CHESS. Chess is a game of strategy con sisting • of regularly developed attack and de fense with a definite objective toward which all operations are directed and to which they are subordinated. It may aspire to the dignity of both an art and a science. It cultivates both memory and reason and what may be called °geometrical sense') and at the same time is one of the most fascinating recreations. Steinitz, Zuckertort and Blackburne, noted masters of the game, have developed such intellectual powers, in play, that they have not infrequently engaged successfully in as many as 14 games simulta neously, without looking at the board. With 32 men on each board at the opening, and 64 squares on each board to cover, this is surely remarkable.
Chess is a very ancient game, probably long antedating any extant records. Although the first authentic literature on chess came from the Arabs and Hebrews, in Granada, about the 11th century, it is quite clear that it was already widespread among Mohammedan nations. It is probable that it originated in China, and passed into India, where it was known as °Char tarungai and was played by four persons, and that from India it spread to Persia about the beginning of the 7th century of our era. It was then adopted by the Arab conquerors of that country and introduced into Europe.
The accompanying engraving shows the pieces, which are manufactured in variously modified forms in position at the opening of play, and the hoard upon which the game is The board is divided into 64 squares, and the opposing forces occupy the limits of these squares.
The four squares counting from the b'ng's square to the right are called the Icing's side, and the four squares from the queen to the left, the queen's side of board. The squares counting from the white to the black are called files, and in a direction perpendicular to the files, rows. For purposes of description, eacir square on the board is designated in two ways, in accordance with its relation to the position of the black or white rear men, as originally set in the preceding diagidoi. Each file is
named after the rear row piece standing thereon. The rows are numbered consecutively across the board. If white plays, the position of the white piece is designated by naming the file on which it stands, while the row is Lum bered from the white side; similarly, if black plays, the row is numbered from the black side.
The rear men are named as indicated in the diagram and are known as pieces. The front row men are called pawns. Where there are two pieces of the same name, they are dis tinguished as king's or queen's pieces, through out the game, in accordance with their greater nearness to the king or queen, as originally set.
In notation the abbreviations are as follows: King K.
King's bishop g sen's bishop King's knight K. Kt. n 's s knight R.
K rook and was K R.
The movements of the pawns and pieces are as follows: Each pawn moves straight for ward one square at a time. On its first move, however, it may, at the option of the player, advance two squares, if there is no piece in the way. It cannot take an opposing piece directly in front. It captures an opposing piece only when it is one square diagonally to the right or the left. The captured piece is then removed from the board, and the capturing pawn placed on the square. All other chess men capture an opposing piece by stopping on the square it occupies, as they move. Should a pawn, in moving two squares, pass the diagonal of an opponent's pawn, the opponent may "take it in passing) by moving on to the square it crossed, Should a pawn succeed in reaching the eighth row, the player may replace it by any piece he desires.
The rook may move in a Straight line up or down the file, or row, any number of squares at the option of the player unless obstructed by his own or an opposing man. If the obstruc tion is by an opposing man it may be captured or not, as the player wills.