Sidebilder
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White to move, and mate in three moves. White to move, and mate in four moves

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THE GAME OF DRAUGHTS.

Draughts is a game that is very often underrated, because it is supposed that there is little or no play in it, and thus when a person is asked if he play draughts, his reply is not unusually, "No, it is such a stupid game; there's no play in it."

Whenever this remark is made to us, we challenge the person to a series of games, when, having beaten him some half-dozen in succession, we prove that there must be some play in the game, or such a result would be improbable. When playing chess, there are so many pieces, each having a different moving power and a relative value, that one oversight, caused probably by a momentary relaxation of memory, loses a game, whereas in draughts such a result is less probable, and the attention can be more completely devoted to some plot, through which the opponent does not see. As a rule, a good draughtplayer is a more acute person on every-day subjects than is a good chessplayer, and thus we strongly recommend draughts as a game likely to call into action very useful qualities.

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Draughts is played on the same board as is chess, the men, however, being placed entirely on squares of one colour.

There are twelve men on each side, arranged on the squares from 1 to 12 and from 21 and 32.

The two squares marked 1 and 5, and 32 and 28, are called the double corners, and these must always be on the right hand of the player, whilst the left-hand lowest square, 4 and 29, must always be on the left-hand side.

Having arranged the men, the first move is arranged between the players by lot.

The men move one square at a time; thus, the man on 22 can move either to 18 or 17; the man on 23 can move either to 19 or 18. The men can only

move forwards, not backwards, until they have succeeded in reaching the bottom row of the adversary's squares, when they are crowned by having a second man placed above them. They are then termed kings, and can move either forwards or backwards as desirable.

A man may take an opponent's man by leaping over him and taking up the vacant square beyond him, the piece taken being removed from the board.

A man may take two or three men at one move, provided he can leap over each in succession. To understand this, place a white man at 18, 11, and 25, and a black man at 29, all other pieces being removed from the board. The black man can move and take the three white men, as he can leap to 22, 15, and 8, thus taking the men on squares 18, 11, and 25. A king can take both backwards and forwards any number of men, as long as a square is open. Thus, place a white man on 25, 26, 27, 19, 10, 9, and 17. A black king at 29 could take all these men at once, for he could leap from 29 to 22, taking 25 man; to 31, taking 26; to 24, taking 27; to 15, taking 19; to 6, taking 10; to 3, taking 9; and to 22, taking 17, and taking all these in one move.

If a man take other men, and in the taking reach the bottom row, he cannot go on taking, as a king, until the adversary has moved.

Example.-Place a white man at 24, 7, 16, and 8, a black man at 28. The black man takes 24 by leaping to 19, takes 16 by leaping to 12, takes 8 by leaping to 3, and is there crowned; but cannot leap to 10, thus taking the man at 7, until the adversary has moved.

The game is won when all the adversary's men are either taken or blockaded so that they cannot move, and it is drawn when two kings or less remain able to move, in spite of the adversary.

LAWS.-The following are the established laws of the game, which should be learnt by every person who is desirous of becoming a draught-player.

RULES OF THE GAME OF DRAUGHTS,

The chief laws for regulating the game of draughts are as follows:

1. Each player takes the first move alternately, whether the last game be won or drawn.

2. Any action which prevents the adversary from having a full view of the men is not allowed.

3. The player who touches a man must play him.

In case of standing the huff, which means omitting to take a man when an opportunity for so doing occurred, the other party may either take the man, or insist upon his man, which has been so omitted by his adversary, being taken.

4. If either party, when it is his turn to move, hesitate above three minutes, the other may call upon him to play; and if, after that, he delay above five minutes longer, then he loses the game.

5. In the losing game, the player can insist upon his adversary taking all the men in case opportunities should present themselves for their being so taken.

7. To prevent unnecessary delay, if one colour have no pieces but two kings on the board, and the other no piece but one king, the latter can call upon the former to win the game in twenty moves; if he does not finish it within that number of moves, the game to be relinquished as drawn.

8. If there are three kings to two on the board, the subsequent moves are not to exceed forty.

ADVICE. The men should be kept as much as possible in a wedge form towards the centre of the board. Avoid moving a man on the side square, for when there he is deprived of half his power, being able to take in one direction only.

Consider well before you touch a man, for a man once touched must be moved.

Avoid the cowardly practice of moving a man, and then, when you discover by your adversary's move that you have committed an error, taking your move back. Stand the consequences though the game be lost, and next time you will be more careful. A game, even if won after replacing a man, is unsatisfactory, and not to be counted a victory, and often leads to disputes. The rules are made to avoid all argument and dispute, and the more closely, therefore, you obey these, the more harmonious will be your games.

Do not talk during a game, or whistle, or fidget by drumming with the fingers, or in any way act so as to annoy or worry an adversary. A game of draughts, though only a game, may be made a training process for much more important matters. A careless, thoughtless, or worrying draught-player will, undoubtedly, be the same character in worldly matters.

Never allow the loss of a game to cause you to lose your temper, for such a proceeding shows you to be more self-sufficient than intellectual. If beaten, it proves your adversary to be more experienced or quicker sighted than yourself, and you should, therefore, use all your faculties to discover how he beats

you.

As a rule, seek to play with a better player than yourself rather than with a worse, which is merely saying, "endeavour to improve your own game rather than to instruct a worse player."

When you lose a game, avoid all disparaging remarks, such as, “Oh, I should have won that if so-and-so had not occurred," &c. Your adversary who defeats you will think more highly of you if you say nothing, or merely acknowledge his greater skill.

If you find a person who defeats you easily, remember how much thought and time he must have devoted to the subject in order to obtain this advantage, and bear in mind that it is only by a similar process that you can gain like results.

GAMES.

Draughts is a game in which one is particularly called upon to estimate the skill and style of play of one's adversary. One person may very easily be drawn into a trap, where another more cautious could not be thus defeated. Again, a too cautious player may be defeated by a dashing move, whereas another opponent would win the game in consequence. We will now give one or two examples of games, calling attention to the points in each. The men are supposed to be arranged as before mentioned-white's men from 21 to 32, black's from 1 to 12; black moves first.

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Now, at this point of the game, if white were a very young or incautious

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