CHAP. II. General Maxims.

These questions occur at every evolution—What piece is to be moved? Where is it to be moved to? After the first time, for a very obvious reason to the practical player, (the abstraction from any particular situation, which from the latitude of moves in the power of the adversary, the mind of the theorist is forced to make), we can only give helps for the reader himself to decide them.

The game cannot be better opened than by advancing the king’s pawn two squares. If the first adventurer be threatened, the queen’s or bishop’s pawn may lend him support. Which of the others should succeed will depend greatly on the moves of the opposite party. The pawns must not be so placed as to interrupt the freedom of the other pieces. Where the pawns are not equal to the defence of each other, the other pieces must be brought out to support them:⁠[16]—in this business the bishops are in general the preferable agents, as they are not so liable as the knights to be clogged by the obstructions which this early stage of the game from its crouded stage is sure to present⁠[17].

Prudence requires that the superior pieces be not over forward in acting offensively; because by every one that is driven back you lose a move: but when a few pieces have been⁠[18] changed, and the game is somewhat advanced, and there is no danger of their stopping the progress of such of the pawns as you wish to push on, you need not be shy of using the knights, any more than the bishops, in occasional attacks on the most unguarded of the adversaries.

The queen must not be moved hastily;—for offence in particular, not till some kind of method pervades the rest of your pieces—and you can guess what aspect the game is likely to assume. To put this piece in motion before you had digested a set of measures, and had a probable certainty of succeeding in them, would be entirely to misemploy her great powers.

As the rooks, while the game is thronged, can effect nothing worthy their attempting; generally speaking, it is advisable to keep them in reserve till towards the conclusion of the game. The usefulness of the rook, gradually increasing as the crisis approaches, is then very little inferior to that of the queen⁠[19].

The king is not to act offensively. He is to be put where he will be least open to attack; and, while a fatal one is possible, neither move nor take but with a view to his own defence. The two points to which every thing else is to subserve, are, the giving check-mate to the adversary’s king, and the preservation of your own.

To make you as much acquainted with the right way of endeavouring at these, as bare Theory is able to do; it will be necessary to be a little more particular.

§ 1. On that side of the board, whether right or left, on which you mean to castle the king—neither the bishop’s, the knight’s, nor the rook’s pawn must stir from its place; because the principal inducement to the measure, is, the protection he will receive by retiring behind them.

2. The other pawns must be kept together and well supported; and not suffered to straggle forwards alone. A party of these, managed with address, may, in a future part of the game, repair the loss of a capital piece, or do some other signal service.

3. At the same time that you are concerting the attack of the adversary, endeavour (but not so as to interfere with any thing of more importance) to have your own king so circumstanced that he may castle when he pleases. Should this convenience be effected, if his not being castled be no obstruction to your other operations, let him remain at his own square till there is a necessity for his going to the retreat secured for him. The advantage to be gained by this procedure is, that the adversary will be obliged to form two distinct systems of attack.

4. As soon as the adversary has castled, if it be on a different side of the board from that on which you have castled, or intend to castle, let your pawns opposite bear down upon his king. The queen and what other pieces you can spare, in particular the rook to whom their removal opens a field, must support them in this onset⁠[20].

5. Where a direct attack upon the adversary’s king is impolitic or impracticable, you must endeavour to take those of his pieces that most contribute to render it so.

6. Ineffectual checks, or checks that the adversary can easily elude, are in general to be refrained from; as they are very apt to lead to loss of move, loss of the checking-piece, and so on. Experience, however, will furnish a few cases, in which there is a propriety in giving such a check—where it will force the adversary’s king into a more exposed situation—where the movement, necessary to avert it, will leave a capital piece unguarded—where, the adversary’s king not having castled, nor being in a condition to do so, it will force him by moving to forfeit that privilege—and where, having a piece of your own attacked, that you are not able otherwise to save, it will cause the removal of some piece that impedes his escape.

7. In defending your own king when closely attacked—where it will either cause the adversary to lose a move, or increase your comparative strength; and at the same time, be a successful means of parrying the check—you should offer to make an exchange of pieces.

8. If the king be castled, the pawns forming a cordon before, or round him, should be guarded as much as possible from the brunts of the adversary.

9. Whenever, from being either reduced in number, or obliged to quit their stations, the defence afforded the king by these becomes precarious—or whenever the king is not castled at all—some of the superior pieces should be kept in readiness to contribute actively to his safety; being posted so, that where they cannot prevent, they may at least cover him from check. Their number and quality circumstances must decide. Those that operate at a distance, will not on this service be out of their province; nor will it often be found of them, as it will of the knights, that they are thereby rendered the less prepared to act offensively. The keeping, too, such pieces as the rook, the bishop, or the queen, near your own king, may sometimes cause the adversary to relax in his caution where it does not add to his security.

10. Of the queen, it is however to be noted, that she must never stand in such a way before the king, as that were an adverse rook or bishop to attack her, her moving aside would leave the king in check; because were she to be so attacked, should the rook or bishop be well guarded, and you had no piece to interpose, as it would not do to expose the king, you could no how avoid losing the queen for a less valuable piece.

11. Great advantages are often gained by an ambuscade; which is the having one piece, a pawn, for instance, so placed before another, we will say the queen, that though the adversary, on a cursory view, might seem to be safe; yet by simply playing the piece in front, whose intervention alone keeps him from it, check, single or double⁠[21], will be discovered to his king.

12. While intent on projects of offence, take care that you are not surprised yourself. Indeed every detail of a stratagem to be practised on the adversary, carries with it a tacit admonition to beware of the like from him; as to caution against any evolution, is saying, “look out for an opportunity to practise it.”

13. Take care that an adverse pawn does not advance upon two superior pieces, which is called forking them; knights and rooks are particularly liable to be attacked in this way, the pawns not requiring to be guarded, because the moves of those pieces do not comprehend the moves of the pawn. Thus where there is not a reciprocity in the mode of action between a smaller and a larger piece, the approach of the smaller may be very dangerous.

14. Hence it is, that unremitting vigilance must be exerted throughout the game, to prevent either of the adverse knights from checking the king and queen at the same time; because as the king can only save himself from the knight by a positive removal, the sacrifice of the queen is rendered inevitable.

15. Nor must the adversary be suffered to direct the insidious power of the knight, on any other two pieces of more importance than himself; as the loss of one of them for the knight, or for nothing, will be sure to follow.

16. When two pieces are attacked in such a way, that one of them at least must be lost; in deciding which to give up, you must not think so much on the difference in their worth, which may be more than counterbalanced by other circumstances, as on the particular effects which the capture of this or that is likely to have.

17. Whenever you are so well prepared for the worst, as to have two or three pawns so near the adversary’s farthest rank, and so well posted, that you are almost certain of reaching it with one of them when you please; you may be the bolder with your capital pieces—and, where you would be otherwise in doubt which to surrender, the less tenacious of retaining one of them in preference to another that is less capital.

18. Without there should be no other way of saving the king, or no other but what would be attended with a greater disadvantage, never cover him from check by placing a superior piece in that manner, that a pawn of the adversary, by being advanced a move, could take him; lest the adversary, availing himself of the opportunity, oblige you to a losing exchange.

19. In order to have as powerful pieces as you can in play, let those that are stationed to guard some other stationary ones, be of no greater force than is necessary; that is, where the motives for employing one of several pieces on this service are in other respects equal, take the lowest.

20. Where two of the adversaries are so circumstanced that you take either, similar considerations to those in the 16th section will determine you.

21. Where an adversary is so exposed that you can take him when you please, be in no haste about it: but see whether there be not some danger to avert, or advantage to seize, in another quarter, and let him alone till it be effected. It may at length be in your power to combine the piece that shall move into his square in some extensive scheme, as he may be supposed to move merely to take this piece.

22. Where an adverse pawn has advanced to the square immediately before your king, do not take him, unless some consideration superior to his worth impels his removal from the board; as an adverse pawn before the king is generally found to be a safeguard.

23. Whenever you can anticipate by calculation that the sacrifice of such and such a piece, though it can yield no immediate requital, will yet lead to such an arrangement, as will enable you in the end to give the adversary check-mate, true policy requires that you make it.

24. Never let an over-eagerness of the victory which a superiority may promise you, lead you to endanger its forfeiture by giving a stale: on the contrary, till you can give check-mate without a risk of miscarriage, always leave the adversary ample room to move.

25. Whenever you have clearly the disadvantage of the game in other respects, and yet happen to be in a position that by good management, may be turned into a stale; you must, as your only resource, endeavour to avail yourself of it. To do this, the following case will serve as a general clue. Your king is close pressed on all sides, and you have only the queen and an inferior piece left in play—take the first opportunity of playing the inferior piece so, that by its being either blocked up or lost, the king would be in a stale already if you had not the queen.—This done, with the queen keep giving incessant⁠[22] check to the adversary’s king, till at length, to avoid a check-mate, the adversary is forced to capture him. Your object will then be attained.

Note—Sometimes a check-mate or a stale will speedily terminate the game; sometimes it will happen that the pieces are nearly played away, without either taking place. To the latter case, the six sections that next follow are exclusively adapted.

26. When the adversary’s force is so much diminished, that your king, if in any, is in no immediate danger—and your own force is so much diminished likewise, that you can make no effective attack without him—the necessity and policy of confining the king to defence only will be superseded.

27. Among other uses to which he may then be devoted,—you must take every opportunity of putting him in motion, where your doing so, will be the only or the best way of either gaining or preserving the move, which it is of such importance to have, that if the contest has been otherwise equally conducted, your getting the game will depend upon nothing else.

28. He may then, too, as circumstances vary, occasionally be of service, either in protecting some pawn of your own which may be more advanced than the rest, and which you want to raise to queen; or in taking or harrassing any pawns of the adversary on the like expedition.

29. The note at the bottom of page 37, respecting the rook, is a sufficient intimation that the king may, in this stage of the game, be employed in combination with another piece in giving check to his antagonist.

From the same note it is to be inferred, that if one party has only a king, and the other in addition to the king has but one piece, and that piece be a knight or a bishop, it must be a draw game; and therefore that, next to a queen or a rook, it is best for that piece to be a pawn, from the possibility of making him a piece of the first power. This serves to introduce the two following

PARTICULAR CASES.

30. The adversary has the king and a pawn, and you have only the king. You will naturally endeavour to intercept that pawn—his king, if he be in any danger, will as naturally go to his assistance—this, if the king is time enough to save him, will bring them together. Though you will then have failed in taking the pawn; yet, if you can get before either to the square towards which the pawn is moving; by manœuvering on the first square of that file, and the second of that and the adjoining files, you will either make a draw game, or win by a stale.

31. Upon certain contingencies, the adversary may have the king, a bishop, and a pawn, when you have only the king, without being able to beat you: which contingencies are these:—If the pawn be on a rook’s file—if you can get into the square at your end of that file—if this square be of a color different from that on which the bishop moves—all these concurring, it is even possible for you to win by a stale.

32. To conclude; if you would have something more than a mere exemption from defeat, depending on chances, to hope for, let this rule, in connection with the others, be specially regarded. From first to last, the changes and declensions, successively taking place in the number, value, and situation of the pieces must be noted with exactness; and no movement at any time made till the consequences are considered. This, among other good effects, will the better enable you to conjecture what the adversary may mean to do, and to take measures accordingly. If closely pursued, it will at once prevent you from giving any advantage to the adversary, and from overlooking any which he may give to you.

The initiate reader, having arrived thus far, will perhaps be impatient to make a practical essay. From that, though it may originate in a mistake, we would not withhold him. As what we design, is his progressive improvement, we do not care how soon he is convinced that he cannot make himself master of the whole at once. After he has made the experiment, we would, for his next essays, direct his attention to two or three games which we mean to detail as examples, move by move. By studying these, and noting the foregoing directions, one at a time, as the advantages of pursuing, or the effects of deviating from them are laid open, he will soon imprint the spirit of them on his memory; and practice, either by himself, or with a friend, will imperceptibly confer on him a habit of adopting them with promptness.

If he is a genius, practice will do more; it will lead him to form maxims of his own for indescribable cases.

After setting down the laws of the game, which will end this chapter; we give the examples promised, chiefly as vehicles for rules for particular situations, which can only be imparted with clearness, when particular situations are exhibited on the board.

THE LAWS OF THE GAME,

Reduced to their most simple Construction, are,

I. If a player touches a piece, he must play it somewhere; and when he has quitted it, he cannot change its place.

II. If one party, by mistake or otherwise, makes a false move, and it is not discovered till after the other has played in his turn, it cannot be revised or rectified by either.

III. If a player misplaces the pieces, and, before he finds it out, plays two moves, it is at the choice of his opponent to permit him to begin the game afresh or not.

IV. If one party plays or discovers check to the king of the other, and neglects to notify it, the other may let him remain in open check till he does.

V. After the king has moved, or if both the rooks have moved, he cannot be castled.

Where the object is mutual improvement, and not decision of skill—or where the superiority of one party is admitted, and the object is the improvement of the other—the first four of these may be dispensed with.

CHAP. III. Progressive Examples

APOLOGETIC INTRODUCTION.

As it is not the habit of every reader to wade patiently through a preface, the author begs leave to condense here the substance of an apology, which, from the influx of topics, could not there be presented in a disentangled form.

Whoever has marked the experiments of a novitiate in Chess, must have observed a propensity to a variety of moves, which while they appear to open a field teeming with advantage, really lead to results that are disastrous. Some of these are interspersed in the following examples, and the adverse consequences with which they are pregnant traced to their source. Thus by the publication of games with notes, a plan to which Philidor led the way, the student steps by a short route on the high ground, to which the guides who framed the artificial passage, only reached by repeated labor and experience. But a gigantic genius, it would seem, cannot conceive exactly what are the desiderata of a mind of less compass; and Philidor left a trying distance between the level from which the inexperienced would rise, and the steps at the bottom of his ascending ladder. A professor, who is not incapacitated by extraordinary powers from imagining where interposition is wanted, may supply acceptable remedies for these vacuities.

Let us now attend the pupil at the board, and conduct him through such evolutions as may fit him to appreciate and enjoy the enterprise and spirit of Cunningham, the brilliant promptness at resource of Salvio, and the comprehension and foresight of Philidor.