Howard Staunton

“ When one of the enemy is completely in your power, do not be too eager to make the capture—there may perhaps be a move of importance which you can make before you take him. Beware also of snatching hastily a proffered man, it may be only given as a bait to catch a more important advantage from you.
If at the end of a game you remain with Pawns against a Knight and find it difficult to evade his repeated checks, recollect that by placing your King on the same diagonal as the Knight, with but one intervening square between them, you cannot again be checked under three moves. ”

“ Before proceeding to the consideration of the various methods of commencing the game, it is advisable for you to recur to the preceding sections, which treat of the arrangement of the men—the moves of the men—their relative powers—the technical terms in use among players—and the laws of the game. When you have familiarized yourself with these, it will be time for you to direct your attention to that most important feature in the game of chess—the art of opening the game. ”

“ In Castling, the King must be moved first, or before the Rook is quitted. If the Rook be quitted before the King is touched, the opposing player may demand that the move of the Rook shall stand without the Castling being completed. ”

“ Never permit your hand to hover over the board, or indeed to approach it, until you have completely made up your mind what Piece to move; a contrary habit begets a feeling of indecision that is fatal to success. Play invariably according to the laws of the game, neither taking back a move yourself, nor allowing your opponent to recall one. Do not exhibit impatience when your adversary is long in making his move. ”

“ If either player abandon the game by quitting the table in anger, or in an 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. ”

“ The action of the Knight is peculiar, and not easy to describe. He is the only one of the Pieces which has the privilege of leaping over another man. The movements of the others are all dependent on their freedom from obstruction by their own and the enemy's men. For example, when the forces are duly ranged in order of [15] battle before the commencement of the game, the Knight is the only one of the eight capital Pieces which can be played before the Pawns are moved—King, Queen, Bishop, and Rook are all hemmed in by the rank of Pawns, which they cannot overleap ”

“ It is not good to play the Queen out in the game at the beginning, because she can be attacked by inferior Pieces, and is compelled to retire with the loss of many moves.
Be careful, too, when about to capture a distant Pawn or Piece, that you do not remove your Queen too far from the immediate point of action. A skilful player will often permit you to win a Pawn with the Queen, that he may prevent her returning in time to rescue your King from his attack. The power of the Queen is wonderfully greater when she is aided and protected by other Pieces than when she goes forth unsupported ”

“ Stalemate.—When one party has his King so circumstanced that, not being at the moment in check, he cannot play him without going into check, and at the same time has no other Piece or Pawn to move instead, he is said to be stalemated, and the game is considered drawn. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Take care not to play a Piece to a square where it impedes the action of another, and beware of venturing an unsupported Piece in the adversary's game.
If subjected to a violent attack, you may often disconcert your opponent by compelling the exchange of two or three Pieces. When, however, you are about to exchange officers, you must calculate not only their ordinary value, but their peculiar worth in the situation in question; for example, a Rook is generally more valuable than a Knight or a Bishop ”

“ When you have thus gained possession of the file, should your opponent try to dispossess you of it, by playing one of his Rooks on the same file, it is frequently better to defend with your other Rook than to take his or remove your own. You will often embarrass your adversary, too, if you can manage to post a Rook on his second rank, say at your King's 7th or Queen's 7th square. In this position he generally makes an attack on the Pawns unmoved, and compels the enemy to lose time in defending them, while you can bring more forces into action. ”

“ En Prise.—When a Piece or Pawn is in a situation to be taken by the enemy, it is said to be en prise. To put a piece en prise, is to play it so that it may be captured. ”

“ For touching an adversary's man, when it cannot be captured, the offender must move his King. If the King cannot move, the offender must move a man selected by his opponent. 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. If the latter penalty be exacted, and the King cannot legally be moved, the offender must move any piece designated by the opposing player. ”

“ A Knight with three or four Pawns, at the end of a game, has an advantage over a Bishop with an equal number of Pawns, because he can leap from white to black, and thus attack the Pawns on either colored squares, whereas the Bishop can attack them only when they move on squares of the color of his diagonals. ”

“ Examine the position attentively, and you will find that Black has no square to which he can move his King, the only vacant one being attacked by your Queen's Bishop, that he has nothing wherewith to take the Bishop that has given check, and neither Piece nor Pawn with which to interpose between it and his King, and that consequently, he is not only checked, but checkmated. In like manner, if, at his first move, instead of capturing your Queen, he interpose his Bishop at King's second square, you immediately take the Bishop with your Queen, who is protected by her Bishop, and say "checkmate." ”

“ When you have lost a game which has cost you great attention, it is a good practice to play it over afterwards in private, and endeavor to discover where the error occurred through which your opponent gained his first advantage. ”

“ To Interpose.—When the King is checked, or any valuable Piece in danger from the attack of an enemy, you are said to interpose a man when you play it between the attacked and attacking Piece. ”

“ The Pawn moves only one square at a time, and that straight forward, except in the act of capturing, when it takes one step diagonally to the right or left file on to the square occupied by the man taken, and continues on that file until it captures another man. ”

“ Gambit.—This word is derived from an Italian phrase in wrestling, and signifies a movement by which the adversary is tripped up. In chess, this is attempted by the first player putting a Pawn en prise of the enemy early in the game, by which he is enabled more rapidly and effectually to develope his superior Pieces. There are several gambits, but the most important, and one which includes many others, is the King's gambit, commenced as follows:—
The Pawn offered by the first player here at his second move is called the Gambit Pawn, and when taken by the adversary the opening becomes a gambit. ”

“ It is mostly good play to exchange the Pieces off when you are superior in power, so that when you have the odds of a Piece given to you by a finished player, you should endeavor to exchange as often as you can consistently with safety. ”

“ The worst kind of doubled Pawn is one on a Rook's file; while the most advantageous is the King's Bishop's Pawn doubled on the King's file, because it strengthens your middle Pawns and opens a file for your King's Rook.
The Pawn being less important than a Piece, it is usually [41] better to defend with it than with a Piece. For the same reason it is likewise better to protect a Pawn with a Pawn than with a Piece. No Piece can interpose between the attack of a Pawn, it can therefore frequently check the King with great advantage. ”

“ Do not in all cases take an enemy's Pawn which stands before your King,—it may serve sometimes as a protection to him; and bear in mind that towards the termination of a game, especially when the superior Pieces have been taken off the field, the King should be made to compensate for his previous inactivity, by being busily engaged. The fate of the game is then dependent for the most part on the skill displayed in the management of the King. ”

“ He can take any one of the adversary's men which stands on an adjoining square to that he occupies, provided such man is left unprotected, and he has the peculiar privilege of being himself exempt from capture. He is not permitted, however, to move into check, that is, on to any square which is guarded by a Piece or Pawn of the enemy, nor can he, under any circumstance, be played to an adjacent square to that on which the rival King is stationed. ”

“ Even, as in the next example, the player of the single King will draw the game, if he have not the move, against two Pawns in a somewhat similar position. For White being to move, he can only play K. to R's 8th, to which Black must reply by K. to B's sq.; and if White then advance B's Pawn, it will be taken: or if he play R's Pawn, Black returns K. to B's 2d, and his adversary is stalemated. (See Diagram 9.)
Two united Pawns, with their King, always win against King alone. ”

“ Each player, it will be observed, has eight superior Pieces or officers, and eight minor ones which are called Pawns; and, for the purpose of distinction, the Pieces and Pawns of one party are of a different color from those of the other. ”

“ The third species of check is named the double check, where the King is attacked both by the Piece moved and the one discovered. The fourth description is called perpetual check, a case which arises when a player has two or more squares on which he can give check, and his opponent can only parry one check by affording an opportunity for another. If the first player then persists in the repetition of these particular checks, the game must be abandoned as drawn. ”

“ One of the strongest reasons for playing out your Pieces early in the battle, is, that while at home they are not only themselves inactive, but they utterly retard the movements of your Rooks. In an unskilfully developed game it is a common occurrence to see the victory won before the defeated player's Rooks have ever moved. ”

“ Place the men on your chess-board according to the diagram, suppose yourself to be playing the white Pieces, and that it is your turn to move. Your adversary, you will observe, has the advantage in point of force, but this is counterbalanced by the situation, which enables you to draw the game. To do this, you must first play your Queen to one of the three squares where she will check the King, i.e., to K's 4th, Q's 5th, or Q. B's 6th ”

“ Minor Pieces.—The Bishop and Knight, in contradistinction to the Queen and Rook, are called Minor Pieces. ”

“ The assault of the Knight is more subtle and dangerous than that of any other Piece, because he attacks without putting himself en prise, and his attack can never be resisted by the interposition of another man. ”

“ To Queen a Pawn, or to advance a Pawn to Queen.—When a player has contrived to advance a Pawn to the eighth or last square of the file, it assumes the rank and power of a Queen, or of any other Piece he chooses, and he is then said to have queened his Pawn. (See the 21st law.)
Scholar's Mate.—A checkmate occasionally given at the opening of a game by a practised player to one but little tutored in the science. The following are the moves:—
Smothered Mate.—A checkmate which is sometimes given by the Knight when the adverse King is hemmed in, or smothered, by his own forces. ”

“ When you have two Pawns abreast, the King and Queen's, for instance, at their fourth squares, should the adversary attack one of them with a Pawn, it is occasionally better to advance the Pawn that is attacked another step, than to take the Pawn. ”

“ At the commencement of a game, the best place for the King's Knight is at K. B's 3d sq.; it there attacks your adversary's K's Pawn, if it has been moved two squares, and offers no impediment to the playing out your [39] King's Bishop, and prevents the adversary from placing his Queen on your King Rook's 4th sq., where she would often be a source of restraint and danger to your King. Many persons prefer playing the K. Kt. to K's 2d at the second move, from the mistaken notion that the K. B's P. should be moved before the Knight is played to B's 3d ”