what situations the King and Pawn win against the King alone. With a Rook's Pawn you cannot win, if your opponent is able to move his King into the corner to which the Pawn is advancing. Not to encumber you with instructions, we will suppose the White King to advance in front of his Rook's Pawn, and the Black King to make towards the corner square. If the Black can, by any means, get into the corner, the White must defend his Pawn or lose it-and the game is drawn. But even without attaining that position, the single King can draw the game by stalemate. Take the Pawn, however, on the next square : White. K. at K. B. 6th P. at K. Kt. 6th Black. K. at K. Kt. sq. Now if White plays first he wins; if Black begins, the game is drawn: e. g. 1 Pawn advances 2 K. to B.'s 7th 4 P. queens, and wins 1 K. to K. R.'s 2nd Black begins: : Black. 1 K. to B.'s square White. 1 P. checks If the White King now moves to Knight's sixth square, Black draws by stalemate. If White moves elsewhere he loses the Pawn, and draws the game. Therefore, in this position, it would seem that the single King cannot be beaten. It is always important to gain the opposition; that is, to play your King opposite to your opponent's King. Thus, suppose, instead of giving check on the seventh square, the White King had moved, then he might win if his opponent made one false move. With the Pawn on Bishop's sixth, and the King in front or beside him, you must win against a single King, wherever the latter may be placed, because he cannot prevent your going to Queen. And so, also, of the King or Queen's file. The following may be taken as an unquestionable axiom in Chess: When the player of a Pawn (other than the Rook's Pawn) is able to move his King in front of his Pawn on the sixth square, he must win, whether he have the move or not. It is scarcely necessary to illustrate this. Let the student place the Pieces, and exemplify the fact for himself. But take one other position. White. K. at K. B.'s 4th P. at K.'s 3rd move. Black. K. at K. B.'s 3rd The winning of this game depends on the first If the White begins, the game is drawn, as the Pawn cannot advance to the eighth square without either being taken or giving stalemate; but if the Black begins, the White is able to keep the opposition, and Queen his Pawn. Thus: Black. 1 K. to his 3 sq. 2 K. to B. 3 3 K. to B. 4 4 K. to B. 3 5 K. to B. 2 White. And Black cannot be prevented from queening his Pawn and winning. Two Pawns against One ought to win; but many instances of drawn games occur in play, in consequence of the player with the superior force neglecting to keep the opposition. Let the young player study Herr Szen's famous proposition. POSITION OF THE PIECES. White. K. on his Q.'s sq. The player who moves Black. K. on his own sq. first wins by force. Let my readers try this before they seek a solution. 39 CHAPTER IV. OPENINGS OF GAMES. The various modes of attack and defence in the openings of games are known by their several names, as the King's Knight's opening, the King's Bishop's opening, the King's Gambit, the Queen's Gambit, and irregular openings. Each of these are again subdivided. For instance, in the King's Gambit we have the Cunningham, the Salvio, the Cochrane, the Muzio, the Allgaier, King's Bishop's, and King's Knight's Gambits, besides the King's Rook's Pawn, and one or two less practised openings. Let us for the present consider THE KING'S GAMBIT. I have already explained that the word Gambit is derived from an Italian term used in wrestling, where one player gives his opponent a temporary advantage, in order the more successfully to trip him up. Thus the sacrifice of a Pawn at the second or third move is termed the Gambit. The King's Gambit proper, or King's Knight's Gambit, is thus brought about. The first player moves Pawn to King's fourth square; his opponent answers by the like move, when the second move of the first player is Pawn to King's Bishop's fourth. The taking of the Pawn constituted the Gambit. If, instead of taking the Pawn, the second player advances, the game is then known as the "Gambit refused." The regular defence to the King's Gambit is as follows: White. 1 P. to K. 4 2 P. to K. B. 4 3 K. Kt. to B. 3 Black. 1 P. to K. 4 2 P. takes P. 3 P. to K. Kt. 4 This last move of the Black is generally allowed to be the best he can adopt, or he may play P. to Q. 4, when White answers by taking the Pawn; or he may play 4 P. takes P. 5 P. to Q. 4 6 Q. B. takes P. 3 P. to K. B. 4 And from this point the game is considered even. Or the player may castle at his fifth move in place of the above, which still leaves the game even. This opening leaves all the game before each player. In order to exemplify this opening-in which the first player offers his Pawn at the second move-I subjoin a short game ILLUSTRATIVE OF THE KING'S GAMBIT. |