The History of Chess. H. J. R. Murray
15. Drawn.
No. 16. Drawn.
No. 17. Drawn.
No. 18. Self Mate in Six [or Mate with Pawn in Four.]
Solutions:
No. 1.—V b66. 1 Qa1, Be3; 2 Qa2 + , K × R; 3 Qg2 mate.
No. 2.—V b74. 1 Q × P+ , K × Q; 2 Ktd6 + , K × Kt; 3 Pe4 + , K × Kt; 4 Bb8 mate.
No. 3.—V b77. 1 Kte7 + , Kh8; 2 Qg8 + , R × Q; 3 Kt × B + , P × Kt; 4 Rh4 mate.
No. 4.—V b26. 1 Bg5, Bd8; 2 Bf6, B × B; 3 P × B, Qf7; 4 Re8 + , R × R; 5 R × R + , Q × R; 6 Q × P mate.
No. 5.—T 35; M 6; V d65. 1 Rb8 + , R × R; 2 Qb7 + , R × Q; 3 P × R mate.
No. 6.—V d89. White: 1 Rh4 + , Kg7; 2 Qg4 + , Kf7; 3 Rh7 + , Ke8; 4 Pd7 mate. Black: 1 Qd1 + , Kb2; 2 R × P + , K × R; 3 Qc2 + , Ka1; 4 Qc1 + , Ka2; 5 Pb3 mate.
No. 7.—V d52. 1 Rd8 + , R × R; 2 Qd7 + , R × Q; 3 Ktd6 + , R × Kt; 4 P × R,
No. 8.—T 48; M 32; V d57 and 87. 1 Qc6 + , Kb8; 2 Qe8 + , Kb7; 3 Qc8 + , Kb6; 4 Rc6 + , Ka5; 5 Ra6 + , Kb4; 6 Pa3 mate.
No. 9.—T 49; M 33; V d58. 1 Rf8 + , R × R; 2 Qh5 + , Rf7; 3 Qg6,
No. 10.—V d45. 1 Be2 + , Kb6; 2 Bf2 + , Kc6; 3 Bf3 + , Kd6; 4 Bg3 + , Ke6; 5 Bg4 + , Kf6; 6 Kte4 + , Kg6; 7 Ph5 mate.
No. 11.—T 65; M 56. 1 Rb8 + , Ka7; 2 Ktc8 + , Ka3; 3 Rb6 + , Ka5; 4 Ktc6 + , B × Kt; 5 Bd2 + , Kt × B; 6 Q × Kt + , R × Q; 7 Ra4 + , B × R; 8 Pb4 mate.
No. 12.—M 64. 1 Re8 + , Qg8; 2 Qf6 + , Kh7; 3 Be4 + , Qg6; 4 Qf7 + , Kh6; 5 Rh8 + , Qh7; 6 Qf6 + , Kh5; 7 Bf5, Q × R; 8 Qg6 + , Kh4; 9 Pg3 mate.
No. 13.—V d17. 1 Rd8 + , Qc8; 2 P × P, Q × R; 3 Be4 + , Qd5; 4 Pb4, Q × B; 5 Rf8 + , Qe8; 6 Pb5, Q × R; 7 Qg2 + , Qf3; 8 Qg8 + , Qf8; 9 Pb6, Q × Q; 10 Pb7 mate.
No. 14.—V d69. 1 Ktd7 + d, Kg7; 2 Rf8, Kg6; 3 Kte6, P × Kt; 4 Qf7 + , Kg5; 5 Kte5, P × Kt; 6 Be4, P × B; 7 Be3, P × B; 8 Qe7, Kg6; 9 Kh2, Ph3; 10 Pg3, Ph4; 11 Pg4, Ph5; 12 Pg5, Ph6; 13 Qf6 + , Kh7; 14 Pg6 mate.
No. 15.—V a16. 1 B × Kt, K × B; 2 Pf8 = B, Pa1 = R; 3 Bg7 + , K
No. 16—V a22. 1 Qg8 + , Ka7; 2 R × R, Q × R; 3 Qa8 + , K × Q; 4 Pg8 = Kt and takes Q.
Nos. 15 and 16 illustrate the peculiarities of Pawn-promotion. In another position, V a17 (White: Kg2, Re3, Ktd7, Pb6, g6, h5; Black, Kg8, Rd8, Pd6, g7, h6), the promoted KtP does not make the additional leap after promotion because b8 is commanded by the R. (See n. 25.) Solution: 1 Pb7, Pd5; 2 Pb8 = Kt, Pd4; 3 Ktc6, Ra8; 4 Rb3, Rc8; 5 Rb8.
No. 17.—V a24. 1 R × R(e8), Q × R; 2 Q × P(f6)+ , Kg8; 3 R × R, Q × R; 4 Q × Q.
No. 18. T 94. Self mate by 1 Bd5 + , B × B; 2 Rh8 + , Bg8; 3 Ktb3, Pa5; 4 Bg5, Pa4; 5 Kta1, Pa3; 6 Bc1, Pa2 mate. Mate in four by 1 Bd5 + , B × B; 2 Rh8 + , Bg8; 3 Ktc6, Pa5; 4 Pb7 mate.
[Note.—The earlier volumes of the CPC. contain several problems which were sent to Staunton by subscribers in India. Some of these positions are the work of native players and are similar in style to the Pawn mates quoted above. Others were the work of English composers. The most famous of these positions is the so-called Indian problem which was published in February 1845 (CPC., vi. 54.—White: Ka1, Rd1, Bg2, h6, Pa2, b3, f2, g4; Black: Ke4, Ktf3, Pb5, b6, e5. Mate in four; 1 Bc1; 2 Rd2; 3 K
CHAPTER V
CHESS IN THE MALAY LANDS
Introductory.—Spread in Malay lands.—Early references.—The chessboard.—Nomenclature.—Moves of the pieces.—Rules.—Illustrative games.—Malay chessmen.—Concluding observations.
Although chess is known and played in every Asiatic country to the east of India, the forms of the game that are played by the different peoples present at first sight as wide differences as are found anywhere in chess. On closer investigation, however, it is possible to discover certain common features in some types which enable us to classify these games in three groups, corresponding to the known ethnological families and religions of Eastern Asia. To one group, comprising the chess of Burma, Siam, and Annam, three countries linked by that form of Buddhism which is conveniently called Southern, I devote Chapter VI; to a second group, comprising the chess of China, Corea, and Japan, I devote Chapter VII; while in the present chapter I shall deal with the varieties of chess current among the Malays, which are united by the phenomenon of a nomenclature which has been drawn from many sources, and by a type of move which is closely akin to that of modern European chess.
To-day, chess is very widely played by the Malay races, and ranks as one of their most popular games.1 On the mainland we possess records of its practice in the British Straits Settlements (Malacca), in the Protected States (Selangor), at Kelantan, and at Johore. We also possess good descriptions of the game as played in Sumatra, in Java, and in Borneo. Von Oefele, who has made a most patient and valuable study of the game as played in Sumatra by the Orang-Batak,2 records that practically every male Batak has some knowledge of chess, while nearly every village meeting-hut has a chessboard carved upon its wooden floor. So violent are the passions aroused at times by the game, which is always played for a stake, that the headman of the village has occasionally had to forbid the practice of the game for a season.2a
We know very little of the history of chess in these lands. The few Europeans who have made any study of the early history of the Archipelago speak of four successive waves of foreign culture and religion, all of which have in turn left a notable impress upon the customs of these islands. Somewhere about the 7th c. A.D. the Hindu religion established itself in Sumatra and Java, to be followed by Buddhism, and rather later—from the 13th to the 15th c.—by Muhammadanism. From the beginning of the 16th c. the coastal regions have been in continual contact with Europeans, first with the Portuguese, afterwards with the Dutch, and at a later date still with the English. Malay chess reflects all these invasions, since it shows unmistakable traces of Indian and of Arabic, and also of European influence.
The game is certainly older than any European influences, for on the arrival of the first Portuguese expedition off Malacca in 1509 its commander, Diego Lopez, was playing chess when a Javan from the mainland came on board. The native recognized the game at once, and had some conversation with Lopez on the forms of chessmen used by his countrymen.3
There is also a reference to the game in the Sějarah Malayu, native history dating from the early 17th century, ch. xviii, in connexion with a visit to Malacca by a certain Tan Bahra, of Pasei in Sumatra.4 The passage goes on to say—
Now this Tan Bahra was a very skilful chessplayer, and one that was unequalled at the game in that age, and he played at chess with the men of Malacca … and beat them all: but Tan Pakarma, son of the Bandahara Paduka Raja, was able to make some resistance … and