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The Game of Chess

IT is the principal aim of this little treatise to assist the young player in his examination of the theory of the openings in the game of chess--a branch of study that to the beginner generally appears to be of a most dull and uninviting character, but which, nevertheless, is of the highest importance to all those who are ambitious of attaining to any degree of proficiency in the game.

Before proceeding further, we would presume that the young player possesses at least an elementary knowledge of the game, such as the moves and value of the various pieces, the laws of checking, &c. Should he not be thus fortunate, we would strongly advise him to have recourse to the assistance of some chess-friend for an explanation of the elementary principles; for, thanks to the almost daily increasing knowledge of the game, there are few localities so remote that cannot produce a brother of the free-masonry of chess. Though, in compliance with the time-honoured custom of all writers on chess, we subjoin a brief description of the various pieces and their moves, yet it is our firm conviction that no beginner has ever succeeded in mastering by the assistance of "the books" alone, the mere elementary principles of the game. In the following pages we have endeavoured to give a brief synopsis of the most important of the openings, collected from the most approved authorities, and at the same time to present to the tyro as it were a passing glimpse of the chief modern discoveries.

If we have occasionally strayed from the beaten path, or insensibly diverged into any of the as yet unexplored regions of chess, we would fain crave the reader's kind indulgence for any of those errors which almost invariably find their way into variations that have not undergone the "limae labor," or the test of actual play. Finally, should we have had the good fortune by the following pages to assist a single beginner in mastering any of the elementary difficulties which beset the rough road that only leads to proficiency in chess--should there, through our means, have been added but a single recruit to the ranks of Caissa, well will our labour have been repaid!