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About Yale Alumni Magazine | View Entire Issue (Dec. 10, 1896)
Vo.tume VI. No. 1l. THE CHESS TOURNAMENT, Yale has an Excellent Coach for Her Players. Yale will send better prepared men to the fifth annual Intercollegiate Chess Tournament, than she has sent to any previvus contest of this kind. This much is sure, whatever the result of the tournament. To be sure, Mur- dock, one of Yale’s representatives this year, was defeated in several games in the University Tournament, where- as last year he did not lose a point. But that only shows that chess is on a higher level here now, and the average play is better. The increased interest in the game has not only resulted in better play all around, and hence better practice for the best players, but it has en- couraged the members of the Chess Club and the chief graduate sup- porter of the game at Yale, Mr. E. A. Caswell, Yale, ’66, to engage the ser- vices of an excellent coach, Major Hannam of New York, under whose influence the Yale play has already improved and who has said that he is very much pleased with the response of the men to the instruction given. It is early to speculate, but Har- vard certainly seems to have the best chance to win the cup for the year, and so tighten her grip on it for per- manent possession. In her list are such men as Ryder,~ Southard and Hewins, all players of the first class. Columbia put up a strong game last year, her men having been well coached. Only a slip by Price in the end game of the last day lost that game to Princeton and gave the cup to Harvard, The tournament will be held in New York at the Columbia Grammar School from December 27 to January 1. Yale’s representatives have been chosen and will be F. A. Lehlbach ’98; and W. M. Murdock ’98S8., with F. C. Cook 1900 and H. C. Robbins ’99, as substitutes. The teams from the other colleges are not yet announced, although Mr. Southard is) sure of a place on the Harvard team, and at this writing Messrs. Parker and Seward are ahead in the Columbia tournament. The list of entries from the colleges, other than Yale, is as follows:— Columbia—John Erskine, College; Miles R. Moffatt, College; George R. Jacobus, College; John C. Knapp, Col- lege; Ernest G. Lemcke, College; Gor- don Parker, Jr., College; Asa W. Park- er, Jr., Mines; George O. Mines; Alfred L. Kroeber, Philosophy; Arthur Price, Law. Harvard—W. C. Arensberg, 1900; C. L. Barnard, ’97; C. H. Dunn, Medi- cine; E. P. Fay, Law; H. C. Ffoulke 98; J. Hewins; “98; Aj W. Ryder 97; HK. E. Southard, “of; ih. Enavyer, 99. Princeton—Henry L. Bassett, ’98; Milton B. Morehouse, 798; Edmund B. Seymour, ’98; John A.. Ely, °99; Wil- liam W. Young, :-99; Harry J. Brandt, 1900; FE. Jarvis, 1900; G. W. Gordon, ’99; Walter L. Johnson, ’97. PAST TOURNAMENTS WITH RECORDS. These tournaments have been held in New York for the past’ five years, during the Christmas holidays. Play begins every day at 2:30 p. m. and if the games are not decided by 10:30 p. m., they are judged by the umpire. Each player plays one game with each other man, and fifteen moves must be played within the hour. The championship emblem is a sil- yer cup, which was presented by grad- Seward, | NEW HAVEN, CONN., THURSDAY, DECEMBER 10, 1896. vates of the four colleges. Edward A. Caswell ’66, was originator of these tournaments. He contributed largely towards the cup and will have entire charge of the tournament this year. Each member of the winning team is presented with a silver medal on which is engraved his name and the date. If the challenge cup remains with any club for ten consecutive years it becomes the property of the college. The record of the tournaments for the last four years follows :— 1892-93. COLUMBIA. YALE. Won. Lost. Won, Lost, Hymes 6 0 Bumstead 3 3 Libaire 3 3 Skinner 2 4 HARVARD. PRINCETON. Bailou 4) 1 Dickey 0 6 Wilson 24 38% |EHwing 214 314 1893-94. COLUMBIA. ALE. Won. Lost. Won. Lost. Hymes 56 1% |Ross 2 4 Libaire 3 38 .jSkinner 3 3 HARVARD. PRINCETON. Hewins 5 1 |Ewing 1 5 Spalding 2 4 |Roberts 2% 3% 1894-95. COLUMBIA. YALE. Won. Lost. Won. Lost. ‘Binion 1% 442 |Bumstead 2) 4 (Price 1% 4144 |Ross 4 2 HARVARD. PRINCETON. ‘Ballou 4lh 1% |Belden 214 314 V'n Kileeck 4% $=$.$11% |Seymour 3% 216 COLUMBIA. YALE. Won. Lost. Won. Lost. Price 3 3 Arnstein 1% 4l, Ross 5 1 Murdoch 2 4 HARVARD. PRINCETON. Ryder 4ln 144 |Elmer 0 6 Southard 4 2 Seymour 4 2 HOW THE TOURNAMENTS BEGAN. The following from an issue of the New York Tribune in the Fall of 1892 gives the history of the tournaments: “The idea of having an annual chess tournament between the four colleges, Columbia, Harvard, Yale and Prince- ton, representing Massachusetts, Con- necticut, New York and New Jersey, was started about a year ago by EH. A. Caswell, of Yale, ’66, in a letter pub- lished in The Tribune of November 8, 1891. This gentleman secured sub- seriptions of $100 each from Harvard, Columbia and Princeton’ graduates, and ceeds were used in the purchase of the cup, at $400; a die for striking off medals, and a handsome book of rec- ord, which contains the deed of gift, and later will contain the record of the tournaments. Several designs for the cup were submitted by different manu- facturers, and the donors, as well as the four chess clubs of the four col- leges, were unanimous in the choice of Messrs. Tiffany & Co.’s design. A code of rules and regulations is also the result of an agreement on the part of the various clubs. . The first tourna- ment will be held in this city during the Christmas vacation, but the lo- cality has not yet been determined. “Inter-University chess matches be- tween Oxford and Cambridge have been instituted in England since 1872, the first having been organized in that year chiefly through the efforts of Mr. Steinitz, Mr. Anthony, then president of,, the Oxford, C...C.,. and... Mr... De Soyres, president at the time of the Cambridge C. C. These contests have been very successful, and greatly in- strumental in making the game popular’ throughout England. “The cup weighs about seventy-five ounces, and is fourteen inches high. The back of the vase has blank shields for the inscription of the names of the competing colleges, with dates and scores of tournaments.” $200 from Yale men, The pro-— MR» RAYNOLDS REPLIES, Some Pertinent Points on Yale’s Debating Methods. : [Mr. E. V. Raynolds in Yale News.] As the action of the Advisory Board on Debating of Harvard University has brought up again the question of coaching of debating teams, and in view of the fact that at the confer- ence of representatives of Harvard, Princeton and Yale held last May I gave my assent to a guarded expres-. sion of opinion that there was a pos- sibility of abuse in Faculty coaching, it may not be out of place to give my opinions on this subject at somewhat greater length, especially as they are in radical disagreement with those of Harvard’s representatives. I did not, and-do not, consider that there has been at Yale any abuse in this direction, nor do I regard the ad- mitted possibility of abuse as other than a very remote one, and I should consider any action taken at Yale sim- ilar to that of the Advisory Board at Harvard as ill-advised and unfortu- nate. ‘ It is of course true that there will rarely be much originality in the mat- ter presented by the debaters, but if that is a fault it is one inseparable from debate. It can rarely happen that any member of the team will have any thorough knowledge of the subject as- signed or can startle the world by any really new thought upon it. Knowl- edge, both of the facts involved and of the pros and cons of the argument, must be got up between the time of giving out the subject and the time of the debate, and it seems to me im- material whether such knowledge be obained at first hand from men who have it, whether members of the Fac- ulty or not, or whether it be obtained at second hand from books and mag- azine articles which those men have written. If preliminary training for a debate is to be restricted to elocution there is one way to ensure it, that of giving out the subject for the first time when the debate is about to be- gin, but it is hardly probable that any one would care to listen to more than one intercollegiate debate con- ducted under such a rule. The editorial writer in the Crim- son who compares the coached de- bater to a chess player performing the mechanical act of moving the pieces while an expert behind his back plans the moves for him, can hardly imagine that a professor stands on the platform behind the debater, whisper- ing in his ear, though his words would seem to imply some such belief. If the part of the chess expert were limited | to improving his pupil’s play before the match the comparison would be less infelicitous. Harvard attempts to limit as much as possible Faculty coaching, but re- fuses to put any limitation whatever on the eligibility for the debating team of any students, no matter what the character of his studentship may be. I have this year no connection with Yale, except as a graduate; last year I was a member of the “Faculty” in the broad sense in which the word in- cludes all whose names are on the list of officers. Is there any reason why I could now legitimately do what would have been illegitimate last year, or would the case be altered if, by the simple and easy means of writing my name on the books, I were to make myself nominally a graduate student? In the latter case, according to Har- vard’s contention, it would be at once Price Ten CENTS. become entirely proper for me to be a member of the debating team. I should be disposed to consider that an “abuse,” but it would have a certain merit as a practical reductio ad absur- dum of Harvard’s position. $$$ ——_ The New Football Captain. A meeting of the members of this year’s football team was held on Mon- day, and James Otis Rodgers, ’98, of Toledo, Ohio, was elected captain for next year. : Mr. Rodgers played two years on the Andover eleven and was captain of the team the last year. He was substitute tackle on the University eleven in his Freshman year and for the last two years has played regu- larly at left tackle. He rowed on his class crew in Freshman year and was a member of the University crew at Henley last July, rowing at No. 4. Some doubt has been felt as to wheth- er Mr. Rodgers wished to become cap- tain of the eleven or the crew, but he will not row next year. He has been advised by physicians to rest from severe athletic work during the rest of the year. The strain of row- ing, it is feared, might develop a slight tendency to heart trouble, some traces of which have been found on examination. It is believed, however, that he will run no risk whatever in football work another year. ———_—_4@___—_—_ Freshman Base Ball Officers. A meeting of the Freshman class was held last Friday evening in Alum- ni Hall for the purpose of electing officers for the class baseball associa- tion. H. M. Keator, ’97, presided and aiter a few remarks called for nom- inations for the offices of president from 1900, vice president from ’9958., and treasurer frcm 1900. The nomina- tions for president were Wickes, Brindley, Schweppe and Nims; for Vice President, Hogle, Warden, Mit- chell, McCullugh and Grant; for Treas- urer, Francis, Tenney, J. Phillips and Minor. 'The following were elected: President, R. J. Schweppe, 1900, — St. Louis, Mo.; Vice President, C. Warden, ’°99S., Philadelphia, Pa.; Treasurer, D. D. Tenney, 1900, Minneapolis, Minn. ——_——_—_- > A New Library Acquisition. The University Library has just re- ceived a volume issued in commemora- tion of the cumpletion by Professor Sievers, of Leipzig, of twenty-five years of activity as Professor of Ger- manic Philology. The large octavo, containing almost 450 pages, is en- titled, ‘‘Philologische Studien: Fest- gabe fur Eduard Sievers zum 1, Ok- tober, 1896,”’ and is wholly the work of former pupils of Professor Sievers. Among the contributions is one by Professor Cook, entitled, ‘“‘Bemerkun- gen zu Cynewulfs Christ.” me Dr. L. J. Sanford Seriously Ill. Dr. Leonard J. Sanford, an honorary member of the Class of 1858, is at present very seriously ill of heart dis- ease at his homeinthis city. His attack came on about a week ago and after a few day’s his life was given up by his attending physician. As the WEEKLY goes to press (Wednesday noon), it is still his physician’s opinion that he can not recover, though he may live three or four days longer. _ Dr. Sanford has always taken much interest in Yale and is well known to Yale men through his extended practice in this city and his connection with the University as professor and lecturer.
