AMERICAN SUPPLEMENT TO THE "SYNOPSIS,"

CONTAINING

AMERICAN INVENTIONS IN THE CHESS OPENINGS

TOGETHER WITH

FRESH ANALYSIS IN THE OPENINGS SINCE 1882;

ALSO A LIST OF

CHESS CLUBS IN THE UNITED STATES AND CANADA.

EDITED BY

J. W. MILLER,

Editorial Staff of the Cincinnati Commercial Gazette.

CINCINNATI:

ROBERT CLARKE & CO.,

PREFACE.

The editor does not assume to be an analyst of chess apart from the army of chess players who have given thought and study to the openings, and played them for many years. The body of analysis in the German Handbuch is the product of ten thousand minds; and the best analysts have not been infallible, as witness the declaration of Howard Staunton that the Sicilian was the best opening for the second player. The chess openings come into and go out of fashion without much regard for individual preferences; and they stand on shifting ground, sometimes strengthened temporarily by a new line of play, and again laid on the shelf as the novelty is fully dissected and its weak points made known. It is certainly desirable to put on record all noteworthy ideas in the openings; and this is the aim of the editor, especially for those originating on this side of the Atlantic. Space will also be given to the freshest foreign analysis. Nearly three years have elapsed since the third edition of Cook's "Synopsis" was published. Since its appearance there have been memorable International Chess Congresses in London, Vienna, and Nuremberg, and several chess matches between the great masters. The proof reading of this volume has been carefully supervised, the editor regarding this as one of the vital things in the publication of chess works.

His warm

thanks are due to many American lovers of chess for valuable sugges tions and assistance in collecting material.

RECENT PRACTICE IN THE OPENINGS OF THE BEST PLAYERS.

It may be taken for granted that the chess master never reveals his opinion of the various openings so unmistakably as when he meets other chess kings over the board in the International Chess Congresses. He will skirmish and experiment in off-hand play, and give much attention to the hazardous moves of current analysis in the periodical press, but when confronting another player of the highest ability he becomes conservative, and his chess, in the openings at least, takes a narrower range. In the International Tournaments at Vienna, 1873, and Paris, 1878, the gambits were neglected, not one game in ten being a gambit. In the International Tournament, Paris, 1878, four gambits were declined and accepted in one hundred and two games. As the late Mr. John Wisker said in 1880: "The present generation of chess-players seem to have convinced themselves that serious games are not to be won by tripping up the adversary in the opening, but by sound calculation and judgment in the middle of the game, and accurate play at the end. We do not regret the change. It puts an end to gambit-mongering-to getting an opening by rote, and playing it off against an unwary adversary-and brings the functions of the chessplayer to their legitimate bearings. Chess under the congress system is likely to become more a matter of science, and less a thing of quips and cranks, than it has been heretofore. As to 'lively chess' we hold the opinion that the openings without sacrifices present abundant scope for brilliant combinations. It must be remembered, moreover, that five-sixths of the lively games recorded in print have arisen from weak moves by players innocent of great intricacies."

In August, 1882, Mr. G. Reichhelm, of Philadelphia, one of the veteran analysts of the United States, wrote, in answer to a correspondent's question: "Are gambits sound?" that "the theoretical verdict is constantly changing. In the Muzio, Allgaier, Kieseritzky, and Evans gambits the defense is at present considered to have the best of it, the strong point against the Evans being the so-called compromised defense. The Ruy Lopez opening is the strongest debut in which no sacrifice is made, but all the gambits are practically sound, for the attack generally wins two-thirds of the games."

The Vienna International Tournament, in the summer of 1882, lasted for over a month. We find but two gambits (Evans and Allgaier) in the collection of forty-two games of that congress published by Mr. A. G. Sellman, of Baltimore. The London Congress of 1883, was the greatest of chess gatherings in its proportions and duration. Mr.