The—interprovincial military chess tournament of West China scored one for the Blacks, when the white king, Hsiong Keh-wu, by leaving Chengtu, may be considered checkmated. However, one game docs not end a tournament, game No. 2 is now on, and Whites and Blacks are in a life and death struggle. By a sudden turn of events in Chengtu, causing Lit Ch'ao and his dare-devil supportevs hastily to evacuate the city, there came about, largely through the influence of Liu Tsen-ho, a reunion of several Szechuanese Divisions, and a real resolve to oust the enemy at any cost.
The peculiarity of the present game is that there is no definite king among the Whites, as they are vallying around the standard "Szechuan for the Szechuanese."" Hence, for the present at least, the leaders seem to be sinking their personal ambitions, and uniting with a zeal that should bring victory. For a week the fighting has been on the eastern border of the Chengtu plains, 50 li from the capital. There is quite an ascent at this place, and the Yunnanese hold the heights. The Szechuanese have been throwing their forces against this barrier, with the result that 3,000 or 4,000 wounded have been carried into Chengtu. The Military Hospital, the French Hospital. the Can-adion Methodist Hospital are filled to over-flowing. Tt is said a reward of 83,000 was offered to volunteers who would wrench the hill from the Yunnanese. A brave dash was made, the summit reached, but by a counter-attack in the night the Yunnanese regained the position.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.