinion which is by no means carefully withheld from the players themselves.
Truly, as an amusement or a mirth-provoking pastime it does leave something to be
desired, and even such a remark as "Just look at them, they have been sitting there for
hours without speaking!" is often perfectly justified. It is hard to say why a
quiet and unobtrusive demeanor should evoke sarcastic comment, but most chess-players
become well accustomed to it, and after all the game survives. And not only does it survive,
it gains in popularity year by year, and the extent to which it is played to-day as compared
with ten years ago is most remarkable. Wherein does its fascination lie?
For one thing, chess has the reputation of being an intellectual game, and who does not
like to be the follower of that which is intellectual? It is, moreover, one of the few games
in which the players find themselves on a perfectly equal footing at the start. The element
of chance does not enter in; the one who plays best wins. Further, though much has been
said to the contrary, the game played in moderation is a real recreation. Mr. Potter, writing
in the "Encyclopaedia Britannica," puts this very well. He says it "recreates not so much
by way of amusement, properly so termed, as by taking possession of the mental faculties
and diverting them from their accustomed grooves." Anyone who knows what it is to have a
mind worried by business or harassed by care of any description can understand the
value of a pastime which can do that.
But all these are the move subtle attractions to the game. The one supreme attraction is
the inexhaustible beauty of the game itself. The writer has often been asked: "Don't you
find that you continually repeat games you have played before?" Well, it has been
computed that there are 318,979,564,000 possible ways of playing the first four moves
on each side, and, play as often as you will, it is not likely that there will be much
sameness about your games. A calculation as to the number of ways of playing the first
ten moves on each side--less than one-third of an ordinary game--yields a modest total of
thirty figures, which would convey nothing but bewilderment to the average mind. But put in another way we can
dimly perceive their significance. "Considering the population of the world to be 1,483,000,000"
(twenty years ago), "more than 217,000,000,000 of years would be needed to go through
them all, even if every man, woman and child on the face of the globe played without cessation
at a rate of one set of ten moves per minute." (Mr. Edwyn Anthony in the "Chess-Players' Chronicle,"
1878). Further comment on the inexhaustibility of the game is perhaps superfluous.
On the beauty of chess it is difficult to speak with sufficient reverence. It has had at least
a thousand years in which to develop, and no player regards it otherwise than as perfect.
The keen delight with which a hot attack is repelled is only exceeded by that which follows the
discovery of a weak point in your opponent's defence, and by the joy of concentrating an attack
upon that weak point and of pushing it to a triumphant issue. Only those who
know can understand!
No wonder that a game with such a character should be ardently practised all the year
round in one way or another by players of every degree. For those who are fortunate
enough to find an opponent in the home circle, what better pastime can there be? For
those who can seldom find an adversary, there is the delight of problem solving, or the even more useful study of some published game. Others
again can fight a distant opponent b correspondence; while for those who wish to do battle more
promiscuously, there are chess clubs and resorts innumerable.
To such an extent has chess developed in popularity during the last ten years that the
number of recognized chess clubs in London is about three times what it was in 1887, and cannot now be far
short of 120. This is without reckoning the numerous chess clubs which form adjuncts to various
institutions, such as political clubs, working men's clubs, church institutes and the like. And
London does not stand alone in this respect. In the provinces a similar increase has taken place,
the number of clubs having risen from 180 in 1887 to at least 420 in 1897. An equally significant
fact is that the average membership has also rapidly grown, showing that the new clubs have been
called into existence by the popular demand.
In the early eighties there was very little inter-club organization either in London or the
provinces. In the metropolis a few club matches were played, but the only one of much
importance was the annual encounter between the St. George's and the City of London
Clubs. Then the offer of a cup, called the Baldwin-Hoffer trophy, after its donors, induced
six or seven of the stronger suburban clubs to enter into rivalry one with another. This was followed by the institution of
the Surrey trophy, to be competed for by the Surrey clubs only. These competitions infused new
life into the clubs, and developed a desire for regular inter-club competition within the
metropolitan area. This was duly arranged in 1888, the clubs being divided into two classes,
senior and junior. Five years later a still further step was taken by the formation of the
London Chess League, and the organization of a yearly contest to be played in three divisions,
A, B, C. The clubs in the A division have to furnish teams of twenty players, in the B division
twelve, and in the C division eight. This competition has proved to be a great success, and in
the present season, 1897-8, no fewer than thirty-three clubs are taking part. Naturally the
interest centres round the struggle for supremacy in the A division, where the chess played
is of a very high order, many of the games on the top boards being worthy of the foremost masters.
To be continued...
About the Author
This article by J. Arnold Green is from the journal, THE LIVING AGE (Sixth Series, Volume XVIII, April, May, June, 1898), which is in the public domain.
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