terms, and as you are sure to derive both amusement and instruction from him, it is but fair that he should name the conditions. It will soon happen that you yourself will be able to give odds to many amateurs whom you meet; when this is the case, avoid, if possible, playing them even, or you are likely to acquire an indolent, neglectful habit of play, which it will be very difficult to throw off. When you cannot induce such players to accept odds, propose to play for a small stake; and they will soon be glad to take all the advantages you can offer. Be always careful, before beginning a game, that the men on both sides are properly arranged.

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. His slowness is a tacit compliment to your skill, and enables you to play with proportionate quickness, because while he is meditating on his next step you can take advantage of the time to consider what shall be your rejoinder; besides, it is absolutely necessary for every one desirous of excelling at chess to play slowly. Mr. Lewis aptly remarks, "It is no doubt desirable to play well and quickly, but I scarcely ever knew a very good player who was not also a slow one; and indeed, how can it well be otherwise? A fine player examines occasionally from five to twenty or more moves on each side: can this be done in a moment? It is easy enough to play quick against inferior play; but against equal and very good play one cannot play quick without losing."

Learn to play indifferently either with the white or black men. Do not play too many games at a sitting-and never suffer the loss of a game to occasion you much disquietude. Think of how many thousand games a Philidor must have lost before he attained his highest excellence; besides, the loss of one well-fought game with a fine practitioner will do more towards your improvement than the gain of ten light skirmishes with weaker players than yourself. Endeavour to

play all your Pieces equally well. Many young players have a predilection for a particular Piece, as the Knight or the Queen, and lose both time and position in trying to preven: exchanges of their favourite. In opening your game, endeavour to bring your superior officers into action speedily, but avoid all premature attacks. 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; but it will happen, that by exchanging a Rook for one of the latter you may greatly improve your game.

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 endeavour to exchange as often as you can consistently with safety.

When an exchange of two or more Pieces appears inevitable, look closely to see whether it is better for you to take first or to compel your opponent to do so. 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, that you cannot again be checked under three moves.

When you have lost a game which has cost you great atten. tion, it is a good practice to play it over afterwards in private, and endeavour to discover where the error occurred through which your opponent gained his first advantage. This custom will improve both your memory and your play.

Comparing small things with great ones, never forget that in chess, as in modern warfare, one of the most important

stratagems is the art of gaining time upon the enemy. In this respect, as indeed in many others, the broad principles which are laid down by the highest military authorities as the basis of operations in a campaign are applicable to the management of your forces on the chess field. From the Traité de Grand Tactique of General Jomini, we gather that the art of war, as exemplified by Buonaparte, consisted in the proper application of three combinations-first, the art of disposing the lines of operation in the most advantageous manner; secondly, in a skilful concentration of the forces with the greatest possible rapidity upon the most important point of the enemy's line of operations; and thirdly, that of combining the simultaneous employment of this accumulated force upon the position against which it is directed. No player of great skill can fail to see that we have here the key to the basis of offensive movements in the battle of chess. Nor, to carry on the parallel, are the principles which direct defensive operations on the grander field in any degree less capable of application. "It is an acknowledged principle," says another able writer on the subject, "that the base of a plan of attack should form the best possible line of defence; and this fundamental rule cannot be violated with impunity, since nothing is more embarrassing than a sudden transition from offensive to defensive operations, when false measures or an unfortunate turn of affairs may have overset the plans of an assault."

With every allowance for the amazing disparity in the importance of the individuals and the magnitude of the objects at stake, there is an analogy observable, too, in the abilities requisite for the command of armies and the perfectly first-rate manoeuvring of the mimic warriors of the chess-board. The commander of an army must possess not less a profound acquaintance with the general principles which regulate the conduct of a long and tedious campaign, than with those that are called into requisition in actual conflict. He must be able equally to arrange the plan of preliminary operations-to act at once and with decision in cases of the most pressing emergency, and on the occurrence of the most unforeseen events to judge of the importance of a position and of the strength of an intrenchment-to discover from the slightest indications the designs of the enemy, while his own are impenetrable--and at the same time to preside with unshaken

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self-possession over the tumult of the battle-field, and the raging fury of an assault. The qualifications of a really finished chess-player, however less in degree, are somewhat similar in kind. To a perfect mastery of the difficult art of selecting and occupying, with the utmost rapidity, a "good position," he must add a thorough knowledge of all the complicated varieties of stratagems and snares which he is called upon alternately to invent and to defeat. He must, in short, to some extent, display the same energies on the smaller scale which are so indispensable on the grander one.

Marshal Saxe, a great general, (and an enthusiastic lover of chess by the way) in his summary of the attributes required in a commander-in-chief, gives him genius, and courage, and health. The first of these qualities is unquestionably called for in the highest order of chess skill; and if by courage is implied, not so much mere physical bravery as entire self-possession, promptitude of decision, and undaunted perseverance; and by health is meant the preservation of a sound mind, to which a sound body is so important an adjunct, then indeed both courage and health will be found to exercise a powerful influence upon the success of the chess-player, as well as upon the fortunes of a Marlborough or a Wellington.

These comparisons might be extended to more minute particulars, but the general analogy observable may suffice to show you that great mental activity is called into requisition, and much attention and perseverance are necessary for the attainment of the highest excellence, even in the strategy of chess-playing.

CHAPTER VIII.

ON THE SEVERAL OPENINGS OR BEGINNINGS OF

GAMES.

BEFORE proceeding to the consideration of the various methods of commencing the game, it is advisable for you to recur to the preceding Chapters, 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 im portant feature in the game of chess-the art of opening the game.

There are several modes of beginning the game, but the following are the principal:

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1st. Each player begins by moving his King's Pawn to King's 4th square, and the first player then moves King's Knight to King's Bishop's 3rd square. This is called the King's Knight's opening.

2nd. Each player commences by moving his King's Pawn to King's 4th square, and then he who has the first move playe King's Bishop to Queen's Bishop's 4th square. This is known as the King's Bishop's opening.

3rd. Each player opens with King's Pawn to King's 4th square, and the first plays Queen's Bishop's Pawn to Bishop's 3rd square. This is termed the Queen's Bishop's Pawn's opening.

4th. Each player begins with King's Pawn to King's 4th square, and the first follows with King's Bishop's Pawn to Bishop's 4th square. This is called the King's gambit.

Of these four openings on the King's side there are many modifications, of which each has its appropriate appellation; there are also several openings began on the Queen's side, all of which will be duly treated of in the following pages; but the four above-named are those most generally practised, and with them you should be thoroughly conversant before advancing further.

CHAPTER IX.

PRELIMINARY GAME.

PREPARATORY to the investigation of the several openings treated of in the following Chapters, it may not be uninstructive to give a short game which shall exhibit the application of some technical phrases in use at chess, and at the same time show a few of the most prominent errors into which an inexperienced player is likely to fall.

In this game, as in all the analyses which follow, the reader will be supposed to play the White Pieces and to have the first move, although, as it has been before remarked, it is advisable