Show STRAIN BREAKS BRILLIANT MIND Harry Nelson Pillsbury Great Chess Players Playe t Victim of T Tragedy r gedy A I HEN Harry Ne Nelson On Pillsbury bury the WHEN V V American champion chess player I one time champIon of the worM world and probably the most marvelous trick c player that ever eer lived tried to commit suicide in Philadelphia during a lit fit of insanIty a few days das ago he be only fulfilled the fate which has been that of ne nearly dY aU all 0 of the great masters of the same game The tremendous mental strain which they undergo in the great tournaments aided and abetted by ex cx I ceM e We use of stimulants to k keep p them keyed up to the proper pitch is too much for the human buman brain no matter how abnormally brilliant For two or three years yean Harry Pills Pillsbury bury had been in ill health In the in international international tournament of won by Frank Marshall of Brooklyn be fin finished I third During the past wInter he be had been unable to pla play chess Years or of excessive smokIng bad s shattered ids his nervous system and made It impossIble for tor him to participate in chess tournaments ments menta Unable to follow his SlOB aba he was in much reduced circum circumstances stances He and his wife formerly a aliss aMiss Miss liss Bush of Brooklyn had to move Into rooms Oft on the fourth floor of a boarding house houseA A little over a week ago his condition was so bad that he was sent to the Presbyterian hospItal In PhiladelphIa He was o operated upon and two days later his mind railed failed him and he attempted attempt d to take his life Ufe by jump jumping lug ing from the window Harry born In Som Somer r rule Mane ift 1st Dember iSZ Sf amid Is therefore re not ye years rs old At the age t 16 Pillsbury Y had baAI to en ter Harvard college colleg hut but through the stress of circumstances was to choose a mercantile career To that end he had removed to Boston where he devoted h his s leisure time to chess at which he be so proficient thAt he was not bOg Jong in competing on even ven terms with the b Ne New Ell England land ph pher play er era und and defeAted them In 1811 he went to Ne New York The feats that have llave been b by the great ch chess StI players appear to the ordinary mortal almost supernatural ural Imagine being pitted against a mind that can visualize the positions or of pieces of Ivory on as many squares and every possible variation anti and building one picture upon anothEr ean not only the end of the game gam but the exact number of moves required to brIng It about and as Marshall Marshan did in London pro proceed proceed to accomplish it in spite of aU all an I ordinary player and his bis pIeces can do doto to prevent Just what thIs means may maybe I be realized in view of the computation that there are ways was of playIng the first lour four moves on each I side of the board Yet durIng the Cam Cambridge Cambridge bridge Springs tournament Pillsbury took a hand In a game of whist and at atthe atthe the same time played t two vo games of cht chess ss and two games of checkers without with without out looking at anyone any one of the to tour r boards Mr Ir Pillsbury sat at the whist table with hIs back to the chess and checker boards and the moves of time the players thereon were caned called out to hIm and without Interrupting the thO whist game a moment he would call back the name of hIs own leee which lie he moved In reply specifying on which of the U tI was to be placed ed In this way he won the and checker games and helped to win the game of whist Pillsbury performed blindfolded pays seemingly with comparative eaSt ease He has played against as many as twenty two to different boards at one and the same time without seeing a single same game and has won a large majority of the games Seated with his back to the other players and constantly amok smoking lug ing a big cigar lu he was apparently able to visualize and to remember twenty two different pictures In each of which chessmen art arc being changed about in an infinite Variety of com combinations t lon At each of those beards sat an expert chess player with every faculty concen concentrated on his own game carIng nothing for his neighbors difficulties bent only on baffling the memory of the man at atthe atthe the end of the room whose mind recurs to his particular game only once in ever every times There was seldom any hesitation on Mr Ir Pills bury burys part In recalling time the picture pro pre on any given board The referee called the number of the board and the move made b by the player thereon and instantly the thc reply came back front from the muster master with a request for the mOVE on the next board Before PIUs Pills burys time the record for blindfold play was sixteen games played In two da days s b by In Chicago in 1980 Pillsbury played sIxteen sImultaneous blindfolded games in four hours and mInutes winning twe p e dra drawing wing three and losing one Of course Pillsbury had a system for memorIzing the various games By courtesy he was allowed the first move on each board So he resolved the various boardS into mental groups In Ina Ina a circuit he would probably ably group rou boards 1 4 7 and 10 or r Boards 2 L S 8 and 11 would corn com prise the second group Thu he would need but three styles of openings on the twelve boards If the standard or what hat are considered the best replies were made to the these openings he could make counter replies that would carry carryl l m several moves Into game After that he would probably to subdivide his groups or If a player tried a specIal varIation he would In Individualize that board and place it In Ina ina a class b by itself Thus Thu eccentricity of play pla at any board presented no terrors for the blindfolded master Rather did he welcome It sInce It gIves that particular board a 3 character of its own causIng It to stand out in his After a while each of the boards took on a character of its own and then he was compelled to depend upon memory pure and sImple but that was so marvelous that it seldom failed hIm As an Instance of its far reaching power if any portion of a aP apack P pack ek of cards was called off to him he can successfully call caB the names of the remaining cards When the secret of the chess playing automaton whIch defeated the experienced chess players ers or of Cincinnati at an exposItion a few years yean ago be became became came known It was found that Pills Pillsbury bu bury the chess champIon was wag for a along long Jong time the brains of the gaudy gaud Turk Marvelous stories h have ve been related of Inner wheels which moved the Turk and learned dissertations on how the wheels heels were operated have been de delivered delivered livered b by expert chess players player The rIte Thereal f real al s luti n or the m mystery Iy all the while hUe with Expert Pillsbury The in interior tenor of the little Turk is Be Before Before fore he receIved visitors daily Pillsbury snuggled himself up withIn the bod body of the automation through a care carefully carefully fully concealed door in the box bux on which it rested Through the hollow hollo arms anns of the figure Pillsbury inserted hIs own arms and as there is a con concealed open opening In in the chest of the Turk he look out through it note the moves of an opponent and then play the game to win with his wonderful skill All uC of the masters indulge in blind blindfolded folded plays but none has equaled the Pl Pillsbury feats eats What is known as simultaneous chess is however a very popular recreation or of the masters In InthIs Inthis thIs AS in blindfolded chess one man playS man many games but with all the boards in sight O 0 S Bernstein of Berlin recently engaged boards at one and the same time PiUs Pills Pillsbury bury has lIas engaged as high as fifty The strain on the mind is not so great as in blindfolded chess and the master walking around and around the circle of boards is able to engage them one after another with comparative ease Nevertheless a highly specialized mind is necessary for a successful perform performance ance Naturally such sueh a mind con conCentrated concentrated on one board displays the most precise foresIght for not only does the master know fairly well weli in advance just the kind of moves he will snake make throughout a 3 game but his knowledge of its technique enables him to divine the kInd of moves his opponent opponent ent win will make It comes very ery near mind reading Frank Marshalls pla play has all the brilliance demanded b by the one school and all the modern science which has been the mainstay of the other And Andas as he is but 27 years ears old his vogue ogue must strengthen rather than decline that is unless he inadvertently over overtaxeS overtaxes taxeS his powers That by the way seems scents to have hae been the ultimate fate of most of the great ireat chess players ers of the past The emoluments of time the game are not noto so o great that ease case of living Jiving is always to be enjo enjoyed ed even een b by a champion and this fact with the inevitable mental strain has been productive of a num number number ber of sad endIngs to the lives of masters of days das gone b by Morphy early went Insane although his financial circumstances were easy and Neumann both died In an asylum Goring commItted sul suI suIcide cide and Buckel tried to Wicker Vicker dIed dIeda a drunkard latterly be became came caine almost imbecile In conversation Steinitz broke down dmn In 1897 and his death followed soon after Thousands of devotees play chess b r correspond correspondence ence and there 1 ti a game no now goIng on between a man in Canton 0 and another in Warsaw RussIa that It will I take several years ears to complete each move being sent by postal card from one player to the other Cable matches are of frequent occur occurrence rence arid and many persons will remember br ber the International game that took place some years ears ago between a team made up tip of members of congress congre s and andone andone one composed of members of the house of commons During that contest one move was cabled ac ss the Atlantic ft and nd a reply retie tl fort forty seconds And now that I become a ocean crossing there are few days dAs when some big lIner Uner is not exchanging a series of moves with a sister ship So that it j is to be doubted if the sad fate of some of the masters has been an any detriment to the game of Times 3 |