in full how it found its way into India, and at what period they abridged it there, so that all men may know that the people of India are not the inventors of Chess, for they have not in them sufficient knowledge and wisdom to have done so, and they never had. I will also present you with the best modes of opening the game, for therein consists the very root and foundation of good play; and I will instruct you how to conduct your game after it is opened, and I will lay before you a great variety of the most rare and ingenious stratagems, whereby you may be enabled either to win or draw in situations which to the uninitiated might appear desperate. I will also instruct you as to the exact value of the pieces, without knowing which you cannot be a player. I will tell you, too, the various grades of odds which people give and receive; and I will unfold unto you the nature of such situations as lead to a drawn game, which may occur towards the end of a combat; and I will point out to you what piece or pieces draw against certain other pieces, so that you may not uselessly prolong the contest in such circumstances. Finally I will show you how to move a Knight from any individual square on the board, so that he may cover each of the remaining squares in as many moves and finally rest on that square whence he started. I will also show how the same thing may be done by limiting yourself only to one half, or even to one quarter1 of the board.”Here the preface abruptly terminates, the following leaf being lost. - In conclusion, I have to express my regret that I have been unable to avail myself of two very valuable Arabic 1 I question much whether the problem be possible when limited to one quarter of the board. I have repeatedly tried it, and got on well enough till I reached the fifteenth square, but then I could never get that fifteenth within a Knight's move of the square from which I started. I am not aware that it has ever been done in Europe; and we are deprived of the oriental writer's solution, (supposing that he fulfilled his promise), in consequence of the loss of by far the greatest portion of his work. MSS. on Chess' belonging to John Lee, Esq., LL.D., of Doctors Commons, London, and of Hartwell in Buckinghamshire. Some four years ago, on looking through the Doctor's valuable collection at Hartwell House, we could nowhere find the works in question. At last it was remembered that they had been some years previously lent and not as yet returned. 2 As a preliminary step to the "Theory and Practice" of the Shatranj in our next two chapters, it may be well to lay before the reader, as a specimen of Oriental play, the two following problems in which most of the peculiarities of the game may be seen. For this purpose we have selected, in the first place, the most ancient problem on record, the composition of Mu'tasim Billāh who was Caliph of Bagdad, and reigned from A.D. 833 to A.D. 842. He was the third son and third successor of the far famed Harun al-Rashid, so well known to the readers of the "Arabian Nights." The mode of play differs from ours simply in this. The Queen in the Shatranj commands, attacks, or may be moved merely to the four squares next to her on the diagonal, and consequently of her own colour. The Bishop commands, attacks and can be moved to the four squares next to him but one on the diagonal. He has no influence whatever over the square next to him; but his power extends through or over any piece or pawn placed on that square, as will be more fully explained in our next chapter. 1 A few days ago, while this sheet was in the printer's hands, I once more wrote to Dr. Lee respecting the MSS., and he informed me that they are not yet returned. I am afraid that, owing to certain unfortunate circumstances, which I need not here mention, there will be some difficulty in recovering them. There is, however, a bare possibility that I may have the use of them before we print off the "Appendix." 2 Harun al Rashid, his three sons, and his grandson, were all enthusiastic lovers of Chess. Not only were they devotedly fond of the game, but, at the same time, they were the liberal and munificent patrons of talented chess-players, as well as of all men, no matter of what country or creed, who distinguished themselves in arts, sciences, or literature. Of this more in our twelfth chapter. White to move, and to give checkmate at the ninth move. 1 Should black B take R with his Bishop, which he can do by vaulting over his own Knight, Black King will be mated in two moves by the White Knights. The rest of the moves, after Black's second, are all forced. 2 It will be observed that the Bishop does not command the square next to him. 3 Here we see at once the Bishop's power of moving and attacking; he checks the adverse King through or over his own Rook. 4 A square not commanded by the adverse Queen. 5 Here the Rook is secure from the adverse Bishop; it at once checks the adverse King and defends the Queen. A square which the adverse Queen cannot touch. 7 Protected by his own Bishop, and secure from the adverse B. 8 Black King cannot move towards his own side of the board on account of adverse Queen; nor can he move towards White's side on account of King and Pawn. We shall conclude this chapter with one of the eighteen problems given in the Royal Asiatic Society's MS. as those by Khwaja 'Ali Shatranji. It will be found in fol. 11в, and is said to have occurred to 'Ali when playing against an opponent to whom he had given the odds of the Queen's Rook. The position is quite simple and natural. 'Ali had the White, and we see that already he has gained two Pawns of his opponent. There must have been a good deal of manoeuvring with the Knights and Rook on the part of 'Ali so as to have brought the game to this state. It is now White's move, and we see that his Rook can take the Black Queen at once, for the Black Bishop does not command the square she is on-but checkmate is of course far preferable; for Khwaja 'Ali appears to have been one of those fastidious players who, when a good move presented itself, looked out for, and not unfrequently found, a much better move; a mode of play which, we humbly submit, is not altogether unworthy of the reader's imitation. Of Khwaja 'Ali Shatranji I shall have occasion to speak more in a future chapter. In the mean time I may here state what is said of him by the author of the Habību-lSiyar a well known Persian history. "Khwaja 'Ali, of Tabriz, surnamed Shatranji, was an expounder of the Word of God (i.e. the Kurān), and an authority on all matters relating to traditions. In the science of Chess his knowledge was so profound that both the high and the low of his time unanimously proclaimed him their master. He played without seeing the board as well as if he were looking over it. He was in high favour with Tīmūr, at whose court he passed much of his time, and with whom he frequently played." 2. Rook to his King's7th checking.1 2. King to his Bishop's 5th (best)? 3. Rook to King's 4th checking. 6. Bishop takes K. B. pawn. 3. King to Knight's 4th.3 4. King to his Rook's 4th. 5. King's B pawn one square (best). 6. King to his Rook's fifth square. 7. Black plays anything he can. 1 His Bishop's fourth square is commanded by White Bishop. 2 Should he move to his Queen's fifth square, vide Variation A. He cannot go to his Bishop's fourth which is commanded by White Bishop notwithstanding the intervention of the Rook. 4 If he did not move this pawn, the Queen would check next move at King's Knight's fourth square; and next move King's Knight's pawn would mate. He may, instead, check with King's Knight's pawn, and mate with Queen next move |