CHESS CHESTER. 



177 



Indian roe A, or roth. With the old Germans, the 

 pawns, now called peasants, were styled Wenden 

 (Vandals), a tribe despised by the Germans. Don 

 John of Austria had a room, the floor of* which was 

 made like a chess board. On this he played with 

 living persons. 



The peasants of a German village, Stropke, or 

 Strobeck, near Halberstadt, for about 300 years, have 

 been distinguished as chess-players. The reason for 

 this is doubtful. The most probable opinion is, that 

 a certain bishop, who lived among them, made them 

 acquainted with this game, and freed them from se- 

 veral taxes, on condition that they would continue to 

 practise it. Numerous anecdotes show how much 

 the game of chess can absorb the mind. The elector 

 of Saxony, John Frederic, was taken prisoner in the 

 battle of Muhlberg, by the emperor Charles V., 

 and was playing at chess with his fellow prisoner, 

 Ernest of Brunswick, when it was intimated to him 

 that the emperor had sentenced him to death. He 

 paused for a moment, to remark on the irregularity 

 of the proceeding, and immediately resumed the 

 game, which he won, and expressed, in a lively man- 

 ner, the pleasure which he derived from his victory. 

 Charles XII. of Sweden played at chess when he 

 was so closely besieged in the house near Bender, by 

 the Turks. Al Amin, caliph of Bagdad, would not 

 be disturbed in chess-playing when his city was car- 

 ried by assault. Frederic the Great loved chess 

 much. Napoleon did not play it particularly well. 



Among the most famous players and writers on the 

 game are, a duke of Brunswick, named Augustus, 

 who, in the 17th century, published, under the name 

 of Selenus, an Introduction to the game (1616, 4to), 

 now very rare ; Philidor, a Frenchman, who was par- 

 ticularly distinguished in London, in 1780 90 ; 

 Gioacchino Greco, celebrated hi the beginning of the 

 seventeenth century ; and the Arabian Philip Stam- 

 ina in Paris, 1737. Caxton's " Game and Playe of 

 the Chesse," printed in 1474, is generally admitted 

 to be the first typographical work executed in Eng- 

 land. Anastasia, a German novel by Heynse, con- 

 tains many ingenious ideas on chess-playing, and se- 

 veral fine games. Some very curious manuscripts, 

 relating to this game, in the Chinese, Sanscrit, Per- 

 sian, and Arabiclanguages, have been partially trans- 

 lated ; and the presses of Europe have teemed with 

 similar productions, the most noted of which are 

 enumerated by Mr Lewis, in the preface to his edition 

 of Saratt on Chess, 1822. 



Laws of the game. 1. If the board, or pieces, be 

 improperly placed, the mistake cannot be rectified 

 after four moves on each side are played. 2. When 

 a player has touched a piece, he must move it, unless 

 it was only to replace it ; when he must say, 

 J'adoube, or I replace. 3. When a player has quitted 

 a piece, he cannot recall the move. 4. If a player 

 touch one of his adversary's pieces without saying 

 J'adoube, he may be compelled to take it, or, if it 

 cannot be taken, to move his king. 5. When a pawn 

 is moved two steps, it may be taken by any adver- 

 sary's pawn, which it passes, and the capturing pawn 

 must be placed hi that square over which the other 

 leaps. 6. The king cannot castle if he has before 

 moved, if he is in check, if in castling he passes a 

 check, or if the rook has moved. 7. Whenever a 

 player checks his adversary's king, he must say Check, 

 otherwise the adversary need not notice the check. 

 If the player should, on the next move, attack the 

 queen, or any other piece, and then say Check, his 

 adversary may replace his last move, and defend his 

 king. 8. When a pawn reaches the first row of the 

 adversary's side, it may be made a queen, or any other 

 piece the player chooses. 9. If a folse move is made, 

 and is not discovered until the next move is complet- 



ed, it cannot be recalled. 10. The king cannot be 

 moved into check, nor within one square of the ad- 

 verse king, nor can any player move a piece or pawn 

 that leaves his king in check. 



Chess Clubs ; societies for the purpose of playing 

 chess, and assembling the best players of a place. 

 They flourish most in France and Britain, but there 

 are many hi Germany. They often challenge each 

 other, and the game is carried on by letter. 



CHEST (called, hi anatomical language, the 

 thorax) is the cavity of the body between the neck 

 and the belly. The external parts of the thorax are 

 the skin, the breasts, various muscles, and the bones 

 which form the frame of the cavity. These are the 

 sternum, running from the neck down the middle of 

 the breast, and the ribs, which are inserted hi the 

 spine, and arched towards the sternum, with which 

 they are firmly connected by means of a cartilage. 

 The parts within the cavity of the thorax are the 

 pleura and its productions, the lungs, heart, thyrnus 

 gland, oesophagus, thoracic duct, arch of the aorta, 

 part of the vena cava, the vena azygos, the eighth 

 pair of nerves, and part of the great intercostal 

 nerve. 



CHESTER, or CHESHIRE; a county palatine of 

 England, bounded by the rivers Mersey and Tame, 

 which separate it from Lancasliire, on the east by the 

 counties of Derby and Stafford, on the south by 

 Shropshire and Flintshire, and on the west by Den- 

 bighshire, Flintshire, and the estuary of the Dee. Its 

 form is oval, with two projecting necks of land, the 

 one called the Wirral, about twenty miles hi length, 

 and six hi breadth, extending into the Irish sea, be- 

 tween the estuaries of the Dee and the Mersey, and 

 the other forming part of Macclesfield hundrec^ ex- 

 tending fifteen miles hi length, and about four hi 

 breadth, between Derbyshire and Yorkshire. Under 

 the ancient Britons, it formed part of the territories 

 of the Cornavii, and it constituted a part of the pro- 

 vince of Flavia Cassariensis of the Romans. The dairy 

 is the principal object of attention with the Cheshire 

 faimer, and this county has for ages been celebrated 

 for its cheese, of which from eleven to twelve thou- 

 sand tons are made annually. Salt and coal are 

 abundant hi this county. There are also mines of 

 copper, lead, and cobalt. The principal salt-works 

 are at Nantwich, Middlewich, Winsford, and North- 

 wich. The rivers which water this county, for the 

 most part, direct their currents northward, and dis- 

 charge themselves into the Mersey and the Dee. 

 Population of the county hi 1831, 334,410. 



CHESTER (anciently Devd) ; a city and county 

 hi itself, situated on the Dee,about twenty miles from 

 the Irish sea, 145 N. Bristol, 181 N. W. London. It 

 is a bishop's see. The city is square, and surrounded 

 by a wall nearly two miles in circumference. It con- 

 tains a cathedral, nine parish churches, a Roman 

 Catholic chapel, and eight places of worship, for 

 dissenters of different persuasions. The streets are 

 hollowed out of a rock to the depth of one story be- 

 neath the level of the ground on each side ; and the 

 houses have a sort of covered portico running on from 

 house to house, and from street to street, level with 

 the ground behind, but one story above the street hi 

 front. The castle is a noble modern structure, built 

 on the site of the old castle, and contains the county 

 courts and jail. Chester has two yearly fairs, the most 

 considerable hi the north of England, held on the 

 fifth of July and tenth of Oct., each lasting several 

 days. Chester may be deemed a sort of provincial 

 metropolis for the gentry of the neighbouring coun- 

 ties, of moderate fortune. Its maritime trade is chiefly 

 coasting, and with Ireland, whence great quantities 

 of linen are imported for the fairs. Besides linen, 

 wood, hides, tallow, feathers, butter, provisions, and 



