Waste no time in considering an inevitable move. Take the offered piece without hesitation or delay.
When you are a man ahead, exchange as often as you can, but at the same time beware of man-traps and spring-guns.
Abandon a line of play the secret of which is discovered by your adversary; and when a piece must be lost, make no attempt to retain it. Sometimes it is safer to give up a man than to defend a weak position.
Make your kings as quickly as you can. Avoid all cramped positions. Back up your men in phalanx fashion:—
and move rather towards the centre than to the sides of the board. Be careful not to move out your men too soon from the safety of the back row.
Play with your head as well as with your fingers. Avoid banter and loud talk. Boast not of your victories. Win modestly, and lose with good temper. Punctuality is the politeness of kings. Courtesy is the grand characteristic of good draught-players.
II. The Losing Game.
There is a good deal of amusement and no little skill in the Losing Game. As its name denotes, this game is the reverse of Draughts proper. The object is to lose all your men; and he who accomplishes that object wins.
The whole or main secret of the Losing Game is to play towards the sides of the board, and to so arrange your men as to be able to give up two, three, or more at a single coup. After a little practice you will discover that even with a dozen men on the board against, say, two or three, you may win—that is, you may compel your adversary to take them all. Or with a single king you may take man after man, and then, at last, commit graceful suicide. Or you may compel a king to take several men. Much depends on Having the Move. [Here], for instance, is a position in which a king is forced to take eight men and lose the game:—