8. When the adversary is intent on bringing up a piece to the attack, prevent him if you can, by placing a pawn, or other piece, so that his piccc cannot be moved far ther, without being exposed to capture.
9. Never move till you have explored every part of the board, and the situation of every piccc ; for oversight is the greatest danger V011 have to dread.
The game of chess, being a miniature representation of a battle, has been a favourite amusement in all ages, with the greatest warriors and generals. The celebrated Tamerlane was a great chess-player, and made use of a board of a peculiar construction, having eleven squares in breadth, and twelve in height, so as to form altogether 132 houses. We read that he was engaged at chess during the decisive battle with Bajaza, in which that emperor was defeated and taken prisoner ; and at another time he was engaged at the same game, and in the very act of giving check-mate with a rook, when he was in formed, that a son had just been bole to him ; upon which, to commemorate so remarkable a circumstance, he resolved that his son should have the name of Schach rochk, or check by the rook. Dr Hyde quotes an .Ara bic history of the Saracens, in which it is said, that when Al Manion's forces were carrying on the siege of Bag dad with so much vigour, that it was on the point of be ing taken by assault, the besieged caliph, Al Amin, was engaged at chess with his freedman Kuthar. Being warned of his danger, he exclaimed, " Let me alone, for I see check-mate against Kuthar!" Modern history affords similar examples of the power of this game in engrossing the whole soul. John Frederic, Elector of Saxony, having been taken prisoner by the Emperor Charles V., was condemned to death. The decree was intimated to him while he was engaged at chess with Ernest of Brunswick, his fellow prisoner. After a short pause, and making some reflections on the irregularity and injustice of the emperor's proceedings, he turned to his antagonist, whom he challenged to finish the game. He played with his usual ingenuity and attention ; and having beat Ernest, expressed all the satisfaction that is commonly felt on gaining such victories. He was not, however, put to death, but set at liberty after five years confinement. We are told, that Charles I. of England was at chess, when news were brought of the resolution of the Scots to sell him to the English ; but so little was he disturbed by this alarming intelligence, that he con tinued his game with the utmost composure ; so that no one could have discovered that he had received informa tion of any thing remarkable.
In the Chronicle of the Moorish Kings of Granada, it is related, that, in 1396, Mehemed Balba, who had seized the crown in prejudice of his elder brother Juzaf, after a series of disasters, was killed by means of a poisoned vest. Finding his end at hand, he dispatched an officer to the prison of his brother, with orders to put him to death, lest his adherents should form any obstacle to the accession of his own son. The officer found the prince
playing at chess with an alsaqui, or priest. Juzaf begged hard for two hours respite, which was denied him. At last, with great reluctance, the officer per mitted him to finish the game ; but before it was closed, a messenger arrived with the news of the death of Me bellied, and the unanimous. election of Juzaf to the crown.
The game of Chess seems to have been known at a very early period in France, of which we have evidence in an account, given by Carte the historian, of a chess match between Henry I., before his accession to the throne of England, and Louis le Gros, son to Philip of France, which took place at Philip's court in 1087. Louis lost several games to Henry, and a considerable sum of money, by which he was so much irritated, that he threw the chess-men at Henry's head. Henry reta liated the affront by striking Louis with the board, so that he was laid bleeding on the floor; and Henry would have killed his antagonist, if his elder brother Robert had not interposed. John of Salisbury i elates of the same Louis le Gros, in his book Dc nugis ; that, in a battle between the French and English in 1117, an English knight seizing the bridle of the French monarch, and crying out to his comrades, " the king is token 1" Louis struck him to the ground with his sword, saying " ecais to pas qu' aux echecs, on ne prencl pas le rod There have been various attempts, among modern chess players, to improve, or at least to vary the game, which have, however, generally died with their inventors. Pietro Carrera, who wrote upon chess in 1617, invented two new pieces, one of which, called camnione, was plac ed between the king's knight and castle, and had the move of both these pieces : the other, named centaur, was placed between the queen's knight and castle, and had the move of the bishop and knight united. Francisco Piacenza, who styles himself a doctor of laws, proposed another plan of two additional pieces, called a centurion and deacrion, in 1683. The former, situated between the king and his bishop, unites the move of the knight with that of the queen and castle, for any two squares only : the latter, situated between the queen and her bishop, has the move of the bishop; but only for one square at a time. A still more complicated game of chess was in vented by the late Duke of Rutland, of which Sir Abra ham Janssen, an excellent chess-player, was extremely fond. The chess-board was 14 squares in breadth, and 10 in height ; and the pawns, of which there were 14 on a side, may move either one, two, or three squares the first time. The other pieces were the king, queen, two bishops, two knights, a crowned castle, uniting the move of the king and castle, and a common castle. On the other side of the king was a concubine, whose move unit ed that of the castle and knight, two bishops, a single knight, a crowned castle, and a common one. In this game, the pawns and knights lose much of their value, on account of the extent of the board.