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The Chess Endgame Exercise Book -

John Nunn John Nunn


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The Chess Endgame Exercise Book
John Nunn

444 endgame positions to entertain and instruct


Contents

Symbols

Introduction

1: Pawn Endings

2: Knight Endings

3: Bishop Endings

4: Bishop vs Knight Endings

5: Rook Endings

6: Rook and Minor Piece Endings

7: Queen Endings

8: Endings with Queens and Other Pieces

9: Endgame Tactics

10: Test Papers

Score-Table

Index of Games

Index of Composers
Copyright Information

About the Author

About Gambit Publications

About Gambit Chess Studio

Other Gambit Titles on Chess Studio and Kindle


Symbols
+ check
++ double check
# checkmate
!! brilliant move
! good move
!? interesting move
?! dubious move
? bad move
?? blunder
Ch championship
tt team event
50+ over-50
1-0 the game ends in a win for White
½-½ the game ends in a draw
0-1 the game ends in a win for Black

By diagrams:

☆ easy
☆☆ fairly easy
☆☆☆ medium difficulty
☆☆☆☆ difficult
☆☆☆☆☆ very difficult
Introduction

While endgame theory books are helpful, active participation by the reader
is a great aid to learning. I hope that this book of endgame exercises will
encourage readers to put their brains in high gear, both to test themselves
and to learn more about the endgame. I have spent several months selecting
the 444 exercises in this book from what was initially a much larger
collection. Many positions were rejected as being insufficiently clear-cut or
not really making the point I was interested in showing. The final choice is
intended to be both instructive and entertaining. In addition to important
general principles, the exercises show that endgame positions should never
be approached mechanically and that imaginative solutions are required
more frequently than one might expect.

Each chapter starts with four positions illustrating key ideas which play an
important part in that chapter’s exercises. Then there are several ‘sets’ of
six exercises (in the printed book, these are all on one page). You should
certainly try to solve each position before peeking at the answer. Even if
you fail to solve the exercise, there is something to be learnt from each
position and you should play over the solution carefully.

The exercises vary in what the reader is being asked to achieve. In some
cases, it is just to find the first move of the solution, but in others a longer
winning line is required; others are of the multiple-choice type. The text
below the diagram should make it clear what is expected. Each exercise is
given a difficulty rating, from one star (easiest) up to five stars (hardest). In
each individual set of six exercises, the difficulty increases from easier to
harder, and every six exercises you will find a drop in difficulty, rather than
it simply increasing throughout each chapter. You do not have to tackle the
exercises in any order. Some may like to start at number one and go straight
through to the end, while others may prefer to tackle all the one-star
exercises first and work their way up the difficulty level. Each chapter ends
with a section of ‘Harder Exercises’, which start at the upper end of the
three-star range and go all the way up to five stars. I should make it clear
that some of the exercises are not easy; the four- and five-star exercises
would make even a grandmaster think hard. The ‘Harder Exercises’ are in
sets of four rather than six. The exercises have been carefully computer-
checked to ensure that the solution works and that it is essentially unique (if
there are alternative winning moves, these are mentioned in the solution).

The standard of endgame knowledge required for the exercises varies. A


large majority can be solved with only basic endgame knowledge, but a
small proportion are based on more advanced endgame theory. All the
theory required is covered in my earlier book Understanding Chess
Endgames (Gambit, 2009) or in any other book at a similar level.

The division of material into chapters is standard, based on the material in


the position. Thus, we start with pawn endings, then minor-piece endings,
rook endings and so on. There is quite a large chapter on positions with
rooks and minor pieces, an area often neglected in endgame theory. Chapter
9 covers endgame tactics. This chapter offers some light relief after the
challenges of the earlier chapters and includes mates, stalemates and
underpromotions, for example. Such tactical motifs also appear from time
to time in the other chapters, but Chapter 9 provides a more concentrated
diet. While these ideas do not arise frequently in over-the-board play, they
are important precisely because their rarity means they are often overlooked
when they do occur.

The positions in the book derive from a variety of sources. The majority are
from over-the-board games, although in a few of these I have slightly
modified the position, generally to eliminate alternative solutions (in these
cases the solution has ‘Adapted from’ before the game reference). To avoid
repetitions with other books, all except one of the over-the-board references
are from games played in 2019 or 2020. Other positions are from endgame
studies; here I have generally given the position after any introductory play
to focus attention on the key point being made. If neither a game nor a
study source is given in the solution, that means I created the position
myself to illustrate a certain idea.

The game positions were taken from a wide range of tournaments and
feature players of many different standards. Some may be surprised to find
their games in a textbook, but interesting and educational positions can
arise at any level and in many cases players with modest ratings conducted
the endgame to a high standard. Although some of the game examples were
not handled perfectly by the players, the question marks are not intended to
be a comment on the skill of the players. Playing such tricky positions at 30
seconds per move, as most probably were, is a real challenge even for
grandmasters. Modern time-limits mean that there is little time for deep
calculation in the endgame, so it is essential to have a solid understanding
of the general principles, which can provide guidance with relatively little
thought.

The chess terminology used in this book is standard, but I will use one term
which may be unfamiliar to readers, reciprocal zugzwang.

White/Black to play

Here White wins by zugzwang. If Black is to play, he must move his king,
allowing White to take the pawn, with a win after 1...Kf8 2 Kxe6 Ke8 3 Kf6
Kf8 4 e6 Ke8 5 e7. However, the result does not depend on who is to move.
It’s still a win with White to play, as he can continue 1 Kd6 and Black must
still surrender the pawn.
White/Black to play

This situation is different. Black to play again loses by zugzwang after


1...h5 2 h4, but now the result is different if White is to move, since both 1
Kd6 Kxb7 2 Ke6 Kc7 3 Kf6 Kd7 4 Kg6 Ke7 5 Kxh6 Kf8 and 1 h4 h5 lead
to a draw. White’s problem is that he has no waiting move, so when he is to
play he too is in zugzwang. This situation, in which either player having the
move changes the result of the position for the worse, is what we call
reciprocal zugzwang and is fundamental to many endgame positions.

John Nunn

Chertsey, July 2020


1: Pawn Endings

White to play

Pawn endings are the most fundamental type of ending. We start with four
of the key concepts in pawn endings. In the diagram, White’s king is better
positioned to attack the enemy pawns, but is his advantage enough to win?
There are several routes the king can use to reach f7, all taking six moves,
but not all lead to victory. The straight-line approach (or as near as you can
get on a chessboard!) doesn’t work: 1 Kd2? Kb3! 2 Kd3 Kb2! 3 Kd4 Kc2 4
Ke5 Kd3 5 Ke6 Ke3 6 Kf7 g5 7 Kg7 Kf2 8 g4 Kf3 is an easy draw.

1 Kc2!

This is the only move to win. The route to f7 also takes six moves via c2
and c3, but by using this route White can also hold the enemy king back, a
concept called shouldering away.

1...Ka3 2 Kc3! Ka4 3 Kc4

3 Kd4 also wins but moving to c4 is simpler.


3...Ka3 4 Kd5 Kb2 5 Ke6 Kc3 6 Kf7 g5 7 g4 Kd3 8 Kg7 Ke3 9 Kxh7 Kf4
10 h3

and White wins. By shouldering away the black king, White gained two
tempi over the direct approach (when White’s king was on f7, Black’s king
was on c3 rather than e3). This idea is useful in a wide range of endings.

White to play

This position by F. Dedrle (Časopis československych šachistu, 1921) is a


win using a refined version of the opposition. Most players are familiar with
the standard opposition, in which the two kings face each other with one
empty square in between. This is the most common case, but the opposition
comes in various forms. Here the key position has the white king on e6 and
the black king on c6. Then Black to play loses, but White to play only
draws. Both sides are attempting to reach this position with the other player
to move.

1 Kg8! (1 Kg7? is wrong due to 1...Ka7!, gaining what is called the distant
opposition, when Black can just mirror the white king’s moves until the
key position arises with White to play; for example, 2 Kg6 Ka6! 3 Kg5
Ka5! 4 Kf6 Kb6 5 Kf7 Kb7 6 Ke7 Kc7 7 Ke6 Kc6 8 Ke5 Kc5) 1...Kb6
(1...Ka7 2 Kg7 Ka6 3 Kg6 Ka5 4 Kf7 and 1...Kb7 2 Kf7 Kb6 3 Kf6 Kb5 4
Ke7 are similar: White edges nearer e5 while all the time maintaining the
opposition) 2 Kf8 (this could be called ‘rectangular opposition’: the two
kings stand on same-coloured squares at opposite corners of a rectangle,
here b6-f6-f8-b8) 2...Kc6 (or 2...Kc7 3 Ke7) 3 Ke8! (now it starts to look
more familiar; in textbooks this is sometimes called diagonal opposition)
3...Kd6 4 Kf7 (this works because Black can only gain the opposition
temporarily; since d5 is out of bounds White easily regains it) 4...Kd7 5
Kf6 Kd6 6 Kf5 Kc6 7 Ke6 (the key position arises with Black to play)
7...Kc5 8 Kd7 Kb5 9 Kd6 Kc4 10 Kc6 and White wins.

White to play

Many king and pawn endings are decided by zugzwang and in these cases it
is extremely useful to have a spare pawn move, so that if you arrive at the
crucial position with the wrong player to move, you can use the spare move
to put your opponent in zugzwang. Such pawn moves, held back for when
they are needed, are called reserve tempi. In this position White can play
g4 to create the reserve tempo h3, but there is a finesse.

1 Kb5! (after 1 g4? Ka7! 2 Kb5 Kb7 3 h3 Kc7 White doesn’t win because 4
Ka6? Kc6 5 Ka7 b5 6 axb5+ Kxb5 7 Kb7 Kc4 is even losing for him; White
only wins if he can get his king to a6 without using the reserve tempo)
1...Ka7 (1...Kb7 2 g4! transposes) 2 g3! (this rather tricky move puts Black
in zugzwang; not 2 Kc6? g4! 3 Kb5 Kb7 4 g3 h5 with a draw) 2...Kb7
(2...g4 and 2...h5 both weaken the kingside pawns and allow White to win
by 3 a5 bxa5 4 Kxa5 Kb7 5 Kb5, etc.) 3 g4! (White secures his reserve
tempo at a moment when he can get his king to a6 without playing h3)
3...Kc7 (after 3...Ka7 4 Kc6 Ka6 5 h3 White wins the same way) 4 Ka6
Kc6 5 h3! (this is the right moment for the reserve tempo, as now White
gets his king behind the b-pawn) 5...Kc7 6 Ka7 Kc6 7 Kb8 b5 8 axb5+
Kxb5 9 Kc7 (White is a tempo ahead of the line given after 1 g4? and this
turns a loss into a win) 9...Kc5 10 Kd7 Kd5 11 Ke7 Ke5 12 Kf7 Kf4 13
Kg6 Kg3 14 Kxh6 Kh4 15 Kg6 and White wins.

White to play

Some exercises involve both sides promoting, leading to an endgame of


Q+P vs Q, so here is the basic information you will need to evaluate such
positions (this topic is covered in more detail in Chapter 7). Whichever
pawn you have, it is almost always a draw if the defender’s king can get in
front of the pawn. Q+aP vs Q is usually a draw except if the pawn is far-
advanced. Q+bP vs Q is usually a draw if the pawn is not far advanced; the
result when the pawn is further advanced generally depends on the
defender’s king position. Q+cP vs Q is almost always a win if the
defender’s king cannot get in front of the pawn. Q+dP is usually a win in
the same situation, although there are a few drawn positions. Using this
information, you should be able to find the correct move in the diagram. 1
c4? only draws after 1...h5 (note that there are always special cases; for
example, 1...Kd4? loses even though 2 Kb5 h5 3 c5 h4 4 c6 h3 5 c7 h2 6
c8Q h1Q leads to an ending that would normally be a draw since in this
particular position 7 Qc3+ followed by Qc6+ wins Black’s queen) 2 c5 h4 3
c6 h3 4 c7 h2 5 c8Q h1Q is a draw as the b-pawn is not far-advanced.

The correct line is 1 b4! h5 2 b5 h4 3 b6 h3 4 b7 h2 5 b8Q h1Q (this


ending should be a win by the rule above, but there is a danger here in that
Black’s king is rather close to the white pawn) and now 6 Qd6! (not 6 Qd8?
Qa1+ followed by ...Qb2+ winning the pawn) is the only move to win.
White cuts off the enemy king while preparing to meet 6...Qa1+ by 7 Qa3+.
Black faces defeat, although the process is quite lengthy; indeed, against
best play it takes White 75 moves to force mate.
Exercises
Set 1

Exercise 1: White to play

What is the winning plan for White?

answer
Exercise 2: White to play

☆☆

How does White win here?

answer
Exercise 3: White to play

☆☆☆

Find the winning line for White.

answer
Exercise 4: White to play

☆☆☆

After 1 Kc3 Ke6 the players agreed to a draw. Could White have exploited
his extra pawn?

answer
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President in the Philippines sufficed fully, it was contended,
for every purpose of temporary or provisional government
there, except in its lack of ability to grant franchises and
to dispose of the public lands. Hence it was freely charged
that the controlling influences which pressed this measure on
the government came from capitalists and speculators who were
reaching after valuable franchises, mining rights and land
grants in the archipelago. Said Senator Daniel in the debate:
"So far as any legislation which looks forward to the opening
of the way to civil government may be involved to the
softening of the conditions which exist, to the amelioration
of the distresses which are upon the Philippine people, I
would give most cheerful acquiescence. But because we desire
to do these things in a good spirit, in a resolute and
patriotic spirit, let us not permit the provocation of
difficult conditions to lead us into enacting any kind of
provision of law that is not necessary to these ends. Let us
not undertake to give to the President of the United States
any power of disposing of the permanent assets of the
Philippine people; let us not put him in the attitude of being
a franchise giver or a franchise seller or a franchise lessor.
The franchises of those islands—their rivers, their ferries,
their streets, their roads, the thousand and one privileges
which are granted by public authority—are as important and as
valuable to that people and as permanently associated with
their happiness and their prosperity as are their fields or
their mines or their fisheries or anything else which belongs
to their country. … It is true there is the reservation of the
right to alter, amend, or repeal, but while that is legally
broad enough for any remedial legislation whatsoever to
follow, we know that practically it is of very small
consequence. If capital goes in and invests itself in
improvements which are in themselves of a permanent nature, if
railroads are constructed, telegraph lines run, telephones
established, ferries built, steamers and boats, gas
establishments, electrical establishments—if those things are
disposed of, the man who once gets in will never be gotten
out. In all such affairs possession is nine points of the law
before they get into court, where it is generally made the
tenth."

Senator Hoar called attention "to the fact that the report of
the Taft commission urges that power be given to sell the
public lands at once, as it is necessary for their
development, and a large amount of capital is there now
clamoring to be invested," and he remarked: "So I suppose that
one of the chief purposes of this is that the public lands in
the Philippine Islands may be sold before the people of the
islands have any chance whatever to have a voice in their
sale." He then quoted the following passages from the report
of the Taft commission:

"The commission has received a sufficient number of


applications for the purchase of public land to know that
large amounts of American capital are only awaiting the
opportunity to invest in the rich agricultural field which may
here be developed. In view of the decision that the military
government has no power to part with the public land belonging
to the United States, and that the power rests alone in
Congress, it becomes very essential, to assist the development
of these islands and their prosperity, that Congressional
authority be vested in the government of the islands to adopt
a proper public-land system, and to sell the land upon proper
terms. There should, of course, be restrictions preventing the
acquisition of too large quantities by any individual or
corporation, but those restrictions should only be imposed
after giving due weight to the circumstances that capital can
not be secured for the development of the islands unless the
investment may be sufficiently great to justify the
expenditure of large amounts for expensive machinery and
equipments.
{401}
Especially is this true in the cultivation of sugar land. …
Restricted powers of a military government referred to in
discussing the public lands are also painfully apparent in
respect to mining claims and the organization of railroad,
banking, and other corporations, and the granting of
franchises generally. It is necessary that there be some body
or officer vested with legislative authority to pass laws
which shall afford opportunity to capital to make investment
here. This is the true and most lasting method of
pacification." "In other words," said Senator Hoar, "the
leading, principal, bald proposal on which this amendment
rests is that before those 10,000,000 people are allowed any
share in their own government whatever their property is to be
sold by Americans to Americans in large quantities, as on the
whole the best means of pacification—that the best way to
pacify a man is to have one foreign authority to sell his
property and another to buy it." An amendment to the
amendment, offered by Senator Bacon, reserving to Congress the
right to annul any grant or concession made, or any law
enacted, by any governmental authority created under the
powers proposed to be conferred on the President; another
offered, by Senator Vest, providing that "no judgment, order,
nor act by any of said officials so appointed shall conflict
with the Constitution and laws of the United States," and
still others of somewhat kindred aims, were voted down; but
the influence of Senator Hoar prevailed with the Senate so far
as to induce its acceptance of the following important
modification of the so-called "Spooner Amendment":

"Provided, That no sale or lease or other disposition of the


public land, or the timber thereon, or the mining rights
therein, shall be made: And provided further, That no
franchise shall be granted which is not approved by the
President of the United States, and is not, in his judgment,
clearly necessary for the immediate government of the islands
and indispensable for the interests of the people thereof, and
which can not, without great public mischief, be postponed
until the establishment of a permanent civil government, and
all such franchises shall terminate one year after the
establishment of such civil government."

With this proviso added, the "Spooner amendment" was adopted


by the Senate on the 26th of February (yeas 45, nays 27, not
voting 16), and agreed to by the House on the 1st of March
(yeas 161, nays 136, not voting 56).

Congressional Record,
February 25-March 1, 1901.

PHILIPPINE ISLANDS: A. D. 1901 (March).


Organization of provincial governments.
Establishment of a department of public education.
Proposed tariff.
Date fixed for cessation of military regime.

On the 3d of March, the President of the Philippine


Commission, Judge Taft, addressed a cable despatch to the U.
S. Secretary of War in which he reported: "Commission has last
three weeks organized five provincial governments—Pampanga,
Pangasinan, Tarlac, Bulacan, Bataan—last two are Tagalog
provinces. Attended each provincial capital in a body; met by
appointment Presidentes, Councillors, and principal men of
towns; explained provisions general provincial act and special
bill for particular province and invited discussion natives
present of both bills. Conventions thus held very
satisfactory; amendments suggested, considered, special bills
enacted, appointments followed. … In three large provinces
natives appointed provisional Governors. In Bataan, on
petition, eight out of nine towns, volunteer officer
appointed. In Tarlac feeling between loyal factions required
appointment American. … In compliance with urgent native
invitations leave March 11 for south to organize provinces
Tayabas, Romblon, Iloilo, Capiz, Zamboanga, such others are
ready. Returning shall organize Zambales, Union, Cagayan,
Ilocos Norte. Military Governor has recommended organization
Batangas, Cavité, Laguna, Nueva Ecija, but shall delay action
as to these until return from northern and southern trips."

On the 18th of March it was announced from Washington that a


number of recent Acts of the Philippine Commission had been
received at the War Department, among them one which
establishes a general department of public instruction, with a
central office at Manila, under the direction of a general
superintendent, to be appointed by the commission, at a salary
of $6,000 a year. "Schools are to be established in every
pueblo in the archipelago where practicable, and those already
established shall be reorganized where necessary. There are to
be ten school divisions in the archipelago, each with a
division superintendent, and there is to be a superior
advisory board, composed of the general superintendent and
four members to be appointed by the Philippine Commission, to
consider the general subject of education in the islands and
make regulations. The English language, as soon as
practicable, shall be made the basis of all public
instruction, and soldiers may be detailed as instructors until
replaced by trained teachers. Authority is given to the general
superintendent to obtain from the United States 1,000 trained
teachers, at salaries of not less than $75 nor more than $100
a month, the exact salary to be fixed according to the
efficiency of the teacher. The act provides that no teacher or
other person "shall teach or criticise the doctrines of any
church, religious sect or denomination or shall attempt to
influence the pupils for or against any church or religious
sect in any public school." Violation of this section is made
punishable by summary dismissal from the public service. It is
provided, however, that it may be lawful for the priest or
minister of the pueblo where the school is situated to teach
religion for half an hour three times a week in the school
building to pupils whose parents desire it. But if any priest,
minister or religious teacher use this opportunity "for the
purpose of arousing disloyalty to the United States or of
discouraging the attendance of pupils or interfering with the
discipline of schools," the division superintendent may forbid
such offending priest from entering the school building
thereafter. The act also provides for a normal school at
Manila for the education of natives in the science of
teaching. It appropriates $400,000 for school buildings,
$220,000 for text books and other supplies for the current
calendar year, $25,000 for the normal school, $15,000 for the
organization and maintenance of a trade school in Manila and
the same amount for a school of agriculture.

{402}

The new tariff for the Islands, which the Commission had been
long engaged in framing, was submitted, in March, to the
government at Washington for approval. "In his letter of
transmittal Judge Taft says that the proposed bill follows
largely the classification of the Cuban tariff, 'but has been
considerably expanded by the introduction of articles
requiring special treatment here by reason of different
surroundings and greater distance from the markets.' Judge
Taft says also that the disposition of the business interests
of the islands is to accept any tariff the commission
proposes, provided only that the duties are specific and not
ad valorem. The question of revenue was kept steadily in view
in the preparation of the schedules, but it was not the only
consideration. Raw materials of Philippine industries, tools,
implements and machinery of production, materials of
transportation, the producers and transmitters of power and
food products are taxed as lightly as possible. … Export
duties are levied on only six articles—hemp, indigo, rice,
sugar, cocoanuts, fresh or as copra, and tobacco. The free
list admits natural mineral waters, trees, shoots and plants,
gold, copper and silver ores, fresh fruits, garden produce,
eggs, milk, ice and fresh meat, except poultry and game. There
is also a list of articles conditionally free of duty. The
importation of explosives is prohibited, but that of firearms
is not."
It is announced from Washington that "Judge Taft and General
MacArthur have agreed upon July 1 as the date for the
establishment of civil government in the Philippines. The
military regime in the islands will therefore cease on June
30, when General Chaffee will relieve General MacArthur of the
command, and Governor Taft will be inaugurated the next day
with considerable ceremony."

PHILIPPINE ISLANDS: A. D. 1901 (March-April).


Capture of Aguinaldo.
His oath of allegiance to the United States.
His address to his countrymen, counselling peace.

A stratagem, executed with great daring by General Funston of


the American forces, accomplished the capture of the Filipino
leader, Aguinaldo, on the 23d of March. From intercepted
correspondence, it had been learned that Aguinaldo, then
occupying his headquarters at Palanan, Isabela Province, was
expecting to be joined by some riflemen, whom his brother had
been ordered to send to him from central Luzon. On this,
General Funston conceived the plan of equipping a number of
native troops who should pass themselves off as the expected
reinforcements, several American officers going with them
ostensibly as prisoners, the hope being that Aguinaldo might
thus be reached and taken by surprise. General MacArthur
approved the scheme, and it was carried out with success. The
party was made up of 78 Macabebe scouts, four Tagalogs who had
formerly been officers in the insurgent army, and General
Funston, Captain Newton, Lieutenants Hazzard and Mitchel, who
acted the part of prisoners. They were taken by gunboat from
Cavite to a point above Baler, whence they made their way on
foot, sending a message in advance that the expected
reinforcements were on the way and had captured some prisoners
en route. The following brief narrative of what occurred
subsequently is taken from a newspaper account of the
expedition:
"For six days the expedition marched over an exceedingly
difficult country, covering 90 miles. When the men reached a
point eight miles from Aguinaldo's camp they were almost
exhausted from lack of food and the fatigue of the march. They
stopped at this place and sent a message to Aguinaldo,
requesting him to send food to them. The ruse thus far had
worked with the greatest success, and on March 22d, when
Aguinaldo sent provisions, it was seen that he did not have
the slightest suspicion. With the food he sent word that the
Americans were not wanted in his camp, but instructing their
supposed captors to treat them kindly. On March 23d the march
was resumed, the Macabebe officers starting an hour ahead of
the main body of the expedition. The 'prisoners,' under guard,
followed them. When the party arrived at Aguinaldo's camp a
bodyguard of 50 riflemen was paraded, and the officers were
received at Aguinaldo's house, which was situated on the
Palanan River. After some conversation with him, in which they
gave the alleged details of their suppositious engagement with
an American force, they made excuses and quietly left the
house. They at once gave orders in an undertone for the
Macabebes to get in position and fire on the bodyguard. The
order was obeyed with the greatest rapidity, and three volleys
were delivered. The insurgents were panic-stricken by the
sudden turn in affairs, and they broke and ran in
consternation. Two of them, however, were killed and eighteen
wounded. Simultaneously with the delivery of the volleys the
American officers rushed into Aguinaldo's house. Major
Alhambra, one of Aguinaldo's staff, had been shot in the face.
He, however, was determined not to be captured and he jumped
from a window into the river and disappeared. Two captains and
four lieutenants made their escape in a similar manner.
Aguinaldo, Colonel Villa, his chief of staff, and Santiago
Barcelona, the insurgent treasurer, did not have time to make
an attempt to get away before General Funston and the others
were upon them, demanding their surrender. Seeing that the
situation was hopeless, they gave themselves up. Aguinaldo was
furious at having been caught, but later he became
philosophical and declared that the ruse by which he had been
captured was the only one which would have proved successful
if the Americans had tried for 20 years. One of the Macabebes
was wounded. The party stayed two days at the camp and then
marched overland to the coast, where the Vicksburg, whose
arrival was excellently timed, picked them up and brought them
back to Manila."

On the 2d of April, a despatch from General MacArthur to the


War Department announced that Aguinaldo, on the advice of
Chief Justice Arellano, had taken the following oath of
allegiance to the United States: "I hereby renounce all
allegiance to any and all so-called revolutionary governments
in the Philippine Islands, and recognize and accept the
supreme authority of the United States of America therein; I
do solemnly swear that I will bear true faith and allegiance
to that government; that I will at all times conduct myself as
a faithful and law abiding citizen of the said islands, and
will not, either directly or indirectly, hold correspondence
with or give intelligence to an enemy of the United States,
nor will I abet, harbor or protect such enemy; that I impose
upon myself these voluntary obligations without any mental
reservations or purpose of evasion, so help me God."

{403}

On the 19th of April, Aguinaldo issued the following address


to his countrymen: "I believe I am not in error in presuming
that the unhappy fate to which my adverse fortune has led me
is not a surprise to those who have been familiar with the
progress of the war. The lessons taught with a full meaning,
and which have recently come to my knowledge, suggest with
irresistible force that a complete termination of hostilities
and lasting peace are not only desirable, but absolutely
essential to the welfare of the Philippine Islands. The
Filipinos have never been dismayed at their weakness, nor have
they faltered in following the path pointed out by their
fortitude and courage. The time has come, however, in which
they find their advance along this path to be impeded by an
irresistible force, which, while it restrains them, yet
enlightens their minds and opens to them another course,
presenting them the cause of peace. This cause has been
joyfully embraced by the majority of my fellow countrymen who
already have united around the glorious sovereign banner of
the United States. In this banner they repose their trust and
believe that under its protection the Filipino people will
attain all those promised liberties which they are beginning
to enjoy. The country has declared unmistakably in favor of
peace. So be it. There has been enough blood, enough tears and
enough desolation. This wish cannot be ignored by the men
still in arms, if they are animated by a desire to serve our
noble people, which has thus clearly manifested its will. So
do I respect this will, now that it is known to me. After
mature deliberation, I resolutely proclaim to the world that I
cannot refuse to heed the voice of a people longing for peace,
nor the lamentations of thousands of families yearning to see
their dear ones enjoying the liberty and the promised
generosity of the great American Nation. By acknowledging and
accepting the sovereignty of the United States throughout the
Philippine Archipelago, as I now do, and without any
reservation whatsoever, I believe that I am serving thee, my
beloved country. May happiness be thine."

PHŒNICIANS, The:
Modified estimates of their influence upon early
European civilization.

See (in this volume)


ARCHÆOLOGICAL RESEARCH: CRETE.

PILLAGER INDIAN OUTBREAK.

See (in this volume)


INDIANS, AMERICAN: A. D. 1898.
PLAGUE, The Bubonic.

For years the plague has "continued to breed in various inner


parts of Asia, and in 1894, coming from the Chinese province
of Yunnan, it invaded Canton, taking there 60,000 victims in a
few weeks. Thence it spread to Hong Kong, reached next year
the island of Haïnan and Macao, invaded Formosa in 1896, and
in the autumn of the same year appeared at Bombay. In the big
city of India it found all necessary conditions for breeding,
unchecked, for several months in succession: famine,
overcrowding, and the absence of all preventive measures; and
from Bombay it was carried by rail and road, to different
parts of India. … Happily enough, the plague is no longer the
mysterious, revengeful being which it used to be for our
ancestors. Its cause and modes of propagation are well known.
It is an infectious disease with a short period of incubation.
From four to six days after infection takes place, a sudden
loss of forces—often a full prostration, accompanied by a high
fever-sets in. A bubo appears, and soon grows to the size of
an egg. Death soon follows. If not—there is a chance of slow
and painful recovery; but that chance is very small, because
even under the best conditions of nursing, the mortality is
seldom less than four out of each five cases of illness. As to
the means of propagation of the plague, they are many. The
poison may infect a wound or a scratch; it may be ingested in
food; it may be simply inhaled. Dust from an infected house
was sufficient to infect healthy rats; and when healthy rats
were shut up in one cage with unhealthy ones, all caught the
disease and died. Already in 1881 Netten Redcliffe and Dr.
Pichon indicated that before the plague attacks men it
destroys mice and rats. This was fully confirmed in 1894 by
the Japanese and French bacteriologists Kitasato and Yersin,
at Hong Kong, and by Dr. Rennie, of the Chinese Customs, at
Canton. Masses of dead rats were seen in the streets of the
infested parts of Hong Kong, and the keeper of the west gates
of Canton collected and buried 24,000 of these animals. Dr.
Rennie also pointed out that among those inhabitants of Canton
who lived in boats on the river there were no cases of plague,
except a few imported from town, so that even rich Cantonese
took to living in boats; and he explained the immunity of the
boat-dwellers by the absence of infection through rats. The
worst is, however, that swine, and even goats and buffaloes,
snakes and jackals, are attacked by the plague. …

"As soon as the plague broke out at Hong Kong, the great
Japanese bacteriologist Kitasato and the French doctor Yersin,
who is well known for his work with Roux on the serum
treatment of diphtheria, were already on the spot. Yersin
obtained from the English authorities permission to erect a
small straw hut in the yard of the chief hospital, and there
he began his researches. Both Kitasato and Yersin had no
difficulty in ascertaining that the plague buboes teemed with
special bacteria, which had the shape of tiny microscopic
sticklets, thickened at their ends. To isolate these bacteria,
to cultivate them in artificial media, and to ascertain the
deadly effects of these cultures upon animals, was soon done
by such masters in bacteriology as Kitasato and Yersin. The
cause of the plague was thus discovered. It was evident that
infected rats and swine—especially swine with the Chinese, who
keep them in their houses—were spreading the disease, in
addition to men themselves. The same bacteria teemed in the
dead animals. As to men, the discharges from their buboes, and
even, in many cases, their expectorations, were full of plague
bacteria. Besides, Yersin soon noticed that in his
'laboratory,' where he was dissecting animals killed by the
plague, the flies died in numbers. He found that they were
infested with the same bacteria, and carried them about:
inoculations of bacteria obtained from the flies at once
provoked the plague in guinea-pigs. Ants, gnats, and other
insects may evidently spread infection in the same way, while
in and round the infested houses the soil is impregnated with
the same bacteria. As soon as the pest microbe became known,
experiments were begun, at the Paris Institut Pasteur, for
finding the means to combat it; and in July 1895 Yersin,
Calmette, and Borel could already announce that some very
promising results had been obtained."

P. Kropotkin,
Recent Science
(Nineteenth Century, July, 1897).

{404}

Of the first appearance of the plague in India, at Bombay, and


the early stages of its spread in that country, the Viceroy,
Lord Elgin, made the following report to the Secretary of
State for India, on the 27th of January, 1897: "The first
official intimation of the outbreak which reached us was in a
telegram from the Government of Bombay, dated the 29th
September 1896. The disease was then reported to be of a mild
type, and at first it showed no tendency to increase. …
Throughout the months of October and November the disease made
little or no progress, and the number of deaths reported a day
averaged nine. Early in December there was a marked increase,
and the number of deaths reported daily from the 2nd to the
23rd (inclusive) was about 32. From the 24th December onwards
there was another marked increase, and the number of deaths
reported from that date to the 14th January (inclusive)
averaged about 51. The next week shows a further increase, the
reported number of deaths averaging 74 a day. The total number
of deaths reported during October was 276; during November,
268; during December, 1,160; and from the 1st to the 25th
January, 1,444. The total number of deaths reported from the
beginning of the outbreak thus amounts to 3,148. We have
reason to fear that all deaths from the plague have not been
reported as such, and that the true mortality from the disease
is higher than is shown by the above figures. … For a
considerable time, except for a few imported cases in some
towns in Gujarat, the outbreak was confined to Bombay itself,
but on the 23rd of December we learnt from the Government of
Bombay that the plague had broken out in Karachi. … The total
number of deaths that have been reported in Karachi, from the
beginning of the outbreak up to the 24th January, is 608. It
will be observed that the disease has been very malignant in
Karachi, and that almost all the cases reported have been
fatal. As soon as the Surgeon General with the Government of
Bombay reported to that Government that he had seen cases of a
mild type of bubonic plague in the city, preventive measures
were adopted and a Committee of medical experts were appointed
to report on the disease and the situation. The Municipal
Corporation have from the outset required the infected
quarters to undergo a thorough and systematic cleaning and
disinfection; and they have also pushed on vigorously other
sanitary measures, such as the improvement of house
connections and the construction of surface drains in quarters
where the drainage was defective. A house-to-house visitation
by medical officers has also been instituted. The Corporation
have sanctioned liberal measures towards these ends, and the
executive officers have displayed great energy in carrying
them out. … We have informed the Government of Bombay that we
consider it necessary that the plan of removing all persons
from infected houses, and thoroughly cleansing and
disinfecting the buildings, should be carried out, and we have
asked His Excellency in Council, if he agrees, to report the
measures that are adopted to bring the plan into general
effect."

To the above suggestion that all persons be removed from


infected houses, the government of Bombay replied, on the 12th
of February: "His Excellency is advised that, to give full
effect to such a proposal, at the lowest computation, 30,000
persons belonging to different races, castes, and creeds would
need to be provided with temporary dwellings. There is no site
within the limits of the Bombay municipality which would
accommodate a tenth of this number. Great difficulty has
attended all attempts at the segregation of healthy inmates of
infected houses hitherto made, and very limited success bas
been achieved. From the beginning of the outbreak of this
disease it has been found that the native inhabitants of the
city are very reluctant to leave their houses or to allow any
member of their family afflicted with the disease to be taken
away. Indeed, their dread of the disease itself appears to be
hardly so powerful as their horror of being removed from their
houses. Ignorance and superstition prevent them from
discerning either that removal to a hospital is good for the
sick or removal [from] infected dwellings good for the
healthy, and they are far more easily moved by fear of the
municipal and police authorities than by any realisation of
the benefits that will accrue from a sensible course of
action. It is estimated that not less than 300,000 persons
have already fled from Bombay, moved so to do, not only by
fear of the plague, but quite as much, if not more, by an
unfounded and unreasonable fear of what might happen to them
at the hands of the police and municipal authorities were they
to remain."

Contending with such obstacles to the use of the most


effective measures for checking the spread of the disease, the
authorities at Bombay and elsewhere, who seem to have worked
with energy, saw little to encourage their efforts for some
time. In a second report to the Secretary of State for India,
made February 10, Lord Elgin was compelled to write: "We much
regret that we are unable to report that the plague shows any
signs of abating. In both Bombay and Karachi there has been an
increase in the daily number of seizures and deaths since the
beginning of the current month." But, a month later, on the
10th of March, the Viceroy reported that "the position of
affairs in Bombay is distinctly better. There has been a
decrease in the reported number of plague seizures and deaths,
and the total daily mortality from all causes shows a marked
diminution. During the week ending the 22nd February, the
average daily number of seizures and deaths was 115 and 117,
respectively; during the following week the daily average fell
to 107 and 99, whilst during the period March 2nd to March 8th
it has been 99 and 84. … Persons are now returning to the
quarters of Bombay, which are comparatively free from plague,
from the more infected outlying suburbs, and the Government of
Bombay have therefore found it necessary to watch persons
entering as well as those leaving Bombay. In the suburbs of
Kurla, Bandora, and Bhiwandi the plague continues to be
severe. Outside Bombay in the Presidency proper the number of
indigenous cases has increased, and the disease shows a
tendency to spread, especially in the Thana and Surat
districts. … Outside Karachi the plague shows no tendency to
spread in Sind, and Sukkur is the only other place from which
indigenous cases have been reported."

Great Britain, Parliamentary Publications


(Papers by Command: C.-8386, 1897; and C.-8511, 1897).

{405}

From that time there appears to have been a nearly steady


subsidence of the disease until the following September, when
it showed renewed virulence at Poona, and began to be newly
spread, invading districts in the Punjab and elsewhere outside
of the Bombay Presidency. By the middle of November Poona was
substantially empty of inhabitants, except those stricken with
the disease and those who bravely cared for the sick and dying.
In December there was a fresh outbreak in Bombay, which soon
became more deadly than that of the previous winter and
spring. By the beginning of February, 1898, and through March,
the deaths from plague alone in Bombay had risen above a
thousand a week. Then another subsidence occurred, followed by
another recrudescence of the disease in August, and another
decline in October. But the variations in other districts were
not uniform with those in Bombay. At the end of 1898, the
total of mortality from plague in all the afflicted districts
of India, reckoning from the beginning, was believed to exceed
100,000, including 70,000 in the Bombay Presidency and Sind
(28,000 in the city of Bombay), and 2,000 in the Punjab. In
Calcutta there had been but 150 deaths. Although the measures
taken for checking the spread of the pestilence were far less
stringent than they would have been among people more capable
of understanding what they meant and what their importance
was, they alarmed the religious jealousies of both the Hindus
and the Mohammedans, and were resisted and resented with
dangerous fury at a number of times. At Poona, in June, 1897,
two British officials were murdered by young Brahmins, who had
been excited to the deed by native journals, the language of
which was so violent that the government found it necessary to
prosecute several for sedition. At Bombay, in March, 1898,
when the plague was at its worst, there were very serious
riots, in which a number of Europeans were killed, and troops
were called to the help of the police before the frenzied mob
could be overcome.

Again, in 1899, there was a revival of the disease in India,


especially at Bombay, during the winter, with a decline in
April and fresh virulence in September. At the end of the year
the estimate of total mortality from plague in India since the
beginning was 250,000.

Of the wider spreading of the pestilence during 1900 the


following summary of information is given in the annual report
of the United States Secretary of the Treasury, in connection
with details of quarantine measures: "The Surgeon-General
reports that plague has been more widely distributed during
the year than was ever known in history, and for the first
time obtained lodgment in the Western Hemisphere, at Santos,
Brazil, in October, 1899. By this it is not meant that the
disease has been actually more prevalent than before, but that
its points of contact have embraced nearly every civilized
country in the world, though its prompt recognition and
application of modern methods have either entirely prevented
its spread or have caused it to disappear after a short period
of infection. The scientific knowledge of the disease renders
it far less to be dreaded than before, but increase in rapid
communication between different parts of the world facilitates
its transportation. In illustration, the fact is cited that 20
vessels have been reported, arriving at as many principal
seaports in different parts of the world, on which plague was
discovered on arrival or had manifested itself during the
voyage. As heretofore, its chief ravages have been in India,
where preventive measures have been hindered by religious
fanaticism. In India during the year there were 66,294 deaths.
Notable outbreaks of the disease occurred in Kobe and in
Formosa, Japan, at Oporto, Santos, Rio de Janeiro, Honolulu,
Sydney, Mauritius, Hongkong, and Glasgow.

"In December, 1899, on account of the apparent spread of this


disease, 12 commissioned officers were detailed by order of
the President for duty in the offices of the United States
consuls at the principal ports in England and on the
Continent. In June, the disease fortunately not having become
as widespread as anticipated, they were recalled, with the
exception of five, who are still retained for the purpose of
furnishing information and for service at any needed point.
Two of those thus retained, when the plague was announced at
Glasgow, Scotland, on August 28, 1900, were immediately sent
to that point and began inspection of vessels for the United
States and also for Canada, by request of that Government,
thus enabling vessels to be entered at ports on this side
without undue restraint. In the laboratory of the Service,
scientific investigations as to the viability of the plague
bacillus and the methods and efficiency of disinfection have
been conducted, and the results, together with excerpts from
all available literature hearing upon the prevention of
plague, have been published in the Public Health Reports,
forming, for this year, a volume containing most complete
information upon this disease. About 700,000 doses of
Haffkine's prophylactic were also prepared in the laboratory
and sent to the United States quarantine officers at home and
abroad, together with large quantities of Yersin's serum,
purchased early in the year from the Pasteur Institute in
Paris. In these two preparations, the one (Haffkine) a
prophylactic and the other (Yersin) both prophylactic and a
cure, the Surgeon-General says that science has effective
methods of combating the spread of this disease."

United States, Secretary of the Treasury,


Annual Report, December 4, 1900.

The "antitoxin, or serum, first prepared by Professor Haffkine


as a plague inoculation, called Haffkine's prophylactic, is
now being used in Bombay and western India with remarkable
results. This prophylactic is prepared by first taking the
plague bacilli, or the young germs, from a person affected
with the plague and cultivating them. These microbes are
killed by artificial means and a high degree of heat. From
these dead germs and their poisonous excrements is produced a
fluid that is believed to have acquired the power, when
injected into the human system, to render the blood immune
from the attack of plague germs and to neutralize their
effect. The injection of such a poison has the effect of an
antitoxin and prevents the system from nourishing plague. A
dead plague germ being inoculated into a person, plague will
not follow. A person after having one attack of the disease is
rarely liable to a second. The person first inoculated is
subject to symptoms of the plague.
{406}
In vaccination for smallpox
a living germ is dealt with, whereas in plague inoculation
dead seed only are injected. … Inoculation is exceedingly
unpopular among the natives. The government has had great
labor in persuading the Hindoo mind of the efficacy of
Haffkine's prophylactic against plague and at the same time of
its utter harmlessness in every other respect. The Hindoo is
suspicious that the dead germs and their toxic excreta may be
of animal rather than vegetable substance, which would make
the injection of the fluid into their body a religious
offense."
United States Consular Reports,
January, 1900, page 101.

"In the present epidemic, plague-spots are scattered over the


whole face of the globe from Sydney to Santos and Hongkong,
and recently from San Francisco suspicious cases have been
reported. The annual pilgrimage of Moslems to worship at the
shrines of Mecca and Medina is now, as in the past, of all
human agencies, the most active in spreading the pest. … Since
Egypt is nearest, plague first appears there in the seaport
towns, particularly Alexandria. Sanitary conditions have
improved vastly, like economics, under British control; and,
last year, what in other times might have been a devastating
epidemic was limited to relatively a few scattered cases.
Recognizing the danger to themselves, the European powers have
been led to take steps, under the Venice Convention, for their
own protection. An international quarantine, under the control
of the Egyptian Sanitary, Maritime, and Quarantine Council, in
which the powers have one vote each and Egypt three, has
established stations at two points on the Red Sea."

American Review of Reviews,


May, 1900.

PLATT AMENDMENT, The.

See (in this volume)


CUBA: A. D. 1901 (FEBRUARY-MARCH).

PLURAL VOTING.

See (in this volume)


BELGIUM: A. D. 1894-1895.

PLYMOUTH COLONY:
Return of the manuscript of Bradford's History to

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