The Two-Move Chess Problem

Author: Laws, Benjamin Glover (1861-1931)Year: 1890Publisher: George Bell & SonsPlace: LondonDescription:iv+115 pages with diagrams and index. Duodecimo (6 3/4" x 4 3/4") issued in brown cloth with black lettering to spine and decorative black lettering and illustrations to cover. Club series. (Betts: 34-1) First edition.Also published in New York, by Stokes in 1890. Reprinted in 1901, 1918 and 1922. A general introduction to the composition and solving of two-movers. The author commences with a chapter on the "the old masters" (Bone, Bolton, Grimshaw, Healey, etc) explaining the development of the problem. He continues with discussions of problems (direct, self, conditional, retractive, etc), definitions, beauty or merit of solution (key moves, the defense, mating moves and positions), construction (possibility of position, originality, economy, variations, mates, sacrifices, duals, cooks, etc) and difficulty of solution. All sections are illustrated with examples. A chapter of 36