We offer two games from the packet recently received from England. In each a Black Knight is prompted by the exigencies of defense to take up a rather forlorn position on a corner square, there to remain until defeat is at hand. The fact that a rare move is played early on in each contest is, we feel, in some way responsible for the later fate of the cornered Knights, for when a game deviates from "book" lines the resultant unfamiliar situation often gives rise to unusual play. Let the reader judge for himself.
Our first game is taken from a return match contested on the 31st ult. between London's Metroplitan Club and a visiting team representing the North Manchester Chess Club. These two squads had fought to an honorable 8 1/2 - 8 1/2 draw at Manchester last April; on the present occasion the Londoners secured the victory by a score of 9-7. The player of the White pieces in this third-board contest, Mr. C.E.C. Tattersall, will be known to many of our readers as the compiler of the landmark collection of studies A Thousand Endgames, published a few years ago. Mr. Tattersall's opponent, Mr. A. Caplan, declines the King's Gambit with the uncommon 2...Nc6 and soon finds the normal development of his forces well-nigh impossible.
Our other featured contest of the day comes from a match played at Edinburgh on January 10th between the Newcastle and Edinburgh clubs, won by the home side 7 1/2 - 4 1/2. Mr. Price of Newcastle opts for a move unknown to us, 7.e5, in the 3...d6 defense to the Ruy Lopez, and gains the victory via a King-side attack - though perhaps not without some assistance from his opponent, who in the course of the defense retreats his Knight to the h8-square, where it stands as a fitting counterpart to Black's a8-Knight in the previous game.
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