Description:
147 pages with photographs, illustrations and facsimiles. Octavo (8" x 5 1/2") bound in original publisher's pictorial wrappers. First edition.Howard Staunton (1810-1874) was an English chess master who is generally regarded as the world's strongest player from 1843 to 1851, largely as a result of his 1843 victory over Pierre Charles Fournier de Saint-Amant. He promoted a chess set of clearly distinguishable pieces of standardized shape – the Staunton pattern promulgated by Nathaniel Cooke – that is still the style required for competitions. He was the principal organizer of the first international chess tournament in 1851, which made England the world's leading chess centre and caused Adolf Anderssen to be recognized as the world's strongest player.
From 1840 onwards he became a leading chess commentator, and won matches against top players of the 1840s. In 1847 he entered a parallel career as a Shakespearean scholar. Ill health and his two writing careers led him to give up competitive chess… Read More