Lowe, Williams and Finch were the attendant
players there, and extensively they were supported. From each
received the Queen soon improving to the odds of the Knight, and
then playing even with them. Buckle alone, who did not mind
hard work, essayed to give me Pawn and move, but for a short
time only. One shilling a game has always been the recognized
stake at Simpson's, and also at St. Georges the principal London
Chess Club, but there have been exceptions, John Cochrane and
Bird, the Rev. G. A. MacDonnell and Bird, and S. Boden and Bird
never played for anything, and these ranked among the most
popular of games, and the players were favourite opponents. In
1873, Wisker was holder of the British Chess Association
Challenge Cup, but had never seen or played with Bird, who had
been for six years out of chess. An accidental meeting by them,
and the presence and intervention of Lowenthal and Boden, led
to the Wisker and Bird four matches, the first for 5 pounds, and the
other for credit of victory only. Anderssen and Bird always
played 5/- a game, Zukertort and Bird 2/6, Steinitz and Bird's first
sixteen games were without stakes, their match of 1866-7 for 25
pounds only.
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