Games - Howard Staunton

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Howard Staunton (April 1810 - June 22 1874) was an English chess master and unofficial World Chess Champion. He was also a newspaper chess columnist, chess book author, and minor Shakespearean scholar. His name is remembered most today for the style of chess figures he endorsed, the "Staunton" pattern of chess pieces.

Little is known about the life of Staunton before his appearance on the chess scene. He said he was born in Westmorland and his father's name was William. He was poor and had no official education when he was young. He said he was an actor as a young man, that he once played the role of Lorenzo in The Merchant of Venice and he had acted with the famous English actor Edmund Kean.

It is documented that in 1836, Staunton was in London, and he made a subscription to William Walker's book Games at Chess, actually played in London, by the late Alexander McDonnell Esq. Staunton was apparently twenty-six years old when he began to take an interest in the game. He said that at that time, he was a "rook player."

From age twenty-six on, he began a serious pursuit of the game. In 1838 he played many games with Captain William Evans, inventor of the Evans Gambit. He also played a match against the German chess writer Aaron Alexandre, losing.

In 1840 he began writing, doing a chess column for the New Court Gazette from May to the end of the year. He had improved sufficiently by 1840 to play and win a match with the German master Popert, which he won by a single game. He also began writing for British Miscellany which in 1841 led to his founding the chess magazine known as the Chess Player's Chronicle. Staunton edited the magazine until 1854, when he was succeeded by Robert Barnett Brien.

In 1842 he played hundreds of games with John Cochrane. Cochrane was a strong player, and Staunton had a good warm-up for what was to be his greatest chess achievement the following year. In 1843, Staunton played a short match with France's champion, Pierre St. Amant, who was visiting London. Staunton lost the match, 3.5-2.5, but later arrangements where made for a second match, to be held in Paris. Staunton went to Paris, where from November 14 to December 20, 1843, he played a match at the Cafe de la Regence against St. Amant, beating him decisively, 13-8. After St. Amant's defeat, no other Frenchmen arose to continue the tradition of French chess supremacy started with Philidor, and London became the chess capital of the world. Staunton was unofficially recognised as the best player of the world from 1843 to 1851.

Staunton was now recognized as the world's strongest chess player. He went to Paris the next year to again play St. Amant, but by suffering from severe pneumonia, which had damaged his health permanently, the match was cancelled at last. They never played again.

In 1845 Staunton began a chess column for the Illustrated London News, which he continued the rest of his life. According to The Oxford Companion to Chess, Staunton's column was the most influential chess column in the world. On ninth of April, Staunton as the representative of London, won a telegraph game(a variation of blindfold game with people in other location) with a group of five to six people, which took about eight hours to finish the game.

Staunton played matches with lesser players at pawn and move odds now, but played even with the masters Horwitz and Harrwitz in 1846, beating each in matches.

In 1847 Staunton wrote his most famous work, The Chess-Player's Handbook, which didn't go out of print until 1993. Another book, The Chess-Player's Companion followed in 1849.

In 1849, a chess set designed by Nathaniel Cook was registered, and manufacturing rights obtained by John Jaques. Staunton advertised the new set in his chess column in the Illustrated London News. Each set was sold with a pamphlet written by Staunton, and Staunton received a royalty on each set sold. The design was very attractive, became popular, and Staunton men have become the standard set for both professional and amateur chess players ever since.

In May 1851, London was to be the host of the Great Exhibition, and London's thriving chess community, the world's most active, felt obliged to do something similar for chess. Staunton then took it upon himself to organise the world's first chess tournament, to be held in London along with the World Industrial Great Exhibition. The idea was to invite the world's leading masters to compete, and showcase chess the way the Great Exhibition was showcasing the world's technology and culture. He persuaded some of the chess amateurs in London and raised fund up to 500 pounds which was a large sum of money at that time to help to host the event.

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