455 



exhibitions and the supply. As a rule European tournaments receive so many applica- 

 tions from candidates that a selection is with difficulty made for the masters' contests, 

 and supplementary classes are frequently included in the programme. On the other 

 hand, in England, though amateur talent abounds and opportunities for using first 

 class play are eagerly welcomed, professional chess is by no means abundant. 



Next to the veteran Blackburne, Burn is the most prominent English master. France is 

 not nowadays represented in masters' tournaments; but Russia is prolific of players of every 

 degree, and so are the Dual Monarchy and Germany. But it is the "modern school ' 

 fathered by Steinitz, adopted by Dr. Tarrasch, and brought to perfection by Dr. Lasker, 

 the present champion, which has for some years been predominant. It is characterised by 

 academic soundness rather than brilliancy. In the indecisive matches between Lasker and 

 Schlechter, and between Schlechter and Tarrasch, the players permitted themselves no 

 variety of opening or of tactics, but were content with playing variations based on preliminary 

 analysis, and with avoiding enterprise or complications in the middle game, unless forced 

 upon them in some cases by exigencies of the battle. Of the younger masters, Rubinstein, 

 who has been conspicuously successful, has also of late years made sound position play his 

 principal aim. Masters adhering to the romantic style (Morphy's), like the late Tchigorin, 

 and to a modification tempered to modern demands, like Janowsky, Mieses, Spielmann and 

 Marshall in fact, masters with an individuality of style and a capacity for producing inter- 

 esting games save the game from degenerating into dull academic precision. Janowsky, 

 though he did not do himself justice in his match with the champion, is, at his best, a player of 

 commanding personality and exceptional strategic power; Mieses is distinguished by enter- 

 prise and tactical cleverness over the board; Spielmann is capable of producing specimens of 

 both soundness and brilliancy; Marshall's daring verges on recklessness, while on a high 

 level of all round efficiency; Niemzovitch has displayed considerable ingenuity and originality. 



At the San Sebastian tournament in 191 1, J. R. Capablanca, a young player from Havana, 

 already famous, having beaten Marshall in a set match, accepted the place originally reserved 

 for Dr. Lasker, and won the chief prize from the leading players of the day. His style, though 

 at times tempered to the exigencies of the score sheet, was brilliant enough to cause him to 

 be hailed as a new Morphy. It was hoped that he might be able to play a match for the 

 championship; but hitherto Dr. Lasker has declined his challenge under the plea of having 

 been insulted by Capablanca in the wording of a counter proposition to some clauses of the 

 conditions proposed for the match. In the meantime Dr. Lasker has accepted Rubinstein's 

 challenge, who of late has achieved several successes at San Sebastian, Postyen and in the 

 Russian Championship Tournament. Teichmann won the Carlsbad Tournament of 1911 

 in grand style, while Niemzovitch and Spielmann ran Rubinstein at San Sebastian very close. 

 Of younger masters Russia may boast a bevy, of whom Alechin is the best, while young 

 Breyer of Budapest promises to take high rank among the masters of the day. 



Coaching and Driving. 



Undoubtedly the advent of the motor-car has caused a great diminution in the num- 

 ber of horses kept solely for driving. In London, in every continental European town, 

 and in the cities of the United States, mechanical traction has practically taken the 

 place of the horse. But motor-cars are still beyond the reach of the countryman who 

 drives a gig, and of the small suburban tradesman who sends out his wares in a horse- 

 drawn vehicle. In Great Britain few people now breed harness horses, except those of 

 the hackney breed, the best of which are of considerable value, not only for the show 

 ring, but because there still exists a small and wealthy public which will pay highly for 

 possession of the smart stepper. The breeding and exhibiting of harness horses possessed 

 of high action both in England and America is now quite a business, but it is confined 

 to a not very large number of enthusiasts, and is in no way a national affair. In the 

 United States there are the trotters, and the standard bred horses, and both these, breeds 

 are in a flourishing condition, and not in the least likely to undergo a slump. 



The pastime of driving, as is only natural with the motor-car so much to the fore, is 

 in the hands of a few; but in London and its neighbourhood there has been, in the last four 

 or five years, a considerable revival of four-in-hand driving, due in a great degree to the 

 institution of the International Horse Show at Olympia, and to the establishing of the Coach- 

 ing Marathons and Corinthian Cups. These contests, one of which attracted as many as 

 twenty teams, have shown that the coach horses of the present day are better and more 

 valuable animals than those of past generations, and that the art of driving four horses has 

 by no means been impaired. Indeed the good "whip" of the present day has to contend 

 with increased traffic everywhere, and with such fresh varieties of road users as the traction 

 engine, the tramcar, the motor bus and the taxicab. Yet the driver of horses can hold his 



