THE INTERPLANETARY CHESS CONGRESS 227
angry voice : ' Turn that photographer out 1 He is disturbing my thoughts 1 ’ ‘ Why should I leave a record of myself in this absurd place ? ’ he thought to himself ; ‘ and I don’t want to be associated with the militia.’ ‘ Sh ! ’ said the indignant players, and the photo grapher was forced to give up the idea of taking a photograph of the champion. The indignation was so great that he was turned out of the room. At the third move it was quite clear that the cham pion was playing the Ruy Lopez on eighteen boards and was adopting a rather obsolete but fairly good reply to Philidor defence on the other twelve. Had Bender known that he was playing such intricate games, he would have been most surprised, for the fact of the matter was that the great schemer was playing chess for the second time in his life. At first the players were terrified of the champion. The dark-haired man felt hke giving in, but with a great effort of will he forced himself to continue the game, and five minutes later a cloud gathered on the horizon.
- Mate ! ’ muttered the dark-haired man, after
Bender had sacrificed piece after piece. ‘ Mate, Comrade Champion.’ Bender analysed the situation and haughtily con gratulated the young man on his victory. ' Time to get out,’ he thought as he moved from board to board carelessly moving the pieces without thinking.
- You’ve placed the knight on a wrong square,’
said one of the players. ‘ The knight doesn’t move hke that.’ ‘ Pardon ! Pardon ! ’ said Bender hastily. ' My mistake. I’m rather tired after my lecture.’ Within the next ten minutes the champion had lost another ten games. Cries of astonishment were heard in the chess club.
