PREFACE TO NEW REVISED EDITION. The following work is designed for those who are learning the noble game of Chess. Many persons have been confused and discouraged at the very outset of the study by the great variety and the delicate distinctions of the openings: and this has constituted a fault in many otherwise excellent manuals for the learner. The chief aim of the Editor of these pages has been to avoid this fault, by simplifying the openings, and by giving to the student chiefly such moves as are recognized to be the best, both in attack and defence. By playing over carefully the illustrative games, the learner will also see, at each opening, the variations made by experienced players in accordance with circumstances. As great a variety of actually played games has been given as was possible in a work of such limited scope. To this end the games of the distinguished players of different nations have been introduced, classified according to the different openings; and thus the reader will find the combined genius and skill of the old heroes like Philidor, Morphy, Staunton, Anderssen, Harrwitz, Evans, Montgomery and Cochrane, together with such recent masters as Lasker, Steinitz, Schlechter, Pillsbury, Marshall, Tarrasch, Janowsky, Tchigorin, and many other players of world-wide celebrity. The basis of this work is Staunton's "Chess Player's Handbook;" but other standard books have been drawn upon to fit it to be a manual for the beginner of to-day. In order to insure perfect accuracy, all the lessons and games have been carefully gone over on the board after being put in type.