Masters Meet

Hastings, Sussex, where William the Conqueror defeated England's Harold, is now a sleepy shore resort where the Norman horns are echoed only by the snorings of retired British colonels. Nonetheless, Hastings acknowledges its past with an appropriate tradition. There, every winter, the chess masters of the world face each other across their tiny polished armies in England's most important tournament. By last week, each of the ten masters invited to Hastings had played nine matches, one against each opponent, and the tournament was over. Like Harold, England's hope, Sir George Thomas had been defeated after a brave stand. Loss of his ninth and final game left him with 6 1/2 points,* in a triple tie for first place with Dr. Max Euwe of Amsterdam and Czechoslovakian Salo Flohr, Hastings winner for the last three years.

The two masters most notably missing from the Hastings tournament were Dr. Alexandre Alekhine who was resting for the match in which he will defend his world's championship against Dr. Euwe this spring, and Germany's handsome, beefy Ewfimij Dimitriewitsch Bogoljubow. The gallery, watching the tables in the hush of the Hastings and St. Leonards Chess Club, were most interested in two equally famed players neither of whom did as well as might have been expected. Jose Raoul Capablanca, onetime champion of the world, lost two games and finished fourth, a point behind the winners. Fat, solemn Vera Menchik, world's woman champion, was born in Czechoslovakia, brought up in Moscow, now lives in Hastings. She dismayed her neighbors by winning only one game, finishing just ahead of the two Englishmen who tied for last place.

* A win counts 1 point, a draw 1/2, a defeat 0.

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