Rice Chess Club tournament, adjourned and rescheduled games: Kupchik holds draw vs. Black; Duras defeats Adair; Chajes, Marder also winners

The Rice Chess Club Summer Masters' Tournament approaches its end with the race for second place still very much open and a sizable number of adjourned and rescheduled games yet to be played.  We report below on developments from the last two days.

Roy T. Black and Abraham Kupchik, contenders for the tourney's vice-champion title, have completed their adjourned tenth-round game begun on the 2nd inst., the contest ending in a draw at the 75th move.  It will be recalled that at the time the game was broken off Mr. Black enjoyed the advantage of two extra pawns in a Rook endgame, a surplus usually sufficient for victory, although players far stronger than ourselves foresaw the possibility of a drawn result owing to the weakness of the White pawns and the active placement of Kupchik's Rook.  This indeed proved to be the case, as a perusal of the complete score will make apparent.  

  

Oldrich Duras of Prague, still tipped by many as holding the best prospects for a runner-up finish, yesterday played to a draw vs. George F. Adair in a game rescheduled from the tourney's fifth round, Adair agreeing to share the point while in possession of a full extra exchange in the endgame.  The result still leaves Duras with only 1 1/2 points on the "loss" side of the ledger, as compared with 2 for Black and 3 for Kupchik, and it is this circumstance that leads the prognosticators to favor the Czech Master's chances. Much will depend on the outcome of the adjourned contest Black-Duras, scheduled to be completed later today.

In other games, Oscar Chajes defeated Harold M. Phillips in a struggle adjourned from the tournament's ninth round, and Albert Marder topped F.P. Beynon on the 11th inst., this encounter having been postponed from the 12th round.  The respective game scores are sadly not yet in our possession.

Current standings:

13 points: Capablanca (13)

9 points: Black (11), Kupchik (12)

7 1/2 points: Duras (9), Marder (11)

7 points: Chajes (11)
6 1/2 points: Tenenwurzel (12)

5 1/2 points: Adair, (11), Bernstein (12)

3 1/2 points: Beynon (12), Grommer (12)

2 1/2 points: Phillips (10)

Withdrawn: Stapfer, Beihoff

The number in parentheses following a player's surname indicates the number of games he has played to date, including two forfeit victories over Stapfer and Beihoff. The adjourned games Black-Duras, Duras-Marder, Adair-Phillips, and Phillips-Duras are not included in the above table.