The Chess-Player's Text Book/Chapter 2

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CHAPTER II.

As a general rule, the King can move only one step in any direction, at a time, but he has the privilege, under certain restrictions, once in the game, of moving in conjunction with either of the Rooks two squares off. This compound movement is called Castling, and is performed thus :—The player wishing to Castle on his King's side, moves his King to K. Kt.'s sq., and his K.'s R. to K. B's sq.

BEFORE CASTLING ON KING'S SIDE.
AFTER CASTLING ON KING'S SIDE.

If he Castle on the Q.'s side then he plays the King to Q. B.'s sq., and the Q.'s Rook to Q.'s sq.

BEFORE CASTLING ON QUEEN'S SIDE.
AFTER CASTLING ON QUEEN'S SIDE.

The restrictions to this operation are :—

1st. The King must not be in check.

2nd. The King must not have moved.

3rd. The Rook he Castles with must not have moved.

​4th. The King must not pass over or on to any square attacked by an enemy ; and

5th. There must be no Piece either of his own or his adversary's between the King and the Rook he Castles with.^[1]

When the King is attacked by any Piece or Pawn he is said to be in check; for it being a fundamental principle of the game that the King can never be taken, whenever any direct attack is made upon him, the player must be warned of his danger by the cry of check, whereupon he is compelled to do one of three things : viz., to remove his King out of check or parry the danger by interposing a man between his King and the attacking Piece, or capture the checking man.

When he can do none of these three things he is Check-mated, and the game is won by the other side.

If the King is directly attacked by the enemy, it is called a simple check ; when the Piece or Pawn moved does not itself attack the King, but unmasks another which does, it is called a discovered check; and when both the Piece played, and the one unmasked, attack the King, they are said to give double check. There is also a fourth description of check, known as perpetual check, which arises when a player has two or more squares on which he can check the adverse King, and his opponent can only parry one check by affording an opportunity of another. If the checking player choose to persist in a repetition of those particular checks, the game must be abandoned as drawn.

When a player has his King so circumstanced that, not being at the moment in check, he cannot move him without ​putting him in check, and at the same time has no other Piece or Pawn to move instead, he is said to Stale-mated, and the game must be relinquished as a drawn battle.

In addition to the instances just cited, where the game is drawn by perpetual check or stale-mate, a drawn game may arise from neither party having sufficient force left to effect a Check-mate, as a King and a Kt. only, or a King and two Knights, &c. The game is considered drawn, too, when one party, having sufficient force left, is ignorant of the proper way to apply it, and fails to Check-mate his helpless opponent within the fifty moves prescribed by the 22nd law. It is drawn also where both parties persist in repeating the same move from fear of each other, or where they are left at the end with an equal force, as a King and Queen against a King and Queen, or a King and Pook against a King and Pook ; when, except in peculiar cases, the game is resigned as null.

A Check-mate which is occasionally given by the Kt. when the adverse King is hemmed in or stifled by his own forces.

The simplest and speediest of all Check-mates, being effected in two moves, ex. gr.:—

WHITE.	BLACK.
1. P. to K. Kt.'s 4th	1. P. to K.'s 4th
2. P. to K. B.'s 4th	2. Q. to K.R.'s 5th. Check-mate

Is a Check-mate occasionally given at the outset of a game to an inexperienced player, thus :—

WHITE.	BLACK.
1. P. to K.'s 4th	1. P. to K.'s 4th
2. K. B. to Q. B.'s 4th	2. K. B. to Q. B.'s 4th
3. Q to K. R.'s 5th	3. P. to Q.'s 3rd
4. Q. takes K. B.'s P. Check-mate.

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Is derived from an Italian phrase in wrestling, and signifies a feint by which the adversary is tripped up. In Chess it is used to designate those openings in which a Pawn is sacrificed at the beginning, for the purpose of leading the enemy into difficulties. The most important Gambit, and one which includes several others, is called the King's Gambit, begun as follows :—

WHITE.	BLACK.
1. P. to K.'s 4th	1. P. to K.'s 4th
2. P. to K. B.'s 4th	2. P. takes P.

The Pawn thus offered for capture by White is called the Gambit Pawn, and when it is taken by the adversary the opening becomes a Gambit.

An instructive modification of the King's Kt.'s game, beginning thus :—

WHITE.	BLACK.
1. P. to K.'s 4th	1. P. to K.'s 4th
2. K. Kt. to B.'s 3rd	2. Q. Kt. to B.'s 3rd
3. K. B. to Q. B.'s 4th	3. K. B. to Q. B.'s 4th

Is the privilege which a Pawn has of taking an adverse Pawn which passes it. by making two steps on the first move.^[2]

When a player has managed to advance a Pawn to the the eighth or extreme square of a file, it assumes the rank and power of a Queen, or any other officer he thinks best ; and this called Queening a Pawn. (See the 21st law.)

A Pawn which cannot be obstructed in its march by any adverse Pawn, is said to be a Passed Pawn. ​

When two or more Pawns belonging to the same player are on the same file, the foremost one is termed a Doubled Pawn.

A Pawn which stands alone, without support and protection from his brother Pawns, is called an Isolated Pawn.

Is a peculiar game, in which one party undertakes to place a cap or ring on one of his Pawns, and to check-mate his adversary with that identical Pawn.

When a Piece or Pawn is in a situation to be taken by the enemy, it is said to be en prise.

Where a player has one legal move only at his command, it is called a forced move.

An illegal move, such as playing a Rook diagonally, a Bishop like a Knight, or Castling when the King is in check, or after he has been moved, is termed a false move.

If a player contrive to gain a Rook for a Bishop or a Knight, he is said to have won the exchange.

The Bishop and Knight, in contra-distinction to the Queen and Rook, are described as minor pieces.

A player is said to gain the Opposition when he has so manoeuvred his King as to compel the adverse King to retreat or abandon the advantageous squares.

Derived from the French word partie. and occasionally used instead of "game."

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When the King is checked, or any valuable Piece attacked, the man placed between to ward off danger is said to be interposed.

An old French expression, signifying "I adjust," or "I replace," used by a player when he touches a man merely to rectify its position, without intending to play it. (See law 7th.)

The row of squares running from right to left are called ranks, while those which run from player to player are termed files.

When a player takes command of an unoccupied file of squares by planting his Queen or a Rook at one end of it, it is customary to say that he seized the open file.