20 



KNOWLEDGE 



[November 1, 1889. 



30. UP X P 



40. R X P 



41. R X R 



42. P X P 



Ulack. Whitk. Black. 



O. C. Mnller. F. .7. Lee. O. C. MnUer. 



P to Kt5 (m) I 43. Kt to Ksq (») P to R7 



RP X P I 44. Kt X P R X Kt 



R X R 4.5. 11 to Q7 ■ B to B4 



P to B(5 ! 46. P X P B X P (eh) 



P X P 47. K to Bsq K to Ktsq 



And Black won. 



XOTEl^. 



(a) A move of doubtful value. If White wants to advance on the 

 QVieen's side he should leave the Bishop on Bsq ; if, on the other 

 hand, he wants to attack on the King's side, then the B on its own 

 square would also be useful, or hi might play B to Kt,5 



(/)) White ought to have played P x BP, so as to provide against 

 the advance of Black's Pawns on the Queen's side, prepared by 

 Black's last move. 



(c) Black has gained very important time, and has brought his 

 Queen's Bishop which otherwise would have been lofked in, into 

 very useful activity. 



((/) White is, apparently, trying to prepare for an advance of his 

 King's Pawn, but when that is done the Queen's Pawn becomes 

 weak. 



(<•) The proper move, especially if he anticipates an advance in 

 the centre ; it makes the Queen more useful, and admits of QRto Qsq, 

 if requisite. 



( /') Black wants to force an exchange to block the centre, being 

 content to rely on the superiority of the position of his Pawns on the 

 Queen's side, for the End-game. We should have adopted a different 

 course. 



((■/) The only effect of this move is to strengthen Black's position, 

 for by playing P to Kt 3 he cuts off the possibility of an advance of 

 the White Knight, and also prepares to place his King's Bishop into a 

 more useful position by KR to Ksq, B to Bsq and B to Kt2, if neces- 

 sary. White had a ranch better move in IG. Kt to B5, threatening 

 17. Kt X PK X Kt IS. Q to Kt4 recovering the piece. If in reply to 

 llj. Kt to Bo Black plays P to Kt3, he may either fix liis Knight on 

 RG, or perh.aps, better still, play 17. P to QBS. 



(A) White has evidently lost hold of his game from an early stage ; 

 his moves are aimless. 



(i) When there are two Pawns to 3 on the Queen's side, the Pawns 

 are weaker if one is advanced to QR3. 



(J) How that poor Queen has to suffer for the one indiscreet six- 

 teenth move. She is now sorely pressed, and has none too many 

 places to hide her guilty head out of sight of the vengeful Bishop's 

 having evil designs of capturing her. Black is certainly handling his 

 forces in an admirable manner. 



(/•) It was a mistake to exchange Queens here, because Black's 

 position improves thereby on the Queen's side. He will soon force a 

 ]»assed Pawn. 



(/) This Bishop has been absolutely useless to White all the game 

 through. 



(»i) An ingenious move. Black is now reaping the advantage of 

 his superiority of position on the Queen's side, which he had been 

 consistently playing for from the very beginning of the game. 



(n) He cannot stop the Pawn otherwise, for if 43. R to Qsq. P to 

 B7, 44. R to Bsq, B to R6 wins. 



TEACHING CHESS. 

 A Chess instructor now-a-days has rather a difficult task to perform. 

 If he is of the modBrn school, he is brimful of new theories of the 

 Openings (so he thinks), and he is overburdened — hackneyed with 

 stereotyped notions of chessy wisdom, which he calls general prin- 

 ciples. He has observed either in his own experience, or that of 

 other players, that defence is easier than attack, that it pays wonder- 

 fully well to play a featureless and restrained game, and that it is 

 unprofitable to venture on Gambits and the hke. New discoveries in 

 the Openings prove (to him) most of the formerly practise 1 lines of 

 play to be unsafe. For, be it noted, your modern analyst only makes 

 negative discoveries — he never originates anything. In fact, if he be 

 a conscientious teacher, he should say to his pupils : My defensive 

 philosophy consists in never risking anything, and principally in try- 

 ing not to lose the game rather than trying to win it, and if he were 

 to speak his mind freely, ho would tell you that there are really but 

 two reliable Openings, the Ruy Lopez (that "sheet anchor of dull 

 mediocrity"), and the Irregular game. He knows o! many eminent 

 players who have won (small tournaments) high honours (never the 

 highest), and who never play anything else, but either or both of 

 these Openings. He admires the soundness of these masters (whom I 

 may be pardoned in comparing to " penny automatics" — the machine 

 on being set in motion plays 1. Kt to KB3, or 1 . P to Q4 with inanimate 

 uniformity). Well now, if a teacher modernised to that extent 

 essays to teach a tyro how to play the noble game, he is placed in a 

 position of extreme difficulty. If he is a man of wisdom he will 



endeavour to fascinate and cultivate Tyro's imagination — for the tyro 

 wants to play chess — leaving the practice of his defensive philosophy, 

 his surfeit of modern theories and principles to those disciples of the 

 new cult, who neither love and practise chess as amateurs, nor care 

 for, nor honour it, as a profession, but who have made a trade of 

 playing in tournaments, and to whom therefore, not losing a half a 

 point, by not incurring even a particle of risk, is of more importance 

 than playing chess. But if he be foolish enough to say to the be- 

 ginner that there is no salvation to be found except in the Ruy Lopez 

 or Irregular, and that the acme of wisdom is to play for position 

 only — i.e. apply the principles of Draughts to Chess, and that the 

 grand result of all correct play is a drawn game, then he will prob- 

 ably do nothing else but excite a di.stasto for Chess in the minds of 

 his pupils, most of whom cannot understand him, and would not 

 assimilate his teachings. Moreover, he would be advocating unre- 

 liable, if not false doctrines ; for his teaching, his new style of play, is 

 only the reflex action of an imagination naturally deficient, or weakened 

 in nature's course, and his theories only hold good and produce their 

 effect against inferior attack ; they would fail to make any impression 

 on play conducted on the same basis, and would be dispelled like 

 chaff before the wind when opposed to imaginative play of the 

 highest order. 



" Whitehaven" asks our opinion of "the feasibility or otherwise of 

 a transposition from the Vienna Opening to the Centre Opening 

 (Paulsen's attack). Thus — 



1. P to K4 



2. Kt to QB3 



3. P to Q4 



4. Q X P 



5. Q to K3 



1. P to K4 



2. Kt to KB3 



3. P X P 



4. Kt to B3 



It appears to me that Black may with advantage refuse to play 3. 

 P X P, and instead pin the Knight with 3. B to Kto. [Quite right, 

 I. G.] If there be no other way of avoiding the transpositi n, it 

 would appear to strengthen the claims of the Centre Opening.'' 



Not at all, for ap.art from Black's third move his position is the 

 same as in the normal game, arrived at as follows : — 



1. P to K4 



2. P to Q4 



3. Q X P 



4. Q to K3 



5. QKt to B3 



1 . P to K4 



2. P X P 



3. QKt to B3 



4. Kt to B3 



We have now the same position as before. Black may play B to 

 Kt.T, and he will obtain a good development. The usual course, by 

 proper play in this Opening, is not to play P to Q3, but, after B to 

 Kto, Black should endeavour to Castle, play his Rook to Ksq, and 

 play P to Q4, when he will have a good game, somewhat in the fol- 

 lowing order: — 



5. 



0. B to Q2 



8. P to B3 



5. B to Kt.T 



6. Castles 



7. R to Ksq 



8. P to Q4, &c. 



Contents of No. 48. 



PAGE 



The Dragon-tree of Tenerife. 

 By R. Camper Day 237 



The Common Cockroach. ^III. 

 By E. A. Butler 239 



Sketches in Evolution. By 

 John Watson 241 



The Economics of the Fog. By 

 Richard Be>'non 2J3 



The Moon as Seen in the Lick 

 Telescope. By A. C. Ban- 

 yard 244 



Letters:— S. W. Bnrnham, W. 



H. Pickering, R. Chartres, A. 



•J. Field 240 



Dogs and Bears, in the Present 



and the Past. By R. Lydekker, 



B.A. (Cantab) 249 



On Some Printers' Pranks. By 



the late R. A. Proctor 251 



The Face ol the Skv for Octol)er. 



Bv Herbert Sadler. F.R. AS. . . 253 

 Whist Column. By W. Mimtagu 



Gattie 254 



Chess Column. By I. Gunsberg 255 



TEBMS OF SrnSCTlTPTloX. 



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