Howard Staunton

by Bill Wall

Howard Staunton was

born in April, 1810 in
Westmoreland,
England. He may have
been the illegitimate
son of the Frederick
Howard (1748-1825),
fifth Earl of Carlisle,
but there is little
evidence to support this
claim. This was first
mentioned by William Bill Wall
Wayte in the Dictionary
of National Biography.
There is no mention of
Staunton in Frederick
Howard Staunton Howard's will. It
appears that Howard The great mobility of the
Staunton was not his King forms one of the
real name. He started chief characteristics of
out as an actor in all Endgame strategy. —
Shakespeare's plays and Nimzovich
may have used this
name as a stage name.

He spent some time at

Oxford, but was never a
member of the
University. When he
turned 21, he inherited
a few thousand British
pounds, but soon
squandered all of it. He
may have tried to
become an actor.

In 1836 Staunton came

to London at the age of
26 and was a subscriber
to William Greenwood
Walker's (1785-1839)
collection of chess
games of Alexander
McDonnell (A
Selection of Games at
Chess). He learned
chess at the Divan and
played chess at
Giddon's Divan, The
Shades, Huttman's
Garrick Chess Divan,
and Goodes.

In 1838 he joined the

Old Westminster Chess
Club and lost chess
matches to Captain
William D. Evans
(1790-1872) and Aaron
Alexandre (1765-1850).
He also played and lost
to Pierre Saint-Amant
(1800-1872) and
George Walker (1803-
1879).

In 1840 he defeated
William M. Popert
(1797-1846) in a match
at the London Chess
Club. At the time,
Popert was considered
the strongest player in
London. Popert was
formerly from
Hamburg, but was a
temporary resident of
London as a merchant.

From May to
December, 1840,
Staunton wrote a chess
column in the New
Court Gazette. He was
elected Secretary of the
Westminster Chess
Club.

In 1841 he became the

editor of the British
Miscellany which
became the Chess
Player's Chronicle,
England's first
successful chess
magazine. He was the
editor until 1854. The
Chronicle was issued
regularly until 1852. A
new series lasted from
1853 to 1856. A third
series lasted from 1859
to 1862.

In April 1841 he played

a match with Adolf
Zytogorski (1806-
1882), a Pole who fled
to England after the
1830 Polish revolution.
Staunton also played
matches against J.
Brown and Charles
Stanley (1819-1901). In
late 1841 Staunton met
and played John
Cochrane (1798-1878).

In 1842-43 he played
several hundred games
with John Cochrane, a
barrister who was on
leave from India. They
may have played 600
games together.

In early 1843 he played

a match against
Thomas Taverner and
won.

In April-May 1843
Staunton lost a match to
France's leading player,
Pierre Saint-Amant.
Saint-Amant (1800-
1872) was a wine
merchant. Staunton
won 2 games, drew one
game, and lost 3 games.
The match was held in
London. Staunton then
prepared for a rematch
with training games
against Cochrane and
Popert. Staunton played
a serious match with
Cochrane, but lost 2-4.
In 1843 Staunton
played a match against
Brooke Greville and
Henry Buckle.

In November, Staunton,
who had been in poor
health, traveled to Paris
and on November 14,
1843, he began another
match with Saint-
Amant. The match was
held at the Cafe de la
Regence and lasted
until December 20,
1843. During the
match, Staunton
developed heart
trouble. Staunton won
the 21-game match
with 11 wins, 4 draws,
and 6 losses. In the first
8 games, Staunton had
won seven and drawn
one. Staunton's prize
money was 100 British
pounds. Staunton was
successful with the
opening 1.c4 against
Saint-Amant (Staunton
played it 6 times), and
the opening became
known as the English
opening. This was also
the first match that used
seconds. Staunton used
Harry Wilson, William
Evans, and Thomas
Worrell (1807-1878) as
his seconds. There was
no time limit in those
days, and play was very
slow (Saint Amant was
the worst offender).
Although the official
World Chess
Championship was not
declared until 1886, this
match was as close to a
world championship
match as could be. He
was probably the
strongest chess player
in the world until 1851,
when Adolf Anderssen
(1818-1879) won the
London International.

In early 1844 a dinner

was given in Staunton's
honor. At that dinner,
Elijah Williams (1808-
1854), President of the
Bristol Chess Club,
hailed Staunton as the
'Champion of Chess.'
However, some writers
suggested that Henry
Buckle (1821-1862) or
Tassilo von der Lasa
(1818-1899) were
stronger.

In September, 1844
Staunton won a match
against William Tuckett
(1800?-1854).

In 1844 Saint Amant

deposited the stakes for
a 3rd match. He wrote
in a letter that his loss
had been a mere
accident and wanted
another match.

In October 1844
Staunton travelled to
Paris for a third match.
On October 14, the day
before the match, he
caught pneumonia and
the match was
cancelled. Staunton
almost died and left his
heart in a permanent
weakness; the match
was postponed and
never took place.
Staunton was unable to
return to London for 3
months.

In 1844, the first chess

match by telegraph
took place between
Washingtom, DC and
Baltimore. On April 9,
1845 Staunton and
Captain Hugh Kennedy
(1809-1878) traveled to
Gosport to play two
games against a group
(Buckle, Perigal,
Tuckett, Walker,
Evans) in London by
telegraph. He was the
first player to recognize
the potential of the
telegraph as a medium
for playing chess and
played several games
by telegraph in April,
1845.

In February 1845 he
became the chess
columnist for the
Illustrated London
News. He was a
columnist for 29 years,
until he died in 1874.
His chess column was
the most influential
chess column in the
world. He wrote over
1,400 weekly articles.

In 1846 he defeated
Bernhard Horwitz
(1807-1885) (14 wins,
7 losses, 3 draws) and
Daniel Harrwitz (1823-
1884) (7 wins) in
matches. Staunton
introduced the Staunton
Gambit (1.d4 f5 2.e4)
against Horwitz.

In July, 1847 he
published the Chess-
Player's Handbook in
London. It was
published in Bohn's
Scientific Library
series. The book had
over 300 pages of
opening analysis and
almost 100 pages of
endgame analysis.

In 1849 he published
the Chess-Player's
Companion and Chess
Player's Text Book.

On July 23,1849, he
married, at age 39, to
Frances Carpenter
Nethersole, a widow of
a London solicitor who
had 8 children from her
previous marriage. His
marriage certificate
says that he was the son
of William Staunton,
gentleman. They were
married in Brighton.

On September 8, 1849
Staunton endorsed the
chess set design by
Nathaniel Cook and
manufactured by his
brother-in-law, John
Jacques. He
recommended the sets
in the Illustrated
London News and it
became known as the
Staunton pattern. Later,
each chess box that the
chessmen came in was
signed by Staunton and
Jacques stamped upon
each set.

In 1851 he organized
the world's first
international chess
tournament during the
"Great Exhibition of
Art and Industry" in
London. Adolf
Anderssen of Germany
was invited, but did not
have the travel costs.
Staunton offered to pay
Anderssen's travel
expenses out of his own
pocket if necessary.

Staunton was knocked

out in the 3rd round by
Anderssen, who won by
the score of 4-1. He
defeated Brodie (2
wins) in the 1st round
and Horwitz (4 wins, 2
losses, 1 draw) in the
2nd round. He also lost
to Williams in a playoff
game (3 wins, 4 losses,
1 draw). Anderssen
won this 16-player
knockout event and the
500 pound first place
money.

In 1851, Staunton tried

to arrange a chess
match of 21 games with
Adolf Anderssen for
100 pounds. Anderssen
accepted, but the match
could not be arranged.
Staunton became ill and
Anderssen had to return
to Breslau to work.

In 1851 he defeated
Carl Jaenish (1813-
1872) in a match with 7
wins, 2 losses, 1 draw.
In 1852 he published
The Chess Tournament,
about the 1851
tournament.

In 1853 he travelled to
Brussels to meet with
Tassilo von der Lasa,
the German leading
chess authority, to
standardize the rules of
chess. He lost a match
to von der Lasa (4 wins,
5 losses, 3 draws). The
match was supposed to
last longer, but
Staunton started having
heart palpatations.

In 1854 Staunton sold

his Chess Players
Chronicle to R.B.
Brien.

In 1856 he began work

on an annotated edition
of Shakespeare's plays.
This was published in
monthly installments by
Routledge from
November 1857 to May
1860. Staunton's work
was praised by experts.

In 1858, Staunton
received a letter from
the New Orleans Chess
Club, inviting him to
that city to play Paul
Morphy (1837-1884).
Staunton replied that he
had not competed in a
few years and he was
busy with his
Shakespeare work.
Staunton may have
invited Morphy to
come to England to
play. Staunton also
offered to play Morphy
by telegraph, but
Morphy had already
left for Europe. Morphy
arrived in England in
June 1858. Staunton
was working on a tight
schedule to publish his
works on Shakespeare.
His publishers would
accept no breach of
contract.

In August 1858,
Staunton played in the
Birmingham
International
tournament, defeating
H. Hughes in the 1st
round (2 wins) but
losing to Johann
Lowenthal (1810-1876)
in the 2nd round (2
losses). This was to be
Staunton's last public
chess competition.

On October 9, 1858,
Staunton told his
readers that a match
between him and
Morphy could not take
place because Morphy
couldn't come up with
the stakes required by
Staunton. This turned
out to be a lie and was
an excuse so that
Staunton would not
have to play Morphy.

In 1860 he published
Chess Praxis, which
includes 168 pages
devoted to Morphy's
games. It also included
a code of chess rules. In
the same year, he wrote
Unsuspected
Corruptions of
Shakespeare's Texts.

In 1865 he published
Great Schools of
England. In March,
1865 he edited a
monthly chess
magazine called The
Chess World. He
continued to publish
this magazine until
March, 1869.

On June 22, 1874

Staunton was working
on papers about
Shakespeare when he
suffered a fatal heart
attack and died in his
library chair in London.
At the same time, he
was working on his last
chess book, Chess:
Theory and Practice,
which was published
posthumously in 1876.

Staunton's grave is
located at Kensal Green
in London, England.
The tombstone simply
says Howard Staunton
1810-1874 and has a
large knight on the
headstone (added in
1997). Previously, his
grave was unmarked
and neglected.

Staunton was the first

British player to be
honored with a
memorial chess
tournament.

A memorial plaque
hangs at his old
residence of 117
Lansdowne Road in
London.

In 1964 Bobby Fischer

said that Staunton was
the most profound
opening analyst of all
time.

Here are some of

Staunton's games.

Unknown - Staunton,
London 1841
1.e4 e5 2.f4 exf4 3.Bc4
d5 4.exd5 Nf6 5.Nc3 c6
6.d3 Bd6 7.dxc6 Nxc6
8.Nf3 O-O 9.O-O Bg4
10.Ne2 Bxf3 11.gxf3
Nh5 12.d4 Qh4 13.c3
Rae8 14.Rf2 Ne7
15.Qd3 Qh3 16.Rg2
Nf6 17.Kh1 Rxe2 0-1

Cochrane - Staunton,
London 1842
1.e4 c5 2.c4 e6 3.Bd3
Ne7 4.Ne2 Ng6 5.O-O
Be7 6.f4 d6 7.Nbc3
Nc6 8.a3 Bf6 9.Ng3
Bd4+ 10.Kh1 O-O
11.Qh5 e5 12.Nce2
exf4 13.Nxf4 Nce5
14.Nge2 Bg4 0-1

Cocharne - Staunton,
London 1842
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4
Nxd4 4.Nxe5 Ne6
5.Bc4 c6 6.O-O Nf6
7.Nc3 Bb4 8.f4 Qa5
9.Nxf7 Kxf7 10.f5
Qc5+ 11.Kh1 Qxc4
12.fxe6+ Qxe6
13.Qh5+ g6 14.Qh4
Bxc3 15.bxc3 Rf8
16.Bh6 1-0

Staunton - Cochrane,
London 1842
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6
3.Bc4 Bc5 4.c3 Qe7
5.d4 Bb6 6.O-O d6 7.a4
a5 8.Be3 Nd8 9.dxe5
dxe5 10.Bxb6 cxb6
11.Na3 Bd7 12.Nb5
Bxb5 13.Bxb5+ Nc6
14.Qd5 1-0

Cochrane - Staunton,
London 1842
1.e4 c5 2.Bc4 e6 3.Nf3
Nc6 4.e5 Nge7 5.Nc3
Ng6 6.Qe2 Nf4 7.Qe4
g5 8.g3 d5 9.exd6 f5 0-
1

Cochrane - Staunton,
London 1842
1.e4 e5 2.Bc4 Nf6 3.d4
exd4 4.Qxd4 Nc6
5.Qd1 Bc5 6.Nf3 O-O
7.O-O Nxe4 8.Qd5 Qe7
9.Bg5 Nxg5 10.Nxg5
Ne5 11.Re1 d6 12.h4
h6 13.Nxf7 Bxf2+
14.Kxf2 Qxh4+ 15.g3
Qh2+ 16.Ke3 Qxg3+ 0-
1

Staunton - Horwitz,
London 1846
1.d4 f5 2.c4 Nf6 3.Nc3
e6 4.Bg5 Be7 5.e3 c5
6.Nf3 Nc6 7.d5 exd5
8.cxd5 Nxd5 9.Nxd5
Bxg5 10.Nxg5 Qxg5
11.Nc7+ Kd8 12.Ne6+
1-0

Harrwitz - Staunton,
London 1846
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6
3.Bc4 Bc5 4.c3 Nf6
5.b4 Bb6 6.b5 Na5
7.Bd3 d5 8.Qe2 O-O
9.O-O Re8 10.h3 Nh5
11.Qd1 Nf4 12.Qc2 f5
13.Nxe5 Rxe5 14.exf5
Qg5 15.g4 Qh4 0-1

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