This etext was produced by John Mamoun <mamounjo@umdnj.edu> with help

from the online distributed proofreaders page of Charles Franks.

Chess and Checkers: The Way to Mastership

Complete instructions for the beginner [and]valuable suggestions for the advanced player.

by

Edward Lasker

TABLE OF CONTENTS

INFORMATION ABOUT THIS E-TEXT EDITION

INTRODUCTION

THE HISTORY OF CHESS THE HISTORY OF CHECKERS

PART I: THE GAME OF CHESS

I. THE RULES OF THE GAME

            Board and men
            The moves of the men
            Special terms
            Symbols for moves
            Chess laws

II. ELEMENTARY TACTICS

            Fundamental endings
            Relative value of the men
            How the different men cooperate
            Sacrificing

III. GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF CHESS STRATEGY

            King's Pawn openings
            Queen's Pawn openings
            The middle game

IV. ILLUSTRATIVE GAMES

            Game No. 1: Jackson Showalter vs. Edward Lasker,
            Lexington, Ky., 1917

            Game No. 2: Edward Lasker vs. Jose R. Capablanca,
            New York, 1915

V. PROBLEMS

PART II: THE GAME OF CHECKERS

I. THE RULES OF THE GAME

II. ELEMENTARY TACTICS

III. THE FIVE FUNDAMENTAL POSITIONS

            The first position
            The second position
            The change of the move
            The third position
            The fourth position
            The fifth position

IV. GENERAL PRINCIPLES AND ILLUSTRATIVE GAMES

V. PROBLEMS

INFORMATION ABOUT THIS E-TEXT EDITION

The following is an e-text of "Chess and Checkers: The Wayto Mastership," by Edward Lasker, copyright 1918, printed inNew York.

This e-text contains the 118 chess and checkers board gamediagrams appearing in the original book, plus an extra chessdiagram that appears on the front cover of the book, all inthe form of ASCII line drawings. The following is a key tothe diagrams:

For chess pieces,

  R = Rook
  Kt = Knight
  B = Bishop
  Q = Queen
  K = King
  P = Pawn

Black pieces have a # symbol to the left of them, whilewhite pieces have a ^ symbol to the left of them. For example,#B is the Black bishop, while ^B is the white bishop. #Kt isthe black knight, while ^Kt is the white knight. This willlet the reader instantly tell by sight which pieces in theASCII chess diagrams are black and which are white.

For Checkers pieces,

* = black single piece o = white single piece

  ** = black king
  oo = white king

Those who find these diagrams hard to read should feel freeto set up them up on a game board using the actual pieces.

...