When you have finished setting up your pieces, compare the state of your board with the following arrangement, which shows the proper position of all the pieces and Pavns on both sides at the commencement of the game. BLACK. WHITE. The rank which the pieces occupy is sometimes called the royal line, and the eight squares which compose it are called by the names of the pieces occupying them at the commencement of the game; such as King's square, i. e. the square whereon the King is first placed, and the square retains this name, throughout the whole of the game, whether the King occupies it or not. The same remark applies to all the other squares of the royal line. The files are also named according to the pieces occupying the first square in each file. Thus King's Rook's square is the first of the King's Rook's file; King's Rook's Pawn occu pies the King's Rook's second square. King's Rook's third, fourth, fifth, and sixth squares are unoccupied ; King's Rook's seventh is your adversary's King's Rook's second square, and is occupied by his King's Rook's Pawn. Your King's Rook': eighth square is your adversary's King's Rook's square, where that piece is now at home, as it is sometimes called when the piece has not been moved, or having been moved, is played back to its square. Thus, all the files are named, and this easy method give a name to every one of the sixty-four squares, and is equally available for your antagonist as well as for yourself. We will now give you a few exercises on the names of the squares and the pieces. Remove all your white Pawn from the board, and all your adversary's pieces, and then : 1. Place your King's Bishop on your King's Rook's thir square. But as we shall hereafter have to give you many direc tions for playing a piece from one square to another, it wil be desirable to write our instructions in the shortest possible manner; we shall, therefore, use that kind of Chess notation which is now very common and very convenient. The exercise just given would be intelligible to any Chess-player if simply written thus:-K. B. to K. R. 3d. 2. Play your Queen to her eighth square. Q. to adv. Q., i. e. Queen to adversary's Queen's square. 3. Play your Queen's Knight to your Queen's Bishop's third square. Q. Kt. to Q. B. 3d. 4. Play your King to his Bishop's second square. K. to K. B. 2d. 5. Place your King's Bishop on your Queen's Rook's sixth square. K. B. to Q. R. 6th. 6. Place your Queen on the King's Knight's fourth Q. to K. Kt. 4th. square. We will now finish our first lesson. Although you do not yet know the moves of the pieces, yet you are quite competent to perform the exercises given above. LESSON II. THE MOVES. You must now learn the moves of the pieces and Pawns ; for which purpose, place your board in the proper position, which, you know, is with a white square at your right hand corner, and then place the King's Rook on its square, the rest of the board being unoccupied. The move of the Rook is always in straight lines, parallel with the sides of the board. In its present position this piece can be played to your adversary's King's Rook's square, which square, you know, is the same as your K. R. 8th, or it may be played to your Q. R. square, from thence to Q. R. 8th square, thence to K. R. 8th, and so home again, thus taking four moves to go along all four sides of the board. The Rook may also take a short as well as a long move. Its shortest move is one square forward or backward, or one square to the right, or one square to the left. In its present position it can neither move backward nor to the right, be cause it is at home; and so also the Queen's Rook, when at home, can neither move backward nor to the left; but place either Rook on any but a Rook's file, and you will find that it can move in three different directions: place K. R. on K. square and you will find that it commands four squares to the left, three squares to the right, and all the seven squares in the King's file. Still in this position the Rook cannot move backward. But place K. R. on Q. 4th square, and you will find that it can now move backward, but although it can move in four different directions, it does not command a larger number of squares than before. Remember that a piece is said to command a certain number of squares, only when they are unoccupied. If, for example, your King's Rook's Pawn be at K. R. 2d square, the Rook has no power whatever in a forward direction, but only to the left, where it commands seven squares; but if we place the K. Kt. at its square, the K. R. has no power whatever to move, and commands nothing. Remember also that a piece does not command or defend the square on which it actually stands, but only those squares to which it can be moved. Your board being again unoccupied, place the King's Bishop and the Queen's Bishop on their respective squares. The move of the Bishop is always diagonal or oblique. Your King's Bishop being on a white square, must always remain on that colour, because it cannot by any oblique move pass to a black square. The Queen's Bishop is on a black square, and remains on that colour during the whole of the game. Play your K. B. to K. R. 3d, thence to your Q. B. 8th, thence to your Q. R. 6th, and thence home again. So also play your Q. B. to Q. R. 3d, thence to your adversary's K. B., thence to your K. R. 6th, and thence home again. Play your K. B. to K. Kt. 2d, thence to K. R. square, thence to your adversary's Q. R. square. This last move is the longest stride the Bishop can take. Perform a similar exercise with your Q. B. When the two Bishops are at home, they cach command seven squares. But play K. B. to Q. B. 4th square, or Q. B. to K. B. 4th square, and you will find their power to be greatly increased, each Bishop commanding eleven squares The Bishop has the same privilege as the Rook of moving through many squares or few, or of moving only one square. Now as we are strongly inclined to the opinion that the moves of the pieces at Chess originated from two ancient games, in one of which the men were played as we now play the Rook, and in the other the moves were similar to those of our Bishop, and that by a combination of the powers of these two pieces, the moves of the other pieces derive their origin, we have thought that a better understanding of the moves in the modern game might be had by first describing the powers of the Rook and Bishop, and then tracing to then the moves of the other pieces. The King is allowed the shortest move of the Rook and the shortest move of the Bishop, but not both at once. Place your King on his square; he can then move to any one of the following squares : K. B. square, Q. square, K. 2d square, Q. 2d square, K. B. 2d square. But if we place the King on one of the central squares his power to move is increased. Place your K. on his 4th square; he then commands K. 3d and 5th squares, Q. 3d, 4th, and 5th squares, and K. B. 3d, 4th, and 5th squares. Remember that your King can never be on a square immediately adjoining that on which your adversary's King stands. The Queen is allowed the move either of the Rook or of the Bishop, but not both at once. Place the Queen on her square; she can move four squares to the right, three squares to the left; she commands seven squares of the Queen's file, a diagonal to the left of three white squares, and a diagonal to the right of four white squares. You can therefore already form an idea of the great value of this, the most powerful piece at Chess. The Knight is the most remarkable of all the pieces; is the only one that has the privilege of moving over the other |