Mnemonic Chess.

Otago Witness, Issue 2087, 22 February 1894, Page 38

Mnemonic Chess.

(Trauslated from tho French of M. Alfred Binet.)

The shape of the pieces and their colour does not matter, says M. Arnous de Riviere. In unseeing play the principal elements which are of service in combinations are the line of direction in which the piece can move and the number of the square on which the piece should stop. The unseeing player gets into his head the representation of varying lines which cross each other — that is to say, the geometry of the situation. The same opinion has been gathered from the mouth of Mr.Blackburne. M. Goetz writes : "If in unseeing play I could distinguish before my interior eye all the game as clearly as I could were it being played before my eyes, I should disdain that means as not being in the spirit of the thing and a mere parade." At our express request M. Goetz had the goodness to reconsider some of his statements, and make them more exact. Hesayshecan, if he wishes, visualise a game— that is to say, represent tohimself the chessboard as if he was looking at it. lie did so at the laboratory of the Sorbonne where he played unseeing against M. Beaunis. When he plays six or eight games simultaneously he gives that up, as it is of no U3e, and would only have the effect of fatiguing him. He then represeuts to himself neither the shape nor the colour of tho mun. 1 can always tell, whether I hiivo the black or the white men, because the position of the pieces is a3jiuctrie. The result is that oue of the players has his king on tho right hand half of tiie board, while the other has his on the left. Beyond that I do not sue any difference. So much for the colour. M. Goetz ii not less explicit on the question of shapes. "As to this," he says, "I do not see their shapes at all. I use in play sometimes the La Regence pattern, sometimes the SStaunton. Now it would be impossible for- me to say in unseeing play which of those I see. I only know the range and action of the pieces. Thus, for instance, the castle moves in a straight line A castle placed at a particular point produces on me the effect which his cannon does to the artillery man, and which he divines all the better because he cannot see tho site behind a rampart where it is placed. It is theaction— the range of the cannon, that should be looked at. Thus a bishop is not for my internal eye a piece turned more or less strangely— it is an oblique force." M. Percy Howell states also that the chessmen have no form in his memory, he recognises them by their possible movements. He sees a little less clearly the reciprocal movements of the whole pieces. A distinguished pupil of the Sorbonne laboratory, JVI. Victor Henri, tried to play a game, and conducted it to a finish. His impressions somewhas resembled those of M. Goetz. During the game he saw the squares distinctly, but ■\ya3 not at all able to represent to himself the pieces. He knew they occupied certain positions and he never thoughtof their shape, but of their range, and in particular their names. Tne terms applied to them become, in this case, the substitutes for the images. M. Moriau, a distinguished player to whom I am indebted for a large amount of information, expresses himself in similar terni3. If I cite the further evidence it is to shosv how different persons agree in a matter of such nicety. M. Morinu remarks that a player who carefully analyses a position on the board looks vaguely at the pieces without noticing their form or colour, and adds that what is true of the sight is equally so of the memory.

Principles of Chess in Theory and Practice,

By James Mason. London, Horace Cox, 1893.

This is an excellent little book. It is meant for beginners and improving players, but there are many things in it which will prove useful to old practitioners. The arrangement adopted is new. Instead of proceeding at once to an analysis of the openings, as is usually _ done in books of the kind, Mr Mason gives an interesting chapter on the powers of the forces generally, comprising the subjects of resistance, obstruction, restraint, the opposition, exchanging, and winning. He then proceeds to give examples of mating positions and the best methods of attaining them. No elementary work can deal exhaustively with so large a subject. Mr Mason makes no attempt to do so, but does what is much more useful to the student by leading him into the way of learning to think for himself, instead of relying upon memory. la the chapter on general principles Mr Mason bays : "Great skill in chess cannot at all be attained without some original work. The player must have thoughts of his own and courage to give them expression, even ia the face of authority, where that authority is at variance with hit, own iadividual judgment." After dealing with tho general principles of play, the author proceed-i to the essential subject of combinations, and illustrates this by end games from actual play in tournaments, and matches contested since the year 18M) by thts most fanioii3 players of our time. These are accompanied by explanatory notes which must prove very instructive to learners. It is only at the end that openings are dealt with. Instead of giving an analysis of those with their endless variations, too numerous and too perp'exing for any ordinary memory, and worthless botli as mental training generally and as chess training in particular, if learned by heart, Mr Mason give* illustrations of the openings of games which have been actually played by masters of the game in recent years, and adds explanatory and critical notes well calculated to give students a knowledge of the scientific principles of the game. Speaking of the openings, ne fays : "Thouga first in point of time, logically the opening comes last. No true knowledge of it is possible independently of its logical antecedents, the middle game, and the end. The method of all but one in a thousand in the scientific pursuit of chess is to proceed from a knowledge of the moves —the mere nomenclature — to a study of tho game in the most abstract and difficult of all its aspects. The simple and fundamental laws of chess operation are slurred over or wholly ignored in favour of analyses which cannot possibly be uaderstood without perpetual reference to them, and which could well be spared if those elements and laws were only clearly and fully known to the student _An immense waste of time and labour results iv. little progress, and that little of a wrong sort." With these remarks we entirely agree. Books on tho game are sutflciently numerous, but they mostly begin at the wrong end, aud lend students to rely on memory instead of thinking out combinations for themselves. This little book will give the study of chess a new direction, and one which will be found both interesting and instructive. The book is neatly got up and illustrated by clear and well printed diagrams. The book is buro to have a large circulation. It is a well-written original work, infinitely superior to any other of the kind hitherto published.