<<<<INTERCOLONIAL CHESS MATCH.VICTORIA. V. NEW SOUTH WALES.>
The third of these annual contests between the colonies was played by telegraph on Saturday, 9th November 1872>
BOARD 3.-
Sedgefield v. Gibbes.
The latter as usual played the "French Defence" and as usual drew the game.
In the four matches Mr. Gibbes has played since he won his game in the first Adelaide match, he has never succeeded in doing more nor less than securing a draw - it seems to be his highest ambition, especially so in this case, for he missed an easy chance of winning.
There is however always a redeeming feature in a drawn game and that is, that there is something worse than a draw.
Leaving out of view this one sin of omission, Mr. Gibbes played a very fine game, and we consider had slightly the best of it when he proposed a draw.
It would have been a great thing for this colony if he had scored a win.
- Australian Town and Country Journal (Sydney, NSW) issue Saturday 23 November 1872 page 20>
Board No. 3 —
The players paired at this Board were Messrs. Sedgefield and Gibbes, two well-known players in the chess circle, both pretty equal in strength of play.
Mr. Sedgefield offered the opportunity of an open game, but Mr. Gibbes preferred to adopt the French Defence of P to K 3, and both players contested the game carefully up to move 16, when the Victorian champion made an error in writing down the move actually made, and was afterwards compelled to correct his game according to the MS.S.
The move actually made, viz., R to K sq would have given him a slight advantage, but not so much as at first sight appears. It was, however, unquestionably better than the useless move of Q R to Q sq.
The proper move was Q R to Q B sq, and if White had made it he would have obtained a superior game.
The latter part of this game was weakly played by the Sydney player, and at a stage when he had an easy win by taking off the R P with his B, he unfortunately overlooked the combination, leaving his opponent a chance of a draw, which, we regret to see, the Victorian papers take credit for having forced when in reality it could have been won by Mr. Gibbes at the point it was abandoned as drawn, only his annoyance was so great at having overlooked the combination that he was afraid to continue the game for fear of making another faux pas, and, as the match was hanging upon the conclusion of this game, it was considered better to offer the draw; therefore Mr. Sedgefield had a narrow escape, and may thank the adjournment for his let-off.
- The Sydney Mail and New South Wales Advertiser (NSW) issue Saturday 28 December 1872>
Kibitzing
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