Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 5.djvu/605

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Diagram 3. bishops standing originally on differently coloured squares can never meet. The knights have a mode of moving which it is not easy to describe. Their range is not unlimited, like that of the pieces just noticed, but is restricted in a particular way. They move from one corner of any rectangle of three squares by two to the opposite corner ; thus, in diagram 3, the white knight can move to the square occupied by the black one and vice versa. To illustrate the move further, suppose that in diagram 2 a knight stands on the square marked K4 counting from the white side of the board ; that knight can move to any of the following squares, viz., to K B 2, Q 2, K Kt 3, Q B 3, K Kt 5, Q B 5, K B 6, and Q 6. The squares which the knight appears to pass over in moving may be occu pied by other pieces, but his move has no thing whatever to do with those intervening squares. A knight may thus vault over anypisce or pawn, whether adverse or friendly; the knights are the only pieces which possess this privi lege. It will be perceived that the locus of the knight, unlike that of the bishop, changes colour at every move. The king, queen, rooks, and bishops may capture any foeman which stands anywhere within their respective ranges ; and the knights can capture the adverse men which stand upon the squares to which they can leap. A capture is effected by the piece which takes occupying the square of the piece which is taken, the latter being then removed from the board. The king cannot capture any man which is protected by another man. The motions and capturing powers of the pawns are as follows : Each pawn for his first move may advance either one or two squares straight forward, but afterwards one square only, and this whether upon starting he exercised his privilege of moving two squares or not. A pawn can never move backwards. He can only capture diagonally, that is to say, if any adverse piece or pawn stand upon the first diagonal square, either to right or left, such adverse piece or pawn can be captured and removed from the board, the captor taking its place, but a pawu cannot take any man standing directly in front of it. In other words, a pawn moves straight forward except when he captures, in which case he moves diagonally, and for capturing purposes he can only, even for his first move, advance one square. When a pawn arrives at an eighth square, viz., at the extreme limit of the board, he may be promoted, that is to say, he may, at the option of his owner, become a queen, rook, bishop, or knight ; and it matters not how many queens or other pieces a player may have on the board at one time. CHECK AND CHECKMATE. The king can never be captured, but when any piece or pawn attacks him, he is said to be " in check," and the fact of his being so attacked should be announced by the adverse player saying " check," whereupon the king must move from the square he occupies, or be screened from the check by the interposition of one of his own men, or the attacking piece must be captured. If, however, the king, being thus in check, cannot move to another square without being still in check, and there is no piece or pawn which can be interposed, and the checking piece or pawn cannot be taken, then it is " checkmate," whereupon the game terminates, the player whose king has been thus checkmated being the loser. The position of the king when in check being the same as that of any piece when exposed to be captured, with the only difference that the king cannot be taken, it follows that the pawn gives check just in the same way that he captures, viz., diagonally. One king cannot give check to the other, nor can a king be moved into check. 593 STALEMATE. When the king is not in check, but his owner has no move left save such as would place the king in check, this is " stalemate," and the game is drawn. CASTLING. This is a peculiar move permitted to the king once in the game ; it is performed in combination with either the king s rook or the queen s rook, and in either case by the king being moved two squares laterally, while the rook is placed on the other side of him. But the king cannot castle after having been moved, nor with a rook that has moved, nor when any piece either white or black stands between him and the rook, nor if he is in check, nor when he has to cross over a square commanded by an adverse piece or pawn ; the rook can, however, move from or cross over such a square. It will be perceived that after castling with the king s rook the latter will occupy the K B square, while the king stands on the K Kt square, and if with the queen s rook, the latter will occupy the queen s square while the king stands on the Q B square. This move will easily be understood with the aid of dia gram 2. TAKING EN PASSANT. This is a privilege possessed by any of the pawns under the following circumstances : If a pawn, say of the white colour, stands upon a fifth square, say upon K 5 counting from the white side, and a black pawn in the supposed case moves to Q 4 or K B 4 counting from the black side, the white pawn can take the black pawn " en passant." For the purposes of such capture the latter is dealt with as though he had only moved to Q 3 or K B 3, and the white pawn taking him diagonally then occupies the square the captured pawn would have reached had he moved but one square. DRAWN GAME. This arises from a stalemate (noticed above), or from either player not having sufficient force wherewith to effect checkmate, as when there are only two kings left on the board, or king and bishop against king, or king and one or even two knights against king. The same consequence follows from either player being able to give perpetual check to the adverse king. There are also cases in which one of the players can call upon the other to give checkmate in fifty n-oves, the result of failure being that the game is drawn. The right to make this requisi tion arises in various positions, to explain all of which would take up much space ; it is sufficient to say that when neither side has any pawns left on the board the player with the inferior force may make the fifty moves call OTHER CHESS TERMS. A "minor piece" means either a knight or bishop. "Gaining the exchange" signifies giving a minor piece in exchange for a rook. A " passed pawn " is one that has no adverse pawn either in front or on either of the adjoining files. It may be as well to explain that a " file " is simply a line of squares extending vertically from one end of the board to the other. There are therefore eight files, and they are respectively named after the pieces which occupy the first squares on either side, as, e.g., the " king s file," which extends from one king to the other, and so forth. An " open file " is one on which no piece or pawn of either colour is standing. " Gambit " is a word derived from the Italian gambetto, a tripping up of the heels ; it is a term used to signify an opening in which a pawn is sacrificed to obtain an attack. An " opening/ or " debut," is a certain set method of com mencing the game ; there are regular and irregular openings. A " check by discovery " is given when a player, by moving one of his pieces, checks with another of them. " Double check," as its name implies, means attacking the king at once with two pieces, one of the pieces in this case giving check by discovery. VALU.E OF THE PIECES. The relative worth of the chess men cannot be definitely stated on account of the increase or decrease of their powers according to the position of the

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