ELEMENTARY TACTICS



The beginner who thinks he ought to be able to play a good game
of Chess after learning the moves of the men is like the soldier
who is confident that he could lead an army after he has learned
how to march.

He may have great strategical gifts but he will not be able to
use them to any advantage unless he is thoroughly conversant with
the tactical possibilities afforded by the cooperation of the
different units of which his army is composed and by the
topography of the ground on which the battle takes place.

The different conditions of the battle ground in war which make
some positions more easily accessible to infantry than to
artillery and vice versa have their equivalent on the Chess board
in the different ways in which the men move and which make
certain squares accessible to some of them which others cannot
reach.

The first thing, then, for the beginner to do is to acquaint
himself thoroughly with the characteristic features of each man
so that he may know exactly how much work to expect from him. The
best way to accomplish this is the study of the elementary
problems which are in end games, that is, in positions where only
a few men are left on each side.