Chess problem

“ Kt8 ch, and drawn by perpetual check, as Black cannot capture the Queen with K or R without losing the game.
A good chess problem exemplifies chess strategy idealized and concentrated. In examples of actual play there will necessarily remain on the board pieces immaterial to the issue (checkmate) , whereas in problems the composer employs only indispensable force so as to focus attention on the idea, avoiding all material which would tend to “obscure the issue.” ”

“ But there is no condition in the game that you shall checkmate your opponent in two moves, in three moves, or in four moves, while the majority of the positions given in these puzzles are such that one player would have so great a superiority in pieces that Pg 85the other would have resigned before the situations were reached. And the solving of them helps you but little, and that quite indirectly, in playing the game, it being well known that, as a rule, the best "chess problemists" are indifferent players, and vice versa. ”

“ I do not smoke." Some readers, when they happen to see a puzzle represented on a chessboard with chess pieces, are apt to make the equally inconsequent remark, "I have no use for it: I do not play chess." This is largely a result of the common, but erroneous, notion that the ordinary chess puzzle with which we are familiar in the press (dignified, for some reason, with the name "problem") has a vital connection with the game of chess itself. ”

“ The game of Chess, however, is like a battle and the general who changes his tactics too often suffers in consequence. The object of the game is, of course, to checkmate the King, and before the first move, the player should determine in his own mind how he is going to do it and then develop the fighting qualities of his men accordingly. Only in this way can the beginner ever expect to play a really scientific game. It is fatal to move a man without having some object in view, and unless the other moves follow it up, any strength in position that was gained by that move is of no avail. ”

“ Any one acquainted with the moves and rules of ordinary chess can soon become a proficient, and as for the notion that it requires a great Single-chess player to make a good Double-chess-player, we must call attention, by way of analogy, to the fact that gamekeepers generally make wretched rifle-shots.
Exception must be taken to the name, ‘Four-handed Chess,’ given by some players to this game. Why not Four-brained Chess, or Four-person Chess, on the same principle? Must we call Single Chess Two-handed Chess? ”

“ The reason for this is: whenever men invited by curiosity, seek to examine circumstantially even the less intricate situations on the Chess-board, they at once become lost in a labyrinth abounding in obscurities and contradictions. Those, who ignorant of the synthetic method of calculation, are compelled to depend upon their analytic powers, quickly find that these, on account [11] of the number of unknown quantities, are utterly inadequate.
Any attempt to calculate the true move in Chess-play by analysis, other than in situations devoid of unknown quantities, is futile. ”

“ They have calculated by arithmetical rules the myriads of positions of which the pieces and pawns are susceptible. They have told us that a life time of many ages would hardly suffice even to count them. We know, too, that while the composers of the orient and the occident have displayed during long centuries an admirable subtility and ingenuity in the fabrications of problems, yet the chess stratagems of the last quarter of a century have never been excelled in intricacy and beauty. ”

“ Admittedly the given body of Chess-pieces has the right to move, but it is of the utmost importance to note that this privilege of moving extends only to a single piece and from this privilege of moving the pinned piece is debarred by a specific and fundamental law of the game, which declares that:
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“A piece shall not by removing itself uncover the kindred King to the attack of a hostile piece.” ”

“ The enormous difficulties of Chess-play, like those of warfare, arise from the necessity of combining in a single composite topographical horizon, all those differing, sensible horizons which appertain, not merely to the kindred, but also to the hostile corps; and to do this in such a manner, as to minimize the hostile powers for offence and defence, by debarring one or more of the hostile pieces from the true Strategetic Horizon.
To divide up the enemy’s force, by making natural barriers take the place of troops, is the basis of those processes which dominate Grand Manoeuvres. ”

“ All benefit to be derived from the advantage in Numbers is limited to the active and scientific use of every corp d’armee; otherwise excess of Numbers, not only is of no avail, but easily may degenerate into fatal disadvantage by impeding the decisive action of other kindred corps. Says Napoleon: “It is only the troops brought into action, that avails in battles and campaigns—the rest does not count.”
A loss in Numbers at chess-play occurs only when two pieces are lost for one, or three for two, or one for none, and the like. ”

“ Speaking quite generally, common-sense will tell us that, in all operations on the chess-board, the main consideration for the defence will be to maintain that balance, and that there is only justification for an attack when it is possible to concentrate more forces on the strategic point than can be mustered by the defence. However, one very important point must not be neglected, though I did not touch upon it when discussing elementary combinations for fear of complicating matters for beginners: the balance between the contending forces is by no means established by their numerical equality. ”

“ One who is opposed by such blockheads, necessarily must gain advantages continually; for conduct so opposite to all the laws of the Art, is, in itself, sufficient to incur ruin. It is for such negligence on his own part that one often has cause bitterly to reproach himself. But such errors, especially on the part of great players, are exemplary lessons for the student, who from them may learn to be more prudent, circumspect, and wise.
Those who make a mere pastime of Chess, who have no desire for the true benefit of the game, do not deserve information. ”

“ I have never been a clever chess player: I have spoiled games by envisioning a spiral staircase, by designing a parachute or estimating the cost of draining a marsh instead of planning my next move. I can cast bronze better than tackle chess strategy.
When King Francis and I play, I know the rules—those unwritten rules—and abide by them: the king must win. ”

“ The regulations respecting odds were also well defined, in degrees from a single pawn up to a knight and rook; but any one claiming the latter odds was held not 'to count as a chess-player.' And it was not unusual for works on chess to contain puzzling problems, representations of drawn games, and well-combined positions. Some authors describe five different kinds of chess: one had 10 × 10, or 100 squares ”

“ The student is not supposed to “learn” openings by heart, but to UNDERSTAND how the general principles of Chess Strategy are applied to any opening. Such knowledge can never be obtained from a tabulated analysis, but can only be arrived at by the application of common sense. If a player succeeds in winning in spite of an inferior opening, it only proves that subsequently he has played a stronger game than his opponent, who, after playing the opening according to the book, did not know how to proceed further. ”

“ In chess the tactics may change but the strategic fundamental principles are always the same, so that Chess Fundamentals is as good now as it was thirteen years ago. It will be as good a hundred years from now; as long in fact as the laws and rules of the game remain what they are at present. ”

“ Of course, if a player makes bad moves in the opening, that is, moves which do not aim at a speedy mobilization of all pieces, then the opponent may soon have a chance to win the game with moves which are not in accordance with those common sense rules either but which force an immediate issue in a maneuver of a kind that ordinarily does not occur in an opening but is characteristic of the middle game. This is a point which the majority of Chess players overlook. ”

“ If neither player has sufficient material left to enforce a mate (compare following chapter) the game is considered a draw. A draw may also be claimed by either player if the moves are repeated so that the same position occurs three times with the same player on the move, or if fifty moves have been made without the capture of a man or the move of a Pawn.
II ELEMENTARY TACTICS The beginner who thinks he ought to be able to play a good game of Chess after learning the moves of the men is like the soldier who is confident that he could lead an army after he has learned how to march. ”

“ VI. The inability of the Knight to move either on diagonals, verticals, or horizontals, and the limitation of its move to two squares distance. VII. The inability of the Pawn to move either on obliques or horizontals, and the limitation of its first move to two squares and of its subsequent moves to one square. VIII. The limitation of the King’s move to one square.
These limitations and impediments to the movements of the Chess-pieces, are equivalent in Chess-play to obstacles interposed by Nature to the march of troops over the surface of the earth. ”

“ It will be difficult for them to comprehend how, amid the wreck of nations, the destruction of races, the revolutions of time, and the lapse of centuries, this mere game has survived, when so many things of far greater importance have either passed away from the memories of men, or still exist only in the dusty pages of the chroniclers. It owes, of course, much of its tenacity of existence to the amazing inexhaustibility of its nature. Some chess writers have loved to dwell upon the unending fertility of its powers of combinations. ”

“ In developing a game of Chess, the beginner should remember this maxim: Move no Piece or Pawn twice, until each has been moved once. By following this principle none of the forces will be needlessly exposed to attack from the enemy, for it is true of Chessmen that divided they fall, and united they stand. The student should, also, develop his game on both wings that is on the King's side and on the Queen's side before beginning an attack. As the student progresses he will learn that there are many Chess openings and that each develops a certain line of play, which he must follow up ”

“ Let no man venture to say that Chess is an ignoble subject. It is, if properly considered, as recondite a science as mathematics. Kings, conquerors, and sages have not thought it beneath them to ponder over the chequered board; and it may be that the noble game has contributed in no light degree to the success of their most triumphant efforts. We know of no absorption more complete than that which possesses the mind of a true votary of chess. Watch him as he is contemplating his moves, and his countenance is a perfect study for the physiognomist. ”

“ The game of Chess, as already stated, is played by two persons or parties, and the object of each is to capture his opponent’s King or place him in such a position that he cannot move without being taken. ”

“ All the Chess-pieces are equal in strength, one to the other. The Pawn can overthrow and capture any piece—the Queen can do no more.
That is to say, at its turn to move, any piece can capture any adverse piece; and this is all that any piece can do.
It is true that the Queen, on its turn to move, has a maximum option of twenty-seven squares, while the Pawn’s maximum never is more than three. ”

“ What we take from the science of warfare is merely the definition. In each game the strategy of chess should set us the tasks which must be accomplished (in order to mate the opponent’s King) , and tactics point the way in which it is possible to solve such problems. Correct chess strategy will only set such tasks as are tactically possible, and, if we wish to expound the principles of chess strategy, we cannot exclude chess tactics from the field of our observations. ”

“ This is really the great advantage of the game of Chess over any other board game, that it lends itself to the application of general principles, so that any one can grasp and enjoy it without memorizing more than the rules according to which the men move. ”

“ The King's Gambit, the fourth of the principal openings, is the delight of the Chess player's heart as it affords opportunities for the most intricate and scientific combinations to which Chessmen are subject, and their study gives the student an almost unlimited fund of instruction and entertainment. ”

“ It is a fundamental of Chess mathematics that the King cannot be exposed to capture.
Furthermore, it is to be noted as equally fundamental, that:
1. A piece exerts no force against that point upon which it is posted; 2. That whatever power a piece exerts, always is exerted against some other point than the point upon which it stands; and that; 3. In order to exert such power, it is an all-essential that the piece move from the point which it occupies to the point at which its power is to be exerted. ”

“ 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. ”

“ It is obvious that the end-game is the particular demesne of pawn strategy. Nearly always one or more pawns survive the exchange of pieces, and the knowledge of the end-game will be invaluable for gauging the consequences of pawn moves in the course of the middle game. The latter represents probably the most difficult aspect of the strategy of chess. ”