CHAMBERS'S INFORMATION FOR THE PEOPLE. 



used in chess, may be briefly described as 

 follows : 



A pawn, at his first move, may advance either 

 one or two squares straightforward ; but after 

 having once moved, he can only advance a single 

 square at a time. In capturing* an adverse piece, 

 however, a pawn moves one square diagonally 

 either right or left ; but the pawn never moves 

 backward. On arriving at an eighth square, or 

 the extreme line of the board, a pawn may be 

 exchanged for any piece his owner chooses to call 

 for ; so that a player may have several queens on 

 the board at once. If, on moving two squares, a 

 pawn pass by an adverse pawn which has arrived 

 at the fifth line, the advanced adverse pawn may 

 take the other in passing in exactly the same 

 manner as if the latter had moved but one 

 square. 



A bishop moves any number of squares diago- 

 nally, but diagonally only ; therefore a bishop can 



BLACK. 



Book. Knight. Biihop. 



Queen. King. 



WHITE. 

 Fig. I. 



never leave the colour of the square he is first 

 placed upon. 



A knight moves two squares at once, but so 

 as always to change the colour of his square 

 that is, he moves one square forward or backward, 

 and one diagonally. On account of this crooked 

 movement, he can leap over or between any 

 surrounding pieces ; and, as there is no covering 

 his attack, a knight's check unless he can be 

 taken always compels the king to move. 



The rook, or castle, moves over any number 

 of squares, forward, backward, or sidewise, but 

 in straight lines only. 



The queen is by far the most powerful of the 

 pieces, and moves over any number of squares, 

 either in straight lines or diagonals, forward, 

 backward, or sidewise ; so that her action is a 



* Taking is alU-ays performed by lifting the captured man from 

 the board, and placing the captor on his square. The pawn is the 

 only man whose mode of taking differs from his ordinary move. 



union of that of the rook and bishop. At starting, 

 the queen always stands on a square of her own 

 colour. 



The king is the most important piece on the 

 board, as the game depends upon his safety or 

 constraint. He moves only one square at once, 

 in any direction, except when he castles a term 

 to be explained presently. The king cannot be 

 taken ; but when any other piece attacks him, 

 he is said to be in check, and must either move 

 out of check or interpose some one of his subjects, 

 unless the checking adverse piece can be captured. 

 When there is no means of rescuing the king from 

 such check, he is said to be checkmated, and the 

 game is over. Of course, the two kings can never 

 meet, or occupy adjacent squares, as they would 

 be in check to each other. Double-check is when 

 a piece, by being moved, not only gives check 

 itself, but also discovers a previously masked 

 attack from another. 



Castling is a privilege allowed to the 

 king once in a game. The move is per- 

 formed either with the king's rook or 

 queen's rook in the former case, the 

 king is moved to the king's knight's 

 square, and the king's rook is placed on 

 the adjoining bishop's square : in the 

 latter case, the king is played to the 

 queen's bishop's square, and the queen's 

 rook is played to the queen's square. 

 But the king cannot castle after having 

 once moved, nor at a moment when he is 

 actually in check, nor with a rook that 

 has moved, nor when he passes over a 

 square attacked or checked by an adverse 

 piece, nor when any piece stands between 

 him and the rook with which he would 

 castle, nor when, in the act of castling, 

 either the king or rook would have to 

 capture an adverse piece. 



A drawn game results from neither 

 player being able to checkmate the other : 

 thus, a king left alone on each side must 

 of course produce a draw, as do also a 

 king with a bishop, or a knight, against a 

 king. If one player be left with force 

 enough to checkmate the other, but has 

 Knight. Boot not skill to accomplish the mate within 

 fifty moves on each side, the game is 

 drawn, by the laws of chess : as, for 

 instance, if the end of the game leave one 

 side with king, bishop, and knight, and the other 

 side with king only, the game might probably be 

 drawn between unskilful players. 



Stalemate, or the not being able to move either 

 the king or any other piece, also constitutes a 

 drawn game. 



Odds is a term applied to the advantage which 

 a stronger player should give to a weaker : thus, 

 the removal of a rook or knight from the better 

 player's forces may be fair odds ; or if the players 

 are more nearly matched, the one may give a 

 pawn. When the odds of a pawn are given, it is 



always understood to be the king's bishop's pawn. 



Gambit is a technical word implying the sacri- 

 fice of a pawn early in the game, for the purpose 

 of taking up an attacking position with the pieces. 



Supposing the worth of a pawn to be repre- 

 sented by unity, the following is a tolerable average 

 estimate of the comparative value of the pieces : 

 Pawn i, bishop 3, knight 3, king 4, rook 5, queen 



?e 



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