player will usually select one or two which he feels that he can
handle better than others, and will make a specialty of them. Having
mastered a number of variations, and learned the object of them in
forming his pieces for attack or defence, he will naturally be led
to the study of the middle game. In this there are a few general
principles which should be steadily kept in view. For attack, the
player should secure command of a wide range of the board; but for
defence he should concentrate his forces as much as possible. He should
be careful not to get his pieces in one another’s way, and not to
leave pieces where they can be attacked and driven back by inferior
pieces, because that entails a loss of valuable time. A player should
never exchange a man in active service for one that is doing nothing.
If several lines of play are open, the one offering the most numerous
good continuations should be selected. When a player is not ready for
attack, he should develop his pieces, and remember that the more of
them he can get to bear on the enemy’s King, the better. Supporting
pieces should be placed where they are not easily attacked, because
good players attack the supports first, so as to isolate the advance
guard. Beginners are usually in too great a hurry to give check; the
best players do not check until they are ready to follow it up with
a mate, or a winning position, or can gain time in developing their
pieces.
_=END GAMES.=_ There are certain positions in which apparently equal
games are not necessarily drawn, and there are others in which a player
with a decided advantage cannot win, within the fifty moves which are
allowed him, unless he knows exactly how to proceed. If a player is
not well up in endings he may lose many a game which could be won if
he only knew how to win it. The following games may be abandoned as
_=drawn=_:--
King and Bishop against a King.
King and Knight against a King.
King and two Knights against a King.
King and Queen against two Rooks.
King and Queen against King and two Bishops.
King and Rook against King, Rook and Pawn.
King and Rook against King and Bishop.
King and Rook against King and Knight.
King and Rook against King, Rook and Bishop.
The following games can be _=won=_:--
King and Queen, or King and Rook, against a King.
King and Queen against King and Rook.
King and Queen against King and Bishop.
King and Queen against King and Knight.
King and Queen against King and Pawn.
King and two Rooks against King and Rook.
King and two Bishops against a King.
King Bishop and Knight against a King.
In order to master all these endings, the student should take up
Staunton’s Handbook, or the Lehrbuch des Schachspiels, in which they
are given very fully. For the beginner only one or two of the most
common and important are necessary.
K and Q, or K and R, against K. All that is necessary is to drive the
King to the edge of the board, which may be done by holding him below
a certain parallel with the Q or R, and then getting your own King in
front of him; a check will then drive him one line further back, and
when he arrives at the edge of the board, and can no longer go back, he
is mated.
K and Q against K and R. Freeborough has devoted an entire volume to
this ending, which may be very much prolonged by a skilful player. The
object is to drive the King to the edge of the board, and then to get
the Rook in such a position that it must be sacrificed to save the
mate, or that the mate can be accomplished with the Rook on the board.
The player with the Queen must be on his guard against stale-mate in
this ending.
K and Q against K and B, K and Kt, or K and P. This is easy enough for
the Queen if the player is careful to avoid stale-mate.
K and two R’s against K and R. This can be won easily by forcing an
exchange of Rooks.
K and two B’s against K. In this position the King must be ruled off
into a corner by getting the Bishops together, protected by their King.
Start with the men in the following position:--
Black K on his own square. White King on K B 6; white Bishops on K B 4
and K B 5. White to move and win. The mate can be accomplished in six
moves, as follows:--
B-B7 B-Q7 K-Kt6
1 --------- 2 -------- 3 ---------
K-B sq K-Kt sq K-B sq
B-Q6 ch B-K6 ch B-K5 mate
4 --------- 5 -------- 6 ---------
K-Kt sq K-R sq
K, B and Kt against K. This is one of the most difficult endings for a
beginner, but is very instructive, and should be carefully studied. Set
up the men as follows:--
Black King on K R sq. White King on K B 6, white Bishop on K B 5, and
white Knight on K Kt 5; White to move and win. The object is to drive
the King into a corner of the board which is commanded by the Bishop,
as he cannot otherwise be mated.
Kt-B7 ch B-K4 B-R7 Kt-K5
1 --------- 2 -------- 3 --------- 4 --------
K-Kt sq K-B sq K-K sq K-B sq
Kt-Q7 ch K-K6 K-Q6 B-K6 ch
5 --------- 6 -------- 7 --------- 8 --------
K-K sq K-Q sq K-K sq K-Q sq
K-B6 B-B7 Kt-Kt7 ch K-B6
9 --------- 10 --------- 11 --------- 12 --------
K-B sq K-Q sq K-B sq K-Kt sq
K-Kt6 B-K6 ch Kt-B5 B-Q7
13 --------- 14 --------- 15 --------- 16 --------
K-B sq K-Kt sq K-R sq K-Kt sq
Kt-R6 ch B-B6 mate
17 --------- 18 ---------
K-R sq
If, at the fourth move, the black King does not go back to the Bishop’s
square, but goes on to the Queen’s square, hoping to cut across to the
other black corner of the board, the continuation will be as follows,
beginning at White’s fifth move:--
K-K6 Kt-Q7 B-Q3 B-Kt5
5 --------- 6 --------- 7 --------- 8 --------
K-B2 K-B3 K-B2 K-Q sq
Kt-K5 Kt-B4 K-Q6 Kt-R5
9 --------- 10 --------- 11 --------- 12 --------
K-B2 K-Q sq K-B sq K-Q sq
Kt-Kt7 ch K-B6 Kt-Q6 K-B7
13 --------- 14 --------- 15 --------- 16 --------
K-B sq K-Kt sq K-R2 K-R sq
B-B4 Kt-B8 ch B-Q5 mate
17 --------- 18 --------- 19 ---------
K-R2 K-R sq
_=PAWN ENDINGS.=_ There are a great number of these, many being
complicated by the addition of Pawns to other pieces. The following
example, which is a position that often occurs, should be understood by
the beginner:--
Put the black King on K B square; the white King on K B 6, and a white
Pawn on K 6. If it is Black’s move, White can win easily; but if it is
White’s move it is impossible to win, because whether he checks or not
the black King gets in front of the Pawn and either wins it or secures
a stale-mate.
Put the Pawn behind the King, on K B 5, and White wins, no matter which
moves first, for if Black moves he allows the white King to advance to
the seventh file, which will queen the Pawn. If White moves first, and
the black King keeps opposite him, the Pawn advances. If Black goes in
the other direction, the white King goes to the seventh file and wins
by queening the Pawn.
If the white King and Pawn are both moved one square further back, the
King on K B 5, and the Pawn on K B 4. the win will depend on the move.
If it is White’s move he can win by advancing the King; but if it is
Black’s move he can draw by keeping his King always opposite the white
King. If the Pawn advances, he will get in front of it, and if the
King is afterward advanced, he will get in front of it; winning the
Pawn or securing a stale-mate.
_=THE KNIGHT’S TOUR.=_ Owing to the peculiarity of the Knight’s move,
many persons have amused themselves in trying to cover the entire chess
board with a Knight, touching the same square once only, and returning
to the starting-point again. There are several ways of doing this, one
of the simplest being the following:--
[Illustration:
+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+
|14|29|34|55|12|27|24|49|
+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+
|35|56|13|28|33|50|11|26|
+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+
|30|15|54|51|58|25|48|23|
+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+
|41|36|57|32|61|52|63|10|
+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+
|16|31|40|53|64|59|22|47|
+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+
|37|42| 1|60|19|62| 9| 6|
+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+
| 2|17|44|39| 4| 7|46|21|
+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+
|43|38| 3|18|45|20| 5| 8|
+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+
]
_=TEXT BOOKS.=_ Among the very large number of works on Chess there
is abundant room for choice, but the following works are considered
standard authorities on the game:--
Freeborough’s Chess Openings, 1896.
Cook’s Synopsis.
Minor Tactics of Chess, by Young and Howell.
Modern Chess Instructor, by W. Steinitz.
Common Sense in Chess, by E. Lasker.
Walker’s Treatise on Chess, 1841.
Handbuch des Schachspiels.
Lehrbuch des Schachspiels, by J. Dufresne.
Teoria e Practica del Giuoco degli Schacchi.
British Chess Magazine.
Chess Player’s Chronicle.
Chess Monthly.
_Westminster Papers_, 1868 to 1879.
Of these works, “Minor Tactics” will be found most useful to the
beginner, as it simplifies the openings by grouping them, and
concentrates the attention on the essential points of chess strategy.
CODE OF CHESS LAWS. ADOPTED BY THE FIFTH AMERICAN CHESS CONGRESS.
_=Definitions of Terms Used.=_ Whenever the word “_Umpire_” is used
herein, it stands for any Committee having charge of Matches or
Tournaments, with power to determine questions of chess-law and rules;
or for any duly appointed Referee, or Umpire; for the bystanders, when
properly appealed to; or for any person, present or absent, to whom
may be referred any disputed questions; or for any other authority
whomsoever having power to determine such questions.
When the word “_move_” is used it is understood to mean a legal move or
a move to be legally made according to these laws.
When the word “_man_” or “_men_” is used, it is understood that it
embraces both Pieces and Pawns.
_=The Chess-Board and Men.=_ The Chess-board must be placed with a
white square at the right-hand corner.
If the Chess-board be wrongly placed, it cannot be changed during the
game in progress after a move shall have been made by each player,
provided the men were correctly placed upon the board at the beginning,
_i.e._, the Queens upon their own colours.
A deficiency in number, or a misplacement of the men, at the beginning
of the game, when discovered, annuls the game.
The field of the Standard Chess-board shall be twenty-two inches square.
The Standard Chess-men shall be of the improved Staunton Club size and
pattern.
_=First Move and Colour.=_ The right of first move must be determined
by lot.
The player having the first move must always play with the white men.
The right of move shall alternate, whether the game be won, lost or
drawn.
The game is legally begun when each player shall have made his first
move.
Whenever a game shall be annulled, the party having the move in
that game shall have it in the next game. An annulled game must be
considered, in every respect, the same as if it had never been begun.
_=Concessions.=_ The concession of an indulgence by one player does
not give him the right of a similar, or other, indulgence from his
opponent.
_=Errors.=_ If, during the course of the game, it be discovered that
any error or illegality has been committed, the moves must be retraced
and the necessary correction made, without penalty. If the moves cannot
be correctly retraced, the game must be annulled.
If a man be dropped from the board and moves made during its absence,
such moves must be retraced and the man restored. If this cannot be
done, to the satisfaction of the Umpire, the game must be annulled.
_=Castling.=_ The King can be Castled only:
When neither the King nor the Castling Rook has been moved, and
When the King is not in check, and
When all the squares between the King and Rook are unoccupied, and
When no hostile man attacks the square on which the King is to be
placed, or the square he crosses.
In Castling, the King must be first moved.
The penalty of moving the King prohibits Castling.
_=En Passant.=_ Taking the Pawn “_en passant_,” when the only possible
move, is compulsory.
_=Queening the Pawn.=_ A pawn reaching the eighth square must be at
once exchanged for any piece (except the King) that the player of the
Pawn may elect.
_=Check.=_ A player falsely announcing “check,” must retract the move
upon which the announcement was based and make some other move, or the
move made must stand at the option of the opponent.
No penalty can be enforced for any offence committed against these
rules in consequence of a false announcement of “check,” nor in
consequence of the omission of such announcement, when legal “check” be
given.
_=“J’adoube.”=_ “J’adoube,” “I adjust,” or words to that effect, cannot
protect a player from any of the penalties imposed by these laws,
unless the man or men touched, obviously _need_ adjustment, and unless
such notification be distinctly uttered _before_ the man, or men, be
touched, and only the player whose turn it is to move is allowed so to
adjust.
The hand having once quitted the man, but for an instant, the move must
stand.
Men overturned or displaced accidentally may be replaced by either
player, without notice.
A wilful displacement, or overturning of any of the men, forfeits the
game.
_=Penalties.=_ Penalties can be enforced only at the time an offence is
committed, and before any move is made thereafter.
A player touching one of his men, when it is his turn to play, must
move it. If it cannot be moved he must move his King. If the King
cannot move, no penalty can be enforced.
For playing two moves in succession, the adversary may elect which move
shall stand.
For touching an adversary’s man, when it cannot be captured, the
offender must move his King. If the King cannot move, no other penalty
can be enforced. But if the man touched can be legally taken, it must
be captured.
For playing a man to a square to which it cannot be legally moved, the
adversary, at his option, may require him to move the man legally, or
to move the King.
For illegally capturing an adversary’s man, the offender must move his
King, or legally capture the man, as his opponent may elect.
For attempting to Castle illegally, the player doing so must move
either the King or Rook, as his adversary may dictate.
For touching more than one of the player’s own men, he must move either
man that his opponent may name.
For touching more than one of the adversary’s men, the offender
must capture the one named by his opponent, or if _either_ cannot
be captured, he may be required to move the King or capture the man
which can be taken, at the adversary’s option; or, if _neither_ can be
captured, then the King must be moved.
A player moving into check may be required, by the opposing player,
either to move the King elsewhere, or replace the King and make some
other move--but such other move shall not be selected by the player
imposing the penalty.
For discovering check on his own King, the player must either legally
move the man touched, or move the King at his adversary’s option. In
case neither move can be made, there shall be no penalty.
While in check, for touching or moving a man which does not cover the
check, the player may be required to cover with another piece, or move
the King, as the opposing player may elect.
_=Touching the Squares.=_ While the hand remains upon a man, it may be
moved to any square that it commands, except such squares as may have
been touched by it during the deliberation on the move; but if all the
squares which it commands have been so touched, then the man must be
played to such of the squares as the adversary may elect.
_=Counting Fifty Moves.=_ If, at any period during a game, either
player persist in repeating a particular check, or series of checks,
or persist in repeating any particular line of play which does not
advance the game; or if “_a game-ending_” be of doubtful character as
to its being a win or a draw, or if a win be possible, but the skill to
force the game questionable, then either player may demand judgment of
the Umpire as to its being a proper game to be determined as drawn at
the end of fifty additional moves, on each side; or the question: “Is,
or is not the game a draw?” may be, by mutual consent of the players,
submitted to the Umpire at any time. The decision of the Umpire, in
either case, to be final.
And whenever fifty moves are demanded and accorded, the party demanding
it may, when the fifty moves have been made, claim the right to go on
with the game, and thereupon the other party may claim the fifty move
rule, at the end of which, unless mate be effected, the game shall be
decided a draw.
_=Stale-Mate.=_ A stale-mate is a drawn game.
_=Time Limit.=_ The penalty for exceeding the time limit is the
forfeiture of the game.
It shall be the duty of each player, as soon as his move be made, to
stop his own register of time and start that of his opponent, whether
the time be taken by clocks, sand-glasses, or otherwise. No complaint
respecting an adversary’s time can be considered, unless this rule be
strictly complied with. But nothing herein is intended to affect the
penalty for exceeding the time limit as registered.
_=Abandoning the Game.=_ If either player abandon the game by quitting
the table in anger, or in any otherwise offensive manner; or by
momentarily resigning the game; or refuses to abide by the decision of
the Umpire, the game must be scored against him.
If a player absent himself from the table, or manifestly ceases to
consider his game, when it is his turn to move, the time so consumed
shall, in every case, be registered against him.
_=Disturbance.=_ Any player wilfully disturbing his adversary shall
be admonished; and if such disturbance be repeated, the game shall be
declared lost by the player so offending, provided the player disturbed
then appeals to the Umpire.
_=The Umpire.=_ It is the duty of the Umpire to determine all questions
submitted to him according to these laws, when they apply, and
according to his best judgment when they do not apply.
No deviation from these laws can be permitted by an Umpire, even by
mutual or general consent of the players, after a match or tournament
shall have been commenced.
The decision of the Umpire is final, and binds both and all the
players.
RULES FOR PLAYING THE GAME AT ODDS.
I. In games where one player gives the odds of a piece, or “the
exchange,” or allows his opponent to count drawn games as won, or
agrees to check-mate with a particular man, or on a particular square,
he has the right to choose the men, and to move first, unless an
arrangement to the contrary is agreed to between the combatants.
II. When the odds of Pawn and one move, or Pawn and more than one move
are given, the Pawn given must be the King’s Bishop’s Pawn when not
otherwise previously agreed on.
III. When a player gives the odds of his King’s or Queen’s Rook, he
must not Castle (or more properly speaking leap his King) on the side
from which the Rook is removed, unless before commencing the game or
match he stipulates to have the privilege of so doing.
IV. When a player undertakes to give check-mate with one of his Pawns,
or with a particular Pawn, the said Pawn must not be converted into a
piece.
V. When a player accepts the odds of two or more moves, he must not
play any man beyond the fourth square, _i.e._, he must not cross the
middle line of the board, before his adversary makes his first move.
Such several moves are to be collectively considered as the first move
of the player accepting the odds.
VI. In the odds of check-mating on a particular square it must be the
square occupied by the King mated, not by the man giving the mate.
VII. The player who undertakes to win in a particular manner, and
either draws the game, or wins in some other manner, must be adjudged
to be the loser.
In all other respects, the play in games at odds must be governed by
the regulations before laid down.
RULES FOR PLAYING CORRESPONDENCE AND CONSULTATION GAMES.
I. In playing a game by correspondence or in consultation, the two
parties shall always agree beforehand in writing or otherwise as to the
persons who are to take part in the contest, as to the time and mode
of transmitting the moves, as to the penalties to be inflicted for any
breach of the contract, and as to the umpire or referee.
II. In games of this description each party is bound by the move
dispatched; and in this connection the word move refers to what is
intelligibly written, or delivered _viva voce_.
In any game the announcement of a move which does not include the
actual transfer of a man from one square to another, shall be
considered as a move not intelligibly described within the meaning of
this section.
III. Each party must be bound by the move communicated in writing,
or by word of mouth, to the adversary whether or not it be made on
the adversary’s board. If the move so communicated should prove to be
different from that actually made on the party’s own board, the latter
must be altered to accord with the former.
IV. If either party be detected in moving the men when it is not their
turn to play, or in moving more than one man (except in castling) when
it is their turn to play, they shall forfeit the game, unless they can
show that the man was moved for the purpose of adjusting or replacing
it.
V. If either party has, accidentally or otherwise, removed a man from
the board, which has not been captured in the course of the game, and
made certain moves under the impression that such man was no longer in
play, the moves must stand, but the man may be replaced whenever the
error is discovered.
VI. If either party permit a bystander to take part in the contest,
that party shall forfeit the game.
* * * * *
The foregoing laws differ very slightly from those of the British Chess
Association, and it is to be hoped that an international code will be
agreed upon before a second edition of this work is issued.
CHECKERS, OR DRAUGHTS.
_=The Board.=_ Checkers is played upon a board which is not more
than sixteen, nor less than fourteen inches square, and is divided
into sixty-four smaller squares of equal size. These squares are of
different colours, alternately light and dark, and the board must be so
placed that each player shall have a light square at his right on the
side nearer him.
_=The Men.=_ Each player is provided with twelve men, which are
circular in form, one inch in diameter, and three eighths thick. The
men on one side are red or black; those on the other white or yellow.
The men must be placed on the _=black=_ squares.
_=Diagrams.=_ For convenience in illustrating games and problems the
men are always shown as placed on the white squares, type made in that
manner being more easily read. The following diagram will show the
proper arrangement of the men at the beginning of the game, if the
white squares are supposed to be black ones:--
[Illustration:
+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
| | ⛀ | | ⛀ | | ⛀ | | ⛀ |
+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
| ⛀ | | ⛀ | | ⛀ | | ⛀ | |
+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
| | ⛀ | | ⛀ | | ⛀ | | ⛀ |
+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
| | | | | | | | |
+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
| | | | | | | | |
+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
| ⛂ | | ⛂ | | ⛂ | | ⛂ | |
+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
| | ⛂ | | ⛂ | | ⛂ | | ⛂ |
+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
| ⛂ | | ⛂ | | ⛂ | | ⛂ | |
+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
]
_=Two Move Restriction.=_ It has lately become the custom in important
tournaments to write an opening and second move, such as 10-14, 22-17
on a slip of paper; 10-14, 24-19 on another, and so on for all possible
openings. These are placed in a hat and when the players face each
other, a slip is drawn. If it is 11-15, 22-18, the game must be opened
with those moves. When these players start the second game, the one who
was second player on the first game begins with 11-15, and his opponent
must play 22-18. The same opening is never again used by the same pair,
the object being to diversify the play and drive contestants out of
their favourite ruts.
_=The Players=_ are designated by the colour of the men with which
they play, White or Black, and Black always has the first move. In a
series of games each player in turn takes the black men and the move.
It is usual to draw for the first game, one player concealing in each
hand a man of different colour, and offering the choice of hands to his
adversary. Whichever colour the chosen hand contains the chooser must
take for the first game.
_=The Moves.=_ The men never leave the colour of the squares on which
they are originally set up, so that they always move diagonally. At
the beginning of the game the men move only one square at a time, and
always forward, and can be placed only on squares which are unoccupied.
If an adverse piece stands upon a square to which a man might be moved,
and there is a vacant square beyond, the man must jump over the adverse
piece to the unoccupied square, at the same time removing from the
board the piece so jumped over. In the position shown in Diagram No.
1, for instance, it being White’s turn to move, he must jump over the
black man, removing it from the board. Black will then have a choice
of two jumps, over one man or over two, and will of course select the
jump toward the right of the board first, and then over the second man,
removing both from the board. A man may jump over and capture several
men at one move, provided there are vacant squares between them, and
beyond the last man.
[Illustration: No. 1.