| Show BILLIARD SHARPS Slm son and Shaefers Game in New York NO MORE TIRESOME RAID PLAY Mr Slosson Makes a Few Illustrative Shots for Our New York Correspondent HE importance import-ance of the billiard match between L tween Geo F Slosson k i and JacobS Jacob-S chao for for the world3s e championship champion-ship is recognized rec-ognized by 0 lovers of the 1 Pe game everywhere e every-where The game of z eight hundred C < Q hun-dred points I up will be r played in qi Chi ckerin r JfJ hall Ionday iJ evening DeW De-W cember 1 It anvolves a money stake of SoOO a side the champinnship and an emblem The winner takes everything An initial cut at the head of this article represents the trophy It is a solid silver cup valued at 000 of unique design and beautiful workmanship The body of the cup is a ball of polished silver with ornaments orna-ments and figures in high relief On two sides are winged female figures One holds a laurel wreath for the victor the other bears a cupid on shoulders whoso chubby fingers squeeze the juice from a bunch of grapes into a wine cup in her uplifted up-lifted hand The emblem is offered by the BrunswickBalke Collender company and it becomes the property of the winner only after two years successful defense of it against all comers The peculiar interest in this match lies in the fact that it is the first important contest con-test in which both players are governed bj the rule of the 14inch balk line It is safe to assume that the average man knows very little of balKline billiards many players in fact who possess the skill to run up a very respectable string at I 1I I I Hvsrrioxsmp GAME UETIVEEX SCHAEFER AXD SLOSSON the old game have only a vague idea of the science that an innocent looking chalk line has made possible on the green cloth and itls Ion those readers that this description is written It was in the winter of 18S3 that George F Slosson while playing a practice gatnt with a friend suggested chalking a line on the cloth eight inches from the rail all around the table and limiting the player to two shots within any one of the smaller spaces Tho motive was to break up the continuous rail play which had become so objectionable in all the contests up to that time and the originality of his idea was seen at once It was a simple and sat isfactory solution of the problem The fourteeninch line naturally followed as a handicap for the crack players and balk hnes became a recognized feature of every noted contest The first tournament under the new rules was held in Chicago where Vignaux Schaefer and Slosson played the eightinch balkline After six nights nlay the contest resulted in a tie each pfayer having played the other twice The three players then went to St Louis where Slos son won Tignaux and Schaefer second and third respectively Schaefer next won in Chicago and then came the contest in Irving hall New York in April 3J5 This series has often been called the Patti Tournament because be-cause the famous prima donna sN > pO f > RAI DIAGRAM I did not miss seeing a single game Sins son Schaefer Daly Sexton and Dion were the contestants they finished in the order named The games at Chickering hall last February were played on both eight and fourteeninch lines Slosson won again with Schaefer second and Daly Ives and I Catton following So much for the history of the modern game I Previous to the adoption of the balkline it was possible for a player to nurse the i balls along the rail and to run up a wonder ful score without making one shot that might be called brilliant Rail play requires re-quires a steady delicate even touch but there are no embarrassing conditions Once on the rail the player stayed there and if his nerves were steady the positions posi-tions that succeeded each other were so much alike that the audience soon wearied of his monotonous journey around the ta ble The diagram of rail play illustrates the similarity in positions without further description Balkline billiards revolu tionized the game It not only calls for the exercise of a players utmost skill and judg ment but it admits of varied and beautiful shooting and the spectators interest is kept awake from the beginning of a contest until its end The table Is marked by running a piece of tailors chalk held against the edge of a block along the cushion The block is cut 7 P 7 i l 1 I I DIAGRAM II eight inches one way and fourteen tho other so that either edge may be used as desired The chalk lines thus form eight restricted spaces four being oblong at the sides and ends of the table and four are square and arch the corners of the table In the large centre space of the table any number caroms may be made Only two successive shots are allowed when both object Jsalls are within an interdicted space Or to quote a section of the new rule 12It is foul if more than to successive shots are made on balls both of which are within any one of the eight interdicted spaces The only way in which more than i that number can be made in succession I within that space is by sending one or both balls out and bringing them back and in again Both balls being within the space the striker can play once on them without sending either out his next stroke must end at least one out should it return and both balls be again inside becan play ones bhot one-s before without sending either out This process may be repeated ad libitum Should the second stroke fail to send a ball out it does not count the strikers hand Is out and the next striker plays at the balls as he finds them Under the rule a player must often destroy stroy a good position and get another in the same shot In truth position is tho one thing always in view To illustrate In Diagram 11 a h J c are well placed good for a dozen points in the old style But the second shot must send one of the object balls out of that space All the player can 110 A XX 7 DIAGRAM indo in-do is to try to secure another position So be draws sharply with a slow ball off b hits c lightly sending it to c the cue ball to A I the object ball meantime has gone out of the interdicted space across the table twice with three caroms finally stopping at Ball B-all the balls again in good position The difference between the fourteeninch and the eightinch balklines is more ap parent in play than appears at first sight In a drive from tao fourteen inch line to the cushion and back the ball travels about twentyeight inches from an eightinch L line as the starting point the distance is only sixteen inches a difference of twelve 1 = = = = 1I I 1 cr Il I DIAGRAM IV inches against the first player and thats a pretty stiff handicap as distance goes on a billiard table Naturally the modern game has intro duced the balkline nurse Players en deavor to get the balls astraddle the balk line and keepinc them there by the pret tiest kind of cue work they jog them alone steadily delicately sending an object ball to the cushion and back as often as the I rule requires The greatest nerve and nicest calculation are necessary for this style of play and the tour usually starts at the end rail The most brilliant plays are usually made in getting the balls into position for this nurse Here are two shots which Slosson made for me the other day Diagram Dia-gram III shows tho rattling drive of the cue ball around the table taking three cushions after its carrom on b before it i hits c and finally stops at a l > cushions twice and lands at l > Diagram IV shows this neW position and tho second shot t which places all three balls on the line This imperfect description with the aid of the diagrams may give some idea of the balklino game I am su o that it wil i show superiority over all others not excepting ex-cepting cushion carroms which is only a sort of blacksmith game after all C HILLS WARRED |
