62 



♦ KNOWLEDGS 



[Jan. 26, 1883. 



(y) If R takes P. 46. R to R7 (cli), R to RG. 47. R takes R, 

 K takes R. 48. K to Kt sq, and wins. 



(s) Black obvionslv cannot take the Pawn, on account of R to 

 R7 (ch). ■ 



DOUBLE FIRST PRIZE PROBLEM IN CHESS MONTULY 



TOURNAMEXT. 



By a. Cyeil Peaeson. 



Black. 



,..,„.': ■^^''f-'' „„.„,, '^***^*^„;}K«' ^^^'^^^ //, ^^ 



White to play and mate in fonr moves. 

 Key move QKt to Kt5. 



ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS. 



*«* Please address Chess Editor. 



John Lonsdale. — A problem may begin with a check. The solutions 

 )f such problems are. of conrse, thereby rendered more obvions. 

 There is no objection to moving the King as first move ; some very 

 fine problems have been composed on that line. 



Francis J. Drake. — Solutions correct. 



Herbert Jacobs. — Problem received with thanks. 



Clarence. — Our own fault, not printer's. Cows' tails and mathe- 

 matics out of our line. 



X. X. X. — We draw the line at three moves ; cannot see it. 



Correct solutions received. — Problem No. 67, East Harden. Nos. 

 1)8 and 69, East Harden, W. Rees. No. 71, Clarence, John Lous- 

 rlale, John, John Simpson, H. V. T., R.J. P., W., Borrow, John 

 Watson. 



Correction. — We regret to say Problem No. 70 admits of two 

 solutions, by Kt to Kt3 (ch) or Kt to Q3 (ch.) 



<Bur WBf)i&t Column* 



By " Five op Clubs." 



CONDUCT OF THE HAND. 

 {Continued from page 29.) 



SIMILAR considerations lead to what is called underplay, which 

 is usually adopted in order to gain command of a suit. For 

 instance, if after one round of a suit has been played, you know that 

 the second best card of the suit is held by your adversary on the left, 

 while you hold best and fourth best, then, when trumps are out, 

 or if the suit be trumps, you do well to lead a small card of the 

 suit. Secondhand will hold up the second best, believing the king- 

 card to be on his left, and your partner, if he has it, will win with 

 the third best. Yon then have the command, probably the full com- 

 mand, of the snit. 



Another form of underplay, and one which is of such frequent 

 occurrence as to require special notice, is the holding up of the 

 winning card at the second round of a suit. In plain suits this is 

 not usually advisable, unless either trumps are out or there is a good 

 prospect of quickly getting them out. But in trumps or in plain 

 suits after trumps are out, it is often well to let the second trick 

 pass, that with the third trick you may get in. Not only is it 

 much more important, as a rule, to win the third than the second 

 ronnd of a suit, but by holding up the winning card you may give 



your partner a chance of making the third Ijest. Thus, say that 

 in the first round of your strong snit. Hearts, there have 

 fallen, Seven (your lead). Queen, Ace, Five, and you remain with 

 King, Nine, Si.x, Four. The suit is changed, and pre- 

 sently trumps are exhausted. Later your right-hand ad- 

 versary leads Three of Hearts, though your strength. Jt 

 you now play the King, the tlnrd ronnd will moat jiro- 

 bably go to the enemy; for your partner certainly has not 

 the Knave. But if you play the four there is a chance that you 

 may find third hand weak, and that your partner may take with 

 the Ten. If this docs not happen, and third hand wins, whether 

 with Ten or Queen, the probability is that in the third ronnd, won 

 by your King, the other card above your Nine will fall, in which 

 case you make two more tricks in the suit. 



So it is often well when you hold the best, third best, and small 

 cards of j-our suit after one ronnd has been played, on return of the 

 suit by your partner, to play the third best, even with the certain 

 knowledge that second best lies to your left. When next the suit 

 is led, your King card is likely to draw the remaining cards, when 

 your small ones win ; whereas, if you take the trick with your best, 

 the third ronnd falls to your left-hand adversary, and you have no 

 use for your small cards. 



Cavendish gives another case. Ten tricks have been played, 

 and each player remains with three cards of the same suit, as yet 

 not opened (one card discarded somewhere). Suppose now second 

 player jiuts on the Queen, and you, as third player, hold the Ace. 

 It is practically certain that second player holds King also. If, 

 then, you win with the Ace, you have to lead up to King guarded, 

 and probably both tricks will be against you. Btit if you play a 

 small card the second player wins, and has to lead from King 

 guarded. He leads the small one ; you pass it, and your partner 

 may make, your Ace winning the last trick. In one case the 

 chances are that you lose two tricks, and win but one ; in the other 

 they favour your winning two and losing one only. In any case the 

 Ace makes. 



Again, suppose you hold the long trump, and either a long suit 

 or a stiit which is nearly established, but not quite, the king-card 

 of which is in your hands. If the adversaries lead this suit, yon do 

 well to let them take a trick or two in it till it is established ; then, 

 if they lead it again, you come in, and your small cards in the suit 

 win. If they turn to another suit, your long trump brings you in, 

 the winning card of the long suit is led, and the remaining cards 

 falling, your small cards in the suit win. 



We have now to consider the important points — leading trumps, 

 and the play of trumps generally. It is here that science is chiefly 

 shown in Whist, as we see from the saying of Cavendish, that his 

 invention of the signal took away half the advantage he had derived 

 from his scientific knowledge of the game. Yet we may doubt 

 whether, after all, good players have not gained as much from the 

 rash use which half-taught players make of the signal as they have 

 lost from the invention of a system by which the attentive player 

 learns at once when his partner urgently wants trumps led. 



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