526
DRAUGHTS
against £530,000 in 1887. The exports consist principally of timber (7,000,000 cubic feet in 1898) and woodpulp (136,250 tons), with paper, ice, and a little cobalt and nickel ore. Of these 58 per cent, of the timber and 64 per cent, of the wood-pulp go to Great Britain. The imports consist chiefly of coal (127,000 tons in 1898) from Great Britain and machinery from Germany. Population (1875), 18,643; (1900), 23,091. Draughts.—The last decade of the 19th century witnessed a remarkable increase in the popularity of the game of draughts (known also in the United States as “ checkers ”). This was the result of several causes, chief among which were the establishment of championship tournaments, the institution of leagues similar to the football leagues, the insertion of “draughts columns” in several weekly newspapers, and the publication of the late James Lees’s Guide to the Game of Draughts, a handbook at once accurate, fairly well arranged, and cheap. To these causes, and to the correspondence tournaments conducted by the editors of draughts columns, is also to be attributed the improvement which took place in the standard of play of the average player, an improvement which manifested itself both in the variety of openings played and in more accurate, mid-game play. In January 1893 the first of the annual tournaments for the championship of Scotland was held. These tourneys deservedly rank first among the events of the C/j.amp/on- draughts year> on account of the number and ability of Scottish players and the high standard of play which they have maintained throughout the competitions. The following is a list of the winners since the competition was instituted :— 1898. H. Freedman, Glasgow. 1893. W. Bryden, Glasgow. 1894. R. Stewart, Blairadam. 1899. H. Freedman, Glasgow. 1895. R. Stewart, Blairadam. 1900. R. Stewart, Blairadam. 1896. R. Jordan, Edinburgh. 1901. R. Stewart, Blairadam. 1902. R. Stewart, Blairadam. 1897. J. Ferrie, Coatdyke. The series of tournaments for the championship of England commenced in 1885. The English Draughts Association now holds these competitions biennially. The following is a list of winners :— 1885. J. Smith, Spennymoor. 1898. W. Gardner, Leeds. 1891. H. Christie, Sunderland. 1900. A. Hynd, Manchester. 1892. A. Jordan, London. Similar tournaments are held in the Australian colonies and in New Zealand, but not in America, though the game has obtained a firm hold both in Canada and in the United States. In these countries the championship is decided by matches. In 1894 James Eerrie of Coatdyke challenged James Wyllie, the famous “ Herd Laddie,” for the title of Champion Draughts Player of the World, an honour which the latter had held since 1877. Ferrie won easily by thirteen games to six, but no doubt the severity of the defeat was in part due to Wyllie’s advancing years. Ferrie, however, did not long retain his honours. In the Scottish tournament held in January 1896 he met Richard Jordan and was defeated by him. In consequence a match was arranged between them for Ferrie’s title of Champion of the World, and the result was a win for Jordan by four games to three. In 1897 Jordan successfully defended his recently won title against R. Stewart, who had made a name for himself in the Scottish championship tournaments. The match, which was played at Edinburgh, resulted in a victory for Jordan by four wins to two. In 1900 the champion visited Boston, U.S.A., in response to a challenge from C. F. Barker, the American champion. The result of the contest which
ensued was a draw of two wins each, Jordan thus retaining his title. In 1884 the first international match between Scotland and England took place. It resulted in so decisive a victory for the north-countrymen that the contest was not renewed until ten years later. The matches played in 1894 and 1899 also went strongly in favour of the Scotsmen, but the disparity between the teams was not so marked as in the first match, a result which may be attributed rather to improvement in the skill of the English players than to any falling off on the part of their opponents. The following are the scores in the three matches:— 1884. Scotland won by 36 games to 7. 1894. Scotland won by 29 games to 15. 1899. Scotland won by 42 games to 25. An objection frequently urged against draughts, and especially as compared with chess, is that the game lacks scope for variety. The charge is easily dis- Computam proved by a rough computation of the variations t!ott of possible at draughts. We see that the first draughts player has seven different ways in which he may make his first move, and that to each of these w seven moves his opponent has seven possible replies, making in all 49 “openings.” Two of these openings, however (9-14, 21-17, and 10-14, 21-17), are unsound, since white loses a piece without any compensating gain in position, thus reducing the number of recognized “openings” to 47. Taking the Jordan-Ferrie and Jordan-Barker match-games as the standard, the average number of moves in a game is over 50—say 52 for convenience of calculation,—and, as may be proved by an examination of the specimen games given below, it is within the mark to say that there are, on an average, four possible variations at each point in the game after the opening is formed. In computing the latter average, moves which would obviously result in the loss of a piece without any corresponding gain in position have been neglected. To ascertain, therefore, the total number of possible moves, the number of openings must be multiplied by 450. The logarithm of 47 x 450 shows the expression to represent a number of thirty-one digits, a number so large that the imagination utterly fails to grasp its significance. Players have been accustomed to consider the unlimited scope for variety which the game possesses as an unmixed benefit, the reason being that it tends to foster original play. There is, however, another side to the question. Suppose a player to hold such a position that he has the choice of four moves, and that his opponent may reply to each of these in four different ways. Sixteen possible positions may thus be formed, and if,, as is probable, they each permit of as many continuations as the first-mentioned position, we see that the first player must examine 256 moves in order to make sure of his ground four moves ahead. The best chess and draughts players agree that, to play well, one should look ten moves ahead. Obviously, then, a player cannot possibly examine all continuations open to him, nor indeed can he do more than select a few of the most likely, relying on his judgment of position to aid him in his choice. The drawback undoubtedly exists in both chess and draughts, but of course it applies, in theory at least, with greater force to the former game, from the fact, that an average chess position will give more possible continuations than a similar position at draughts. Draughts-players claim, among minor considerations, that their game possesses, for the busy man, an advantage over chess in that a good game—say one worthy o publication—occupies less time than a similar game a
