|---------------------------------------|
6 | | | #Kt| #B | #P | | | #P |
|---------------------------------------|
5 | | | | | | | | |
|---------------------------------------|
4 | | | | | | ^P | | |
|---------------------------------------|
3 | | ^P | | ^Kt| | ^Kt| | |
|---------------------------------------|
2 | ^P | ^B | | ^Q | ^R | | ^P | ^P |
|---------------------------------------|
1 | | | | | ^R | | ^K | |
---------------------------------------
A B C D E F G H

Diag. 4.

It is Black's move, and we will suppose he wishes to play P-K4. A
beginner will probably calculate thus: I push on my pawn, he
takes with his pawn, my Knight takes, so does his, then my Bishop
takes, and so on. This is quite wrong, and means waste of time
and energy.

When the beginner considers a third or fourth move in such a
combination, he will already have forgotten which pieces he
intended to play in the first moves. The calculation is perfectly
simple upon the following lines: I play P-K4, then my pawn is
attacked by a pawn and two Knights, a Bishop and two Rooks, six
times in all. It is supported by a Bishop, two Knights, two Rooks
and a Queen, six times in all. Therefore I can play P-K4,