Chessboard

“ I first deal with a few questions affecting the chessboard itself; then with certain statical puzzles relating to the Rook, the Bishop, the Queen, and the Knight in turn; then dynamical puzzles with the pieces in the same order; and, finally, with some miscellaneous puzzles on the chessboard. It is hoped that the formulæ and tables given at the end of the statical puzzles will be of interest, as they are, for the most part, published for the first time.
THE CHESSBOARD. "Good company's a chessboard." ”

“ In the early days of Chess-playing, people used to take literally weeks in which to make a single move, as they wished to study every possible situation which might develop therefrom. The Chessboard would become grey with dust and all interest, as far as the spectators were concerned, would be gone. Today, conditions have changed and now there is a rule that each player must make a given number of moves within a certain period, and if a player fails to do this he forfeits the game. ”

“ For this reason the student should become thoroughly familiar with the language of Chess, studying the definitions of the technical terms and illustrating the positions on the Chessboard. The use of the board in studying the terms cannot be too strongly urged, for only in this way can a player recognize the character of the moves when he puts his study into practice. Then when he is a spectator of a game played by persons of experience—and much can be learned by observation—he will be familiar with the technical terms which apply to the various positions resulting from the moves. ”

“ A chessboard is essentially a square plane divided into sixty-four smaller squares by straight lines at right angles. Originally it was not chequered (that is, made with its rows and columns alternately black and white, or of any other two colours) , and this improvement was introduced merely to help the eye in actual play. The utility of the chequers is unquestionable. For example, it facilitates the operation of the bishops, enabling us to see at the merest glance that our king or pawns on black squares are not open to attack from an opponent's bishop running on the white diagonals. ”

“ It will be found that of the twelve shown in the diagram only four are thus protected by being a knight's move from another knight.
THE GUARDED CHESSBOARD.
On an ordinary chessboard, 8 by 8, every square can be guarded—that is, either occupied or attacked—by 5 queens, the fewest possible. There are exactly 91 fundamentally different arrangements in which no queen attacks another queen. ”

“ A tall man with a folding pocket-chessboard and a coloured silk handkerchief containing an incomplete set of chessmen might have been observed at almost any hour of the day or night prowling the deck with a preoccupied air and seeking to lure any one into playing with him. ”

“ The Board, Pieces and Moves.—The chessboard is divided (see accompanying diagrams) into sixty-four chequered squares. In diagram 1, the pieces, or chess-men, are arranged for the beginning of a game, while diagram 2 shows the denomination of the squares according to the English and German systems of notation. Under diagram 1 are the names of the various “pieces”—each side, White or Black, having a King, a Queen, two Rooks (or Castles) , two Knights, and two Bishops. The eight men in front are called Pawns. At the beginning of the game the queen always stands upon a square of her own colour. ”

“ Chess is supposed to be a game of such worth and intricacy as not to need the stimulus of wagering. But, alas! such is the old Adam in mankind that scandalous gambling often goes on around a chessboard. At festivals when nobles assemble, if two distinguished players match their skill, there is soon an excited, if decently silent, crowd around their table. Soon one spectator after another in whispers places wagers to support a contestant; the players themselves begin to57 bet on their own skill. ”

“ Great seigneurs and kings carry chessboards around with them on campaigns and are said to amuse themselves with chess problems immediately before or after desperate battles. Plenty of other anecdotes tell of short-tempered nobles who lost self-control when checkmated, broke the chessboards over their opponents' heads, and ended the contest in a regular brawl. ”

“ 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? ”

“ 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 ”

“ And finally, after doing this until someone asks you what you are looking cross-eyed for, if you will shut your eyes tight you will see an exact reproduction of the chess-board, done in pink and green, in your mind's eye. By this time, the players will be almost ready for another move.
This will make two moves that you have watched. It is now time to get a little fancy work into your game. About an hour will have already gone by and you should be so thoroughly grounded in the fundamentals of chess watching that you can proceed to the next step. ”

“ Strange clues to character appear around the friendly chess-board. There is the supposedly neutral observer of the game, who must murmur warnings or lament the ill-judged moves; without him, how would life and chess be simplified? There is the stout-hearted player who refuses to resign though his defeat is demonstrably certain, but continues to jog about the board, eluding actual capture; in life would he resign? There is the player who gives little shrieks at unexpected attacks ”

“ Thus, the sphere of influence of the two Kings overlaps at K6 and Q6 with the result that those two squares are neutral territory, forbidden to both by the fundamental laws of Chess, for the Kings must always have an interval of at least one square between them.
As the object of the game is to capture or checkmate the adversary's King, it is readily seen that he is of paramount importance, and that the moves of all the other Pieces and Pawns are made with reference to him.
The Queen's Move.
The Queen moves in any direction, like the King, but she is not restricted to
black. ”

“ But it is not merely in school that chess is played in Ströhbeck. Visit any local shop, and the shopman will lay aside his chess-board in order to attend to your wants and pick it up again the moment these are satisfied, to renew his attentions to some problem or continue an exciting game with his assistant. Even at the public-houses and places of refreshment chess-boards and chess-men are provided, and these are used by all and sundry. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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 ”

“ In the romances, however, the chess-board is sometimes spoken of as made of ormier, or elm. In fact, when the game of chess came into extensive use, it became necessary not only to make the chess-board and men of less expensive materials and smaller, but to give to the latter simple conventional forms, instead of making them elaborate sculptures. ”

“ A player putting his hand on a piece must play it. If he remove his hand, the move must be considered as completed.
10. Adversaries’ kings cannot stand next each other on adjoining squares.
11. Should a player play out of his turn, both his antagonists may play out of theirs, and they are allowed to ask each other which of them is desirous of moving first.
12. No piece may be removed from the board unless legally captured.
13. A pawn can only move one square at a time, and not two squares first move, as in Single Chess.
14. The game is only won when both partners are checkmated. ”

“ I made an attempt, though almost against my inclination, and after several efforts, having learned the moves, my progress was so rapid, that before the end of the first sitting I gave him the rook, which in the beginning he had given me. Nothing more was necessary; behold me fascinated with chess! I buy a board, with the rest of the apparatus, and shutting myself up in my chamber, pass whole days and nights in studying all the varieties of the game, being determined by playing alone, without end or relaxation, to drive them into my head, right or wrong. ”

“ We find the principal figures from the chess-board reproduced in the Tarots, and also in some of the Spanish and German packs. There is the [Pg 26] King, the Knight, or mounted horseman, and the Knave. The pawns or common soldiers are represented by numbers; but there is this difference between Cards and the game of Chess as it is generally played,—in the former there are four armies, or as we should call them “suits,” and each one is headed by the King instead of the two sides generally seen in Chess. ”

“ The student will remember that a gambit means the sacrifice of a Piece or Pawn for the sake of an advantage that is to be gained later by the first player. Each player, in turn, moves his KP to K4 and then the first player moves his KBP to KB4, where it is in a position to be captured by the adverse Pawn.
The student will note that in each of these openings, the first move of each player is identical, i.e., the KP to K4. This opening move clears the way for the King, the Queen, and the King's Bishop, if the player cares to develop them. ”

“ At Huttman's Coffee House, the habitués were gentlemen in quest of quietness; men of calm, reflect [Pg 39] ive turn, given to chit-chat in nooks and corners; smoking a genuine "Havana" over a cup of unquestionable "Mocha," and reading that everlasting refuge for an Englishman, "The Times." Just the atmosphere for a chess-board, and two or three were accordingly introduced. Now you can never get chess-boards into any establishment, without the fact becoming immediately known amongst amateurs. Mr. George Walker soon got wind of the arrangement, and forthwith reconnoitred the lines. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Every home has its chess-board at which Darby and Joan while away the winter evenings before the fire, or place it upon a table in the garden in summer-time. In fact, chess is familiar to every inhabitant from the time they leave the cradle. Every one talks chess and thinks chess.
Chess-boards are everywhere. You may rest your elbow on one while you sip your beer at an old-fashioned inn, which is itself called "The Chess-Board," and there, if your quiet and subdued manner makes you appear worthy of the honor, the landlord will show you the set of chess-men presented to the inhabitants in 1650. ”

“ For the normal advantage that attaches to the first move in a game of Chess is vastly enhanced by a peculiarity in the mathematical make-up of the surface of the Chess-board, whereby, he who makes the first move may secure to himself the advantage in mobility, and conversely may inflict upon the second player a corresponding disadvantage in mobility. ”

“ There is no visible communication between the Automaton chess-player and any human being. The lower part of the table, which is shaped like a chest on the side where it meets the eye of the spectators, is not large enough to admit a man, nor could any one so placed view the chess-board. ”

“ The most obvious solution of the nature and operation of the directing force may be drawn from the hypothesis, that a living subject is enclosed within the left or larger chamber of the chest, who guides the arm and hand of the Automaton when raised, either in this or that direction, according to the ever varying appearance of the game, which might be discerned through a transparent chess-board. ”

“ Except the theatre of actual Warfare, no spot known to man furnishes such facilities for the practice of combined strategy, tactics and logistics as does the surface of the Chess-board.
To those familiar with the Science of Strategetics, it needs no proof that ability to play a good game at Chess, indicates the possession of faculties common to all great military commanders.
At a certain point, the talent of Morphy for Chess-play and the talent of Napoleon for Warfare become merged ”

“ By comparing her strength with that of the other Pieces, the student will see that she is about double the value of a Rook, except in end-game positions when two Rooks co-operating could accomplish more than a Queen. An adverse Rook on the same rank or file as the Queen is very dangerous, no matter how many Pieces and Pawns may come between, and the player should guard against it by capturing the adverse Rook, if it can be done without sacrifice, or by moving the Queen into a safer position. ”