CHESS PRACTICE.

BY H. E. BIRD.

LONDON:

PRINTED BY GILBERT AND RIVINGTON, LIMITED,

ST. JOHN'S SQUARE.

CHESS PRACTICE:

BEING

A CONDENSED AND SIMPLIFIED RECORD

OF

THE ACTUAL OPENINGS IN THE FINEST GAMES PLAYED
UP TO THE PRESENT TIME, INCLUDING THE WHOLE

OF THE BEAUTIFUL SPECIMENS CONTAINED

IN "CHESS MASTERPIECES."

COMPRISING THOSE OF

Anderssen, Bird, Blackburne, Boden, Buckle, Cochrane,
Kolisch, Labourdonnais, Lowenthal, Macdonnell,
Morphy, Staunton, Steinitz,

Zukertort,

AND THIRTY-FIVE OTHERS.

BIBLIOTHECA

WITH

MAY 1882

BODLEIANA

TABULATED INDE X,

Arranged and classified so as to admit of a ready comparison of each line
of play and its result, rendering an acquirement of the knowledge of the
game much more easy.

By H. E. BIRD,

Amateur Chess Champion; Winner of First Prize in New York Clipper Tournament, 1877;
Lowenthal First Class Tournament, 1879; City of London Handicap Tournament, 1879;
Amsterdam Tournament, 1830; Prize Winner, Philadelphia, New York, Montreal, and Paris;
Winner of Amateur Championship Match, 1873, and the best score on record against
Steinitz, the present Champion of the World (vide Adjourned Match, 1867: STEINIŤZ, 8;
BIRD, 7; Drawn, 7).

London:

SAMPSON LOW, MARSTON, SEARLE, & RIVINGTON,
CROWN BUILDINGS, 188, FLEET STREET, E.C.

ADDRESS TO SUBSCRIBERS.

CHESS, regarded as an amusement only, is admittedly a very innocent and pleasing one, yet but a comparatively small portion of the community are fully aware of the enjoyment, and even at times, solace and comfort it affords. As a recreation for the working classes, it is reasonable to assume that it would be highly welcome, and it appears desirable, therefore, to place a knowledge of the various most approved methods of commencing and conducting the opening of the game within their reach in as simple, condensed, and cheap a form as possible.

It is unnecessary here to urge at any length the arguments which can be adduced in favour of Chess. The Press has, within the past month, fully directed attention to its advantages-harmless, quiet, peaceable, temperate, appeasing, and last not least in importance to the humbler or poorer classes, inexpensive; it requires only to be known to be appreciated.

The work now submitted, with its tables, will, I am encouraged to hope, be more easily and quickly comprehended and mastered than a more elaborate work. With many who can only spare a leisure hour to the practice or study of Chess time is, so to speak, the essence of the contract; besides, the present work will have the advantage of being one-fifth the price of those hitherto issued.

INTRODUCTION.

THE little work now submitted was undertaken in deference to suggestions from some of the gentlemen who favoured me by subscribing to my compilation of "Chess Masterpieces," and who subsequently desired to have an additional Index which should specify each form of Opening under a distinct heading, with variations consecutively arranged in such an order as would admit of a convenient mode of comparing the line of play adopted in each game, and the degree of success which attended it.

In framing the above, it appeared useful to extend the original idea by giving a certain number of the opening moves adopted on each side (ten being the figure selected). The result gives a practical and valuable, and at the same time condensed and compact, contribution to the literature of Chess Openings.

The fact that it contains the moves selected in practice by the greatest players on the most memorable occasions will cause it to be studied with attention by the prudent Chess aspirant and admirer. It will possibly be regarded by the learner as the most valuable and the safest guide for him. It may spare him the perplexity attendant upon wading through the diversified opinions of the various authors of books on the Chess Openings, the weakest and least original of whom are usually the most pretentious in their authority.

The collection of games contained in my work, "Chess Masterpieces," is admittedly the finest extant. No contest