Earl Granville,
the Marquis of Hartington, the Marquis of Ripon, and the Right
Hon. H. C. Childers, M.P., have also appeared as patrons and
supporters.
Blackburne, Steinitz, and Zukertort, our three greatest
professional players, will not feel highly complimented to hear,
for the first time, that their excellence arises from twenty years
hard labour; and that inferentially their capacity, otherwise, is
but common. Memory, a quality not mentioned by the Reviewer or
by Mr. Buckle, must be essential in the playing of chess for hours
without sight of board or men; it must be also advantageous in
the ordinary game, when many variations have to be worked out;
or the earlier combinations might be forgotten when the latter
are maturing.
Steinitz is now residing in New York, (this fact might well
have been stated) and the attacks upon him in his absence,
moreover, can hardly interest or gratify chess readers. These
attacks are in the worst possible taste; being calculated to lead
to controversy with his friends and supporters, who are still
numerous, both here and abroad. They will arouse a well merited
and just sense of indignation for despite his faults of temper and
a disposition, at times, prone to be touchy and contentious, Steinitz
is a true artist, a painstaking, careful, conscientious, and
impartial annotator, whilst as a describer of play he is unrivalled.
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