Chess History and Reminiscences | Page 8

practice. We must confess that
some of the so-called variations extracted from the "Masterpieces,"
appear to be nothing more than advertisements. Notably, on page 157,
four "examples" are given, which do not go beyond the 4th move, and
leave no mark on the positions, and then we are gravely informed, in a
manner already described, that White or Black won in so-and-so many
moves.
We notice with great pleasure the handsome and courteous manner in
which almost all the prominent chess masters of the day are mentioned
in the book, and the sense of fairness evinced by Mr. Bird in the
selection of variations and examples from his own practice, irrespective
of his victory or defeat. But his chess historical references are

unreliable, and he often wrongly ascribes the adoption of certain
variations to different players in a manner which could have been easily
rectified by taking a little more trouble. This is not unimportant, for the
reputed strength of a player is evidence of the strength of an opening he
favours in matches and tournaments. We can only adduce a few
instances which are more within the writer's personal knowledge.
The statement about 5. Q to K2, in the Buy Lopez, on page 16, is much
confused. The move was adopted by Mr. Blackburne in the final tie
match of the Vienna tournament, but it never occurred in the first game
of the Steinitz-Blackburne match, as Mr. Bird can convince himself
from his own book, where the latter game is published in full on page
171. Steinitz is also erroneously credited with strongly favouring the
attack in the Scotch Gambit, for we do not remember a single game on
record in which he ever adopted that form of opening as first player. On
the other hand, a variation in the Evans Gambit is ascribed to Zukertort,
which actually occurred first in a game between Steinitz and
Blackburne, played in the London Grand Tournament of 1872. This
error seems to have been quoted from Staunton and Wormald's "Chess
Theory and Practice."
A few more words about the problems at the end of the book and we
have done with the details. There are about a dozen compositions
mostly by high-class American authors, and some of them of very good
quality; but, unfortunately, Mr. Bird has omitted to indicate their
solutions. We must suppose this to be due to an oversight, as he gives
the key moves of the four problems by English composers. The
omission is deplorable, for many students would wish to appreciate the
author's idea, and the merits of the construction, if they fail to solve the
problem. To quote an instance from our own experience; we could not
find any solution to the problem on page 224, which composition, we
conclude, is either of the highest order or suffers from the gravest of all
faults, that of being impossible. In either case we should have liked to
examine the solution.
Our judgment of the book, on the whole, is that it cannot be ranked in
the first class with the works of Heydebrand, Zukertort, Staunton,

Lowenthal, Neuman and Suhle, Lange, &c.; but it will satisfy the
demands of the great number of lovers of the game who do not aspire
above the second rank. Mr. Bird's ability and ingenuity is beyond doubt,
and there is ample evidence of his qualifications in the book before us,
but he has not yet acquired that element of genius which has been
defined as the capacity for taking pains. Mr. Bird could produce a much
better book than this, and we hope he will.

Variously estimated from 3,000 to 1,000 B.C. CHATURANGA. The
Primeval Hindu Chess.
bp--krnb np--pppp rp------ kp------ ------pk ------pr pppp--pn bnrk--pb
[Diagram of a Chaturanga board with 4 armies. Yellow is in upper left.
Black is in upper right. Green is in lower left. Red is in lower right.]
------
The Medieval and Modern Chess. White RNBKQBNR PPPPPPPP
-------- -------- -------- -------- pppppppp rnbkqbnr Black
[Diagram of a standard chessboard, white pieces at the top, black pieces
at the bottom.]
Derived from the Persian Chatrang, 537-540 A.D.
------
833-842. Problem I. by the Caliph MU'TASIM BILLAH. Black -k------
RnR----- bN-p--r- p-nQpB-- p--N-b-r -------- -P--P--- -qBK---- White
White to move, and give checkmate at the ninth move.
------
About 1380. Problem II. by 'ALI SHATRANJ. Black ---r---r ppq---R-
b--bkp-p -------- --PP---- PP-B-Q-- --K---PP --B----- White White to
play and mate in eight moves.

CHESS HISTORY AND REMINISCENCES
CONCERNING THE ORIGIN OF CHESS
A not unfair criterion is afforded of the long prevailing and continued
misconception as to the origin of chess, by the lack of knowledge
regarding early records as to its history exhibited in the literature of last
century, and the press and magazine articles of this even to the