Chess in Chicago

We are pleased to note that good chess in America is not confined to the large cities of the Eastern seaboard, and that high-level games are being played, among other places, in the South, on the West Coast, and in Chicago, the subject of today's report.

The recently-contested Illinois State Championship was won by Charles W. Phillips, who defeated Elmer W. Gruer in the final round.  Mr. Phillips is well-known as the nation's premier correspondence player; Mr. Gruer, a native of Oakland, California and former intercollegiate ace, is currently at the University of Chicago for post-graduate work in chemistry.  In their decisive clash, Mr. Gruer required a victory to claim the title, while for Mr. Phillips a draw would suffice, and it is to this circumstance that Mr. Gruer attributes his rather precipitate Bishop sacrifice at the 25th move, adding, most sportingly, "Ah, well, he has beaten better men than I."

We present another game by Mr. Gruer, this one taken from the ongoing Championship tournament of the Chicago Chess Club.  In it, the young native Californian, who by all reports is winning many friends in the Windy City with his amiable demeanor and high-class play, defeats the reigning Chicago Club Champion, Mr. John Winter, in a tough struggle.  We understand that Messrs. Phillips, Gruer, and Winter are all running neck-and-neck as they race to the finish in this year's club tourney.