April 2, 188S.] 



KNOV/LEDGE 



143 



mail make one trick, and can make no more. The study of this 

 easy instance, well considered, will enable the player, with some 

 practice, to adapt it to more apparently intricate situations. The 

 following case?, which happen frequently, will further explain the 

 principles of the tenace: — Y is left with four cards and the lead, 

 viz., the second and fourth trump, and the ac3 and a small card of 

 a suit not played. Nine tramps are out. A, Y's left-hand adversary, 

 lias the first and third trump, king and a small one of the suit of 

 which Y leads the ace : what card should A play ? If A keeps his 

 king he cannot possibly win more than two tricks : he should, 

 therefore, play the king : for he thus brings it to an equal chance 

 whether he wins three tricks or two. By placing the cards you will 

 perceive, that if A's partner has a better card that Y's, Y cannot 

 make either of his trumps, which, had E retained the king, he must 

 have done. 



Y has three cards of a suit not played (the last remaining) viz , 

 king, queen, and ten ; A holds ace, knave, and another ; Y leads the 

 king ; if A wins it he gives up the tenace, and gets but one trick ; 

 whereas, if he does not, he makes his ace and knave by preserv- 

 ing it. 



A has ace, knave, and ten of a suit which his partner leads. If 

 he puts on the ace, and his partner has no honour in the suit, he 

 gives up the tenace, and can only win one. He should, therefore, 

 play the ten (particularly if the lead is forced) ; for by this he pro- 

 bably wins two tricks. 



It often happens that with only three cards remaining in his 

 hand, the leader has the worst trump, and ace, queen, or some 

 tenace of another suit. In this case he should lead the trump, to 

 put the lead into an adversary's hand. By these means he preserves 

 the tenace. This, though self-evident on proper consideration, is 

 what good players never think of. Tenace is easily kept against 

 your right-hand, but impossible, without great superiority of skill, 

 against your left-hand adversary. 



You should not only endeavour to preserve the tenace, an advan- 

 tage of position to yourself when it is evident that the winning 

 cards lie between you and an adversary, but jou should do all in 

 your power to give it to your partner, when you perceive that the 

 strength in any suit lies between him and your left-hand adversary. 

 In this case bear in mind that when the left-hand adversary or you 

 lead, the tenace is against the adversary, whereas, if your partner 

 has to lead, the tenace is in favour of your adversary. 



False Cabds. 



There is nothing more necessary to be explained to the beginner 

 than what is usually denominated " nnder-play," as it is a constant 

 engine in the hands of the experienced to use successfully against 

 the inexperienced player. 



As an illustration of under-play — You return the lowest of yonr 

 left-hand adversary's lead, though you have the highest in your 

 hand, with a view to your partner's making the third best, if he 

 has it, and still retaining the commanding card in your band. For 

 instance, if A, fourth player, has ace, king, and a small one of his 

 left-hand arlversary's lead, to under-p'.ay, he wins the trick with 

 the ace and returns the small one, which will generally succeed if 

 the leader has not the second and third in his own hand. You 

 will see by this [putting yourself in the position of the player on 

 whom this under-play is tried] that if you lead from a king and 

 others, and your right-hand adversary, after winning with a ten or 

 knave, returns it, you have no chance to make your king but by 

 putting it on [assuming that your right-hand adversary is under- 

 playing ; but even if he is not, his return of your lead would show 

 your king probably worthless, a? it would indicate shortness in the 

 suit, so that you cm lose little by playing the king]. 



The following is another situation for under-play : — A remains 

 with the first, third, and fourth cards of a suit, of which he has 

 reason to suppose his left-hand adversary has the second guarded; 

 it he leads the fourth, it is often passed, and A makes every trick in 

 the suit. [It is hardly necessary to say that the lead is not the 

 first in the suit.] 



[This play is usually right if you are strong in trumps; but if 

 you are weak, it is generally the best play to make your certain 

 tricks as fast as you can, for the adversaries are probably strong 

 in trumps, and therefore weak in some other suit, which probably 

 is your strong one. Even in this case, however, if you are well 

 protected in the other plain suits, the under-play indicated by 

 Mathews is good ; for, if successful, it gives you good forcing- 

 power in the suit, which will probably enable you to make the 

 balance of its strength. If you gain but one trick in this way by 

 a long card in the suit, it must be remembered that one trick made 

 by " play " in a hand signifies an important percentage of ad- 

 vantage. This is what weak players constantly overlook, not 

 recognising the effect of good strategy unless three or four long 

 cards in a suit are made against them. The sound player knows 

 that one trick made by play in each hand would give him marked 



advantage, while one trick lost in each hand by bad play would 

 signify crushing defeat in the long run. So great an advantage; 

 indeed, cannot be expected from even the best play against the 

 worst.] 



The term " ur.der-play " is now often, but incorrectly, used for all 

 cases where a false card is played — that is, a card higher or lower 

 than the one which would be played in accordance with normal 

 whist language. The cases above considered are instances of under- 

 play, except that in the detailed illustration of the first case the 

 ace is played fourth hand from ace king instead of king as usual : 

 this is "over-play," making the following "under-play" more 

 effective, since the original leader of the suit would be apt to place 

 the king anywhere but in your hand. What follows in regard to 

 false cards relates to " over-play." 



Though it is certainly more regular ti win your adversary's as 

 well as partner's lead with the lowest of a sequence, stiU I recom- 

 mend occasional deviations from that maxim ; as it is of the 

 greatest advantage to give your partner every information in his 

 suit or your own, so it is often well to deceive your adversaries in 

 their suits. It will now and then deceive your partner also ; but 

 if done with judgment, it is, I think, oftener attended with gocd 

 than bad effect. 



There are also other situations where it is highly necessary to 

 deceive the adversary. For instance, Z, last player, has a tierce- 

 major and a small trump ; a tierce-major with two others of a 

 second suit ; king, and a small one of a third ; with queen or knave, 

 and a small one of the fourth suit, of which his adversary leads the 

 ace. It is so very material for Z to get the lead before he is forced, 

 that he should without hesitation throw down the queen or knave 

 as the most likely method to induce his adversary to change his 

 lead. But this mode of play should be reserved for material 

 occasions, and not by its frequency give cause for its being 

 suspected. 



[This may be regarded as the earliest suggestion of the signal 

 for trumps. If the adversary should not change suit, Z's partner 

 on the faU of the small card would perceive that Z had played the 

 high card to avoid being forced, and if he himself took the second 

 trick would immediately lead trumps (his best, if short in trumps), 

 precisely as in response to the trump signal of to-day. This way of 

 indicating a wish for a trump lead belonged, however, to whist 

 strategy, and was not, like the modern signal, a merely conventional 

 arrangement, as little belonging to whist strategy as signalling by 

 coughing, sneezing, or kicking under the table would be.] 

 ( To he concluded.') 



(B\xx C&rSsJ Column. 



By " Mephisto.' 



K the following sprightly game some curious com- 

 j'lications arise which are not often seen in actual 

 play :— 



■WurrE. Black. 



Mr. E. D.-.le. Dr. J. W. Hont. 



Gambit Decli.sed. 



1. P to Kl 1. Plo K4 



2. Kt to QU3 2. Kt to QB3 

 ?,. P to Bl 3. B to Bi 



Experience has pronounced against this move in consequence of 

 unsatisfactory results following on its adoption in many important 

 match and tournament games. If Black does no* intend to accept 

 the Hampe Gambit, his best plan would be to play 2. KKt to B3 

 instead of 2QKt to B3. 



4. Kt to KB3 4. P to Q3 



5. B to B4 5. P to QR3 



To prevent the exchange of the active Bishop for the QKt by 

 Kt to QR4, which sometimes precedes this move. The second 

 player can hardly afford the time for such a passive move in this, 

 opening 



6. Q to K2 

 A lost move. 



e. B to KKtS 

 7 R to Bsq 

 A speculative move. If Black replies with 7. Kt to Q'i, then might 

 follows. BxP(ch),Kx B. ;>. Kt to Kt.i (ch) (a). K toKsq (best). 

 10. Q X B, Kt to KB3 (a). AVhite might, in this variation, give up 

 the piece by 9. Kt x KP (ch); in both cases White will obtain au 

 attacking position. 



7. PxP 



8. B to Kta 8. Kt to Q.T 



9. Q to B4 9. Kt X Kt (ch) 

 10. KxKt 



