LESSON I. The names of the pieces-How to set up the men-Names of the squares on the Chess-board-Exercises. THE game of chess is played by two persons upon a chequered board of sixty-four squares. Each player is furnished with eight pieces, namely, King, Queen, two Rooks, two Knights, and two Bishops; and eight Pawns. The pieces and pawns of the two players are distinguished by being of opposite colours, and will be represented in the course of these lessons as follows: The king and queen are supported each by three officers and four soldiers; but before you inquire into the powers of the various members of this little army you must become acquainted with the field of battle, and learn how to marshal your forces in proper order. The chess-board must be so placed, that each player's right-hand corner square may be white. The only reason for this is, to establish a universal rule whereby to set up the pieces. Indeed, it is not necessary that one half of the squares of the chess board be of a different colour to the other half; but that the arrangement greatly facilitates the play. Remember that the rows of squares running upwards are called files, while those from left to right are termed ranks; the oblique rows of squares, either white or black, are called diagonals. We will now set up the men in the proper order for commencing the game. Your right-hand corner square is white, place a rook on it, and remember that this piece being on the king's side is called the king's rook, and the square on which it stands the king's rook's square. Next to this place a knight, then a bishop, and on the fourth square from the right the king must be placed. You thus see that the king's officers stand on his right on their respective squares; the king's knight on the king's knight's square, and the king's bishop on the king's bishop's square. On the square next to the king place the queen, and observe that she will occupy a white square, while the queen of your antagonist will stand on a black square. Beginners are frequently at a loss to remember the squares occupied by the two royal pieces; but if you bear in mind the simple law that the queen stands on her own colour you cannot err. One consequence of this arrangement is, that your queen is to the left of your king; but if you turn round the board in order to play the black pieces your queen will then be to the right of your king. This circumstance is very puzzling to beginners who study from books, in which advice is generally given to the player of the white pieces; for when they have to play the black men they get confused. This is why we have advised you to accustom yourself to the use of either colour; besides it is very likely that two persons who agree to play may have an equal liking for white, but as one of the two must have black, you see how necessary it is to make it a matter of indifference which colour you use. Good players always draw lots for colour. But we must finish setting up our pieces. A bishop attends the queen on her left hand; then comes a knight, and on the left corner square stands the queen's rook. Eight pawns stand immediately in front of the pieces, and have the following names, beginning from the right. King's rook's pawn Queen's pawn Queen's bishop's pawn Queen's knight's pawn Queen' rook's pawn. When you have finished setting up your pieces, compare the state of your board with the following arrangement, which shows the proper position of all the pieces and pawns on both sides at the commencement of the game. The rank which the pieces occupy is sometimes called the royal line, and the eight squares which compose it are called by the names of the pieces occupying them at the commencement of the game: such as king's square, i.e., the square whereon the king is first placed, and the square retains this name, throughout the whole of the game, whether the king occupies it or not. The same remark applies to all the other squares of the royal line. The files are also named according to the pieces occupying the first square in each file. Thus king's rook's square is the first of the king's rook's file: king's rook's pawn occupies the king's rook's second square. King's rook's third, fourth, fifth, and sixth squares are unoccupied; king's rook's seventh is your adversary's king's rook's second square, and is occupied by his king's rook's pawn. Your king's rook's eighth square is your adversary's king's rook's square, where that piece is now at home, as it is sometimes called when the piece has not been moved, or having been moved, is played back to its square. Thus, all the files are named, and this easy method gives a name to every one of the sixty-four squares, and is equally available for your antagonist as well as for yourself. We will now give you a few exercises on the names of the squares and the pieces. Remove all your white pawns from the board, and all your adversary's pieces, and then : 1. Place your king's bishop on your king's rook's third square. But as we shall hereafter have to give you many directions for playing a piece from one square to another, it will be desirable to write our instructions in the shortest possible manner; we shall, therefore, use that kind of chess notation which is now very common and very convenient. The exercise just given would be intelligible to any chess player if simply written thus:— K. B. to K. R. 3rd. 2. Play your queen to her eighth square: Q. to Q. 8th, or Q. to adv. Q., i.e., queen to adversary's queen's square. 3. Play your queen's knight to your queen's bishop's third square: Q. Kt. to Q. B. 3rd. 4. Play your king to his bishop's second square: K. to K. B. 2nd. 5. Place your king's bishop on your queen's rook's sixth square: K. B. to Q. R. 6th. 6. Place your queen on the king's knight's fourth square: Q. to K. Kt. 4th. We will now finish our first lesson. Although you do not yet know the moves of the pieces, yet you are quite competent to perform the exercises given above. LESSON II. THE MOVES. Its You must now learn the moves of the pieces and pawns; for which purpose, place your board in the proper position, which, you know, is with a white square at your righthand corner, and then place the king's rook on its square, the rest of the board being unoccupied. The move of the rook is always in straight lines, parallel with the sides of the board. In its present position this piece can be played to your adversary's king's rook's square, which square, you know, is the same as your K. R. 8th, or it may be played to your Q. R. square, from thence to Q. R. 8th square, thence to K. R. 8th, and so home again, thus taking four moves to go along all four sides of the board. The rook may also take a short as well as a long move. shortest move is one square forwards or backwards, or one square to the right, or one square to the left. In its present position it can neither move backwards nor to the right, because it is at home; and so also the queen's rook, when at home, can neither move backwards nor to the left: but place either rook on any but a rook's file, and you will find that it can move in three different directions: place K. R. on K. square, and you will find that it commands four squares to the left, three squares to the right, and all the seven squares in the king's file. Still in this position the rook cannot move backwards. But place K. R. on Q. 4th square, and you will find that it can now move backwards, but although it can move in four different directions, it does not command a larger number of squares than before. Remember that a piece is said to command a certain number of squares only when they are unoccupied. If, for example, your K. R. pawn be at K. R. 2nd square, the rook has no power whatever in a forward direction, but only to the left, where it commands seven squares; but if we place the K. Kt. at its square, the K. R. has no power whatever to move, and commands nothing. Remember also that a piece does not command or defend the square on which it actually stands, but only those squares to which it can be moved. Your board being again unoccupied, place the king's bishop and the queen's bishop on their respective squares. The move of the bishop is always diagonal or oblique. Your king's bishop being on a white square, must always remain on that colour, because it cannot by any oblique |