draughts
From this position there are almost endless variations. Drummond, a well-known writer and specialist, gives no fewer than thirty; and, generally, they end in favour of White, the second player—proving that this opening is hardly so good as the Old Fourteenth or the Single Corner, which may be considered the standard games of first-rate players.
We give the moves of a completed game in this opening, showing the moves from which the variations spring.
And White wins. Now try the variations indicated. Had Black at his fifteenth move gone from 11 to 15, the best he could have done would be to draw. See:—
And the game is drawn.
It may be useful, in this place, to give a
Of these, some already named—Old Fourteenth, Laird and Lady, &c.—are the best for practice. We therefore present another set of games in the
As before, the key-game appears in the first double-column; and the variations spring from the point indicated. The moves are given consecutively; the first player going from 11 to 15; his opponent from 23 to 19, and so on to the end.
As in the previous examples, the asteriskshows the losing move. Young players should get this opening by heart. In the first game, you see, all that White can do is to draw; in the others he wins.
This a good and sound opening. Properly conducted, it gives the win to the first player. As in the Old Fourteenth and the Laird and Lady, the first move is from square 11 to square 15. The variation occurs in the second move, which is 22 to 18 instead of 22 to 19. Thus—
The position of the men is now as follows, without any great advantage on either side, with Black to move:—
draughts
It will be well for the students to play out the game from this position.
Now let us take some variations most usual in this opening. The first game is played from the initial move, and the variations from the places marked. It will be easy for any two players with the Numbered Board before them to follow the moves.
The asterisk, in each case, shows the losing move. These games, however, by no means exhaust the variations in the Single Corner Game.
This mode of opening the game was, and is, a favourite one with Scottish players. It is a strong and sound game for the Black, beginning, like the Old Fourteenth, the Single Corner, and the Laird and Lady, with the move from square 11 to square 15. Presuming that Black always commences, the first moves are:—
This third move of the Black is the variation which gives the Glasgow its special character. The move 4 to 8 instead of 11 to 16 would have been the Old Fourteenth. White’s safest reply is—
Had White replied with 26 to 19, he would have lost by his opponent playing 10 to 14. As it is, Black’s next move is forced:—
From this point the game is even, though certainly Black has the best position for attack and defence. The situation is shown in the diagram:—