0 ANALYSIS OF THE GAME OF CHESS, BY A. D. PHILIDOR, ILLUSTRATED BY DIAGRAMS, ON WHICH ARE MARKED THE SITUATION OF THE PARTY FOR THE With Critical Remarks and Notes BY THE AUTHOR OF THE STRATAGEMS OF CHESS. Translated from the last French Edition, and further illustrated with Notes, Author of Practical Chess Grammar, Chess Exercises, &c. &c. PRINTED FOR T. AND J. ALLMAN, AND SOLD BY BALDWIN, CRADOCK, AND JOY, PATERNOSTER- HARVARD COLLEGE LIBRARY J. C. J. WAINWRIGHT CHESS COLLECTION X MARCHANT, Printer, 36-138 ADVERTISEMENT OF THE EDITOR AND TRANSLATOR. THE incontestable superiority which Philidor preserved, for nearly half a century, over the most skilful players of Europe, would alone be sufficient to cause the merit of this work to be appreciated, were not the treatise itself universally acknowledged to be one of the best and most precious writings on the science of the Game of Chess. The author of it was particularly eminent for the skilful manoeuvre of his pawns: it was he who first established it as a principle that it was impossible to be a good player, without knowing how to play the pawns, which he called the Soul of Chess, and that, on their proper or improper arrangement, depends almost always either the gain or the loss of the party. In the playing of this great master are constantly to be found a regular attack and a premeditated defence; and his remarks, whilst they prove his perfect knowledge of the game, attest the profundity of his genius. Philidor published his Analysis of Chess in 1749; he was then but twenty-three years of age, and was already considered as the greatest player of his time. The first edition only contained nine games, and the method of giving mate with a castle and bishop against a castle, concerning which anterior writers were in doubt, among whom were |
