CHESS ECCENTRICITIES
CHESS Eccentricities
By Major George Hope Verney
LONDON
LONGMAN, GREEN, & CO
1885
CONTENTS.
DEDICATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . iii
PREFACE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . v
CHESS FOR FOUR PLAYERS.
PREFACE TO FOUR HANDED CHESS (1881) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
RULES OF FOUR HANDED CHESS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
REMARKS:-
The Board . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
The Chess-men . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Rules of Play . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
The First Move . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Keeping the Odds of a Game . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
The Opening of a Game . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
The Closing of a Game . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
The Numerical Value of the Pieces . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
The King . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
The Queen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
The Rooks and Bishops . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
The Knights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
The Pawns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
CORRESPONDENCE:-
Letter from Mr. H. Keatley Moore on the Moving and
Changing Direction of Pawns in Four-handed Chess . . . . . 23
Letter from Mr. H. Keatley Moore on the same subject . . . . 25
Letter to the 'Croydon Guardian' on Four-handed Chess, by
Major Verney . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Letter to the 'Croydon Guardian' from 'Radiometer', on the
Original Games of Chaturanga . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Four-handed Chess on New Year's Eve, by G. H. Verney . . . . 29
The 'Canadian Spectator' on Four-handed Chess . . . . . . . 29
Reply to the above by Major Verney in the 'Chess Players'
Chronicle' . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
Letter from Major Verney on Four-handed Chess in the
'Canadian Spectator' . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Remarks by the Editor of the 'Canadian Spectator' on pre-
ceding Letter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Letters from Mr. J. Pemberton Turner on Four-handed Chess . 35
Letters from Dr. Leighton Coleman on the Order in Playing
Four-handed Chess . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
Letter from Mr. Street on one King keeping his Partner's King
in Mate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
Reply from Major Verney to preceding Letter . . . . . . . . 37
Letter from Mr. Street as to a Mate being Released by the
Checkmating of an Adversary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
Reply to the preceding Letter from Major Verney . . . . . . 39
Four-handed Chess, each one Playing for Himself . . . . . . 39
Curious Complication of Three Players: Two Stalemated and
One Mated, by Mr. Street . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
Reply to the above by Major Verney . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Letter as to Pawns taking Backwards . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Letter from Mr. Percival Meredith on Four-handed Chess . . . 42
Letter from Mr. Austen Leigh on a Released Checkmate . . . . 42
Letter from Vice-Admiral Ewart on a Released Checkmate . . . 43
Reply from Major Verney to the Two foregoing Letters . . . . 44
Letters from Mrs. R., and Mr. Austen Leigh on the Advance of
Pawns in Four-handed Chess . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
Reply from Major Verney to the Two preceding Letters . . . . 47
Letter from Mr. E. H. Morton on the Position of a Mated Player
and his Release . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
Reply from Major Verney to the preceding Letter . . . . . . 48
Letter from Mr. A. Smith ona Mated Adversary and conse-
quent Release of a Mated Partner . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
Reply from Major Verney to the preceding Letter . . . . . . 51
Some of the Rules of Four-handed Chess as laid down by
Captain Crawley and Mr. Herbert Mooney in the 'Boy's Own
Paper' . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
Remarks by Major Verney on these Rules . . . . . . . . . . . 52
The 'Bucks Advertiser' on the Rules laid down by Captain
Crawley and Mr. Herbert Mooney . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
Letter to 'Bucks Advertiser,' from Major Verney, as to these
Rules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
Letter from Mr. Walter Mead on the above . . . . . . . . . . 57
VARIETIES OF FOUR-HANDED CHESS:-
Four-handed Chess, by Neumann, Berlin, 1867, 160 squares . . 59
" " published at Fraustadr, 1846, 160 squares 61
" " by H.G.Albers, Luneburg, 1821, 160 squares 62
" " by Dr. W.Sause, Halle, 1841, 160 squares 65
" " by L.Tressau, Leipzig, 1840, 160 squares 65
" " by K.E.G., Dessau, 1874, 160 squares . . 66
" " by Dr. Max Lange, Weimar, 1881, 160
squares . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
" " by L.F.Rust, Magdeburg, 1834, 160 squares 67
" " by August Gaebeler, Weimar, 1873, 160
squares . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
" " by K.Enderlein, Berlin, 1837, 160 squares 69
" " by Alberi, Leipzig, 1821, 160 squares . . 69
" " by Waider, Vienna, 1837, 160 squares . . 70
Four-handed Russian Chess with Citadels, by A. v. Petroff,
1850 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
The Luneburg Four-handed Chess, by Dr. Theodorick Martni,
1821, 128 squares . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
Four-handed Chess, Altenburg, 1792, 128 squares . . . . . . 76
" " by A. Demonchy, 1882, 128 squares . . . . 81
" " by G.R.Neumann, Berlin, 128 squares . . . 81
" " by Dr. Max Lange, Weimar, 1881, 128
squares . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
The Spanish Four-handed Chess, Dr. Van der Linde, Berlin,
1881, 64 squares . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
Chaturanga, Four-handed Chess, Dr. Forbes, 1860, 64 squares 84
Age of the Queen's Present Move . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
Description of the Die used in Chaturanga . . . . . . . . . 86
Origin of Chaturanga in Ancient Times . . . . . . . . . . . 88
Dr. Forbes on Modern Four-handed Chess . . . . . . . . . . . 89
Four-handed Round Chess, by Major Verney, 1884, 128 squares 89
Chaturaje, or the Game of the Four Kings . . . . . . . . . . 90
CHESS FOR THREE PLAYERS.
VARIETIES OF THREE-HANDED CHESS:-
Three-handed Chess on three Orinary Chess-boards, by
A. Demonchy, Marseilles, 1882, 192 squares . . . . . . . . 95
Three-handed Chess, by Marinelli, 1722, 136 squares . . . . 96
" " by Hermann Kager, Fraustadt, 1846, 136
squares . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
VARIETIES OF THREE-HANDED CHESS (continued):-
Three-handed Chess, by L.Tressau, Leipzig, 1840, 136 squares 101
" " Eccentric Board, by S. Waider, Vienna,
1837, 120 squares . . . . . . . . . . 102
" " by Walter Tesche,Vienna,1843, 96 squares 105
" " Neumann, Berlin, 1867, 96 squares . . . 111
Three-handed Round Chess, by Major Verney, 1884, 96
squares . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
CHESS FOR TWO PLAYERS.
VARIETIES OF PLAY IN ORDINARY CHESS:-
Shatranj, Dr. Forbes, 1860, 64 squares . . . . . . . . . . . 117
Age of the Board with Squares of Different Colours . . . . . 118
Value of the Pieces and Odds of the Shatranj Game . . . . . 118
Rules of the Shatranj Game . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
Chess in Syria and Arabia, Forbes, 1860. . . . . . . . . . . 120
Chess in Hindustan, Forbes, 1860 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
Chess as Played by Natives of India, Forbes, 1860 . . . . . 123
Chess in Tibet, Burmah, Siam, and Cochin China, Forbes, 1860 124
Chess in Java, Forbes, 1860 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
Chess in Borneo, Forbes, 1860 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
Chess in Abyssinia, Forbes, 1860 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
Chess in China, Forbes, 1860 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
The Chinese Chess as Played in Siam, by Monsieur de la
Loubere, 1688 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
The Small or Old Chess, L.Tressau, Leipzig, 1840, 64 squares 133
The Persian Chess, L.Tressau, Leipzig, 1840, 64 squares . . 134
The Double Chess, L.Tressau, Leipzig, 1840, 64 squares . . . 135
VARIETIES OF PLACING THE PIECES IN ORDINARY CHESS, by Dr. Van
der Linde, Utrecht, 1876:-
Rooks and Knights adjacent to each other . . . . . . . . . . 138
The Positions of Bishops and Knights Reversed . . . . . . . 139
The Position of Queen and of Queen's Knight Reversed . . . . 139
King, Rook, Knight, and Eight Pawns against same . . . . . . 140
King, Queen, Rook, Knight, Two Bishops, Rook, Knight, and
Eight Pawns agains same . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140
Eight extra Pawns instead of a Queen against the usual Pieces
and Pawns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141
King and King's Rook change places . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142
Four Pawns and the usual Pieces to each Players . . . . . . 142
VARIETIES OF PLACING THE PIECES IN ORDINARY CHESS (continued):-
King, Rook, Knight, and Five Pawns against same . . . . . . 143
King and Six Pawns against King, Knight, and Four Pawns . . 143
King and Six Pawns against King, Bishop, and Four Pawns . . 144
King uniting in his own person the Moves of all the other
Pieces against Sixteen Pawns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144
OTHER VARIETIES OF CHESS, INCLUDING BOARDS WITH ADDITIONAL
SQUARES:-
Coxe on Chess in Russia in 1772 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146
Game of King and Pawns versus King, Pieces and Pawns,
Neumann, Berlain, 1867, 64 squares . . . . . . . . . . . . 146
The same, by Twiss, London, 1787, 64 squares . . . . . . . . 147
Persian Chess, Dr. Van der Linde, Berlin, 1881, 16 x 4,
64 squares . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
Persian Chess with a Die, Dr. Van der Linde, Berlin, 1881,
16 x 4, 64 squares . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148
Timur's Round Chess, Dr. Netto, Berlin, 1827, 64 squares . . 148
Shatranj Mudauwira, or Round Chess, Dr. Forbes, 1860,
64 squares . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
Chess by T.V.R., Munich, 1827, 68 squares . . . . . . . . . 150
Chess by Carrera, 1617, 8 x 10, 80 squares . . . . . . . . . 152
The Courier-Spiel, H.G. Albers, Luneburg, 1821, 8 x 12, 96
squares . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
The Courier-Spiel, L. Tressau, Leipzig, 1840, 10 x 10, 100
squares . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155
Chess by Piscenia, 1683, 10 x 10, 100 squares . . . . . . . 155
The Emperor's Game, L. Tressau, Leipzig, 1840, 10 x 10, 100
squares . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156
Arabic Chess, Dr. Van del Linde, Berlin, 1881, 10 x 10, 100
squares . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158
Chess mentioned by 'Adali,' Forbes,1860, 10x10, 100 squares 159
Firdaudi's Shanama, Forbes, 1860, 10 x 10, 100 squares . . . 160
The Shatranj Husun Chess, Forbes, 1860, 10 x 10, with Four
Citidels, 104 squares . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160
Timur's Great Chess, Forbes, 1860, 10 x 11, and Two Citadels,
112 squares . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161
Movements of Knight, Giraffe, and Camel in Timur's Great
Chess explained . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165
Value of the Pieces in Timur's Great Chess . . . . . . . . . 167
The Complete Chess, Forbes, 1860, 10 x 11, and Two Citadels,
112 squares . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168
The Sultan's Game of Chess, L.Tressau, Leipzig,1840, 11x11,
121 squares . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
OTHER VARIETIES OF CHESS, &c. (continued):-
The Prussian National Game of Chess, by Baron von Hover-
beck, Breslau, 1806, 11 x 11, 121 squares . . . . . . . . 170
Le Jeu de la Guerre, Prague, from a translation of Marinelli,
1770, 11 x 11, 121 squares . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173
The Duke of Rutland's Game, 1747, 10 x 14, 140 squares . . . 175
Game by Alfonso X., Seville, 1283, Dr. Van der Linde,
12 x 12, 144 squares . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175
Turkish Chess, Constantinople, 1806, Dr. Van del Linde,
13 x 13, 169 squares . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176
CHESS FOR SIX PLAYERS.
Six-handed Chess, Dr. Max Lange, Weimar, 1881, 8 x 24, 192
squares . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181
CHESS FOR EIGHT PLAYERS.
Eight-handed Chess, by Major Verney, 1884, 448 squares . . . . 185
ODDS AND ENDS OF CHESS.
Social Chess, Cambridge, 1866 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189
'Take me' Chess, by Walter Campbell, 1876 . . . . . . . . . . . 191
Chess Draughts, by H. Richter, 1883 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192
The Pawn Puzzle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193
Fox and Geese on a Chess-board . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195
Notation for Three-handed, Four-handed, Six-handed and
Eight-handed Chess . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195
Chess Shorthand . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196
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Thumbnail Page Selection
CHESS EccentricitiesBy Major George Hope Verney
LONDON
LONGMAN, GREEN, & CO
1885
