1. Move your pawns before your pieces, and afterwards bring out the
pieces to support them; therefore the king’s, queen’s and bishops’ pawns
should be the first played, in order to open the game well.
2. Do not, therefore, play out any of your pieces early in the game,
because you thereby lose moves, in case your adversary can, by playing a
pawn, make them retire, and he also opens his game at the same time:
especially avoid playing your queen out, till your game is tolerably
well opened.
3. Avoid giving useless checks, and never give any unless to gain some
advantage, because you may lose the move, if the adversary can either
take or drive your piece away.
4. Never crowd your game by having too many pieces together, so as to
prevent your men advancing or retreating as occasion may require.
5. If your game should be crowded, endeavour to free it by exchanges of
pieces or pawns, and castle your king as soon as convenient; afterwards
bring out your pieces, and attack the adversary where weakest.
6. When the adversary plays out his pieces before his pawns, attack them
as soon as you can with your pawns, by which you may crowd his game and
make him lose moves.
7. Never attack the adversary’s king without a sufficient force; and if
he attack yours, and you cannot retaliate, offer exchanges; and should
he retire, when you present a piece to exchange, he may lose a move. It
also may sometimes be expedient to act in this manner in case of other
attacks.
8. Play your men in guard of one another, so that if any be taken, the
enemy may also be captured by that which guarded yours, and endeavour to
have as many guards to your piece, as your adversary advances others
upon it; and, if possible, let them be of less value than those he
assails with. When you cannot well support your piece, see if by
attacking one of his that is better, or as good, you may not thereby
save yours.
9. Never attack but when well prepared, for thereby you open your
adversary’s game, and prepare him to pour in a strong attack upon you,
as soon as your weaker one is over.
10. Never play till you have examined whether you are free from danger
by your adversary’s last move; nor offer to attack till you have
considered what harm he would be able to do you by his next moves, in
consequence of yours.
11. When your attack is in a prosperous way, never be diverted from it
by taking any piece, or other seeming advantage, your adversary may
purposely throw in your way, with the intent that, by your taking the
bait, he might gain a move which would make your design miscarry.
12. When, in pursuing a well-laid attack, you find it necessary to force
your adversary’s defence, with the loss of some pieces; if, upon
counting as many moves forward as you can, you find a prospect of
success, sacrifice a piece or two to gain your end: these bold attempts
make the finest games.
13. Never let your queen stand so before the king, as that your
adversary, by bringing forwards a rook or a bishop, might check your
king if she were not there, for you could hardly save her, or perhaps at
best must sacrifice her for an inferior piece; as for example: place the
white king on 61, the queen on 53; the black king on 4, and the rook, on
16: which last, if moved to 13, must be taken by the white queen, who in
return would be taken by the black king, because the white queen could
not otherwise be moved without putting the king on check to the black
rook.
14. Let not your adversary’s knight fork your king and queen, or king
and rook, or queen and rook, or your two rooks, at the same time; for in
the two first cases, the king being forced to go out of check, the queen
or the rook must be lost; and in the two last a rook must be lost, at
best, for a worse piece. Place the white queen on 5, the rook on 7, and
a black knight on 37. The latter piece, if moved to 22, will fork both
the queen and rook, and consequently one of them must be lost for the
knight.
15. Take care that no guarded pawn of your adversary’s fork two of your
pieces: knights and rooks are particularly liable to this mode of
attack; also guard against either a check by discovery, or a stale-mate.
16. When the kings have castled on different sides of the board, attack
with the pawn you have on that side where the adversary has castled,
advancing the pieces, especially the queen and rooks to support them;
and if the adversary’s king have three pawns on a line in front, he
should not stir them till forced to it.
17. Endeavour to have a move in ambuscade; that is, place the queen,
bishop, or rook behind a pawn, or a piece, in such a manner, as that,
upon playing that pawn, or piece, you discover a check upon your
adversary’s king, and consequently may often get a piece, or some other
advantage by it. Suppose the black king on 6, a white bishop on 41, and
a pawn on 34; by moving the pawn to 26, a check by the white bishop is
discovered upon the black king.
18. Never guard an inferior piece or pawn with a better, if you can do
it with a pawn, because that better piece may in such a case be, as it
were, out of play.
19. A pawn pushed on, and well supported, often costs the adversary a
piece; but one separated from the others is seldom of any value. And
whenever you have gained a pawn, or other advantage, and are not in
danger of losing the move thereby, make as frequent exchanges as you
can.
20. If each player have three pawns upon the board, and no piece, and
you have a pawn on one side of the board, and the other two on the other
side, and your adversary’s 3 are opposite to your 2, march with your
king to take his pawns; and if he move to support them, go on to queen
with your single pawn; and if he attempt to hinder it, take his pawns,
and push yours to queen; that is, to move a pawn into the adversary’s
back row, in order to make a queen, when the original is lost.
21. At the latter end of the game, each party having only three or four
pawns on different sides of the board, the kings are to endeavour to
gain the move, in order to win the game: for example—the white king
placed on 54, and the black king on 37, white would gain the move by
playing to 53, or black to 38, and in both cases the adverse king would
be prevented from advancing.
22. When the adversary has no more than his king and one pawn on the
board, and you a king only, you can never lose that game if you bring
and keep your king opposite to your adversary’s, when he is immediately
either before or on one side of his pawn, and only one house between the
kings. This must then either be a drawn game, or if the opponent persist
in his endeavours to win, he will lose by a stale-mate, by drawing you
upon the last square.
23. When your adversary has one pawn on the rook’s line, with a king and
bishop against a king only, and his bishop is not of the colour that
commands the corner-house his pawn is going to, if you can get your king
into that corner, you cannot lose that game, but may win by a
stale-mate.
24. When you have only your queen left in play, and your king happens to
be in that position of stale-mate, keep giving check to your adversary’s
king, always taking care not to check him where he can interpose any of
his pieces that make the stale: by so doing, you will at last force him
to take your queen, and then you win the game by being in stale-mate.
25. Never cover a check with a piece that a pawn pushed upon it may
take, for fear of only getting that pawn for it: put a black rook on 7,
and a pawn on 40; the white king on 63, and a knight on 61: the white
king being on a check to the rook, if the check be covered by moving the
white knight to 56, the black pawn could then be moved to 48, and take
the knight.
26. Do not crowd your adversary’s king with your pieces, lest you
inadvertently give a stale-mate.
27. Do not be too much afraid of losing a rook for an inferior piece;
though a rook is better than any other, except the queen, yet it seldom
comes into play, so as to operate, until the end of the game; and it is
generally better to have a worse piece in play than a superior out.
28. When you have moved a piece, which your adversary drives away with a
pawn, that is a bad move, your enemy gaining a double advantage. At this
nice game no move can be indifferent. Though the first move may not be
much, between equally good players, yet the loss of one or two more,
after the first, makes the game almost irretrievable: but if you can
recover the move, or the attack (for they both go together), you are in
a fair way of winning.
29. If ever your game be such, that you have scarce any thing to play,
you have either brought out your pieces wrong, or, which is worse, not
at all; for if you have brought them out right, you must have variety
enough.
30. Do not be much afraid of doubling a pawn: two in a direct line are
not disadvantageous when surrounded by three or four others; three
together are strong, (as three white pawns on 28, 35 and 37;) but four,
(as 44 in addition) that make a square, with the help of other pieces,
well managed, form an invincible strength, and probably may produce you
a queen: on the contrary, two pawns, with an interval between (as on 35
and 37) are no better than one; and if you should have three over each
other in a line (as 26, 34, and 42) your game cannot be in a worse
situation.
31. When a piece is so attacked that it is difficult to save it, give it
up, and endeavour to annoy your enemy in another place; for it often
happens, that whilst your adversary is pursuing a piece, you either get
a pawn or two, or such a situation as ends in his destruction.
32. Supposing your queen and another piece are attacked at the same
time, and by removing your queen, you must lose the piece, if you can
get two pieces in exchange for her, rather do that than retire; for the
difference is more than the worth of a queen; besides, you preserve your
situation, which is often better than a piece; when the attack and
defence are thoroughly formed, if he who plays first be obliged to
retire by the person who defends, that generally ends in the loss of the
game on the side of him who attacks.
33. Do not aim at exchanges without reason; a good player will take
advantage of it, to spoil your situation, and mend his own: but when you
are strongest, especially by a piece, and have not an immediate
check-mate in view, then every time you exchange, your advantage
increases. Again, when you have played a piece, and your adversary
opposes one to you, exchange directly, for he wants to remove you:
prevent him, and do not lose the move.
34. Every now and then examine your game, and then take your measures
accordingly.
35. At the latter end of the game, especially when both queens are off
the board, the kings are capital pieces; do not let your king be idle;
it is by his means, generally, you must get the move and the victory.
36. As the queen, rooks, and bishops operate at a distance, it is not
always necessary in your attack to have them near your adversary’s king;
they do better at a distance, cannot be driven away, and prevent a
stale-mate.
37. When there is a piece you can take, and that cannot escape, do not
hurry; see where you can make a good move elsewhere, and take the piece
at leisure.
38. It is not always right to take your adversary’s pawn with your king,
for very often it happens to be a safeguard and protection to him. Place
a black rook on 5, with a pawn on 45, and the white king on 53, and he
will be sheltered by the black pawn from the attack of the rook.
39. When you can take a man with different pieces, consider thoroughly
with which you had best take it.