Chapter I: =Elementary Institutes= (2)

To protect him from the knight, instead of pushing him a square, the queen’s knight is moved to the 3d house of the queen’s bishop. This would be ineffective—the adversary, by placing his king’s knight at his king’s bishop’s 3d square, might counteract it so completely as to make the bishop retreat at the same time that he secured taking the pawn—at least, secured an exchange, by which he would get the pawn to boot.

10.
W. King’s knight at king’s bishop’s 3d square.(i)
B. Queen’s bishop at the white king’s knight’s 4th square.(k)

11.
W. Queen’s knight’s pawn 2 squares.(l)
B. Bishop takes the knight.

12.
W. Queen takes the bishop.
B. Queen takes the pawn, and gives check.

13.
W. The king castles.
B. Queen takes the rook.

14.
W. Pawn takes the knight.
B. The king castles.(m)

15.
W. Knight at queen’s bishop’s 3d square.(n)
B. Queen at the knight’s 2d square.(o)

(i) To support the pawn.

(k) An adventurous speculation, in which the risk is but little.

(l) Ditto.

(m) To preserve the means of preservation.

(n) To lay an embargo on the black queen.

(o) Any where else, she would be taken.

16.
W. The rook at the same knight’s 1st square.(p)
B. The rook at his king’s square.(q)

17.
W. King’s rook’s pawn 2 squares.(r)
B. Queen at the white queen’s 2d square.(s)

18.
W. Bishop takes the bishop’s pawn.
B. Rook at the white king’s square, giving check.(t)

19.
W. The rook takes the rook.
B. Queen takes the rook, and checks.

(p) The comment on the next is a comment on this.

(q) If the black queen had moved aside into one of the three squares to which her sphere of action is at present reduced, the white rook, by taking the pawn opposite, might have ensured check-mate in another move.

(r) Had the queen’s rook taken the black queen, the black king’s rook, by crossing to the white king’s square, would have won the game; by the present move, that way of receiving check-mate is rendered impossible. In advancing a pawn to the adverse party, let it always be as far as is consistent with security.

(s) In order to extricate herself.

(t) He does this, which will cause him to be exchanged for the white rook, to save his own king from the check-mate which is still impending, and which, had the white queen been suffered to take his king’s knight’s pawn, would by now have been inflicted.

20.
W. The king removes.
B. Queen at her king’s 4th square, still giving check.(s)

21.
W. King’s knight’s pawn covers the check.
B. Queen takes the other pawn.

22.
W. Knight at the king’s 4th square.
B. Queen at her king’s 2d square.

23.
W. Queen at her knight’s 3d square.
B. Queen takes the knight.

24.
W. Bishop at the black queen’s 4th square.
B. Queen takes the bishop.(t)

(s) The black queen has thus made a triumphant retreat. To the advantages which sometimes attend giving check, although it can be easily eluded or covered, already enumerated, may be added that of gaining a move. There is still another: under the present circumstances, the taking of a piece is ensured by it.

(t) This player could not do better to prevent the check-mate, which the white queen would else have given, by taking the pawn.

25.
W. Queen takes the queen.
B. Queen’s knight’s pawn 1 square.(u)

26.
W. Queen at the black king’s 4th square.(v1)
B. Knight at his bishop’s 3d square.(v2)

27.
W. Queen at the black king’s 2d square.
B. Rook at his knight’s square.

(u) That the liability of check-mate by the white minister’s stepping into their first rank may at once be quashed. An instance similar has before occurred. Of the moves in general now, but a few, we imagine, will require to be observed on.

(v2) To preserve his pawn (v1) (v2). The subsequent moves will for some time be conducted on the plan of these. Of the player of the whites, inferior in numbers, though not in force, the object is, either to take, or keep in inaction, these pieces of the adversary preparatory to advancing his own pawns on this side. The pawns of the adversary on the other side, which are so disposed that he could make no impression on them, he is not concerned at present to obstruct any otherwise than his movements in this quarter virtually will. The object of the player of the blacks will declare itself.

28.
W. Queen at the black king’s bishop’s 2d square.
B. Queen’s bishop’s pawn 2 squares.(w)

29.
W. King’s bishop’s pawn 1 square.
B. Queen’s knight’s pawn 1 square.

30.
W. King’s knight’s pawn 1 square.
B. Rook at the queen’s square.(x)

31.
W. Queen takes the knight’s pawn.
B. Rook at the queen’s 3d square.(y)

(w) Of the rook, the knight, and the knight’s pawn on the other side, no one can move without one of them being taken; this player has, therefore, no better alternative than urging to promotion the pawns on this.

(x) The advancing a white pawn on the black knight, a step that is in readiness, would have enabled the white queen to make great havoc among the pieces she hovers over, had this rook remained where he was. The present movement, and timely sacrifice of a pawn will prevent any further uncompensated loss.

(y) The knight protects the pawn, the rook protects the knight.

32.
W. King’s knight’s pawn 1 square.(z)
B. Rook at the white queen’s 2d, giving check.(a)

33.
W. The king at his rook’s 3d.(b)
B. The knight at the queen’s 4th.

34.
W. The queen takes the pawn.
B. The rook takes the pawn.

35.
W. King’s knight’s pawn 1 square.
B. Queen’s bishop’s pawn 1 square.

(z) The opportunity of giving check, which the white queen neglects, is one of those cases in which it ought to be avoided. The black king, by removing to his queen’s bishop’s 2d, would have covered both himself and the rook; and the whites (including the loss of one to themselves and the gain of one to their adversaries) would have sustained a difference against them of two moves.

(a) This secures an equivalent for the pawn which the knight will be forced to desert.

(b) The king, when his pieces are advancing to the adversary’s side, should keep as near to them as possible.

36.
W. King’s knight’s pawn 1 square.
B. King at his queen’s knight’s 2d.(c)

37.
W. The pawn becomes a rook and discovers check.
B. The king at his queen’s knight’s 3d.

38.
W. Rook at black queen’s knight’s square, giving check.(d)
B. King at his queen’s bishop’s 4th.(e)

(c) If the king did not remove now, the white pawn, on becoming a rook, would check-mate him.

(d) Though it is not to be presumed that the player of the whites, with his present force, will check-mate the other, yet he is now acting rightly; for were he to refrain any longer from offence, his adversary would make a queen before he could make an additional rook, and perhaps turn the tables on him. What he aims at present, is not a mate, nor primarily a capture; but to bring about such a change in the position of the blacks, that the foremost of his pawns may wrest the move from the foremost of theirs.

(e) Any where else he would, probably, either soon lose his rook, or suffer a worse disaster.

39.
W. Rook at the black queen’s bishop’s square, still checking.
B. The king at the white queen’s 4th square.(f)

40.
W. The queen at her king’s 4th giving check.
B. The king at the white queen’s bishop’s 3d.

41.
W. The queen takes the knight.
B. Queen’s rook’s pawn 1 square.

42.
W. The king’s rook’s pawn 1 square.(g)
B. The king at the white queen’s knight’s 2d.(h)

43 and 44.
W. The king’s rook’s pawn 2 squares.
B. Queen’s bishop’s pawn 2 squares.

(f) Had he gone to the white queen’s knight’s 4th square—and had the white queen then moved to the 1st square of that knight—the loss of the black rook would have been inevitable.

(g) The remaining black pieces are posited so, that an attempt at this time to make any further capture, or to give check-mate, might only bring their pawns nearer to promotion. As this piece has now the start, this is the moment to push him on.

(h) He thus makes way for the black pawn without exposing either himself or the rook.

45.
W. Queen at the black king’s knight’s 4th square.(i)
B. Rook at the white queen’s rook’s square.

46.
W. The queen at the black king’s 4th square, checking.
B. King at the white queen’s knight’s square.

47.
W. The pawn becomes a rook.
B. The pawn becomes a queen.

48.
W. The rook takes the queen.
B. The king takes the rook.

49.
W. The queen takes the rook, and checks.
B. The king at the white queen’s 2d.(k)

(i) For some of the moves commented on, we were in doubt whether the tyro, unaided, could in passing have accounted: of this, and the following ones, we are persuaded he will at once see the reason.

(k) As check-mate is unavoidable, it is a matter of indifference what moves he makes. He adopts those which will put off the evil longest. We set them down merely that the game may not seem unfinished.

50.
W. The rook at the black queen’s square, giving check.
B. King at the white queen’s bishop’s 2d.

51.
W. The rook checks again.
B. King at the white queen’s 3d.

52.
W. The queen at her bishop’s 3d square, giving check.
B. The king removes.

53.
W. The rook checks.
B. The king at the square of the white queen.

54.
W. The rook at his king’s square, gives _check-mate_.

The move at which the fortune of the blacks began to decline, and at which a back-game may with most interest be taken up, is that where the queen takes the white knight (couplet 23). At the moment before (numbers and force considered apart from position) the advantage was on their side. What followed this move will impress on the student, that whenever an adversary seems to expose a piece to capture without securing an equivalent, or without securing a proper one the reprisal which the white bishop might have made on the black knight, as it would have spoilt the position of the white pieces, and lessened their comparative strength, could not be considered a proper one] he must not attribute to accident what may be the effect of design, and take the exposed piece without hesitation. If the player he is contending with be not contemptible, it is rather to be suspected that he has, as the player of the whites had in the present case, some ambuscaded motive for losing the piece: whether he has or no, it behooves the student, before taking it, well to examine.

The game just ended, affords occasion likewise to observe, that sudden incursions on the adversary’s pieces are only to be made with caution. The 13th move of the blacks, the difficulty with which the queen retreats, and her being once within an ace of capture, very forcibly suggest this maxim. Of this move, however, we do not mean to impeach the propriety.

At the 10th move, to have acted more systematically, the black bishop should have stopped at the 4th square of the bishop of his king. In the counterstep to this and other moves, the whites, too, might have acted more systematically: but as we mean to give separate examples of that kind of play, from which these are deviations, and as many of the intervening moves are properly consequent one of the other, it will not be necessary to begin any variation of the last example at an earlier move than the 1st of the 23d couplet.

FIRST SCALE OF POWERS.

The introductory chapter classes the pieces in the order of their relative values; but nothing is added of the ratio in value, which two or three inferior pieces bear to a superior, or two superior; as the introduction of minute discriminations, before the attainment of some practical knowledge, might have perplexed the reader. As, however, situations occur on the board, in which it is necessary that the most critical calculations of force should be consulted, and as the propriety of accepting or declining some exchanges depends on punctilious considerations, it is thought proper to give, as a prelude to the remaining examples, the following scale:

2⅕, 14,
9, 15,
9, 28.

With respect to qualification for attack and defence, the facility of conducing to these ends, by a stationary attitude, or by moving, and extent of action, the powers of the pawn, the knight, the king, the bishop, the rook, and the queen, are to each other in this proportion.

The values of all the pieces, except the pawn and king, are commensurate with their powers.

The nature of the game puts the king’s value above competition.

The value of every pawn, taking into the account the probability of his becoming a capital piece, is on the average, about 5⅖.

SECOND SCALE OF POWERS.

In the foregoing estimate, of the five superior pieces the highest force is taken; that is to say, each is supposed to be in that part of the board where its sphere of action is largest: assuming, however, that in play the probability of their occupying any given square is equal, their powers will be,

2³²/₁₆₀, Pawn 9¹²⁰/₁₆₀, Bishop
6⁴⁰/₁₆₀, Knight 15, Rook
7⁹⁰/₁₆₀, King 23¹²⁰/₁₆₀ , Queen.

The pawn’s chance of promotion makes his value 4¹⁴³/₁₆₀.

It will be perceived, that by this scale, the relative powers of the pawn and rook, with respect to each other, remain as before; while with respect to the other pieces, that of the former is trivially, and that of the latter, greatly enhanced.

In finding both scales, the part of the board within the sphere of each respective piece wherever it is placed, is supposed to be unoccupied.

As the player cannot always put the pieces where their range of action will be the most extensive, the latter scale is the safer to be adopted, as a datum from which to estimate their values, in balancing one piece against two pieces, two against three, previously to suffering or effecting such a kind of exchange.

EXAMPLE VI.

THE SECOND ESSAY CONTINUED FROM THE TWENTY-SECOND COUPLET.

COUPLET 23.
W. The queen at her knight’s 3d square.
B. The knight at his rook’s 3d square.(a)

24.
W. The bishop at the black queen’s 4th.(b)
B. Queen’s knight’s pawn 1 square.(c)

25.
W. King’s bishop’s pawn 1 square.(d)
B. Queen’s rook’s pawn 2 squares.

(a) His standing before the pawns on this side is of no consequence, as their only use will be to obstruct the white ones: those on the other side are what this player must expect to promote. The only other way of preserving this knight, moving the black queen to the 1st rank, would have been a bad step.

(b) He would have been safe before the black queen; but by thus threatening check-mate he gains a move, and is in a better position.

(c) The king must not only not move into check himself, but no piece must move so as to expose him to it; therefore, if, instead of this, the bishop’s pawn had moved a square, the white bishop might have taken his assailant with security.

(d) To keep the black knight from checking the king. Had this pawn been moved further, the black knight, at the white knight’s 4th house, supported by the black queen and rook’s pawn, would have totally obstructed him and his companions.

26.
W. Queen’s rook’s pawn 2 squares.
B. Rook at his king’s bishop’s square.(e)

27.
W. The king at his rook’s 3d square.(f)
B. Knight at his bishop’s 2d square.(g)

28.
W. King’s knight’s pawn 1 square.
B. Knight at his king’s 4th square.

(e) As, from the impendence of the white queen and bishop, the protection of both the knight and the rook is necessary to the pawns on the other side, moving forward with safety, this player is about to transfer them there.

(f) To sustain the rook’s pawn when that of the knight advances.

(g) He could not get to the square he is going to without first coming here: to protect him in this first stage of his gambit[24], was the chief reason of placing the rook where he is.

[24] A gambit is an indirect and circuitous movement, by several intermediate steps, to a particular square. In a larger sense, a gambit is a game mostly made up of such movements; it, perhaps, includes the idea of one player being quickly circumvented.

29.
W. Knight at the black king’s knight’s 4th square.(h)
B. King’s rook’s pawn 1 square.

30.
W. Knight at the black king’s 3d square.
B. Rook at the queen’s bishop’s 1st square.

31.
W. King’s bishop’s pawn 1 square.(i)
B. Knight at his queen’s 2d square.

(h) He moved to save the king’s bishop’s pawn, now amply protected. The pieces are so arranged, you see, that if the black player was to begin exchanging, the white one would have the last capture. At the time of observing (g) the reverse was the case.

(i) Pawns, as they are pushed on, increase in value. Of a set of pawns, one at least of which you are striving to promote, neither should, if possible, be moved without having a piece as guardian, should no enemy at the moment be at hand; for a sudden occurrence, the same which may prevent you from providing for his safety, may bring an adversary in a position to command him. But though this pawn, as thus moved, is in the predicament of having no support, it would have been still worse to have stirred any other; if the rook’s pawn had advanced a square, the knight’s pawn of the blacks, by advancing two squares, might have completely blockaded all three. A circumspect resiler from enterprise, instead of moving either, would have placed the king behind the knight’s pawn.

32.
W. Knight at his queen’s 4th square.(k)
B. Queen at the king’s bishop’s 3d square.(l)

33.
W. The knight gives check.
B. The king at the rook’s square.

34.
W. The knight at the black king’s 2d square discovering check.
B. The bishop’s pawn covers the check.

35.
W. The knight takes the rook.
B. The pawn takes the bishop.

36.
W. The queen takes the pawn and gives check.
B. The king removes.

(k) This more than prevents the black pawn’s being advanced upon the bishop.

(l) She could not do better. If the black bishop’s pawn had been moved against the bishop, the white knight would have taken him. If the rook had taken the knight, the bishop would then have taken the rook. Combinations, such as these, may be carried to a great extent, and very much try the skill of the player.

37.
W. Queen takes the knight.
B. Queen at the white queen’s bishop’s 3d square, giving check.(m)

38.
W. King at his rook’s 2d square.
B. The queen takes the knight.

39.
W. The queen takes the queen.
B. The king takes the queen.

40.
W. King’s bishop’s pawn 1 square.
B. Queen’s knight’s pawn 1 square.(n)

_Variation._ (m) This queen takes the king’s bishop’s pawn.

38.
The white knight takes the pawn.
The black queen at the white king’s 3d square, giving check.

39.
The white king removes.
The black queen takes the knight.

40.
The white queen takes the pawn—and so on.

The result is, as it will be of the present way of moving,
that the black king is check-mated.

(n) Nothing better could be done than to offer this. Paradoxical as it may seem to the unpractised reader, if the three pawns on the queen’s side of the board were entirely away, the player of the blacks would be better off. By moving his king to intercept the white ones, and by judiciously managing his own, he might then, and the other could not help it, so exchange one for one, that to the white king and single pawn left, his own would at length stand opposed in the manner described at the end of Section xxx; the consequence of which would be, that the adversary, to avoid a stale, would resign his pawn, content neither to beat nor be beaten. But, circumstanced as he now is, the player of the blacks would be soonest check-mated on the interception plan. We will suppose him to have gone upon it, and to have arrived at the point just mentioned. The white king instead of surrendering his pawn, closely supports him, leaving the black king without a move, and, but for having other pieces, in a stale. Then follows the move at which we are pausing. The white pawn takes the pawn, and leaves the black queen’s rook’s a free passage. The white pawn gets to the promotion line a move before his rival, and at the moment of doing so, gives check-mate.

41.
W. King’s knight’s pawn 1 square.(o)
B. The queen’s knight’s pawn takes the pawn.

(o) It is better now to lose a pawn than a move. If the queen’s rook’s pawn were to take the black one, the other player would make a queen first; for the black queen’s rook’s pawn having then nothing to interrupt him, would be virtually a move before either of the other white ones; and as to the capturing pawn, then in the knight’s file, the black king need not lose the time of one step to keep him from promotion.

42.
W. King’s bishop’s pawn 1 square.
B. The king’s knight’s pawn takes the pawn.

43.
W. The pawn takes the king’s rook’s pawn.
B. The queen’s knight’s pawn 1 square.

44.
W. The king’s knight’s pawn 1 square.
B. The queen’s knight’s pawn 1 square.

45.
W. The pawn becomes a queen, and gives check.
B. The king at his queen’s knight’s 2d square.

46.
W. The queen takes the pawn.
B. The queen’s rook’s pawn 1 square.

47.
W. The queen at her knight’s 2d square.
B. The king moves obliquely to his right.

Though at the risk of dividing the reader’s attention, we have been fuller on the part just preceding, in order that it may serve as a precedent for cases not exactly similar. The moves after this, however, will require no remark from us.

48.
W. The queen takes the pawn.
B. The king moves to support his remaining pawn.

49.
W. The queen at her rook’s 3d.
B. The king where he can support the pawn without being checked.

50, &c.

When the queen made the last capture, the game was virtually ended. If, however, the player of the blacks is obstinate enough still to continue it, the following is the most summary way of mating him.

From 50 to 54, the white king crosses toward his queen, the black king in the mean time regrading in the same two squares, so as to prevent the queen, who remains inactive, from taking his pawn: 55, (the white king being at his queen’s bishop’s 3d square) the queen gives check; the king removes: 56 to the end, the queen takes the pawn, and in concert with her king, effects the check-mate.

EXAMPLE VII.

A SECOND BACK-GAME TO EXAMPLE V. TAKEN UP AFTER THE 24th COUPLET OF EXAMPLE VI. pa. 85.

COUPLET 25.
W. King’s bishop’s pawn 1 square.
B. The knight at the bishop’s 4th square.

26.
W. The king at his rook’s 3d square.(a)
B. The knight at the white queen’s 4th.(b)

27.
W. Queen at her own 3d square.(c)
B. Queen at her king’s 4th square.(d)

28.
W. Knight at his queen’s bishop’s 3d.(e)
B. Queen’s bishop’s pawn 1 square.

(a) Combining with his knight’s, in support of his rook’s pawn.

(b) Instead of supporting his right hand pawns from behind, as he did in the last game, in order to advance them against the white queen and bishop—a plan that was found unsuccessful—this player is now endeavouring to remove the white queen and bishop in the first instance.

(c) To save herself and the pawn.

(d) Chiefly to preserve her knight.

(e) To protect the bishop.

29.
W. King’s bishop’s pawn 1 square.
B. Queen at her king’s bishop’s 3d.

30.
W. The bishop at his king’s 4th square.
B. King’s rook’s pawn 1 square.(f)

31.
W. Queen at the square of her king’s bishop.(g)
B. Queen’s knight’s pawn 1 square.

32.
W. King’s bishop’s pawn 1 square.
B. The king at his queen’s knight’s 2d.(h)

33.
W. Queen at her king’s bishop’s 4th.
B. The king at his queen’s knight’s 3d.

(f) Pawns, whose only use is obstruction, can seldom promote their object by moving forwards[25]—and therefore, while there is any thing to do in another quarter, they should in general only be moved, as this has been now, for self-preservation.

[25] When those they are to stop are more than a step off, they never can.

(g) To support the bishop’s pawn in his next move.

(h) In employing only the king to escort his pawns, to which he is at present adequate—and reserving his rook as an ambuscaded check to the advancement of the white ones—this player pursues an eligible policy.

34.
W. Queen at her king’s knight’s 4th.(i)
B. Queen’s rook’s pawn 2 squares.

35.
W. Queen at the black king’s rook’s 4th square.
B. Queen’s rook’s pawn 1 square.

36.
W. King’s knight’s pawn 1 square.
B. The king at his queen’s rook’s 4th.

37.
W. King’s knight’s pawn 1 square.
B. The same.(k)

(i) The white pawns are very critically situated, for they can hardly move without committing themselves. Had the knight’s advanced a square, and his immediate opponent two squares, an uncompensated loss would have been inevitable; so that this move of the queen, though not the most obvious, is, perhaps, the best that could be made.

(k) This is far better than moving the queen away. When one is sure of promoting a pawn before the adversary—if an occasion of exchanging queen for queen does not offer, it ought to be sought—that the preponderance which the promoted pawn will give, may be as great as possible.

38.
W. Queen takes the pawn of the black knight.(l)
B. The queen takes the queen.

39.
W. The pawn takes the queen.
B. The king’s rook’s pawn takes the knight’s.

40.
W. The bishop at his queen’s 3d square.(m)
B. Queen’s knight’s pawn 1 square.

41.
W. The knight at his king’s 4th.
B. Queen’s knight’s pawn 1 square.

42.
W. Queen’s rook’s pawn takes the pawn.
B. Queen’s rook’s pawn 1 square.(n)

(l) This, and not the reverse, that his pawns may not be doubled, or two in a file—which, had this player taken the queen, would have been the case. Doubling pawns is chiefly to be avoided, when, as here, there would be no pawn in an adjoining file: when there are others to support them, it is an evil so evanescent, that no sacrifice ought to be made to prevent it.

(m) To make way for the knight.

(n) If he had taken the pawn, the critical square would have been within the range of the white bishop.

43.
W. Knight at the black king’s bishop’s 3d.
B. Queen’s rook’s pawn 1 square.

44.
W. King’s knight’s pawn 1 square.
B. Rook takes the pawn of the white rook, and gives check.(o)

45.
W. The king at his knight’s 3d square.
B. The pawn becomes a queen.

46.
W. The pawn becomes a queen.
B. The queen at the white king’s knight’s square,
giving check-mate.

(o) The rook’s forbearing this capture thus long, is an exemplication of rule 21. If it had been material to prevent the white player from having a queen, this player would have detached the rook along his own rank to a square out of the knight’s reach; and on the white pawn’s becoming a queen, would have exchanged the rook for the queen.

=_The Scholar’s-Mate_=.

EXAMPLE VIII.

_Meditating and evading that Stratagem._

COUPLET 1.
W. The king’s pawn 2 squares.
B. The same.

2.
W. King’s bishop at the queen’s bishop’s 4th square.
B. The same.

3.
W. The queen at the black king’s rook’s 4th square.(a)
B. The queen at her king’s 2d.(b)

(a) In this example, and the rest that make up the section, which after the 2d move are very different from those that go before, it is rather the movements of the blacks than of the whites that are proposed for imitation. The mode to be pursued by one player, depends in a great measure on that pursued by the other: we have therefore given these, that the tyro might not be surprised into a defeat, or uncompensated loss, if an opponent, having the first move, should at the 3d couplet take the same step that the whites have done here—a step of that fundamental kind, that the future aspect of the game is influenced materially by it.

(b) She thus prevents the white queen, as well from taking the king’s, as from giving check-mate by taking the bishop’s pawn.

4.
W. King’s knight at his bishop’s 3d.
B. Queen’s pawn 1 square.

5.
W. Knight at the black king’s knight’s 4th.(c)
B. King’s knight’s pawn 1 square.

6.
W. The bishop takes the pawn and gives check.
B. The king at his queen’s square.

7.
W. The queen at her king’s rook’s 4th.(d)
B. King’s knight at his bishop’s 3d.

(c) The object of the white player now is, either to snatch a piece and retire, or, by the sacrifice of a knight or a bishop, make a practicable breach in the black pawns.

(d) The remaining moves, declare their object.

The reader will observe, that the game might be finished at the 4th couplet; which is the earliest termination it can well be made to receive, and is called the _scholar’s-mate_.

The game may be finished in two couplets, the fatal stroke being given by the second move of the second player: but there requires so much fatuity to permit this, that it has the name of the _fools-mate_.

8.
W. King’s bishop’s pawn 1 square.
B. The knight takes the king’s pawn.

9.
W. The pawn takes the knight.
B. King’s rook at his bishop’s square.

10.
W. The bishop at his queen’s bishop’s 4th.
B. King’s bishop at the white king’s bishop’s 2d square,
giving check.

11.
W. The queen takes the bishop.
B. The rook takes the queen.

12.
W. The king takes the rook.
B. The queen takes the knight, &c. &c.(e)

(e) As the forces of both are at par, or nearly so, and the intricacies consequent on the 3d, 4th, and 5th steps gotten over, it is not essential to our purpose to proceed any further. If the reader likes to pursue the subject, the economy of the pawns and other pieces during the rest of the game, is not very different from the finishings in the second essay. In the mean time we submit to him some variations, all of which, however, as soon as the blacks are equal or superior to the whites, and the future moves of both, independent of those that have preceded, will, like this, be discontinued.

EXAMPLE IX.

MOVES CONSEQUENT ON THE ATTEMPT TO GIVE THE SCHOLAR’S-MATE.

_Beginning after the Sixth Couplet of_ EXAMPLE VIII.

COUPLET 7.
W. The queen at her king’s rook’s 4th.
B. King’s rook’s pawn 1 square.

8.
W. The bishop takes the knight’s pawn.
B. The queen takes the knight.

9.
W. The queen takes the queen.
B. The pawn takes the queen.

10.
W. Queen’s pawn 1 square.
B. King’s knight at his king’s 2d.

11.
W. The bishop at the black bishop’s 2d.
B. King’s rook at his bishop’s square.

12.
W. The bishop at his queen’s bishop’s 4th.
B. Queen’s bishop takes the pawn, and checks.

13.
W. The king at his 2d square.
B. King’s knight’s pawn 1 square.

14.
W. King’s rook at his bishop’s square.(a)
B. King’s knight’s pawn 1 square.

15.
W. The pawn takes the pawn.
B. Queen’s bishop at the white king’s knight’s 4th, checking.

16.
W. King at his queen’s 2d.
B. King at his 1st square.

17.
W. Queen’s knight at his bishop’s 3d.
B. The bishop takes the pawn.

18.
W. The rook takes the rook.
B. The king takes the rook.

19.
W. The knight at his king’s 2d.
B. The bishop at the white rook’s 4th.

20.
W. Queen’s bishop’s pawn 1 square, &c.

(a) Owing to this, the black bishop cannot move without exposing the rook. To save his bishop, and the knight’s pawn, or to lose neither without a recompense, will require the black player’s utmost skill.

EXAMPLE X.

_Beginning after the Ninth Couplet of_ EXAMPLE IX.

COUPLET 10.
W. The bishop at the black bishop’s 2d.
B. King’s knight at his rook’s 3d.

11.
W. The bishop at his queen’s bishop’s 4th.
B. The knight at the white knight’s 4th.

12.
W. King’s bishop’s pawn 1 square.(a)
B. The knight takes the rook’s pawn.

13.
W. The king at his queen’s square.(b)
B. Queen’s knight at his bishop’s 3d.(c)

(a) The white player _must_ lose one of the pawns without a recompense, and had he suffered this to be taken, he would have lost two—because the knight would then have attacked the king’s pawn and rook, and both could not have been saved.

(b) If the king had not removed, the black knight would have taken the bishop’s pawn and given check; the consequence would have been, that the rook as well as the pawn, would have been lost for the mere knight. Now the knight cannot remove without exposing his own rook.

(c) Of his gambit, which he may not have occasion to finish, the object is, to support the black rook when the other knight removes.

14.
W. Queen’s pawn 1 square.
B. King’s knight’s pawn 1 square.

15.
W. Queen’s bishop at the black king’s knight’s 4th, giving check.
B. The knight covers the check.

16.
W. The bishop at the black bishop’s 3d.
B. The pawn takes the pawn.

17.
W. The bishop takes the rook.
B. The pawn 1 square.

18.
W. The king at his 2d square.
B. Queen’s bishop gives check.

19.
W. The king at his queen’s 2d.
B. The pawn becomes a queen.

20.
W. The rook takes the queen.
B. The knight takes the rook and gives check.

21.
W. The king at his 1st square.
B. The king castles.

22.
W. Bishop at black king’s bishop’s 3d, &c.

EXAMPLE XI.

_Beginning, like the last, after the 9th Couplet of_ EXAMPLE IX.

COUPLET 10.
W. King’s bishop’s pawn 1 square.
B. The king at his 2d square.

11.
W. The bishop at the black king’s bishop’s 4th.
B. The bishop takes the bishop.(a)

12.
W. The pawn takes the bishop.
B. King’s knight at his rook’s 3d.

13.
W. King’s knight’s pawn 2 squares.
B. The knight takes the 1st pawn in the king’s bishop’s file.

-----------------------------------------------
_Variation._
11.
W. King’s knight’s pawn 2 squares.
B. The king at his bishop’s 3d.

12.
W. The bishop at the black bishop’s 4th.
B. The bishop takes the bishop(a), &c.
-----------------------------------------------

(a) Had the black player suffered the white bishop to take his bishop, moving out his knight in order to capture him with his rook, he would be unable to break the white pawns.

14.
W. The pawn takes the knight.
B. King’s rook at his bishop’s square.

15.
W. Queen’s pawn 1 square.
B. The rook takes the pawn.

16.
W. King’s rook at his bishop’s square, &c. &c.

EXAMPLE XII.

_Beginning after the Seventh Couplet of_ EXAMPLE IX.

COUPLET 8.
W. The knight at the black king’s 3d square, giving check.
B. The bishop takes the knight.

9.
W. The queen takes the queen.
B. The king takes the queen.

10.
W. The bishop takes the pawn.
B. King’s rook’s pawn 1 square.

11.
W. The bishop at the black bishop’s 4th.
B. The bishop takes the bishop.

12.
W. The pawn takes the bishop.
B. The king’s knight at his rook’s 3d.

13.
W. Queen’s pawn 1 square.
B. The knight takes the pawn, &c. &c.

A better mode to be pursued by the blacks than any yet exhibited, is the following.

EXAMPLE XIII.

_Beginning at the Fifth Couplet of_ EXAMPLE VIII.

COUPLET 5.
W. Knight at the black king’s knight’s 4th.
B. King’s knight at his rook’s 3d.

6.
W. The bishop takes the pawn, and gives check.
B. The knight takes the bishop.

7.
W. The knight takes the rook’s pawn.
B. Queen’s knight at the queen’s 2d.

8.
W. King’s rook’s pawn 2 squares.
B. Queen’s knight at the king’s bishop’s square.(a)

9.
W. King’s knight’s pawn 1 square.
B. The rook takes the knight.

10.
W. The queen at her home, &c. &c.

(a) The player of the white knight, feeling his insecurity, would be glad to exchange him; therefore had this knight gone to the bishop’s 3d square instead of the 1st, the white one would have taken him. The white knight, by giving check, would have afforded his queen time to remove from the rook.

EXAMPLE XIV.

_Beginning after the Seventh Couplet of_ EXAMPLE XIII.

COUPLET 8.
W. Queen at the black king’s knight’s 3d.
B. Queen at the white king’s rook’s 4th.(a)

9.
W. Knight’s pawn 1 square.(b)
B. The queen takes the knight.

10.
W. The queen takes the queen.(c)
B. The rook takes the queen, &c. &c.

(a) If, instead of this, the black knight had moved, as in the 8th move of the last Example, the white knight would have taken him.

(b) If the white player had neglected this move to take the pawn in his queen’s power, the black queen, would have captured, in addition to the bishop’s pawn, by afterwards successively checking the king, two or three other pawns, without ultimately suffering the white knight to escape.

(c) It was not a matter of indifference whether or not be exchanged the queen: if he had not, he must have lost the king’s pawn uncompensated.

GENERAL REMARKS.

On the part of the blacks it is to be observed, that the result of the two last ways of moving, though something more in their favour than the result of any of the others, is not so decidedly superior as at the first view it may seem. The white player’s having preserved all his pawns entire is a circumstance that almost counter-balances his disadvantages; for to prevent one of the three white pawns on the king’s side from becoming a queen, the other player must exchange for them, at least two knights and the pawn opposite: Suppose these changes to have taken place, and the difference in favour of the blacks will be very inconsiderable.

With respect to the propriety of the reader’s opening the game in this way, when his having the first move puts it in his power, we know but one case in which there would be any.—When there is any reason to think, that, from the antagonist’s estrangement to it, notwithstanding his having had some practice, the triumph of beating him in four moves might be attained[26]. In such a case, as there is a probability of snatching a piece on its failure, and as no decisive loss is to be apprehended if one be defeated even in that, it cannot be very imprudent to try it. Another consideration which, in such a case, lessens the impropriety, is, that if you meet with success, either complete or partial, the adversary, at his turn of moving first, may be induced to adopt the same mode, which most probably, from its novelty, will to him be disastrous. As soon as this stratagem ceases to profit, or if it fails in the first instance, it will of course be instinctively resigned.

[26] If he is inexperienced, it will be no triumph.

A deviation on this plan, from the maxim, “Never count on the mistakes of your adversary, or act as if you expected him to adopt measures different from those which you would adopt in his situation,” is, perhaps, the only kind of one not very reprehensible.

EXAMPLE XV.

=_Game of Involved Combinations_=,

A STUDY.

COUPLET 1.
W. King’s pawn 2 squares.(a)
B. The same.

2.
W. King’s bishop at the queen’s bishop’s 4th.
B. Queen’s bishop’s pawn 2 squares.(b)

(a) That this move should precede all the others, is right in theory as well as in practice. We add the following, which is more definite, to the reasons directly or indirectly already dropt for it. The rooks are useless at the beginning of the game,—the knights, to step out, require no pawn to be moved,—the bishops cannot render their immediate service without an opening;—the advancement of the king’s pawns 2 squares, which leaves the king’s bishop and queen at liberty to act, without exposing the king, either in front or obliquely, is therefore dictated by propriety, as the preliminary movement. And there are other reasons, if it would not divide the attention to give them here.

(b) This move, in these circumstances, may now and then be used with advantage as a change, instead of that which places the king’s bishop at the same square; it will, though the adversary has the first move, prevent him from getting two pawns a-breast in the centre—and if he be unused to it, rather confine and disconcert his other operations: at the same time, your own king’s bishop will, in some degree, be cramped by it.

3.
W. King’s knight at his bishop’s 3d. †
B. Queen’s knight at his bishop’s 3d. ⸸

4.
W. Queen’s bishop’s pawn 1 square.
B. King’s knight at his bishop’s 3d. †

5.
W. Queen’s pawn 1 square. ⸸
B. Queen’s rook’s pawn 1 square.

6.
W. Queen’s bishop at his king’s 3d.
B. Queen’s knight’s pawn 2 squares.

7.
W. King’s bishop at queen’s knight’s 3d.
B. Queen’s bishop’s pawn 1 square.

8.
W. The pawn takes the pawn.
B. The king’s knight takes the pawn.

9.
W. The pawn takes the pawn.
B. The pawn takes the pawn.

_Remarks._

†⸸ The moves, with this mark (†) will be found to menace, with this (⸸) to parry.

10.
W. Queen at her 3d square. †
B. King’s knight at the queen’s 3d.(c)

11.
W. King’s bishop at the black queen’s 4th.(d)
B. King’s pawn 1 square.

12.
W. Queen at her king’s 2d.
B. The pawn takes the knight.

13.
W. The queen takes the pawn.
B. King’s bishop’s pawn 1 square.(e)

14.
W. King’s bishop takes the knight.
B. The pawn takes the bishop.

15.
W. The queen takes the pawn, and gives check.
B. Queen’s bishop covers the check.

(c) Saving himself and the pawn.

(d) With a view to take the king’s pawn with his knight, which would be secured from the black knight by the ambuscade on the rook; and if he be disappointed in the way he expects, with another view.

(e) To save the king from check-mate.

16.
W. Queen at her king’s bishop’s 3d.(f)
B. Queen’s bishop at his king’s 3d. †(g)

17.
W. Queen’s rook’s pawn 1 square. ⸸(h)
B. Queen’s knight’s pawn 1 square.

18.
W. Queen’s bishop’s pawn takes the pawn.
B. Knight at the white queen’s bishop’s 4th. †

19.
W. Queen at the black queen’s bishop’s 3d, giving check. ‡
B. The king at his bishop’s 2d.

(f) This player’s object now will be to promote the pawns on his queen’s side as soon as he can.

(g) This player having no pawns which he has any prospect of promoting, at least while those on the adverse king’s side remain unbroken, cannot do better than, availing himself of his superiority in other pieces, endeavour to snatch some of the pawns of the adversary; attacking him first on one wing, then on the other, and bringing two or three pieces to bear upon one.

(h) If the knight’s pawn, with a view to save this, had moved a square, the black bishop would have taken the knight’s pawn.

_Remarks._

‡ The moves with this mark, will be found not directly to parry a menaced blow; but merely, by making a counter attack, to suspend its execution.

20.
W. Queen’s bishop at his 1st square. ⸸(i)
B. King’s bishop takes the pawn and gives check.

21.
W. The king castles.
B. King’s bishop at his queen’s 3d.

22.
W. Queen at her king’s bishop’s 3d.
B. Queen at her own bishop’s 2d. †

23.
W. King’s knight’s pawn 1 square. ⸸
B. Queen’s rook at the square of the queen’s knight. †

24.
W. Queen at her king’s 2d. ⸸
B. Queen’s bishop at his queen’s 4th.

25.
W. Knight at his bishop’s 3d. †(k)
B. Queen’s bishop at the queen’s knight’s
2d. ⸸(l)

(i) To save himself and the knight’s pawn.

(k) The pawns cannot advance with safety at present.

(l) This is hardly parrying an attack, it is rather flying from it; however, he is only driven to the square to which he was gambiting.

26.
W. Queen’s rook’s pawn 1 square.
B. Knight at his king’s 4th square.

27.
W. Knight at the black queen’s knight’s 4th. †
B. Queen at the bishop’s 3d. ‡

28.
W. King’s bishop’s pawn 1 square.(m)
B. King’s bishop gives check.(n)

29.
W. The king at his knight’s 2d.
B. King’s rook at the king’s square.(o)

30.
W. The bishop at his king’s 3d.
B. The knight takes the pawn.

(m) To save the king from check-mate.

(n) The assault of the white knight prevented this player from executing the scheme that he intended; or otherwise, instead of giving check with his bishop, he would have taken the white king’s bishop’s pawn with his knight.

(o) When a player has fewer pawns, and more superior pieces than the adversary, he should bring as many of the latter into play as he can: if he adduce, on the whole, but one more piece, and carry on the combination with skill, the other _must_ give way at last.

31.
W. The rook takes the knight.
B. The queen takes the rook.

32.
W. The queen takes the queen.
B. The bishop takes the queen.

33.
W. The king takes the bishop.
B. The rook takes the bishop and gives check.

34.
W. The king at his bishop’s 4th.(p)
B. Queen’s rook at the king’s square.(q)

35.
W. The king at his knight’s 4th.
B. Queen’s rook gives check.

36.
W. The king at his rook’s 3d.
B. The knight’s pawn 2 squares.

(p) Of the four squares which he may go into, if he were not to take one of the two next his adversary’s side, he would, at the next move, lose either a pawn or his rook.

(q) The black player has now virtually won: we shall make the rest of the moves as summary as propriety will allow.

37.
W. The rook at his queen’s bishop’s square.
B. The knight’s pawn gives check.

38.
W. The king at his knight’s 2d.
B. The king’s rook gives check.

39.
W. The king at the bishop’s 1st.(r)
B. The king’s rook gives check at the white
bishop’s 2d.

40.
W. The king removes.
B. King’s rook at the white queen’s bishop 2d,
discovering check from the bishop.

41.
W. The king removes either to his right or left.
B. The king’s rook takes the rook and gives check.

42.
W. The king removes.
B. Queen’s rook at the white king’s 2d,
giving _check-mate_.

(r) If he goes to his rook’s 1st, the black king’s rook checks him at his first square; and when the white rook takes the black king’s rook, the black queen’s rook takes the capturer, and repeats check: the king removes, and is check-mated.

=_Conclusion_=.

In the former edition of this work, the author took occasion to introduce, with a game of PHILIDOR, some observations on the critical situations, into which an inexperienced player may get, from attempting that master’s mode of managing the pawns, on account of the address and ability which a successful pursuit of it requires. The difficulty is, should the adversary abandon the direct mode of opposition with his own pawns, to guard against the facility which he thereby obtains, of employing a great number of his superior pieces in forcing the position of your king. This inconvenience is to be prevented, without relinquishing the defence of the pawns, or failing in their ultimate promotion, but there is danger, in pursuing any plan intensely, of acquiring a manner. The judicious player will avail himself of the masterly instructions which PHILIDOR gives for the evolutions of the minor pieces; without reposing on his system on all occasions; adopting or declining it, as he finds it successful or disastrous with different players; and obstructing, or conniving at its trial on himself, as it may be in unison with the general mode of the person who would practise it. The models of CUNNINGHAM and SALVIO, requiring great stores of resource to prevent the adventurer from suffering by enterprise, will in practice be equally delicate to follow. The spirit of these accomplished specimens is what you should endeavour to seize. In opposition to any project, to adhere invariably to the routine of moves in the best edited forms is ineligible; for instance, if you were to imitate exactly the second mover in the first party of PHILIDOR, an inferior player might beat you by rote. And though the black player, under the conduct of PHILIDOR, suffering the establishment of two white pawns in the centre, proceeds on the conception, that it could not be prevented, without giving his skilful opponent in some shape or other an equivalent advantage; you will sometimes find it profitable to try the effect of that equivalent advantage, where the variation forces the adversary to the resource of his own talents. Thus, while with a mixture of prudence and spirit, you do not disdain to adopt from edited forms moves that are suited to the situation; the features of your play will be impressed with the character of your own powers; and you will guard against a habit of ingrafting moves in a mechanical series, as if you wanted that promptness which should conform itself to all circumstances.

You may play the game of HANNIBAL or FABIUS. If you have naturally a disposition for enterprise, and are fertile in expedients, you will do well to cultivate it, as it will prevent an adversary of slower parts from prosecuting those systematic plans, which he has tried and proved. If, on the contrary, your abilities are rather solid than splendid, you must, even in those speculations into which a player of an opposite turn will sometimes draw you, keep as near as possible to the shore of certainty, never launching into a new track with wantonness, never without deliberation. But whether your ingenuity expatiate, or your judgment, preponderate, your best guide will be Experience. If you have enlisted both these in your accomplishments, you will not want, though you will excuse, the officiousness of advice.

The observations on points, respecting which the practice is not entirely uniform, are postponed to the appendix.

ANALYSIS
OF
THE GAME OF CHESS.

BY MR. PHILIDOR.

TO WHICH IS ADDED,
SEVERAL PARTIES, PLAYED BY THE
AUTHOR BLINDFOLD,
AGAINST
THREE ADVERSARIES.

=_A New Edition_=,

WITH CORRECTIONS BY THE EDITOR,
CHIEFLY REGARDING THE PERSPICUITY OF THE LANGUAGE.

_Ludimus effigiem belli._ VIDA.

=_Advertisement_=.

It is to be observed, that in the Notes, the reader is addressed as the player supposed to move the white pieces, and the player of the blacks, an imaginary antagonist of the reader, is spoken of in the third person, to avoid equivocation.

It is also to be observed, that when the manœuvre of castling is performed in the following examples, the king stands on the square _next but one to his own_, and the rook on the _square adjoining the king’s original square_;—so that the place for castling on the king’s and on the queen’s side, is not, as in the preceding games, uniform:—but the king and rook stand on the same squares on the king’s side.

ANALYSIS OF _CHESS_.

=_Philidor’s own Games_=.

FIRST PARTY,

_With Two Back Games; the First beginning from the Twelfth,
and the Second from the Thirty-seventh Move, of the Black_.

1.

W. The king’s pawn 2 squares.
B. The same.

2.
W. The king’s bishop at his queen’s bishop’s 4th square.
B. The same.

3.
W. Queen’s bishop’s pawn 1 square.
B. King’s knight at his bishop’s 3d square.

4.
W. Queen’s pawn 2 squares.(a)
B. The pawn takes the pawn.

(a) This pawn, is pushed two steps, for two reasons: the first, to hinder the adversary’s king’s bishop from attacking your king’s bishop’s pawn; the second, to bring the strength of your pawns into the centre of the chess-board.

5.
W. The pawn takes the pawn.(b)
B. The bishop at his queen’s knight’s 3d.(c)

6.
W. Queen’s knight at his bishop’s 3d square.
B. The king castles.

7.
W. King’s knight at his king’s 2d.(d)
B. Queen’s bishop’s pawn 1 square.