White (chess)

“ It may be said that the Knight at Q 5 is the key to White's defence.
White strives not only to have play for his Bishop, but also he wants to break up Black's Pawns in order to counter-attack. The alternative would have been 23 Kt × Kt ch, Q × Kt; and Black would be threatening R - R 4, and also Q - K 3. The student should notice that Black's drawback in all this is the fact that he is playing minus the services of his Q R. It is this fact that makes it possible for White to hold out longer. {237}
Kt - Kt 4 was the alternative, but in any event White could not resist the attack. ”

“ Black had only left himself with a Pawn and a King, while White had seen to it that he had a Queen and a couple of Knights about. Now, I know very little about chess, but I do understand the theory of chess problems. ”

“ He examined the chess problem and set out the pieces. It was a tricky ending, involving a couple of knights. “White to play and mate in two moves.” Winston looked up at the portrait of BigBrother. White always mates, he thought with a sort of cloudy mysticism. Always, without exception, it is so arranged. In no chess problem since the beginning of the world has black ever won. Did it not symbolize the eternal, unvarying triumph of Good over Evil? The huge face gazed back at him, full of calm power. ”

“ It demonstrates that White's last move was a complete loss of time and merely weakened his position.
Black has come out of the opening with a Pawn to the good. His development, however, has suffered somewhat, and there are Bishops of opposite colour, so that it cannot be said as yet, that Black has a won game; but he has certainly the best of the position, because, besides being a Pawn to the good, he threatens White's K P, which must of course be {191}defended, and this in turn will give him the opportunity to post his Knight at Q 4 via K 2. ”

“ White has no longer an attack, but he has compelled Black to create a marked weakness. Now White's whole plan will be to exploit this weakness (the weak K P) , and the student can now see how the principles expounded previously are applied in this game. Every move is directed to make the weak King's Pawn untenable, or to profit by the inactivity of the Black pieces defending the Pawn, in order to improve the position of White at other points. ”

“ White expects to disrupt Black's Pawns, and thus make them weak.
Though doubled and isolated this Pawn exercises enormous pressure. Black now threatens R - K 3; to be followed by R - Kt 3 and P - R 6 and R 7 at the proper time.
White cannot stand the slow death any longer. {244}He sees danger everywhere, and wants to avert it by giving up his Queen's side Pawns, expecting to regain his fortunes later on by taking the initiative on the King's side.
Much better than taking Pawns. This forces White to defend the Knight with the Rook at K 1, because of the threat R - Kt 3. ”

“ He can also give check by moving his QR to Ksq., and as White cannot move his King into any square that is not commanded by an adverse force, and as he cannot capture the attacking force, he will have to interpose, but the only men he could interpose could be captured by Black, so in his eleventh move he has to guard against this check before it is given. ”

“ With this last move White completes his development, while Black is evidently somewhat hampered. A simple examination will suffice to show that White's position {31}is unassailable. There are no weak spots in his armour, and his pieces are ready for any manœuvre that he may wish to carry out in order to begin the attack on the enemy's position. The student should carefully study this example. ”

“ For quick development is of the utmost importance, and he who succeeds first in placing all his pieces, from their initial awkward positions, to such places as give them command of the greatest possible number of squares, has the better chance of concentrating a superior force on some important point.
It follows that White, having the first move, is, so to speak, always morally justified in attacking, whilst Black should assume the defensive. ”

“ The White King occupies Ksq., the White Pawn K2, and the Black King Ksq., as indicated on diagram xviii.
The student will note that both Kings occupy their original positions at the beginning of the game. White has the advantage, having a Pawn, but his success depends upon his ability to queen it. This illustration is interesting, as it takes White twelve moves in order to win, when he plays first; while if Black has the first move, White gives stalemate in the fifteenth move and the game is a draw. ”

“ To a beginner the position may look like a draw, but the advanced player will realise immediately that there are great possibilities for Black to win, not only because he has the initiative, but because of White's undeveloped Queen's side and the fact that a Bishop in such a position is better than a Knight (see Section 14) . It will take some time for White to bring his Rook and Knight into the fray, and Black can utilise it to obtain an advantage. ”

“ It would have been better to hold it in reserve and to have played P - B 4, to be followed in due time by P - K Kt 4 and P - B 5, after having placed the Q at Q 2, K B 2, or some other square as the occasion demanded. The text move blocks the action of the powerful B at Q B 4, and tends to make White's position safer than it should have been. The move in itself is a very strong attacking move, but it is isolated, and there is no effective continuation. Such advances as a rule should only be made when they can be followed by a concerted action of the pieces. ”

“ White, however, does not notice that Black can give check in the next move but captures his adversary's Pawn with his own Pawn that stands on K4. The forces of the two players are now equal and the advantage gained by White is to place his Pawn on Q5 where it commands the square occupied by the Black Knight.
Black now takes the advantage gained by his last move and gives check with his
black. ”

“ The absence of a pawn in the centre and the unsatisfactory development have a far-reaching influence. White will be able to bring his forces to the King’s side by way of K4, which is made accessible by the disappearance of Black’s QP, before Black has time to bring his QB to bear on White’s K4 by P- QKt3 and B-Kt2. White’s immediate threat (after P-K5) is Q-K2-K4 and B-Q3. If Black does not wish to risk P-KKt3, he must defend himself with R-K1, Kt-B1. In the meantime White can play R-Q1 and threaten P-Q5, opening the Queen’s file. ”

“ Black's manœuvring for positional advantage is admirable throughout this game, and if he loses it is due entirely to the fact that the sacrifice of the exchange, without even a Pawn for it, could not succeed against sound defensive play.
The position begins to look really dangerous for White. In reality Black's attack is reaching its maximum force. ”

“ When the player who has drawn the White Men moves a Piece or a Pawn, it is his opponent's turn, and so the game continues, each moving alternately, one man at a time, of his own color and capturing only the men of the opposite color. ”

“ Black has the better development, but his centre is less secure. Whilst White has a pawn secured in the centre, Black has a Knight there which will soon be driven away. White’s Q4, the basis of his centre, is entirely in his hands, while Black’s Q4 is exposed to a steady pressure by the White pieces. ”

“ White plays first and Black resigns after the twenty-eighth move. The game is notated thus:
The final combination of forces in this game is said to be one of the most brilliant on record, and rarely surpassed in actual play.
Example V.—Opened with a Philidor's Defense, and played between Morphy (White) and Allies (Black) in 1858.
White plays first and mates in seventeen moves. The game is notated thus:—
From White's tenth move on, he plays a brilliant game and the student should study it carefully, as it shows accuracy and judgment. ”

“ Of course, White would prefer to do without the move of the h-Pawn; but h2 is the only favorable square for the Knight f3, as neither from d2 nor from h4 he has an opportunity to help the attack while from h2 he may go to g4, bearing on both of the weak squares f6 and h6.
Black has little chance for counterattack. The only thing he can do is occupy the Queen's file with his Rooks and opening it by P- d5 and Pxe4. His Queen's Bishop, however, is badly placed in any case as he has no open diagonal to work in, and he will have to get back into play via his original square c8. ”

“ It will be seen that, with correct play, Black manages to castle just in time, and White, though winning back his pawn, has no advantage in position. The opening is seldom played by modern masters.
Instead of the move in the text, White can hardly defend the KP with Kt-B3, as Black simply captures the pawn and recovers his piece by P-Q4, with a satisfactory position. It is even better for Black if White plays 6. ”

“ The number of the move must always be placed before it, parallel with the line which divides the White move from the Black move. In notes or annotations to a game, the moves are written as a series with a semi-colon to separate White's move from that of Black. White's move being placed first, thus: (1) P—K4; P—Q4, indicates that in the first move of the game White moved his Pawn to his King's fourth square, and Black moved his Pawn to his Queen's fourth square. ”

“ White rightly disdains the gain of the Knight’s Pawn, but prevents the exchange of Queens in developing a piece. He proves the superiority of his position much more convincingly in that way. Black must now lose yet another move to protect his Knight’s Pawn. ”

“ The student will see that there is only one play open to White and that is to move the King to K2; for if a Piece or Pawn were interposed it would be captured in the Black Queen's next move when she would again give check, and, as the Rook's Pawn is in the way, the Queen cannot be captured by the Rook. By moving the King, however, White cannot castle. ”

“ If now White advances the Pawn, the Black King gets in front of it and White must either give up the Pawn or play K - K 6, and a stale mate results. If instead of advancing the Pawn White withdraws his King, Black brings his King up to the Pawn and, when forced to go back, he moves to K in front of the Pawn ready to come up again or to move in front of the White King, as before, should the latter advance. ”

“ Whether it is sound or not remains yet to be proved. Its good features are that it keeps the centre intact without creating any particular weakness, and that it gives plenty of opportunity for deep and concealed manœuvring. The drawback is the long time it takes Black to develop his game. It is natural to suppose that White will employ that time to prepare a well-conceived attack, or that he will use the advantage of his development actually to prevent Black's complete development, or failing that, to obtain some definite material advantage.
{171} ”

“ With a Pawn more and all his pieces ready for action, while Black is still backward in development, it only remains for White to drive home his advantage before Black can come out with his pieces, in which case, by using the open K R file, Black might be able to start a strong attack against White's King. White is able by his next move to eliminate all danger.
This is practically forced. Black could not play P - Kt 3 because of B × P, and White meanwhile threatened Q - R 8 ch followed by Kt - B 5 ch and Q × P. {200}
Black must lose time assuring the safety of this Pawn. ”

“ A position not unlike that in Diagram 92 will result ultimately, in which Black defends the pawn as many times as it is attacked, but in which White can bring up his KP to the attack, as the QP cannot move away, whilst Black has no further defensive move at his disposal. Play against a backward pawn nearly always develops on these lines, and is even easier when there is no defending B of the same colour as the pawn. ”

“ The student also sees that Black's ninth and tenth moves were forced moves, as White had left him no choice. While illustrating the use of the Hook in the End Game, this example also shows the student that it is sometimes better to let what appears to be a good move go by, for if White had taken advantage of his opportunity to give check it would have taken him a long time to force his adversary to the side of the board again. When the player has a choice of moves he should always consider the consequences and deliberate carefully before he plays. ”

“ Whoever has the move wins by moving into distant opposition. White, therefore, should play K-K5 K-Q5 would lose, as Black would play K-Kt5, protecting his pawn and attacking the White pawn, the protection of which White has to give up next move. In the same way Black with the move cannot play K-Kt5 because White wins the pawn with K-Q5. ”

“ The Chess-board must be placed with a white square at the right-hand corner. ”

“ Kt × B, Q × Kt; {228}R - K 3, Black could now play Q - Kt 1 defending the Rook.
White's plan now is to fix the Queen's side in order to be able to manœuvre freely on the other side, where he has the advantage of material.
Black sees that he now stands in his best defensive position, and therefore waits for White to show how he intends to break through. He notices, of course, that the White Knight is in the way of the K B P, which cannot advance to K B 4 to defend, or support rather, the Pawn at K 5. {229}
Black persists in waiting for developments. ”