CHESS-CLUBS, AND CHESS-PLAYERS, BRITISH AN0 



FOREIGN. 



THE sports and games of different nations have frequently been 

 recorded by pains-taking compilers, with divers sage and profound 

 disquisitions as to their effect on national character. Perhaps they 

 ought to be considered, rather, as showing what that character is, 

 than as an operating cause in forming it ; but it is certain, that 

 national amusements vary in different degrees of civilization, and that 

 there could scarcely be a state of society in which gladiators and 

 operas would be equally popular. Our pastimes, therefore, are a sort 

 of criterion by which to judge of our progress in refinement; and he 

 must be brainless indeed, who does not admit chess to be one of the 

 best and most rational games ever invented, and of course, that its 

 general extension is matter of high congratulation. For the history 

 of the game and sundry anecdotes thereof some of them not over 

 probable if there be any one unacquainted with such lore, let him go 

 to the chronicles of the writers on chess j at present our intention is 

 to shew the high point to which the study of the game has been 

 raised, and the number and importance of the present generation of 

 chess-players. 



In the various cigar divans and coffee-houses throughout the 

 metropolis, many respectable players are to be met with ; there too, 

 one frequently sees an old fellow take up his regular position for the 

 evening in a padded arm chair by the fire-side, with the chess-board 

 laid out before him, ready, like the knights of old, to challenge all 

 comers. Night after night there he sits, in ludicrous relaxation, 

 smoking cigars, drinking coffee, and playing chess with indefatigable 

 zeal. Most of the literary institutions, as the London, the Russell, the 

 Western Scientific, &c. have dedicated a room to chess, which forms 

 no small attraction to many of the subscribers, and as they are in the 

 habit of continually meeting together, the number of tolerable players 

 is greatly on the increase. There are also several private clubs, the 

 members of which meet at each other's houses ; besides the club par 

 excellence, which is considered a paramount authority in all matters 

 connected with the science. 



The London club meets at Tom's Coffee-House, Cornhill; its 

 rooms are open every week-day, and the annual subscription is three 

 guineas ; the members commonly play for some trifling stake, seldom 

 more than a shilling or half-crown, and this practice, I think, is not 

 a bad one, as it makes beginners less eager to play with older hands, 

 or, if they should be so aspiring, the veteran tactician, though he can 

 gain no honour, is sure, at least, to pocket the siller for his trouble. 

 The rules of the London Club are very generally referred to ; they 

 are the same as prevail among all European nations, with two ex- 

 ceptions ; one is in the mode of castling. In Italy this movement is 

 allowed greater latitude than with us, and the difference in many open- 

 ings, particularly in some, the gambits, is very material ; it is generally 

 considered a superior method to our own, but I think it renders some 



