[105] Meaning Flank.
[106] The work of which the present article is an abridgment. The Openings here given will be found treated in this book at much greater length, with others scarcely less valuable, and a fund of general Chess information.
[107] In England it was formerly the custom to play on the white squares, but the Scottish practice of using the black squares is now generally adopted. So far as the course of play is concerned, the one plan is as good as the other; and in all treatises on the game the men are, for typographical reasons, shown on the white squares. This involves a corresponding alteration of the position of the board, which is shown with a white bottom square on the left hand.
[108] A player may be huffed for not taking the full number of men he should have taken by the play adopted. Thus if he takes one man only, where by the same play, duly continued, he could have taken two, he is liable to the huff. If, however, he has the choice of two moves, by one of which he would take a larger number of men taken than by the other, he is under no obligation to adopt that move.
[109] See p. 469, [footnote].
[110] This is a more common method of play at "Trente et Quarante" (see p. [468]).
[111] A German mathematician is said to have calculated the percentage in favour of the Banks to be 1.28 per cent.
[112] It must be remembered that as the player is at liberty to withdraw half his stake when there is a Refait, he is really paying a premium of 1 per cent. to insure only half his stake.
[113] If there were no limit every one could win at Monte Carlo, by the simple method of doubling up after each loss. Hence sans maximum, zero does not prevent the Bank from losing.
[114] Most system players try to win a percentage of their capital per diem. Having done so, they retire from the table. By "grand coup" is meant this amount of daily winnings. There is no reason why a player should not play his system ad infinitum. He, however, instinctively knows the grave risk he is running by continuing his game, and is generally very pleased to retire after having made a certain daily profit.