24×23 2 PREFACE TO THE THIRD EDITION. THE Author of the Synopsis has again the satisfaction to learn that the demand for the last Edition has been exhaustive. The Second Edition was issued in 1876, and even during the short space of five years many important discoveries and improved methods of conducting the attack and the defense have been published, and upon reviewing the examples so many imperfections were apparent, and corrections necessary, that the Author saw the necessity of producing an entirely new book. The means at his disposal were adequate to the task, but the preparation of the Tables was a laborious undertaking, which would considerably delay the publication of a book for which there is still a demand. The author consulted a few leading members of the Birmingham Club, and they recommended that several proficients should be corresponded with to invite their assistance, but this project met with but little encouragement. A few amateurs, however, undertook the task, for which the writer wishes publicly to express his obligations. To Messrs. A. and M. Michael, Wildman, and Bridgwater, of the Birmingham Club; Mr. Thomas Bourn, of Clevedon; Rev. Hewan Archdall, of Newcastle-on-Tyne; Mr. Freeborough, of Hull; and Rev. C. E. Ranken, of Malvern, for material assistance in the compilation of the Tables, original variations in the openings, and help in the examination of proof. Inasmuch as the book does not lay claim to originality, the acknowledgment of the sources from which the variations have been collected is perhaps unnecessary; but it should be mentioned that the last Edition of the "Handbuch des Schachspiels," Mr. Gossip's " Theory of the Open (3) ings," and Mr. Wayte's able reviews of these works, together with the excellent Chess column of the Field and other papers, the New Chess Monthly, and the well-known CHESS PLAYER'S CHRONICLE, have been indispensable to the production of the book. The Author has endeavored to present variations that have occurred in actual play to meet the objection of some who assume that but few of the positions given in theory occur in practice. This has been especially adopted in the Irregular Openings, which are illustrated entirely from published games. It has been necessary to considerably enlarge the present Edition, but a comparison with the Second Edition, which contained but eighty-two pages, will explain the slight increase in the price of the book. The Author has again to express his regret at the delay in the publication of this Edition, which demanded an insertion of a brief Appendix, to introduce a few new variations, and would especially call the attention of the student to the Paulsen attack in the Scotch, which has attained such popularity within the last two years. BIRMINGHAM, January, 1882. |