Chess and Checkers : the Way to Mastership

by Edward Lasker

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8 | | | | | | | | |
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7 | | #P | | | | | | #P |
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6 | | | | #K | | #P | #P | |
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5 | | | | | #P | | | |
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4 | | | ^P | | ^K | | ^P |^P |
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3 | | | | | | ^P | | |
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2 | ^P | | | | | | | |
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1 | | | | | | | | |
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a b c d e f g h

DIAGRAM 75.

He would then have had a Queen in another eight moves while White could not get farther with his Pawn than to g7, so that Black easily wins.

To march against the Pawn b7 instead of the Pawns on the King's side would not help White either, as he does not get back to the King's wing in time to protect his f- and g-Pawn.

(36) P-f4 Pxf4 (37) Kxf4 K-c5 (38) P-h5 Kxc4 (39) K-e4 P-b5 (40) P-a3 K-c5 (41) Resigns.

V

PROBLEMS

To offer an exhaustive treatise on the manifold varieties of Chess problems is not within the scope of this book. The intention of the author is merely to make it quite clear to the reader that the Chess problem, apart from the moves of the men, has no relation to the game and to illustrate the vast difference between PROBLEM combinations and positions and GAME combinations and positions by a few typical examples from the works of master composers.

The mating methods and mating positions in the actual game very rarely embody an element of surprise. They are all known from previous experience and the question is merely whether the player concerned is familiar with them. With the problem it is altogether different. Here the mate must be accomplished in a certain number of moves from a given position in some ingenious way which is not known from game practice, or, if the mating METHOD is not extraordinary, the mating POSITION must be surprising and unlooked for.

Moreover, a number of laws must be obeyed in problem composition, which by the general consent of problemists, or rather by natural evolution of a more refined taste, have become the standards by which the merits of a problem are judged.