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Ian Waller comments on House Book 1.Back pastedown:
It appears that Ruskin is attempting a rapid ‘Helpmate’
1. d4 e6
2. Bf4 c5
3. Nf3 Nc6
4. Nc3 pxp
5. Nb5 e5
6. Nxe5 N(g)e7
7. Nd6mate
The slips this leaves in what is written at HB1 are:
1. In line 3 "Ks Bps p." should read "Qs Bps p".
2. In lines 5 and 6 "2nd" should read "3rd"
This is no more than a careless and trivial doodle, and it is surprising that any competent chess player would have done it. It would be slightly more impressive in the absence of a chess board of course. But black's sixth move is pure suicide. If all R. wanted was a rapid helpmate from the starting position, he could have achieved it in three fewer moves by:
1. Nc3 e6
2. Nb5 Ne6
3. e3 (marking time) c6
4. Nd6mate.
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[Version 0.05: May 2008]