Chess and Draughts Club.

The prospects of this club which were dimmed somewhat last year by the departure of several of its members on Active Service have now brightened up again and it is hoped that the fresh interest taken in it by students and the new members it has acquired will make for it a worthy record this year.

The weekly meeting which lapsed last year on account of the rare attendance have now been resumed and it has been arranged that each Tuesday evening some member or members will be present in the Gymnasium Common-room to meet new members. Tuesday evenings have again been selected as the Club night but we would point out that the activities of Club are not limited to Tuesday evenings, it being the special feature of a Chess and Draughts Club that members may enjoy its benefits in numbers of so small a magnitude as two, the ordinary every-day two, and at times to suit themselves. But even this numbers may be made smaller; for a single member page 65 with a problem before him may pass away a few odd moments in a very pleasant way and for this purpose we offer a small problem for consideration.

The special feature of the problem is double knights play by which the mate is effected. It is extremely rare that a checkmate can be achieved by two knights alone and on an open board impossible: in the position shown in this problem, it is possible, only by the presence of Black's own pawn. The position is as follows:—

White to move and win. Key move, Kt-B4.

The position may be stated in the two notation as follows;—

Or—

8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 6K1, 3Kt1p2; 5Kt1K.

Or as an alternative to this problem the following end game is given recommended as one worthy of careful study. Interest attaches to it because it is a position page 66 which occurred in actual play and though White ultimately wins—in the actual game as well as in theory—yet Black can prepare some clever traps and careful thought is required on both sides. A diagram is not given but the position is as follow:—

White:	K on QKt6
	P on QB6
Black:	K on QR8
	R on Q4

Or—

8, 8, 1 K P S, 3 r 4, 8, 8, k7

Solution of problem in October 1915 "Spike."

The position of this problem was:—r 3 K 3, p 1 p 5, Q 3 K 3, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8. And the key move Q-Rsq. Then whatever Black did White's move was Q-R 8 checkmate.