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Show THE REVIVAL OF CHESS. Librarians vho keep track of such things and devotees of tho pastlmo report that there 1b at present a strong revival of Interest In the ancient an-cient and honorable game or chess. Impetus was given this awakening interest in-terest by the great International chess tournament at Carlsbad, Bohemia, which began August 21st, and has just Icloscd, leaving Richard Teichmann. formerlv of London, now of Borlin, the holder of first honors. Five nations wero represented In tho tonrnamenU and for lovors of chess the many games played afford some unique nnd novel problems. Chose has 1-cen rightfully termed tho mo6t scientific an.l Intellectual of all gamos scr Invented. Voltaire called It ''the art of human reason." and many of the greatest minds of history have cultivated It. not only for tho recreation It afforded, but also for the mental exorcise It requires, .stimulating the memory and developing develop-ing Imagination and calculation. To catalogue thoso who achieved distinction distinc-tion as chess players would be to com-plo com-plo a list of the celebrities of all tlmo--warriors, statesmen, diplomats philosophers! lawyers and men great In every department of human endeavor, en-deavor, Tho origin of this game Is lo-st In antiquity, but most historians tell of Its Introduction Into Egypt and Europe Eu-rope from Persia. From time Immemorial Immem-orial It has flourished !n widely different dif-ferent parts cf tho world, and the perfection per-fection of the svstom Is attested by the Odd fact that it Is played In exactly ex-actly ho samo way everywhere ami by all peoples. The literature of chess numbers thousands of books. It Is $ald by nomo authorities that tho first ' book printed from movable typo was a technical treatise on this gamo. The 'Intricacies of chess aro absolutely ap- palling to the Imagination. No mathematician math-ematician has ever attempted to compute com-pute more than ton moves on each Bide and the mind Is lost in the process pro-cess of reckoning. Aa chcBS Is eBBontlally a concentra-tlvo concentra-tlvo and lahorloUB study. Its popularity popular-ity has waned under the stress of modern thought and activities. Ex cept In raro lnatancos, the last century cen-tury has seen no really great che9S players, and our exports of today could scarcely bo classed with thoso of tho Middle Ages. It would be well-If well-If tho revival of chess should take on popularity. It Is the best of all mental men-tal and intellectual exercises, and despite de-spite tho fact that most professional playerB are human freaks, the moderate moder-ate playor cannot but bo helped materially ma-terially by tills "touchstone of thf human brain." Kansas City Journal. |