View source for Howard Staunton

{{Short description|English chess master and Shakespearean scholar (1810–1874)}}
{{Good article}}
{{Use British English|date=August 2014}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2025}}
{{Infobox chess player
|name = Howard Staunton
|image= Howard-Staunton-ILN-detail-1.jpeg <!-- [[Image:Staunton2.jpg|260px]] -->
|caption=
|birthname = Howard Staunton
|country = England
|birth_date = April 1810
|birth_place = London
|death_date = {{Death date and age|1874|6|22|1810|4|1|df=y}}
|death_place = London
|title =
|rating =
|peakrating =
}}
<!-- Note2 to other editors:   **************

(1) removed from infobox
|worldchampion = 1843-1851 (Unofficial)

(2) Mark Weeks has material and sources at http://mark_weeks.tripod.com/chw01d15/2000-23.txt
"The Staunton Story" is at https://web.archive.org/web/20000819062645/http://chess.about.com/games/chess/library/weekly/aa091499.htm

*********************** -->

'''Howard Staunton''' (April&nbsp;1810 – 22&nbsp;June 1874) was an English [[chess master]] who is generally regarded as the [[World Chess Championship|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 [[Chess piece|pieces]] of standardised shape – the [[Staunton chess set|Staunton pattern]] promulgated by [[Nathaniel Cooke]] – that is still the style required for competitions. He was the principal organiser of the [[London 1851 chess tournament|first international chess tournament]] in 1851, which made England the world's leading chess centre and caused [[Adolf Anderssen]] to be recognised 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 [[Shakespeare]]an scholar. Ill health and his two writing careers led him to give up competitive chess after 1851. In 1858 attempts were made to organise a match between Staunton and [[Paul Morphy]], but it never came about. It was alleged by [[English Chess Federation|British Chess Association]] president [[George Lyttelton, 4th&nbsp;Baron Lyttelton|Lord Lyttelton]] that Staunton misled Morphy while trying to avoid the match; it is also possible Staunton overestimated his chances of getting physically fit and of making time available for a match.

Modern commentators consider Staunton's understanding of [[Positional chess|positional play]] to have been far ahead of his contemporaries. Although not a rampant attacking player, he attacked when his preparations were complete. His chess articles and books were widely read and encouraged the development of chess in the United Kingdom, and his ''Chess-Players' Handbook'' (1847) was a reference for decades. The [[chess opening]]s the [[English Opening]] and [[Staunton Gambit]] were named for his advocacy of them. Staunton has been a controversial figure since his own time, and his chess writings could be spiteful. On the other hand, he maintained good working relationships with several strong players and influential chess enthusiasts, and demonstrated excellent management skills.

==Life==
[[Image:HowardStaunton.jpg|thumb|left|200px|Staunton, c. 1860]]
Most information about Staunton's early life is based on claims he made. In the 1861 and 1871 English census, he claimed he was born in [[Keswick, Cumbria|Keswick, Cumberland]], located within the [[Lake District]], which he listed as his birthplace in the 1851 census. In 1849, he listed William Staunton as his father on his marriage registration.<ref>''England, Select Marriages, 1538–1973''</ref> Record of his birth or baptism has never been found.<ref name="WinterChessNote4776">{{cite web |title=Staunton's origins |last=Winter |first=Edward |series=Chess Note |volume=4776 |url=http://www.chesshistory.com/winter/winter29.html#4776._Stauntons_origins |access-date=21 June 2008 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080617113712/http://www.chesshistory.com/winter/winter29.html |archive-date=17 June 2008}}</ref>

The chess historian [[H. J. R. Murray]] summarised the information that he gleaned from various sources: Staunton was born in 1810, reputedly the [[Legitimacy (family law)|natural son]] (meaning illegitimately born) of [[Frederick Howard, 5th Earl of Carlisle|Frederick Howard, fifth Earl of Carlisle]]; he was neglected in youth, receiving little or no education; although he spent some time in Oxford, he was never a member of the university; when he came of age he inherited a few thousand pounds, which he soon squandered; in later life Staunton often used to tell how he had once played Lorenzo in ''[[The Merchant of Venice]]'', with the famous English actor [[Edmund Kean]] playing [[Shylock]].<ref name="WinterChessNote4776"/><ref name="Murray1908Staunton"/>

===1836–1842, first steps in chess===
In 1836, Staunton came to London, where he took out a subscription for William Greenwood Walker's ''Games at Chess, actually played in London, by the late [[Alexander McDonnell (chess player)|Alexander McDonnell]] Esq.'' Staunton was apparently twenty-six when he took a serious interest in chess. He said that at that time the strongest players he saw in London, [[Pierre Charles Fournier de Saint-Amant|Saint-Amant]] and [[George Walker (chess player)|George Walker]], could easily have given him [[Chess handicap|rook odds]].<ref name="Murray1908Staunton"/>

In 1838 he played many games with [[William Davies Evans|Captain Evans]], inventor of the [[Evans Gambit]], and also lost a match against the German chess writer [[Aaron Alexandre]]. He had improved sufficiently by 1840 to win a match against the German master H.W.&nbsp;Popert,<ref name="ScoresRomanticEra"/> a slow, cautious player with great defensive skill.<ref name="Murray1908Staunton"/>

From May to December&nbsp;1840 Staunton edited a chess column for the ''New Court Gazette''. He then became chess editor of the magazine ''British Miscellany'', and his chess column developed into a separate magazine, the ''[[Chess Player's Chronicle]]'', which Staunton owned and edited until the early 1850s.<ref name="Murray1908Staunton">
{{cite magazine
 | author=Murray, H.J.R. | author-link=H. J. R. Murray
 | date=November 1908
 | title=Howard Staunton: Part&nbsp;I
 | magazine=British Chess Magazine
 | url=http://sbchess.sinfree.net/Staunton_BCM.html
 | access-date=19 June 2008
| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071208141521/http://sbchess.sinfree.net/Staunton_BCM.html
 | archive-date=8 December 2007
}}
and
{{cite magazine
 | author=Murray, H.J.R. | author-link=H. J. R. Murray
 | date=November 1908
 | title=Howard Staunton: Part&nbsp;II
 | magazine=British Chess Magazine
 | url=http://sbchess.sinfree.net/Staunton_BCM.html
 | access-date=19 June 2008
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20071208141521/http://sbchess.sinfree.net/Staunton_BCM.html
 | archive-date = 8 December 2007
}}
</ref><ref name="BritishMiscellany">
The transformation can be seen at {{cite book
 | editor=Staunton, H.
 | year=1841
 | title=The British Miscellany and Chess Player's Chronicle
 | publisher=Williamson
 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=K3wEAAAAQAAJ&q=%22British+Miscellany%22&pg=PA1
 | access-date=19 June 2008
}}
</ref>

===1843, competitive peak===
{{Chess diagram small
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<!--8-->|rd|nd|bd|qd|kd|bd|nd|rd
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|The [[English Opening]], named for Staunton's use of it against [[Pierre Charles Fournier de Saint-Amant|Saint-Amant]]}}

Early in 1843 Staunton prevailed in a long series of games against [[John Cochrane (chess player)|John Cochrane]], a strong player and [[chess theoretician]].<ref name="ScoresRomanticEra"/> [[Chessmetrics]] treats these games incorrectly as one match when it was in fact a series of matches, and lists it as Staunton's best performance.<ref name="chessmetricsProfileStaunton">
{{cite web
 | title=Chessmetrics Player Profile: Howard Staunton
 | url=http://chessmetrics.com/cm/CM2/PlayerProfile.asp?Params=199510SSSSS3S125695000000121000000000028210100
 | access-date=19 June 2008
}}
</ref>

A little later that year he lost a short match (2½–3½) in London against the visiting French player [[Pierre Charles Fournier de Saint-Amant|Saint-Amant]], who was generally regarded as the world's strongest active player.<ref name="storiascacchiMatchesTo1849"/><ref name="Fine1952WorldsGreatChessGames">Fine 1951</ref>

Staunton challenged Saint-Amant to a longer match to be played in Paris for a stake of £100, {{Inflation|UK|100|1843|r=-3|fmt=eq|cursign=£}}.{{efn|Conversion is based on prices. If conversion is based on average income, the result is about £80,000.<ref>{{cite web
 | title=Five Ways to Compute the Relative Value of a U.K. Pound Amount, 1270 to Present
 | url=https://www.measuringworth.com/calculators/ukcompare/result.php?year_source=1843&amount=100&year_result=2019
 | access-date=6 May 2021}}
</ref>}} Then he prepared new [[Chess opening|opening]] lines, especially those beginning 1.c4, which became known as the [[English Opening]] after this match.<ref name="Murray1908Staunton"/> He also took Thomas Worrall and Harry Wilson to Paris as his assistants;<ref name="chesscafeCaptainWilliamEvans"/> this is the first known case where [[List of chess terms#Second|seconds]] were used in a match.<ref name="WallStaunton"/> Staunton gained a seven-game lead but then struggled to keep it before winning the match 13–8 (eleven wins, four draws, and six losses) in December 1843.<ref name="batgirlStaunton">{{cite web
 | title=Howard Staunton
 | publisher=batgirl
 | url=http://www.edochess.ca/batgirl/Staunton.html
 | access-date=19 June 2008
}}
</ref><ref>
{{cite web
 | author=Weeks, Mark 
 | title=World Chess Championship: 1843 Staunton – Saint-Amant Matches
 | url=http://www.mark-weeks.com/chess/u3ss$mix.htm
 | access-date=24 June 2008
}}
</ref>

Saint-Amant wanted a third match, but Staunton was initially unwilling as he had developed [[heart palpitations]] during the second match. [[Tassilo von Heydebrand und der Lasa|Von der Lasa]] later suggested this was why Staunton faded in the second match.<ref name="HardingLondonChessMagazine2"/> However, after a long, difficult negotiation, which he reported in the ''Chess Player's Chronicle'',<ref name="WinterChessNote4767">
{{cite web
 | author=Winter, E.G.  |author-link=Edward Winter (chess historian)
 | title=Chess Note 4767 Copyright
 | url=http://www.chesshistory.com/winter/winter29.html#4767._Copyright
 | access-date=19 June 2008
}}
</ref> Staunton went to Paris intending to start their third match in October&nbsp;1844, but he caught [[pneumonia]] while travelling and almost died; the match was postponed and never took place.<ref name="Murray1908Staunton"/>

Several modern commentators regard Staunton as ''de facto'' World Champion after his match victory over Saint-Amant, although that title did not yet formally exist.{{efn|Several authors concur on Staunton's status as world champion:<br/>
* Hooper and Whyld refer to Staunton as "the world's leading player in the 1840s". {{cite book
 | author1=Hooper, D. | author-link=David Vincent Hooper
 | author2=Whyld, K.  | author-link2=Kenneth Whyld
 | year=1992
 | title=[[The Oxford Companion to Chess]]
 | edition=2nd
 | page=[https://archive.org/details/oxfordcompaniont0000hoop/page/390 390]
 | publisher=Oxford University Press
 | isbn=0-19-866164-9
}}
* {{cite book
 | author=Golombek, H. | author-link=Harry Golombek
 | year=1976
 | title=Chess: A History
 | pages=129–130
 | publisher=G.P. Putnam's Sons
}}
* {{cite book
 | author1=Saidy, A.   | author1-link=Anthony Saidy
 | author2=Lessing, N. | author2-link=Norman Lessing
 | year=1974
 | title=The World of Chess
 | publisher=Random House
 | page=[https://archive.org/details/worldofchess00said/page/85 85]
 | isbn=0-394-48777-X
 | url=https://archive.org/details/worldofchess00said/page/85
}}
*{{cite book
 | author=Soltis, Andy  | author-link=Andrew Soltis
 | year=1975
 | title=The Great Chess Tournaments and their Stories
 | page=2
 | publisher=Chilton Book Company
 | isbn=0-8019-6138-6
}}
* {{cite book
 | title=Grandmasters of Chess
 | author=Schonberg, Harold C. | author-link=Harold Schonberg
 | year=1973
 | publisher=J.B. Lippincott
 | pages=[https://archive.org/details/grandmastersofch00haro/page/50 50–51]
 | isbn=0-397-01004-4
 | url=https://archive.org/details/grandmastersofch00haro/page/50
}}
* {{cite book
 | author=Fine, R.
 | year=1965  |orig-year=1948 
 | title=Great Moments in Modern Chess
 | pages=3–4
 | publisher=Dover Publications
 | isbn=0-486-21449-4
}} originally published in 1948 by David McKay as ''The World's a Chessboard''.
* {{cite book
 | author=Horowitz, I.A.  | author-link=Israel Horowitz
 | year=1973
 | title=The World Chess Championship – A History
 | publisher=Macmillan
 | page=[https://archive.org/details/worldchesschampi00horo/page/3 3]
 | lccn=72080175 |oclc=604994
 | url=https://archive.org/details/worldchesschampi00horo
 | url-access=registration
}}
}} After Saint-Amant's defeat, no other Frenchmen arose to continue the French supremacy in chess established by [[François-André Danican Philidor|Philidor]], [[Alexandre Deschapelles|Deschapelles]], [[Louis-Charles Mahé de La Bourdonnais|La Bourdonnais]] and Saint-Amant.<ref>
{{cite web
 |author      = Weeks, Mark 
 |title       = The French School of Chess (18th/19th cent.)
 |url         = http://chess.about.com/od/history/p/aa05h27.htm
 |access-date = 24 June 2008 |url-status = dead
 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080704021127/http://chess.about.com/od/history/p/aa05h27.htm
 |archive-date= 4 July 2008 |df = dmy
}}
</ref> Some contemporary English commentators, mainly in Staunton's ''Chess Player's Chronicle'', and some later writers hailed Staunton as the [[World Chess Championship|world champion]].{{efn|The Earl of Mexborough's speech to the meeting of Yorkshire Chess Clubs, reported in the 1845 ''Chess Player's Chronicle'' (with the cover date 1846); the ''Brighton Gazette'' and a letter from Edward Cronhelm, both in ''Chess Player's Chronicle'' 1851.<br/>All presented at<ref>{{cite web
 | author=Winter, E.G. |author-link=Edward Winter (chess historian)
 | title=Early uses of ''World Chess Champion''
 | url=http://www.chesshistory.com/winter/extra/champion.html
 | access-date=6 June 2008
}}<br/>
::from
{{cite magazine
 |title=[title not cited]
 |year=1851  |orig-year=1846
 |magazine=Chess Player's Chronicle
 |volume=5 |pages=92 & 128
}}
</ref>}}<ref name="Murray1908Staunton"/>{{efn|
According to [[Philip W. Sergeant]], Staunton after his victory over Saint-Amant, was generally regarded in England as the world champion.<ref>
{{cite book
 | author=Sergeant, P.  | author-link=Philip W. Sergeant
 | year=1934
 | title=A Century of British Chess
 | publisher=David McKay
}}</ref>{{rp|page=&nbsp;56}}<br/>
Sergeant expressed his concurrence with this assessment by stating
:"By his victory over Saint-Amant ... Staunton may fairly be held to have become unofficial chess champion of the world".{{rp|page=&nbsp;57}}
}}

The response was less enthusiastic elsewhere in Europe. Even in England some writers suggested other players, notably [[Henry Thomas Buckle|Buckle]] or [[von der Lasa]], were stronger.<ref>
Letter from [[Ludwig Bledow|Bledow]] to [[von der Lasa]], written in 1846 and published in the ''Deutsche Schachzeitung'' in 1848;<br/>
George Walker in ''Bell's Life''.<br/>
::quoted at
{{cite web
 | author=Spinrad, Jeremy 
 | title=Early World Rankings
 | url=http://www.chesscafe.com/text/spinrad06.pdf
 | access-date=8 June 2008
}}
</ref>

===1845–1848, chess writer and promoter===
In 1845 Staunton began a chess column for ''[[The Illustrated London News]]'', which became the most influential chess column in the world and which he continued for the rest of his life.<ref name="batgirlStaunton"/><ref name="OxfordCompanionToChess">
{{cite book
 | author1=Hooper, D. | author1-link=David Vincent Hooper
 | author2=Whyld, K.  |author2-link=Kenneth Whyld 
 | year=1992
 | title=[[The Oxford Companion to Chess]]
 | edition=2nd
 | publisher=Oxford University Press
 | isbn=0-19-866164-9
}}
</ref> Although his articles mostly focused on over-the-board play,<ref>Continuous play against an opponent. Correspondence chess is not continuous. Analysis may take several hours' continuous work but there is no opponent.</ref> a significant number featured [[correspondence chess]].<ref name="HilbertStauntonChessByTelegraph">{{cite web
 |author=Hilbert, J.S. 
 |title=Howard Staunton and Chess by "Electric Telegraph" 
 |url=http://www.correspondencechess.com/campbell/articles/a030127.htm 
 |access-date=19 June 2008 |url-status=dead 
 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20000819062645/http://chess.about.com/games/chess/library/weekly/aa091499.htm 
 |archive-date=19 August 2000 }}
</ref> Some followed with enthusiasm the progress of promising youngsters, including [[Paul Morphy]].<ref name="WinterChessNote4765">{{cite web
 | title=Unnamed prodigy
 | series=Chess Note
 | volume=4765
 | url=http://www.chesshistory.com/winter/winter29.html#4764._Zukertort_C.N._4726
 | access-date=19 June 2008
}}
</ref> Staunton produced over 1,400&nbsp;weekly articles for ''The Illustrated London News''.<ref name="HilbertStauntonChessByTelegraph" />

<!-- {{Wikisource|Littell's Living Age/Volume 5/Issue 57/Game of Chess by the Electric Telegraph}} -->
[[Image:Howard Staunton Chess Handbook.jpg|right|200px|thumb|''The Chess-Player's Handbook'']]
The first chess match by [[Electrical telegraph|electric telegraph]] took place in 1844, between Washington and Baltimore. In April&nbsp;1845 Staunton and [[Hugh Alexander Kennedy|Captain Kennedy]] travelled to [[Gosport]] to play two games by telegraph against a group in London. Staunton took a long-term interest in this solution to the difficulties of travel, and reported telegraph games in ''The Illustrated London News''. In 1871 his report of a telegraphic match between Sydney and [[Adelaide]] calculated that the 74&nbsp;moves of the longest game had travelled a total of 220,000&nbsp;miles (not much less than the distance between [[Earth]] and [[Moon]]).<ref name="HilbertStauntonChessByTelegraph"/>

In 1847 Staunton published his most famous work, ''The Chess-Player's Handbook'', which is still in print.<ref>
{{cite web
 | title=Search results for "Staunton chess-player's handbook" in WorldCat' [WorldCat.org]
 | website=[[WorldCat]]
 | url=http://www.worldcat.org/search?q=Staunton+chess-player%27s+handbook&fq=&dblist=638&qt=sort&se=yr&sd=desc&qt=sort_yr_desc
 | access-date=1 October 2009
}}
</ref> It contained over 300&nbsp;pages of [[chess opening|opening]] analysis,<ref>
{{cite book
 | author=Staunton, H.
 | year=1847
 | title=The Chess-Player's Handbook
 | pages=59–401
 | publisher=Henry G. Bohn
}}
</ref> and almost 100&nbsp;pages of [[Endgame (chess)|endgame]] analysis.<ref>
{{cite book
 | author=Staunton, H.
 | year=1847
 | title=The Chess-Player's Handbook
 | pages=403–500
 | publisher=Henry G. Bohn
}}
</ref>{{efn|Staunton's analysis of the very rare rook versus three minor pieces endgame is surprisingly sophisticated for its time: "Three minor Pieces are much stronger than a Rook, and in cases where two of them are Bishops will usually win without much difficulty, because the player of the Rook is certain to be compelled to lose him for one of his adversary's Pieces. If, however, there are two Knights and one Bishop opposed to a Rook, the latter may generally be [[Exchange (chess)|exchanged]] for the Bishop, and as two Knights are insufficient of themselves to force checkmate, the game will be drawn." (p. 439)<br /> Modern [[endgame tablebase]]s confirm Staunton's assessments of both endgames.<ref>{{cite book
 | author1=Müller, K.    | author1-link=Karsten Müller
 | author2=Lamprecht, F. | author2-link=Frank Lamprecht
 | year=2001 
 | title=Fundamental Chess Endings
 | page=[https://archive.org/details/fundamentalchess00mull/page/n405 403]
 | publisher=Gambit Publications
 | isbn=1-901983-53-6
 | url=https://archive.org/details/fundamentalchess00mull
 | url-access=limited
}}
</ref>
}} Staunton's Handbook was based on [[Paul Bilguer|Bilguer]] and [[Tassilo von Heydebrand und der Lasa|von der Lasa's]] ''[[Handbuch des Schachspiels]]'' (first published in 1843), but enhanced by many variations and analyses of Staunton's own.<ref name="Murray1908Staunton"/> His book ''The Chess-Player's Companion'' followed in 1849.<ref name="StauntonChessplayersCompanion">
Staunton's (1847) ''Handbook'' and (1849) ''Companion'' can be read online or downloaded as PDF files. Both are available at {{cite book
 | author=Staunton, H.
 | title=The Chess-player's Companion
 | year=1849
 | access-date=19 June 2008
| publisher=H. G. Bohn
 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iO0IAAAAQAAJ&q=popert+chess&pg=PA187
}}
</ref>

He still found time for two matches in 1846, comfortably beating the professionals [[Bernhard Horwitz]] (fourteen wins, three draws, and seven losses) and [[Daniel Harrwitz]]. The match against Harrwitz was set up in a very unusual way: seven games in which Staunton gave Harrwitz [[chess handicap|odds]] of pawn and two moves (Staunton won four and lost three), seven games where he gave pawn and move (Staunton lost six and won one), and seven at no odds (Staunton won all seven).<ref name="Murray1908Staunton"/><ref name="ScoresRomanticEra"/>{{efn|name="chessOdds"|A stronger player sometimes gives a weaker player an [[chess handicap|advantage]]. In "pawn odds" the stronger player starts without one of his pawns and plays as White (or, if there is a match at odds, the players alternate colors in the normal way), while at "pawn and move odds" (abbreviated P+1) the stronger player always has the black pieces. If the gap in skill is greater the stronger player might give "pawn and two moves" (P+2), where he starts without one of his pawns, plays as Black ''and'' lets his opponent have a further extra move. If the difference in skill is even greater, the stronger player may give knight, bishop or even rook odds (removing the relevant piece before the game starts).}}
{{clear}}

===1849, marriage and design of a chess set===
{{main article|Staunton chess set}}
[[Image:JaquesCookStaunton.jpg|right|300px|thumb|Original Staunton chess pieces, left to right: pawn, rook, knight, bishop, queen, and king]]

On 23 July 1849, Staunton married Frances Carpenter Nethersole, who had had eight children by a previous marriage.<ref name="WinterChessNote4776"/><ref name="WallStaunton"/>

In 1849, [[Nathaniel Cooke]] registered a [[chess pieces|chess set]] design, and [[Jaques of London]] obtained the manufacturing rights. Staunton advertised the new set in his ''Illustrated London News'' chess column, pointing out that the pieces were easily identifiable, very stable, and good-looking. Each box was signed by Staunton, and Staunton received a royalty on each set sold.<ref name="batgirlStaunton"/>

The design became popular, and has been the standard for both professional and amateur chess players ever since.<ref>
{{cite book
 | author=Kasparov, G.  | author-link=Garry Kasparov
 | year=2003
 | title=[[My Great Predecessors]]
 | volume=Part&nbsp;I  | page=17
 | publisher=Everyman Chess
 | isbn=1-85744-330-6
}}<br/>
{{cite book
 | author1=Saidy, A.   | author1-link=Anthony Saidy
 | author2=Lessing, N. | author-link2=Norman Lessing
 | year=1974
 | title=The World of Chess
 | page=[https://archive.org/details/worldofchess00said/page/88 88]
 | publisher=Random House
 | isbn=0-394-48777-X
 | url=https://archive.org/details/worldofchess00said/page/88
}}
<br/>
{{cite web
 | title=Standards of Chess Equipment and tournament venue for FIDE Tournaments
 | publisher=[[FIDE]]
 | access-date=19 June 2008
| url=http://www.fide.com/info/handbook?id=16&view=category
}}
</ref> [[Anthony Saidy]] and [[Norman Lessing]] wrote that, "if a vote was taken among chess-players as to which pieces they most enjoyed playing with, ... the Staunton chessmen would win by an overwhelming margin."<ref>
{{cite book
 | author1=Saidy, A.    | author1-link=Anthony Saidy
 | author2=Lessing, N.  | author-link2=Norman Lessing
 | year=1974
 | title=The World of Chess
 | page=[https://archive.org/details/worldofchess00said/page/88 88]
 | publisher=Random House
 | isbn=0-394-48777-X
 | url=https://archive.org/details/worldofchess00said/page/88
}}
</ref>

===1851, London International Tournament===
{{main article|London 1851 chess tournament}}
[[Image:Crystal Palace.PNG|thumb|right|300px|The front entrance of the [[Great Exhibition]] in [[Hyde Park, London]]]]
Staunton proposed and then took the lead in organising the first ever international tournament, as he thought the [[Great Exhibition]] of 1851 presented a unique opportunity, because the difficulties that obstructed international participation would be greatly reduced.<ref name="StauntonLondon1851"/> He may also have been motivated by reports that a few years earlier [[Ludwig Bledow]] had proposed to organise an international tournament in Germany, whose winner was to be recognised as the world champion.<ref name="Spinrad2006EarlyWorldRankings">
{{cite web
 | author=Spinrad, J.P.
 | year=2006
 | title=Early world rankings
 | website=chesscafe.com
 | url=http://www.chesscafe.com/text/spinrad06.pdf
 | access-date=19 June 2008
}}
</ref> Staunton and his colleagues had ambitious objectives for this tournament, including convening a "Chess Parliament" to complete the standardisation of various rules and procedures for competitive chess and for writing about chess. Staunton also proposed the production of a [[compendium]] showing what was known about [[chess opening]]s, preferably as a table.<ref name="StauntonLondon1851">
{{cite book
 | author=Staunton, Howard
 | year=1851
 | title=The Chess Tournament
 | publisher=Hardinge Simpole
 | isbn=1-84382-089-7
}} This can be viewed online at or downloaded as PDF from {{cite book
 | author=Staunton, Howard
 | year=1852
 | title=The Chess Tournament
 | publisher=H.G. Bohn
 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_SUCAAAAYAAJ&q=1851+london+tournament+book+staunton&pg=PR24
 | access-date=19 June 2008 | via=Google Books
}}
</ref> Before the tournament started [[Hugh Alexander Kennedy|Captain Kennedy]] and the ''Liberty Weekly Tribune'' in [[Missouri]] wrote that the winner should be regarded as "the World's Chess Champion".<ref name="Spinrad2006EarlyWorldRankings" />

The organisers obtained financial contributions from Europe, the US and Asia, enabling the committee to set up a prize fund of £500,<ref name="StauntonLondon1851" /> equivalent to about £359,000 in 2006's money.{{efn|Conversion based on average incomes, which are the most appropriate measure for several days' hard work. If we use average prices for the conversion, the result is about £40,000.<ref>{{cite web
 | title=Five ways to compute the relative value of a UK Pound amount, 1830 – 2006: 2006 equivalent of £335 in 1851
 | url=http://www.measuringworth.com/ukcompare/result.php?use%5B%5D=CPI&use%5B%5D=DEFIND&use%5B%5D=WAGE&use%5B%5D=GDPCP&use%5B%5D=GDPC&year_early=1851&pound71=500&shilling71=0&pence71=0&amount=500&year_source=1851&year_result=2008
 | access-date=19 June 2008 | url-status=dead 
 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110929220614/http://www.measuringworth.com/ukcompare/result.php?use%5B%5D=CPI&use%5B%5D=DEFIND&use%5B%5D=WAGE&use%5B%5D=GDPCP&use%5B%5D=GDPC&year_early=1851&pound71=500&shilling71=0&pence71=0&amount=500&year_source=1851&year_result=2008
 | archive-date=29 September 2011
}}
</ref>}}

[[Image:Anderssen, Adolf "-5" - DPLA - 9ca464339f18b3d8be87fccc68c3ee73 (cropped).jpg|thumb|upright=0.75|left| [[Adolf Anderssen]]]]
Despite the generally enthusiastic response, several major players were unable to participate, including [[Tassilo von Heydebrand und der Lasa|von der Lasa]], [[Pierre Charles Fournier de Saint-Amant|Saint-Amant]] and [[John Cochrane (chess player)|Cochrane]].<ref name="StauntonLondon1851"/> [[Adolf Anderssen]] was at first deterred by the travel costs, but accepted his invitation when Staunton offered to pay Anderssen's travel expenses out of his own pocket if necessary.<ref name="batgirlAnderssen">
{{cite web
 | title=Morphy's opponents: Adolf Anderssen
 | url=http://www.edochess.ca/batgirl/Anderssen.html
 | access-date=19 June 2008
}}
</ref> The committee had also organised a "London Provincial Tournament" for other British players, and "promoted" some of the entrants to play in the International Tournament to obtain the right number of players for a [[Single-elimination tournament|knock-out tournament]].<ref name="StauntonLondon1851"/>

The tournament was a success, but disappointing for Staunton personally; in the second round he was [[Single-elimination tournament|knocked out]] by Anderssen, who won the tournament convincingly; and in the [[play-off]] for third place Staunton was narrowly beaten by [[Elijah Williams (chess player)|Elijah Williams]].<ref name="WeeksLondon1851">
{{cite web
 | title=1851 London Tournament
 | url=http://www.mark-weeks.com/chess/v1lon-ix.htm
 | access-date=19 June 2008
}}
</ref>{{efn| Williams beat Staunton by one game in the match. This was before [[time control]]s were used and Staunton resigned a crucial game because he claimed that Williams was taking too long to move.<ref>{{cite book
 |first=Anne |last=Sunnucks |author-link=Anne Sunnucks
 |year=1970
 |title=The Encyclopedia of Chess
 |page=459
}}
</ref>
}} Staunton's defeat by Williams suggests that Staunton had over-stretched himself by acting as both a competitor and the Secretary of the organising committee.<ref name="Murray1908Staunton"/>

The London Chess Club, which had fallen out with Staunton and his colleagues, organised a tournament that was played a month later and had a multi-national set of players (many of whom had competed in Staunton's tournament), and the result was the same: Anderssen won.<ref name="storiascacchiTorneiAl1879"/>

In 1852 Staunton published his book ''The Chess Tournament'', which recounted in detail the efforts required to make the London International Tournament happen and presented all the games with his comments on the play.<ref name="StauntonLondon1851"/> Some of Staunton's comments in the book and in ''The Illustrated London News'' were offensive, because he was disappointed with the placing he achieved.<ref name="Murray1908Staunton"/>

===1852–1860, final stages of playing career and Shakespeare publication===
Immediately after the London International tournament Staunton challenged [[Adolf Anderssen|Anderssen]] to a match of twenty-one games, for £100 (£14,874/US$18,355 in 2022 terms). Anderssen accepted the challenge but the match could not be arranged: Staunton was physically unfit for an immediate contest, and Anderssen had to return to work.<ref name="Murray1908Staunton"/>

[[Carl Jaenisch]] had arrived too late for the tournament; Staunton convincingly won a match with him soon after (seven wins, one draw, and two losses).<ref name="Matches1850To1864"/> Later in 1851 Staunton played a match against [[Elijah Williams (chess player)|Elijah Williams]], who had won their play-off for third place in the London International tournament. Staunton won more games (six wins, three draws, and four losses) but lost the match because he had given Williams a three-game start.<ref name="ScoresRomanticEra"/>

In 1853, while trying to arrange a match against Anderssen, Staunton met [[Tassilo von Heydebrand und der Lasa|von&nbsp;der Lasa]] in [[Brussels]]. The two began a match, but had to abandon it in the middle of the thirteenth game, with von&nbsp;der Lasa leading (five wins, four losses, and three draws). Staunton was unfit to continue because of heart [[palpitations]], which had affected him in the second match against [[Pierre Charles Fournier de Saint-Amant|Saint-Amant]] in 1843. In von&nbsp;der Lasa's opinion there was no chance that Staunton's health would be good enough for a serious contest from 1853 onwards.<ref name="Murray1908Staunton"/>{{refn|name="vdLasa1874Staunton"|
{{cite magazine
 | author=von&nbsp;der Lasa, T.
 | author-link=Tassilo von Heydebrand und der Lasa
 | date=November 1874
 | title=[title unknown]
 | magazine=The City of London Chess Magazine
}}<br/>{{cite web
 | author=Harding, T.  | author-link=Tim Harding (chess)
 | title=A History of The City of London Chess Magazine (Part 2)
 | url=http://www.chesscafe.com/text/kibitz49.txt
 | access-date=19 June 2008
}}{{efn|Some writers say Staunton and von&nbsp;der Lasa played a match in Berlin in 1844; but Staunton wrote in the ''Chess Player's Chronicle'' that he had the pleasure of making the personal acquaintance of von&nbsp;der Lasa in their 1853 encounter.<ref>{{cite web
 | author=Spinrad, J.P.
 | year=2006
 | title=Baron von Heydebrand und der Lasa
 | url=http://www.chesscafe.com/text/spinrad07.pdf
 | access-date=19 June 2008
}}</ref>
}}
}}

In the mid-1850s Staunton obtained a contract with the publishers [[Routledge]] to edit the text of [[Shakespeare]]. This [[The Globe Illustrated Shakespeare: The Complete Works Annotated|edition]] appeared in parts from 1857 to 1860, and Staunton's work was praised by experts.<ref name="Murray1908Staunton"/>

[[Image:PaulmorphyHair.jpg|thumb|right|200px|{{center|[[Paul Morphy]]}}]]
While Staunton was busy with the Shakespeare edition, he received a courteous letter from the [[New Orleans]] Chess Club, inviting him to that city to play [[Paul Morphy]], who had won the recent [[American Chess Congress#First American Chess Congress|First American Chess Congress]]. Staunton replied, thanking the New Orleans Chess Club and Morphy "for the honor implied in your selection of me as the opponent of such a champion" and pointing out that he had not competed for several years and was working six days a week (on editing Shakespeare), and that he could not possibly travel across the Atlantic for a match.{{sfn|Lawson|2006|pp=92–93}}

Staunton also wrote in ''The Illustrated London News'' that he had "been compelled, by laborious literary occupation, to abandon the practice of chess, beyond the indulgence of an occasional game ...&nbsp;. If Mr. Morphy – for whose skill we entertain the liveliest admiration – be desirous to win his spurs among the chess chivalry of Europe, he must take advantage of his purposed visit next year; he will then meet in this country, in France, in Germany and in Russia, many champions ... ready to test and do honor to his prowess."{{efn|
The full text of Staunton's letter was: <br/>
:"Gentlemen:
:In reply to your very courteous proposal for me to visit New Orleans for the purpose of encountering Mr. Paul Morphy at Chess, permit me to mention that for many years professional duties have compelled me to abandon the practice of the game almost entirely except in the most desultory manner, and at the present time these duties are so exacting that it is with difficulty I am enabled to snatch one day out of seven for exercise and relaxation.
:Under the circumstances you will at once perceive that a long and arduous chess contest, even in this Metropolis, would be an enterprise too formidable for me to embark in without ample opportunity for the recovery of my old strength in play, together with such arrangements as would prevent the sacrifice of my professional engagements for the sake of a match at chess, and that the idea of undertaking one in a foreign country, many thousand miles from here, is admissible only in a dream.
:With friendly greetings to my proposed antagonist, whose talent and enthusiasm no one can more highly estimate, and with compliments to you for the honour implied in your selection of me as the opponent of such a champion, I beg to subscribe myself, with every consideration. <br/>Yours obediently,
:H. Staunton"<ref>{{cite web
 | editor=batgirl (edochess.ca)
 | title=The life and chess of Paul Morphy: The Staunton challenge
 | url=http://www.edochess.ca/batgirl/morphybio5.html
 | access-date=27 June 2008
}}<br/> Evidently reprinted from {{cite book
 | author=Lawson, D.
 | year=1976
 | title=Paul Morphy: The pride and sorrow of chess
 | pages=92–93
 | publisher=David McKay
 | isbn=0-679-13044-6
}}
</ref>}}

Chess historian [[H. J. R. Murray]] wrote that Staunton's letter and article should have been interpreted as a courteous refusal of the offer, but that Morphy interpreted them differently, and one of the main reasons for his visit to Europe in 1858 was the hope of playing a match with Staunton.<ref name="Murray1908Staunton"/><ref>
{{cite book
 | author=Lawson, D.
 | year=1976
 | title=Paul Morphy: The pride and sorrow of chess
 | pages=92–93
 | publisher=David McKay
 | isbn=0-679-13044-6
}}
</ref> Some other chess historians disagree with Murray's interpretation of Staunton's response.<ref name=Konsala-1981/>{{rp|page=29}} Staunton did offer to play Morphy by [[electric telegraph]], a technology whose progress and uses for chess he reported enthusiastically. However this offer arrived after Morphy had left for Europe – which perhaps was fortunate, as the newly laid cable broke down after a month and was not replaced until 1866.<ref name="StauntonMorphyTelegraphOffer">
{{cite web
 |author=Hilbert, J.S. 
 |title=Howard Staunton and chess by "electric telegraph" 
 |url=http://www.correspondencechess.com/campbell/articles/a030127.htm 
 |access-date=20 July 2008 |url-status=dead 
 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20000819062645/http://chess.about.com/games/chess/library/weekly/aa091499.htm 
 |archive-date=19 August 2000 }} This cites the entry for "telegraph chess," in {{cite book
 | author1=Hooper, D. | author1-link=David Vincent Hooper
 | author2=Whyld, K.  |author2-link=Kenneth Whyld 
 | year=1992
 | title=[[The Oxford Companion to Chess]]
 | edition=2nd 
 | publisher=Oxford University Press
 | isbn=0-19-866164-9
}}
</ref>

Upon arriving in England in June 1858, Morphy promptly challenged Staunton to a match. At first, Staunton declined Morphy's offer saying that the challenge came too late.<ref name=Konsala-1981/>{{rp|page=30}} Morphy did not give up negotiations and urging Staunton to play. In early July Staunton agreed provided he was given time to get back into practice on [[chess opening|openings]] and [[chess endgame|endgames]],<ref name=Konsala-1981/>{{rp|pages=31–32}} and provided that he could manage all this without breaking the publication contract for his Shakespearean work. In early August, Morphy wrote asking Staunton when the match could occur,<ref name="batgirlMorphyGoesToEngland">
{{cite web
| url=http://www.edochess.ca/batgirl/morphybio6.html
| title=Paul Morphy Goes to England
 | access-date=20 July 2008
}}
</ref><ref name="Wall_Morphy">
{{cite web
 |author      = Wall, W.
 |title       = Paul Morphy
 |series      = Bill Wall's chess master profiles
 |url     = http://www.geocities.com/siliconvalley/lab/7378/morphy.htm
 |access-date = 6 July 2008 |url-status = dead
 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20091026154924/http://www.geocities.com/siliconvalley/lab/7378/morphy.htm
 |archive-date = 26 October 2009 |df = dmy-all
}}{{webarchive
 |format=addlarchives
 |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091028033945/http://www.geocities.com/siliconvalley/lab/7378/morphy.htm
 |date=28 October 2009
}}
</ref> and Staunton asked again for a delay of some weeks.<ref name=Konsala-1981/>{{rp|page=33}}

Staunton did compete in a tournament in [[Birmingham]], that started on 22&nbsp;August, but it was a [[Single-elimination tournament|knock-out tournament]], and he was eliminated in the second round by [[Johann Löwenthal]] after playing a total of four games.<ref name="storiascacchiTorneiAl1879"/><ref name="Wall_Morphy"/> This was to be Staunton's last public chess competition. H.J.R. Murray wrote that Staunton had overexerted himself and damaged his health by trying both to get ahead of schedule on the Shakespeare project and to play some competitive chess.<ref name="Murray1908Staunton"/>

Just before Staunton left London for Birmingham, his old enemy [[George Walker (chess player)|George Walker]] had published an article accusing him of trying to delay the match indefinitely, and Staunton received another letter from Morphy pressing him to name a date for the match. Staunton and Morphy met socially in Birmingham and, after a tense discussion, Staunton agreed to play in early November.<ref name="batgirlBirminghamMeeting">
{{cite web
 | title=The Birmingham Meeting
 | url=http://www.edochess.ca/batgirl/morphybio7.html
 | access-date=20 July 2008
}}
</ref><ref name=Konsala-1981/>{{rp|page=34}} Just after the tournament a letter signed by "Anti-book" appeared in Staunton's column in ''The Illustrated London News'', alleging that Morphy did not actually have the money for his share of the stakes. This letter is widely thought to have been written by Staunton himself; if so, he must have written it immediately after reading Walker's article and Morphy's letter and immediately before leaving for Birmingham.<ref name="Diggle1987ChessCharacters2">
{{cite book
 | author=Diggle, G.H.
 | year=1987
 | title=Chess Characters  | volume=2
 | location=Geneva
 | url=http://www.chesshistory.com/winter/winter34.html#4983._Reti_and_Tartakower
 | access-date=20 July 2008
}}
</ref>

Around this time Morphy wrote to friends in the U.S. asking them to obtain the stake money for the Staunton match. Morphy's family refused to contribute as they "should not allow him to play a money match either with his own money or anyone else's", but the New Orleans Chess Club sent £500.<ref name="batgirlPaulWaitsForAnderssen">
{{cite web
 | title=Paul waits for Anderssen
 | url=http://www.edochess.ca/batgirl/morphybio9.html
 | access-date=20 July 2008
}}
</ref> Meanwhile, Morphy went to Paris to play against continental masters. In September ''The Illustrated London News'' printed both a complimentary full-page article about Morphy and a complimentary mention of him in its chess column.<ref>
{{cite news
 | title=Mr.&nbsp;Paul Morphy, the American chess phenomenon
 | date=18 September 1858
| newspaper=Illustrated London News 
 | page=255
 | url=http://www.chesshistory.com/winter/pics/cn3889_morphy4.jpg | access-date=28 July 2008
}}
</ref><ref>
{{cite news
 | title=Match between Messrs.&nbsp;Morphy and Lowenthal – game&nbsp;11
 | newspaper=Illustrated London News
 | date=18 September 1858
| page=255
 | url=http://www.chesshistory.com/winter/pics/cn3889_morphy5.jpg
 | access-date=28 July 2008
}}
</ref> On 6&nbsp;October 1858, while in Paris, Morphy wrote Staunton an [[open letter]] which was also circulated to several publications, in which Morphy complained about Staunton's conduct.<ref name="MorphyOpenLetterOct1858">
{{cite news
 | author=Morphy, Paul 
 | date = October 1858
 | title=Letter from Paul Morphy to Mr.&nbsp;Staunton, of England
 | newspaper=[[The New York Times]]
 | url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1858/11/01/78878758.pdf
 | access-date=11 July 2008
}} Copies were sent to ''[[The Illustrated London News]]'', ''[[Bell's Life in London]]'', the ''Era'', ''[[The Field (magazine)|The Field]]'' and ''[[The Sunday Times]]''.
</ref> Staunton replied on 9&nbsp;October, re-stating the difficulties he faced, but now giving them as reasons to cancel the match.<ref name="Murray1908Staunton"/><ref name="batgirlPaulWaitsForAnderssen" /><ref name=Konsala-1981/>{{rp|page=43}} On 23&nbsp;October, Staunton published his entire reply along with a partial copy of Morphy's open letter, omitting the reference to the "anti-book" letter.

Various chess columns then printed anonymous and acrimonious letters. Morphy took no part in any of this, but wrote to [[George Lyttelton, 4th&nbsp;Baron Lyttelton|Lord Lyttelton]], the president of the British Chess Association, explaining his own efforts to bring about the match, accusing Staunton of avoiding the match by all means short of admitting he did not wish to play, complaining about Staunton's representation of the facts in ''The Illustrated London News'', and demanding "that you shall declare to the world it is through no fault of mine that this match has not taken place."<ref name="batgirlPaulWaitsForAnderssen"/> Lyttelton replied that it was reasonable for Staunton to decline the match, but that in his opinion Staunton should have done so plainly in his first letter to America, but had instead often given the impression that he would soon be ready to start the match.<ref name="batgirlPaulWaitsForAnderssen"/><!--
Lyttleton quoted at Talk:Paul Morphy
The main criticism against Staunton was never his failure to play Morphy. As Lord Lyttleton put it:
{{Quote|In the general circumstances of the case, I conceive that Mr. Staunton was quite justified in declining the match.}}

His further statements explain Staunton's failings:
{{Quote|I cannot but think, that in all fairness and considerate-ness, Mr. Staunton might have told you of this long before he did. I know no reason why he might not have ascertained it, and informed you of it in answer to your first letter from America. Instead of this, it seems to me plain, both as to the interview at which I myself was present, and as to all the other communications which have passed, that Mr. Staunton gave you every reason to suppose that he would be ready to play the match within no long time ...&nbsp;.}}
-->

===Later life===
{{multiple image |total_width = 400
 |image1 = Howard Staunton 117 Lansdowne Road blue plaque.jpg
 |width1 = 3274 |height1 = 3181
 |caption1 = Blue plaque, 117&nbsp;Lansdowne Road, London
 |image2 = Howard Staunton, Kensal Green Cemetery 02.JPG
 |width2 = 3456 |height2 = 4608
 |caption2 = Monument, [[Kensal Green Cemetery]], London 
}}
Staunton continued writing the chess column in ''The Illustrated London News'' until his death in 1874, greeting new developments with enthusiasm.<ref name="batgirlStaunton"/><ref name="HilbertStauntonChessByTelegraph"/> In 1860 he published ''Chess Praxis'', a supplement to his 1847 work ''The Chess Player's Handbook''. The new book devoted 168&nbsp;pages to presenting many of Morphy's games and praised the American's play.<ref name="Murray1908Staunton"/><ref name="WallStaunton"/>

Five years later Staunton published ''Great Schools of England'' (1865), whose main subject was the history of major English [[Public school (UK)|public schools]] but which also presented some progressive ideas: Learning can only take place successfully if the active interest of the student is engaged; [[corporal punishment]] is to be avoided and [[fagging]] should be abolished.<ref>{{cite book
 | author=Staunton, H.
 | year=2002
 | title=Great Schools of England
 | publisher=Hardinge Simpole
 | isbn=1-84382-013-7
 | url=http://www.hardingesimpole.co.uk/biblio/1843820137.htm
 | access-date=19 June 2008
| archive-date=22 August 2010
| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100822015728/http://www.hardingesimpole.co.uk/biblio/1843820137.htm
 | url-status=dead
 }}<br/>Also summarised at {{cite web
 | title=The Howard Staunton Society
 | url=http://www.howardstaunton.com/staunton.shtml
 | access-date=19 June 2008
| url-status=dead
 | archive-url=https://archive.today/20130125161937/http://www.howardstaunton.com/staunton.shtml
 | archive-date=25 January 2013
}}</ref>

Most of Staunton's later life was occupied in writing about [[Shakespeare]], including: A [[photolithographic]] reproduction of the 1600 [[Early texts of Shakespeare's works|Quarto]] of ''[[Much Ado about Nothing]]'' in 1864 and of the [[First Folio]] of Shakespeare in 1866;<ref>
{{cite web
 | author=Gray, T.A.
 | year=2008
 | title=Shakespeare's Works
 | url=http://shakespeare.palomar.edu/works.htm
 | access-date=19 June 2008
| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131006112203/http://shakespeare.palomar.edu/works.htm
 | archive-date=6 October 2013
}}
</ref> and papers on ''Unsuspected corruptions of Shakespeare's text'', published from 1872 to his death. All these works were highly regarded at the time.

When he died suddenly of heart disease, on 22&nbsp;June 1874, he was at his desk writing one of these papers.<ref name="Murray1908Staunton"/> At the same time he was also working on his last chess book, ''Chess: Theory and Practice'', which was published posthumously in 1876.<ref name="NYTimes1888TheoryAndPractice">
{{cite news
 | title=A new chess book
 | date=13 May 1888
| newspaper=[[The New York Times]]
 | page=13
 | url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9F02EEDA173AEF33A25750C1A9639C94699FD7CF
 | access-date=19 June 2008
}}</ref>

A memorial plaque now hangs at his old residence of 117&nbsp;Lansdowne Road, London. In 1997 a memorial stone bearing an engraving of a chess [[knight (chess)|knight]] was raised over his grave at [[Kensal Green Cemetery]] in London, which had previously been unmarked and neglected.<ref>
{{cite news
 | last = Keene  | first = Raymond | author-link=Raymond Keene
 | date = 30 June 1995
| title = Staunton remembered
 | newspaper=[[The Spectator]]
 | page = 60
 | url = http://archive.spectator.co.uk/article/1st-july-1995/60/chess
 | access-date = 4 September 2015
}}
</ref><ref>An image of the [http://www.kensalgreen.co.uk/documents/KG_restoration.html new headstone] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140224072743/http://www.kensalgreen.co.uk/documents/KG_restoration.html |date=24 February 2014 }} is at the bottom of the page.</ref>

==Assessment==
Staunton has been a controversial figure ever since his own time. In the words of chess journalist Mark Weeks, "Staunton represents a unique challenge to chess history. Many players immediately associate his name with Paul Morphy, as in 'Staunton ducked a match with Morphy'. ... This is extremely unfair, as it concentrates the focus on Staunton to a relatively minor, factually controversial incident, while it ignores his significant achievements."<ref name="WeeksChessHistory2000n23">
{{cite web
 | title=Chess History on the Web
 | year=2000
 | number=23
 | url=http://mark_weeks.tripod.com/chw01d15/2000-23.txt
 | access-date=28 July 2008
}}
</ref> As chess historian [[Edward Winter (chess historian)|Edward Winter]] writes, "The issue of national bias does, unfortunately, require consideration in the Staunton–Morphy affair."<ref name="WinterEdgeMorphyStaunton"/> Chess historian Dale Brandreth makes a similar point,<ref name="WinterEdgeMorphyStaunton"/> from an American perspective:
{{Blockquote|the fact is that the British have always had their "thing" about Morphy. They just can't seem to accept that Staunton was an unmitigated bastard in his treatment of Morphy because he knew damned well he could never have made any decent showing against him in a match.<ref name="WinterEdgeMorphyStaunton"/>}}

However, Frederick Edge (1830–1882) and [[Philip W. Sergeant]] (1872–1952), two of Staunton's harshest critics, were British, while former world champion [[Bobby Fischer]] (1943–2008), one of the biggest fans of both Staunton and Morphy, was American.<ref>
Fischer in a famous 1964 article listed Morphy and Staunton as two of the ten greatest players in history. {{cite magazine
 |first=Bobby |last=Fischer |author-link=Bobby Fischer
 |date=January–February 1964
 |title=The Ten Greatest Masters in History
 |magazine=Chessworld
 |volume=1 |issue=1 |pages=56–61
}}
</ref>

===Staunton–Morphy controversy===
{{main article | Staunton–Morphy controversy }}
Chess historians trace much of the 20th&nbsp;century animosity against Staunton to books by Sergeant about Morphy.<ref name="DiggleOnEdgeSergeantStainton"/><ref>
''Morphy's Games of Chess'' (first edition 1916, there were several later editions);<br/>
''Morphy Gleanings'' (1932).<br/>
::Both works have been reprinted by Dover Publications, the latter under the title ''The Unknown Morphy'', but the page numbers are not necessarily the same.
</ref> Sergeant in turn relied on a book by Edge, who accompanied Morphy to Europe in 1858 as his secretary and personal assistant, but returned to the U.S. in January&nbsp;1859, a few months before Morphy.<ref>
The U.S. and U.K. editions had different titles:<br/>
{{cite book
 | author="Paul Morphy's late Secretary" [Frederick Edge]
 | year=1859
 | title=The Exploits and Triumphs in Europe, of Paul Morphy, the Chess Champion
 | publisher=D. Appleton
 | location=New York
}}<br/>
::and
{{cite book
 | author="An Englishman" [Frederick Edge]
 | year=1859
 | title=Paul Morphy the Chess Champion
 | publisher=Appleton
 | location=London
}}
</ref><ref>
{{cite web
 | author=Winter, E.G. |author-link=Edward Winter (chess historian)
 | year=2006
 | title=Edge, Morphy, and Staunton
 | url=http://www.chesshistory.com/winter/extra/edge.html
 | access-date=19 June 2008
}}
</ref> Opinions of Edge's value as a historical source vary widely:<ref name="WinterEdgeMorphyStaunton">
{{cite web
 | author=Winter, E.G.  |author-link=Edward Winter (chess historian)
 | year=2006
 | title=Edge, Morphy, and Staunton
 | url=http://www.chesshistory.com/winter/extra/edge.html
 | access-date=11 July 2008
}}
</ref>
* American chess journalist [[Daniel Willard Fiske]], reviewing Edge's book, commented, "Mr.&nbsp;Morphy expressly disclaims any connection with it in any way or manner. ... will afford the reader a half-hour's entertainment".<ref>
{{cite magazine
 | editor=Fiske, D.W. |editor-link=Daniel Willard Fiske
 | date=July 1859
 | title=[book reviews section]
 | magazine=The Chess Monthly
 | pages=204–207
 | location=New York, NY
 | url=http://www.chesshistory.com/winter/extra/edge.html
 | access-date=11 July 2008
}}
</ref>
* Sergeant's books and David Lawson's ''Paul Morphy: The pride and sorrow of chess'' (New York, 1976) make extensive use of Edge's book, but note Edge's strong anti-Staunton bias.<ref>
{{cite book
 | author=Sergeant, P.W. | author-link=Philip Sergeant
 | year=1916
 | title=Morphy's Games of Chess
 | page=13
}}<br/>
::quoted at
{{cite web
 | author=Winter, E.G.  |author-link=Edward Winter (chess historian)
 | year=2006
 | title=Edge, Morphy, and Staunton
 | url=http://www.chesshistory.com/winter/extra/edge.html
 | access-date=11 July 2008
}}
<br/>
{{cite book
 | author=Sergeant, P.W. | author-link=Philip Sergeant
 | year=1934
 | title=A Century of British Chess 
 | page=101
 | location=London
}}<br/>
::quoted at
 {{cite web
 | author=Winter, E.G.  |author-link=Edward Winter (chess historian)
 | year=2006
 | title=Edge, Morphy, and Staunton
 | url=http://www.chesshistory.com/winter/extra/edge.html 
 | access-date=11 July 2008
}}
<br/>
{{cite book
 | author=Lawson, D.
 | year=2006
 | title=Paul Morphy: The pride and sorrow of chess
 | page=115
 | publisher=David McKay
 | isbn=0-679-13044-6
 | url=http://www.chesshistory.com/winter/extra/edge.html
 | access-date=11 July 2008
}}
</ref> Lawson also suggests that Morphy had seen the [[manuscript]] of Edge's book, disliked its treatment of the Staunton affair so much that he disavowed it, and objected to Edge's treatment of other matters.<ref>
{{cite book
 | last=Lawson |first=D.
 | year=2006
 | title=Paul Morphy: The Pride and Sorrow of Chess
 | publisher=David McKay
 | page=118
 | isbn=0-679-13044-6
 | url=http://www.chesshistory.com/winter/extra/edge.html
 | access-date=11 July 2008
}}
</ref>
* Chess historians [[H. J. R. Murray]],<ref name="Murray1908Staunton"/><ref>
{{cite magazine
 | author=Murray, H.J.R.  |author-link=H. J. R. Murray
 | date=February 1906
 | title=[title not known]
 | magazine=British Chess Magazine
 | page=51
}}<br/>
::and
{{cite magazine
 | author=Murray, H.J.R.  |author-link=H. J. R. Murray
 | date=July 1937
 | title=[title not known]
 | magazine=British Chess Magazine
 | pages=353–354
}} <br/>
::both quoted at
{{cite web
 | author=Winter, E.G.  |author-link=Edward Winter (chess historian)
 | year=2006
 | title=Edge, Morphy, and Staunton
 | url=http://www.chesshistory.com/winter/extra/edge.html
 | access-date=11 July 2008
}}
</ref> [[David Vincent Hooper|David Hooper]] and [[Ken Whyld]] described Edge as unreliable and having an extreme bias against Staunton.<ref>
{{cite magazine
 | author=Hooper, D.V.  |author-link=David Vincent Hooper
 | date=January 1978
 | title=(review of Lawson's book ''Paul Morphy: The pride and sorrow of chess'')
 | magazine=British Chess Magazine
 | pages=33–34
}}<br/>
::and
{{cite magazine
 | author=Whyld, K.  |author-link=Ken Whyld
 | date=January 1980
 | title=(review of Lawson's book ''Paul Morphy The Pride and Sorrow of Chess'')
 | magazine=Chess
 | pages=42–45
}} <br/>
::both quoted at
{{cite web
 | author=Winter, E.G.  |author-link=Edward Winter (chess historian)
 | year=2006
 | title=Edge, Morphy, and Staunton
 | url=http://www.chesshistory.com/winter/extra/edge.html
 | access-date=11 July 2008
}}
</ref>

[[Edward Winter (chess historian)|E.G. Winter]] summarized the situation by writing:
{{Blockquote|The word "liar" has been applied to [Edge] by a small number of (English, notably) authors, but what is the precise basis? That he was anti-Staunton is incontestable, but was being anti-Staunton a sign of mendacity, prejudice or, for that matter, clear-sightedness?<ref name="WinterEdgeMorphyStaunton"/>}}

Edge's letters to Fiske show that Edge regarded Morphy as lazy and rather helpless, and himself as the one who would make Morphy's name immortal,<ref>
{{cite web
 | title=Letter from Edge to Fiske
 | date=25 March 1859
| url=http://www.chesshistory.com/winter/extra/fiske.html
 | access-date=28 July 2008
}}
</ref> and that Morphy wanted to keep the negotiations with Staunton discreet while Edge insisted on making them as public as possible.<ref>
{{cite web
 | title=Letter from Edge to Fiske
 | date=3 April 1859
| url=http://www.chesshistory.com/winter/extra/fiske.html
 | access-date=28 July 2008
}}
</ref>

H.J.R. Murray wrote that Staunton's response to Morphy's initial challenge and his article about the same in ''The Illustrated London News'' should have been interpreted as a courteous refusal of the offer, but that Morphy interpreted them differently, and one of the main reasons for his visit to Europe in 1858 was the hope of playing a match with Staunton.<ref name="Murray1908Staunton"/> Murray also commented on the whole affair:
{{Blockquote|In all this there is but little in which we can reproach Staunton, beyond the fact that he kept open the possibility of a match for so long, and even here there is a good deal that could be urged in justification of the course followed by Staunton}}
but also noted that both sides were playing tactical games with each other in front of the public, and that comments made by both players or their respective supporters were acrimonious.<ref name="Murray1908Staunton"/>

In response to Morphy's complaints Lord Lyttelton, then president of the British Chess Association, said that it was reasonable for Staunton to decline the match, but that in his opinion Staunton should have done so plainly in his first letter to America, but had instead often given the impression that he would soon be ready to start the match.<ref name="batgirlPaulWaitsForAnderssen"/> {{nowrap|[[von der Lasa]]}} later wrote, although not specifically about this affair, that he thought there was no chance of Staunton's health being good enough for a serious contest from 1853 onwards.<ref name="vdLasa1874Staunton"/> [[William Norwood Potter]] wrote in his obituary of Staunton in the ''City of London Chess Magazine''
{{Blockquote|...&nbsp;nor were his innuendoes concerning Morphy otherwise than an utterly unworthy means of getting out of an engagement, which he could have either declined with a good grace at first, or afterwards have honourably asked to be released from. Nevertheless, all said and done, Staunton was, as we have often heard a distinguished enemy of his say, emphatically a {{em|man}}. There was nothing weak about him, and he had a backbone that never curved with fear of any one.<ref name="Potter1874Staunton">
{{cite magazine
 | author=Potter, W.N.
 | year=1874
 | title=[obituary of Staunton]
 | magazine=The City of London Chess Magazine
 | url=http://www.chesscafe.com/text/kibitz48.txt
 | access-date=19 June 2008
}}
</ref>}}

Some 20th&nbsp;century commentators have been more critical of Staunton. However some well-known chess writers, including [[Fred Reinfeld]], [[Israel Albert Horowitz|Israel "Al" Horowitz]] and [[Reuben Fine]], have been criticised by chess historians for their inaccuracy, both in general and specifically where Staunton is concerned.<ref name="DiggleOnEdgeSergeantStainton">
{{cite web
 | author=Winter, E.G.  |author-link=Edward Winter (chess historian)
 | year=2006
 | title=Edge, Morphy, and Staunton
 | url=http://www.chesshistory.com/winter/extra/edge.html
 | access-date=11 July 2008
}}<br/>
::The relevant part starts near the end of the page, with Diggle's comments as quoted from ''Chess Notes'' (1932).
</ref><ref name="chessville20QuestionsWithKingston">{{cite web
 | author=Innes, Phil
 | title=Chessville plays ''20&nbsp;questions'' with Taylor Kingston
 | url=http://www.chessville.com/Editorials/Interviews/20Questions/Kingston.htm
 | access-date=10 August 2008
| archive-date=28 August 2008
| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080828034426/http://www.chessville.com/Editorials/Interviews/20Questions/Kingston.htm
 | url-status=usurped
 }}</ref> Edward Winter writes, "It is unwise for the 'non-playing' historian to publish his own analysis, although he may be a useful compiler. Similarly, players who are unversed in, and indifferent to, chess history should not touch it."<ref>
{{cite web
 | author=Winter, E.G.  |author-link=Edward Winter (chess historian)
 | title=Historical havoc
 | url=http://www.chesshistory.com/winter/extra/havoc.html
 | access-date=17 August 2008
}}
</ref>

[[William Hartston]] wrote of Staunton's non-match with Morphy:
{{Blockquote|Sadly, this blemish on Staunton the man also did considerable harm to the reputation among later generations of Staunton the chess player.<ref>Hartston, p. 46.</ref>}}
[[G. H. Diggle]] wrote in the ''[[British Chess Magazine]]'':
{{Blockquote|That [Staunton] excused himself ... from playing a match against the greatest player of the century, then at the zenith of his youth and fame, was no tragedy for chess. The contest would have been a fiasco. But it would have been happier, both for the young champion and the old, had the latter never said he would play at all.<ref>
{{cite book
 | author=Alexander, C.H.O'D.  | author-link=C. H. O'D. Alexander
 | year=1973
 | title=A Book of Chess
 | page=[https://archive.org/details/bookofchess0000alex/page/142 142]
 | publisher=Harper & Row
 | isbn=0-06-010048-6
 | url=https://archive.org/details/bookofchess0000alex
 | url-access=registration
}}<br/>
::a reprint of
{{cite magazine
 |first=G.H. |last=Diggle
 |date= November–December 1943
 |title=Staunton versus Saint-Amant, 1843
 |magazine=[[British Chess Magazine]]
}}
</ref>}}

===Playing strength and style===
[[File:Jean Henri Marlet Das berühmte Schachspiel zwischen Howard Staunton und Pierre Charles Fourrier Saint-Amant 1843.jpg|thumbnail|A depiction of the chess match between Howard Staunton and Pierre Charles Fourrier Saint-Amant, on 16&nbsp;December 1843]]
There is a famous story that [[Paul Morphy]] described Staunton as the author of "some devilish bad games". Chess historian [[Edward Winter (chess historian)|Edward Winter]] traced this back to a book published in 1902, whose author said he had seen a copy of Staunton's ''The Chess Tournament'' in which Morphy had written "some devilish bad games" on the [[title page]]; Winter was unable to trace the copy.<ref>
{{cite web
 | author=Winter, E.G.  |author-link=Edward Winter (chess historian)
 | date=3 July 2007
| title=Unsolved chess mysteries
 | series=Edward Winter presents
 | volume=9
 | url=http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=3972
 | access-date=19 June 2008
}} The book was {{cite book
 | author=Buck, C.A.
 | year=1902
 | title=Paul Morphy: His later life
 | publisher=Will. H. Lyons
 | location=Newport, Kentucky
 | url=http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Paul_Morphy:_His_Later_Life
 | access-date=11 July 2008
}}
</ref> Around the time of Staunton's death, Morphy is said to have commented that Staunton may have been the strongest player of his time, had great analytical ability and judgement of positions, but lacked the imagination required to deliberately create opportunities for [[combination (chess)|combinations]].<ref name="Lawson1976MorphyOnStaunton">
{{cite book
 | author=Lawson, D.
 | year=1976
 | title=Paul Morphy: The pride and the sorrow of chess
 | publisher=David McKay
 | isbn=0-679-13044-6
 | url=http://www.edochess.ca/batgirl/Morphy_on_Staunton.html
 | access-date=19 June 2008
}}</ref>

Twentieth-century opinions of Staunton's play varied enormously. [[Fred Reinfeld]], [[Israel Albert Horowitz|Al Horowitz]], and [[Reuben Fine]] all condemned it.<ref>"It takes too much time to find a game by him which one can ''enjoy''."<br/> 
:{{cite book
 | author=Reinfeld, F. | author-link=Fred Reinfeld
 | year=1950
 | title=A Treasury of British Chess Masterpieces
 | page=v
 | publisher=Bell Publishing
}}
"...&nbsp;it is just too incredible that anyone seemingly so weak as [Staunton] could have achieved such success&nbsp;..."<br/>
:{{cite book
 | author=Horowitz, I.A.  |author-link=Israel Albert Horowitz
 | year=1973
 | title=The World Chess Championship – A History
 | page=[https://archive.org/details/worldchesschampi00horo/page/3 3]
 | publisher=Macmillan
 | lccn=72080175 |oclc=604994
 | url=https://archive.org/details/worldchesschampi00horo
 | url-access=registration
}}
:{{cite book
 | author=Fine, R.
 | year=1952
 | title=The World's Great Chess Games
 | pages=11–12
 | publisher=Andre Deutsch
}}
</ref>
In his book The World of Chess, [[Anthony Saidy]] refused to reprint a single Staunton game and said his style of play was mostly about the acquisition of material rather than strategic or analytical brilliance.<ref>
:{{cite book
 | author=Saidy, Anthony
 | year=1974
 | title=The World of Chess
 | publisher=Random House
 | isbn=039448777X
}}
</ref>

On the other hand, [[Savielly Tartakower]] wrote, "A remarkable feature of Staunton's play is the number of ultra-modern ideas with which he was familiar, e.g. the restricted centre, the ''[[fianchetto]]'' development, bilateral work, the theory of the local engagement, etc., and, last but not least, the ''[[English Opening]]'' (sometimes called the ''Staunton Opening'')."<ref>
{{cite book
 | author1=Tartakower, S. 
 | author2=du&nbsp;Mont, J. 
 | year=1975
 | title=500 Master Games of Chess
 | page=[https://archive.org/details/500mastergamesof00tart/page/626 626]
 | publisher=Dover
 | isbn=0-486-23208-5
 | url=https://archive.org/details/500mastergamesof00tart/page/626
}}
</ref> [[Garry Kasparov]] considered Staunton "by the early 1840s ... superior to all his rivals".<ref>
{{cite book
 | author=Kasparov, G.  | author-link=Garry Kasparov
 | year=2003
 | title=[[My Great Predecessors]]
 | volume=Part&nbsp;I  | page=17
 | publisher=Everyman Chess
 | isbn=1-85744-330-6
}}
</ref> [[Bobby Fischer]] opined that "Staunton was the most profound opening analyst of all time. He was more theorist than player, but nonetheless he was the strongest player of his day ...&nbsp;. In addition, he understood all of the positional concepts which modern players hold dear, and thus – with Steinitz – must be considered the first modern player."<ref name="Fischer1964OnStaunton">
{{cite magazine
 | author=Fischer, R.J.  | author-link=Bobby Fischer
 | date=January–February 1964
 | title=The Ten Greatest Masters in History
 | magazine=Chessworld
 | pages=56, 58
}} Quoted in {{cite book
 | author=Kasparov, G.   | author-link=Garry Kasparov
 | year=2003
 | title=[[My Great Predecessors]]
 | volume=Part&nbsp;I  | page=21
 | publisher=Everyman Chess
 | isbn=1-85744-330-6
}}
</ref>

The website [[Chessmetrics]] ranks Staunton as world number one from May&nbsp;1843 to August&nbsp;1849, in the top ten from July&nbsp;1851 to May&nbsp;1853, and in the top five from June&nbsp;1853 to January&nbsp;1856.<ref name="ChessmetricsProfileStaunton">
{{cite web
 | title=Chessmetrics Player Profile: Howard Staunton
 | url=http://chessmetrics.com/cm/CM2/PlayerProfile.asp?Params=199510SSSSS3S125695000000111000000000028210100
 | access-date=19 June 2008
}}
</ref>

From the early 1840s–1851 Staunton could successfully give [[chess handicap|odds]] to almost any UK-based player, including eventually [[John Cochrane (chess player)|John Cochrane]];<ref name="Murray1908Staunton"/>{{efn|name="chessOdds"}} the exceptions were [[Henry Thomas Buckle]], to whom Staunton gave [[List of chess terms#Pawn and move|pawn and move]] in 1843 and lost their match (6&nbsp;losses, no draws, 1&nbsp;win), and [[Elijah Williams (chess player)|Elijah Williams]] in 1851, against whom Staunton won more games, but lost the match because he had given Williams a 3-game start.<ref name="ScoresRomanticEra"/> According to match records collected by Jeremy P. Spinrad, the only players who were successful against Staunton without receiving odds from 1840 to 1852 were:
* [[Pierre Charles Fournier de Saint-Amant|Saint-Amant]], who won their first match in London in 1843 and lost their second, longer match in Paris the same year;
* [[Adolf Anderssen]], who eliminated Staunton from the [[London 1851 chess tournament|1851&nbsp;London International tournament]]; and
* [[Elijah Williams (chess player)|Elijah Williams]], who beat Staunton in the play-off for third place in the same tournament.<ref name="ScoresRomanticEra"/>

Before 1840 Staunton was still a relative beginner, and after 1851 his health was too fragile for serious competition. In the late 1840s some UK commentators wrote that Buckle was stronger, and [[Tassilo von Heydebrand und der Lasa|von der Lasa]] was regarded by some as the world's best.<ref name="Spinrad2006EarlyWorldRankings"/> Staunton did not play von&nbsp;der Lasa until 1853, and was forced by ill-health to abandon the match.<ref name="Murray1908Staunton"/>

In his own time Staunton was regarded as belonging to the "closed" category of chess players (along with for example [[François-André Danican Philidor|Philidor]] and [[József Szén]]) rather than to the "heroic" category (which included [[Louis-Charles Mahé de La Bourdonnais|La&nbsp;Bourdonnais]], Morphy, and Anderssen) – instead of seeking immediate combat, Staunton deferred it until he was ready.<ref name="Spinrad2006Bledow">
{{cite web
 | author=Spinrad, J.P.
 | title=Ludwig Erdmann Bledowc
 | publisher=chesscafe.com
 | url=http://www.chesscafe.com/text/spinrad11.pdf
 | access-date=19 June 2008
}}
</ref> The closed [[English Opening]] got its name from Staunton's frequent use of it, especially against Saint-Amant in 1843.<ref name="Murray1908Staunton"/><ref name="batgirlStaunton"/> However he was noted for the accuracy and incisiveness of his [[Combination (chess)|combinations]].<ref name="Lawson1976MorphyOnStaunton"/>

===Personality===
Staunton's virtues and defects were both on a large scale.<ref>
[[Charles Ranken|Ranken, C.]] (1897), quoted in {{cite book
 | author1=Hooper, D. | author1-link=David Vincent Hooper
 | author2=Whyld, K.  | author-link2=Kenneth Whyld
 | year=1992
 | title=[[The Oxford Companion to Chess]]
 | edition=2nd  | page=[https://archive.org/details/oxfordcompaniont0000hoop/page/392 392]
 | publisher=Oxford University Press
 | isbn=0-19-866164-9
}}
</ref> Former world champion [[Garry Kasparov]] commented that Staunton "founded and edited the magazine ''Chess Player's Chronicle'' ... wrote a chess column (1845–1874), studied opening theory ... published four remarkable books ... endorsed the famous '[[Staunton chess set|Staunton pieces]]' ... organized the first international chess tournament in history&nbsp;...&nbsp;."<ref>
{{cite book
 | author=Kasparov, G.  | author-link=Garry Kasparov
 | year=2003
 | title=[[My Great Predecessors]]
 | volume=Part&nbsp;I  | page=17
 | publisher=Everyman Chess
 | isbn=1-85744-330-6
}} (Last ellipsis as in original.)
</ref> However, British [[International Master]] [[William Hartston]] wrote that Staunton's many achievements were done "with the full weight of an arrogant and pompous nature which has scarcely been matched in the history of the game."<ref>
{{cite book
 | author=Hartston, William
 | year=1985
 | title=The Kings of Chess
 | page=[https://archive.org/details/kingsofchesshi00hart/page/26 26]
 | publisher=Pavilion Books Limited
 | isbn=0-06-015358-X
 | url=https://archive.org/details/kingsofchesshi00hart/page/26
}}
</ref>

Even contemporaries sympathetic to Staunton admitted that he could be spiteful in response to unexpected defeats,<ref name="Murray1908Staunton"/><ref name="Spinrad2007BristolSlothPartTwo">
{{cite web
 | author=Spinrad, J. P.
 | title=The telegraph, the velocipede, and the Bristol sloth: Part&nbsp;Two
 | date=April 2007
 | url=http://www.chesscafe.com/text/spinrad16.pdf
 | access-date=13 July 2008
}}
</ref><ref name="SpinradChessDisputes"/> and to proposals or arguments that he considered ill-founded or malicious.<ref name="Murray1908Staunton"/><ref name="vdLasa1874Staunton"/><ref name="Potter1874Staunton"/> Staunton had a highly volatile relationship with [[George Walker (chess player)|George Walker]], the founder of the London Chess Club, a dedicated populariser of chess, and one of Staunton's earliest supporters.<ref name="chesscafeCaptainWilliamEvans">{{cite web
 | title=Captain William Evans, inventor of the ''Evans gambit''
 | year=2000
 | url=http://www.chesscafe.com/text/skittles141.pdf
 | access-date=25 June 2008
}} based on {{cite magazine
 | author=Thomas, W.R.
 | date=January 1928
 | title=[title unknown]
 | magazine=British Chess Magazine
}}
</ref><ref name="johntownsendHowardStaunton" />
<ref>{{cite web
 | author=Spinrad, Jeremy P. 
 | title=Chess disputes
 | url=http://www.chesscafe.com/text/spinrad04.pdf
 | access-date=28 July 2008
}}
<br/><br/>
{{cite magazine
 | author=Winter, E.G.  |author-link=Edward Winter (chess historian)
 | date=February 1844
 | title=The late grand chess match
 | magazine=The Chess Player's Chronicle
 | url=http://www.edochess.ca/batgirl/Walker1844.html
 | access-date=25 June 2008
}}
<br/><br/>
{{cite web
 |author=Winter, E.G.  |author-link=Edward Winter (chess historian) 
 | title=Copyright on chess games
 | url=http://www.chesshistory.com/winter/extra/copyright.html
 | access-date=25 June 2008
}} which cites <br/>
{{cite magazine
 | author=Tomlinson, Charles 
 | date=November 1894
 | title=(title unknown)
 | magazine=British Chess Magazine
 | page=438
}}
</ref>
{{Wikisource | A Literary Steinitz Gambit}}

Chess journalism could be a bruising business in those days, even when Staunton was not involved.<ref>George Walker savaged a rival's book in a manner "equal to Staunton at his worst": {{cite web
 | author=Winter, E.G.  |author-link=Edward Winter (chess historian) 
 | title=A chess 'Watergate'
 | series=Chess Notes
 | volume=4337 
 | url=http://www.chesshistory.com/winter/winter21.html#4337._A_chess_Watergate
 | access-date=28 July 2008
}}
<br/><br/>
{{cite web
 | author=Winter, E.G.  |author-link=Edward Winter (chess historian) 
 | title=Rude
 | series=Chess Notes
 | volume=4276 
 | url=http://www.chesshistory.com/winter/winter21.html#4276._Rude
 | access-date=28 July 2008
}}
</ref> However it does seem that Staunton was involved in more than his fair share of chess disputes.<ref name="SpinradChessDisputes">
{{cite web
 | author=Spinrad, Jeremy P. 
 | title=Chess Disputes
 | url=http://www.chesscafe.com/text/spinrad04.pdf
 | access-date=28 July 2008
}}
</ref>

Staunton's enemies gave as good as they got.<ref>
{{cite web
 |author=Winter, E.G.  |author-link=Edward Winter (chess historian) 
 |title=Attacks on Howard Staunton
 |url=http://www.chesshistory.com/winter/extra/staunton.html
 |access-date=28 July 2008 |url-status=dead
 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080627120750/http://www.chesshistory.com/winter/extra/staunton.html
 |archive-date=27 June 2008
}}
</ref>

[[H. J. R. Murray]] suggested that these frequent wars of words may have originated from leading players' and commentators' jealousy over Staunton's unexpected rise to the top in the early 1840s, and from snobbish disdain about his humble and possibly illegitimate birth.<ref name="Murray1908Staunton"/> Saidy and Lessing wrote that, "He can hardly be blamed if the struggles and privations of his youth warped his character so that he became a jealous, suspicious, and vitriolic man."<ref>
{{cite book
 | author=Saidy, A.     | author1-link=Anthony Saidy
 | author2=Lessing, N.  | author2-link=Norman Lessing
 | year=1974
 | title=The World of Chess
 | page=[https://archive.org/details/worldofchess00said/page/86 86]
 | publisher=Random House
 | isbn=0-394-48777-X
 | url=https://archive.org/details/worldofchess00said/page/86
}}
</ref>

On the other hand, Staunton's often-criticized description of Anderssen as Germany's second best player, after Anderssen had won the 1851&nbsp;London International tournament, may have been reasonable on the basis of what is now known about [[Tassilo von Heydebrand und der Lasa|von&nbsp;der Lasa's]] skill.<ref name="Spinrad2006EarlyWorldRankings"/> Staunton was sometimes an objective chess commentator: A large percentage of his 1860 book ''Chess Praxis'' was devoted to Morphy's games, which he praised highly;<ref name="Murray1908Staunton"/> and in ''The Chess-Player's Companion'' (1849) Staunton sometimes criticised his own play, and presented a few of his losses.<ref name="StauntonChessplayersCompanion"/>

Staunton showed excellent management skills in building the team to organise the 1851&nbsp;London International tournament, and determination and resourcefulness in overcoming the difficulties of getting enough competitors.<ref name="Murray1908Staunton"/><ref name="batgirlAnderssen"/> He also maintained good working relationships with important players and enthusiasts, for example: Popert and [[John Cochrane (chess player)|Cochrane]] helped him to prepare for his second match against Saint-Amant; [[William Davies Evans|Captain Evans]] agreed to be one of his seconds in that match and later helped Staunton to organise the 1845 telegraphic match;<ref name="batgirlStaunton"/> the Calcutta Chess Club contributed £100 to help finance the London International Tournament in 1851, and in addition its principal officers Cochrane and T.C.&nbsp;Morton made two of the four largest personal contributions;<ref name="StauntonLondon1851"/> Staunton corresponded with von&nbsp;der Lasa for over 30&nbsp;years, although they only met once; Staunton's last letter to von&nbsp;der Lasa, November&nbsp;1873, expressed his sorrow at the deaths of various masters and enthusiasts, including Saint-Amant, and especially [[Carl Jaenisch]].<ref name="vdLasa1874Staunton"/>

In conversation Staunton was charming and witty.<ref name="Murray1908Staunton"/><ref name="Lawson1976MorphyOnStaunton"/><ref name="johntownsendHowardStaunton">{{cite web
 | title=Howard Staunton, circa 1810–1874, chess player, Shakespeare editor
 | url=http://www.johntownsend.demon.co.uk/index_files/Page324.htm
 | access-date=25 June 2008
| archive-date=4 July 2008
| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080704063604/http://www.johntownsend.demon.co.uk/index_files/Page324.htm
 | url-status=dead
 }}<br/>The attack on Walker is from {{cite magazine
 | author=Staunton, Howard 
 | year=1841
 | title=(title unknown)
 | magazine=The Chess Player's Chronicle
 | volume=1
}}<br/>The account of Staunton's conversational skills is from {{cite magazine
 | author=P. T. Duffy
 | year=1874
 | title=[obituary for Staunton]
 | magazine=The Westminster Papers
}}</ref>

Despite the disappointing way in which his playing career ended,<ref name="vdLasa1874Staunton"/> Staunton continued to write with enthusiasm about the progress of new technologies, players, and developments in chess theory.<ref name="HilbertStauntonChessByTelegraph"/><ref name="WinterChessNote4765"/> His last book, ''Chess: Theory and Practice'', was sufficiently complete at the time of his death to be published posthumously in 1876, and it was described as up-to-date fourteen years after his death.<ref name="NYTimes1888TheoryAndPractice"/>

===Influence on chess===
{{algebraic notation|pos=secright}}
Staunton proposed and was the principal organiser of the [[London 1851 chess tournament|first international chess tournament]],<ref name="Murray1908Staunton"/> which proved that such events were possible, and which produced a clear consensus on who was the world's strongest player – [[Adolf Anderssen]].<ref name="chessaboutOriginInternationalChessEvents">
{{cite web
 |author      = Weeks, M.
 |title       = The origin of international chess events
 |url         = http://chess.about.com/od/history/p/aa07d14.htm
 |access-date = 19 June 2008 |url-status = dead
 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080704021015/http://chess.about.com/od/history/p/aa07d14.htm
 |archive-date = 4 July 2008 |df = dmy
}}</ref> All subsequent international tournaments took place in Great Britain until Paris 1867.<ref name="storiascacchiTorneiAl1879"/>

Contemporaries, including [[Wilhelm Steinitz|Steinitz]] and [[Paul Morphy|Morphy]], regarded Staunton's writings on [[chess opening]]s as among the best of their time.<ref name="Murray1908Staunton"/><ref name="Lawson1976MorphyOnStaunton"/><ref>
{{cite magazine
 |author=Bird, H.E. 
 |date=December 1879 
 |title=The chess opening, considered critically and practically 
 |magazine=The Field 
 |url=http://infomotions.com/etexts/gutenberg/dirs/etext04/chshr10.htm 
 |access-date=19 June 2008 |url-status=dead 
 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120210085121/http://infomotions.com/etexts/gutenberg/dirs/etext04/chshr10.htm 
 |archive-date=10 February 2012 }}
</ref> Staunton's ''Chess-Player's Handbook'' (1847) immediately became the leading English-language chess textbook.<ref name="Murray1908Staunton"/><ref>
{{cite book
 | author=Murray, H.J.R.  | author-link=H. J. R. Murray
 | year=1913
 | title=A History of Chess
 | page=885
 | publisher=Oxford University Press
 | isbn=0-19-827403-3
}}
</ref><ref name="Raymond Keene 1975 15">{{cite book
 | author=[[Raymond Keene|R.D. Keene]] and R.N. Coles | title=Howard Staunton: the English Chess World Champion | publisher=[[British Chess Magazine]] | year=1975 | page=15 
}}</ref> It went through twenty-one reprints by 1935,<ref name="Raymond Keene 1975 15"/><ref>
{{cite book
 | author=Eales, Richard 
 | year=1985
 | title=Chess: The history of a game
 | page=137
 | publisher=Facts on File Publications
 | isbn=0-8160-1195-8
}}
</ref> spawned several imitators, and remained in print (in a revised edition) until the 1940s.<ref>
{{cite book
 | author=Betts, Douglas A. 
 | year=2005
 | title=Chess
 | page=75
 | publisher=Moravian Chess
 | isbn=0-8161-1094-8
 | quote=An annotated bibliography of works published in the English language 1850–1968
}}
</ref>

Around 1888 Staunton's ''Chess: Theory and Practice'', published posthumously in 1876, was regarded as modern in most respects, but there was a growing need for more up-to-date analysis of openings.<ref name="NYTimes1888TheoryAndPractice"/>{{efn|
"[A]s time passed a demand arose for more up-to-date works in English, an example of which is Freeborough and Ranken's ''Chess Openings'' (1889) which had four editions up to 1910".<ref>{{cite book
 | author1=Hooper, D. | author1-link=David Vincent Hooper
 | author2=Whyld, K.  | author-link2=Kenneth Whyld
 | year=1992
 | title=[[The Oxford Companion to Chess]]
 | edition=2nd  | page=[https://archive.org/details/oxfordcompaniont0000hoop/page/280 280]
 | publisher=Oxford University Press
 | isbn=0-19-866164-9
}}
</ref>
}}

Staunton's [[obituary]] in ''The City of London Chess Magazine'' said:
{{Blockquote|...&nbsp;his literary labours are the basis upon which English Chess Society ... stands.<ref name="Potter1874Staunton"/>}}

His play, however, had little influence on other players of the day. [[William Hartston]] explains that
{{Blockquote|... his chess understanding was so far ahead of his time. A deep strategist living in an era when shallow tactics were still the rule, Staunton's conceptions could not be assimilated by his contemporaries.<ref>
{{cite book
 | author=Hartston, W.
 | year=1985
 | title=The Kings of Chess
 | page=[https://archive.org/details/kingsofchesshi00hart/page/36 36]
 | publisher=Pavilion Books Limited
 | isbn=0-06-015358-X
 | url=https://archive.org/details/kingsofchesshi00hart/page/36
}}
</ref>}}

Staunton's style and the openings that accompanied it were eclipsed by the more directly aggressive styles of [[Adolf Anderssen|Anderssen]] and Morphy, which dominated chess from 1851 until Steinitz unveiled his [[List of chess terms#Positional play|positional]] approach in 1873.<ref name="SilmanSteinitz">
{{cite web
 |author=Silman, J.  |author-link=Jeremy Silman
 |title=Wilhelm Steinitz
 |url=http://www.jeremysilman.com/chess_history/grt_plyr_w_steinitz.html
 |access-date=19 June 2008 |url-status=dead
 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080619024745/http://www.jeremysilman.com/chess_history/grt_plyr_w_steinitz.html
 |archive-date=19 June 2008
}}
</ref>

{{Chess diagram small
| tright
|
|rd|nd|bd|qd|kd|bd|nd|rd
|pd|pd|__|pd|pd|pd|pd|pd
|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__
|__|__|pd|__|__|__|__|__
|__|__|__|__|pl|__|__|__
|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|__
|pl|pl|pl|pl|__|pl|pl|pl
|rl|nl|bl|ql|kl|bl|nl|rl
|Staunton advocated the [[Sicilian Defence]], 1...c5 in reply to 1.e4.
}}

There is little evidence that Staunton had much direct influence on modern chess. Although he introduced the [[English Opening]], it has been called "really a 20th&nbsp;century invention" that only became fully respectable after future world champion [[Mikhail Botvinnik]] began playing it in the 1930s.<ref name="MCO-15_page675">
{{cite book
 | author=de&nbsp;Firmian, N.  | author-link=Nick de Firmian
 | year=2008
 | title=Modern Chess Openings
 | edition=15th
 | page=675
 | publisher=David McKay
 | isbn=978-0-8129-3682-7
}}
</ref> Similarly, although Staunton was an early champion of the [[Sicilian Defense]], which is today the most popular opening,<ref>
{{cite book
 | author=Watson, J.  | author-link=John L. Watson
 | year=2006
 | title=Mastering the Chess Openings
 | volume=1  | page=175
 | publisher=Gambit Publications
 | isbn=1-904600-60-3
}}
</ref> and the most successful response to 1.e4,{{efn|[[New in Chess]] stated in its 2000&nbsp;Yearbook that of the games in its [[database]], White scored 56.1% with 1.d4, but two per cent less (54.1%) with 1.e4, primarily because of the Sicilian, against which White scored only 52.3%. ''New in Chess Yearbook&nbsp;55'' (2000), p.&nbsp;227. A graph similar to that in the 2000&nbsp;Yearbook can be found at.<ref>{{cite web
 | title=How to read NIC statistics (valid until volume&nbsp;62)
 | website=NewInChess.com
 | url=http://www.newinchess.com/Yearbook/Default.aspx?PageID=226
 | access-date=7 May 2008 | url-status=dead
 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080416112848/http://www.newinchess.com/Yearbook/Default.aspx?PageID=226
 | archive-date=16 April 2008
}}
</ref>
}} Staunton seems to have had little influence on how the Sicilian is played today: He regarded it as a safe defensive line, while it is now treated as a vigorous but slightly risky counterattack.{{efn|Staunton wrote that the Sicilian "...&nbsp;is the best possible reply to the move of 1.&nbsp;P. to K's 4th, 'as it renders the formation of a [[center (chess)|centre]] impracticable for White and prevents every [[List of chess terms#Attack|attack]].'&nbsp;"<ref>
{{cite book
 |last=Staunton |first=Howard
 |year=1847
 |title=The Chess-Player's Handbook
 |page=371
 |publisher=Henry G. Bohn
}} Also quoted at<br/>
{{cite web
 | author=Harding, T.  | author-link=Tim Harding (chess)
 | title=The Openings at New York 1924
 | url=http://www.chesscafe.com/text/kibitz34.txt
 | access-date=19 June 2008
|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080531132119/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/kibitz34.txt
 | archive-date = 31 May 2008
}}
</ref> However, [[Grandmaster (chess)|Grandmaster]] [[John Nunn]] wrote in 2001 that the Sicilian is now popular because "...&nbsp;Black is playing not just for equality, but for the advantage ... Black has to take care not to fall victim to a quick attack."<ref>
{{cite book
 |last=Nunn | first=John   |author-link=John Nunn
 | year=2001
 | title=Understanding Chess Move by Move
 | page=[https://archive.org/details/understandingche00nunn_880/page/n56 57]
 | publisher=Gambit Publications
 | isbn=1-901983-41-2
 | url=https://archive.org/details/understandingche00nunn_880
 | url-access=limited
}}
</ref> On the other hand, [[Raymond Keene]] wrote that "[[Mark Taimanov|Taimanov]] ... revived some old, forgotten ideas of Staunton&nbsp;..." in the Sicilian.<ref>
{{cite news
 |title=Mafia connections
 |last=Keene |first=Raymond   |author-link=Raymond Keene
 |date=22 March 1997
|newspaper=[[The Spectator]]
 |url=http://archive.spectator.co.uk/article/22nd-march-1997/60/simpsons
 |access-date=15 September 2016
}}
</ref> }}

{{Chess diagram small
| tleft
|
|rd|nd|bd|qd|kd|bd|__|rd
|pd|pd|pd|__|pd|__|pd|pd
|__|__|__|__|__|nd|__|__
|__|__|  |pd|__|pd|__|__
|__|__|__|pl|__|__|pl|__
|__|__|__|__|__|__|__|pl
|pl|pl|pl|__|pl|pl|__|__
|rl|nl|bl|ql|kl|bl|nl|rl
| Staunton's "spike" gambit against the [[Dutch Defence]]. Staunton and modern [[grandmaster (chess)|GM]]s agree that Black gets a good game after 1.d4 f5 2.h3 Nf6 3.g4 d5!
}}

Staunton introduced the [[Staunton Gambit]] against the [[Dutch Defence]] (1.d4 f5 2.e4{{chesspunc|!?}}).<ref>
{{cite web
 |title=Howard Staunton vs. Bernard Horwitz, 3rd&nbsp;match game, London 1846
 |url=http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1001250
 |access-date=1 July 2008
}}
</ref><ref>
{{cite book
 | author1=Hooper, D. | author1-link=David Vincent Hooper
 | author2=Whyld, K.  | author-link2=Kenneth Whyld
 | year=1992
 | title=[[The Oxford Companion to Chess]]
 | edition=2nd   | page=[https://archive.org/details/oxfordcompaniont0000hoop/page/393 393]
 | publisher=Oxford University Press
 | isbn=0-19-866164-9
}}
</ref> Although it was once a feared attacking line,<ref group=lower-alpha>"The Staunton Gambit ... offers White considerable attacking chances."<br/>
:{{cite book
 | author1=Fine, R.       | author1-link=Reuben Fine
 | author2=Griffith, R.C. | author2-link=Richard Griffith (chess player)
 | author3=White, J.H.    | author3-link=John Herbert White
 | year=1939
 | title=Modern Chess Openings
 | page=176  | edition=6th 
 | publisher=David McKay
}}
The Staunton Gambit gives White "sharp attacking chances for his Pawn" and places the opponent at a psychological disadvantage&nbsp;..."
:{{cite book
 | author=Horowitz, I.A. | author-link=I. A. Horowitz
 | year=1964
 | title=Chess Openings: Theory and practice
 | page=[https://archive.org/details/chessopeningsthe0000horo/page/611 611]
 | publisher=Simon and Schuster
 | url=https://archive.org/details/chessopeningsthe0000horo
 | url-access=registration
}}<br/>
Fear of the Staunton Gambit has discouraged many players from using the Dutch.
:{{cite book
 | author=Christiansen, L. | author1-link=Larry Christiansen
 | author2=Silman, J.      | author2-link=Jeremy Silman
 | year=1989
 | title=The Dutch Defense
 | page=192
 | publisher=Chess Digest
 | isbn=0-87568-178-6
}}
:{{cite book
 | author1=Schiller, E. | author1-link=Eric Schiller
 | author2=Colias, Bill 
 | year=1993
 | title=How to Play Black Against the Staunton Gambit
 | page=4
 | publisher=Chess Digest
 | isbn=0-87568-236-7
}}
</ref> it has been out of favour since the mid-1920s,<ref group=lower-alpha>The Staunton Gambit "has fallen out of favour for no clear reason".<br/>
:{{cite book
 | author1=Griffith, R.C. | author1-link=Richard Griffith (chess player)
 | author2=White, J.H.    |author2-link=John Herbert White 
 | author3=Goldstein, M.E.
 | year=1925
 | title=Modern Chess Openings
 | edition=4th  | page=120
 | publisher=Whitehead & Miller
}}
"The Staunton Gambit fell out of favour some time ago and still remains so&nbsp;...&nbsp;."<br/>
:{{cite book
 | author1=Fine, R.       | author1-link=Reuben Fine
 | author2=Griffith, R.C. | author2-link=Richard Griffith (chess player)
 | author3=White, J.H.    | author3-link=John Herbert White
 | year=1939
 | title=Modern Chess Openings
 | edition=6th   | page=176
 | publisher=David McKay
}}
The Staunton Gambit "is not in much favor today".<br/>
:{{cite book
 | author=de&nbsp;Firmian, N.  | author-link=Nick de Firmian
 | year=2008
 | title=Modern Chess Openings, 15th edition
 | page=494
 | publisher=Random House
 | isbn=978-0-8129-3682-7
}}
</ref> and is thought to "offer White equality at best".<ref>
{{cite book
 | author1=Christiansen, L. | author1-link=Larry Christiansen
 | author2=Silman, J.       | author2-link=Jeremy Silman 
 | year=1989
 | title=The Dutch Defense
 | page=192
 | publisher=Chess Digest
 | isbn=0-87568-178-6
}}
</ref> Staunton also analysed a different [[gambit]] approach to the Dutch, 2.h3 followed by g4.<ref>{{cite book
 | last=Staunton | first=Howard
 | year=1847
 | title=The Chess-Player's Handbook
 | pages=381–382
 | publisher=Henry G. Bohn
}}<br/>
{{cite book
 | author=Alan L. Watson
 | year=1995
 | title=The Anti-Dutch Spike: g4! in the Krejcik, Korchnoi, and Alapin variations
 | page=36
 | publisher=Blackmar Press
 | isbn=0-9619606-2-0
}}
</ref> In 1979 [[Viktor Korchnoi]], one of the world's leading players, successfully introduced this line into top-class competition,<ref>
{{cite web
 | title=Korchnoi-Känel (Biel 1979)
 | website=ChessGames.com
 | url=http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1082507
 | access-date=15 August 2008
}}
</ref> but later authorities concluded, as Staunton had, that Black gets a good game with 2...Nf6 3.g4 d5{{chesspunc|!}}<ref>{{cite book
 | author1=Christiansen, L. | author1-link=Larry Christiansen
 | author2=Silman, J.       | author2-link=Jeremy Silman
 | year=1989
 | title=The Dutch Defense
 | page=144
 | publisher=Chess Digest
 | isbn=0-87568-178-6
}}<br/>
{{cite book
 | last=Staunton | first=Howard
 | year=1847
 | title=The Chess-Player's Handbook
 | pages=381–382
 | publisher=Henry G. Bohn
}}
</ref>

Staunton also advocated the [[Ponziani Opening]] 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.c3, which was often called "Staunton's Opening".<ref>
{{cite book
 | author=Staunton, H.
 | year=1893
 | title=The Chess-Player's Handbook
 | page=182
 | publisher=George Bell & Sons
}}
</ref> It is rarely played today because it allows Black to choose between a sharp counterattack and a safe line that usually leads to a draw.<ref>
{{cite book
 | author=Kaufman, L.
 | year=2004
 | title=The Chess Advantage in Black and White
 | page=342
 | publisher=David McKay
 | isbn=0-8129-3571-3
}}<br/>
{{cite book
 | author=Burgess, G.
 | year=1997
 | title=The Mammoth Book of Chess
 | page=133
 | publisher=Carroll & Graf
 | isbn=0-7867-0725-9
}}
</ref>
{{clear}}

===His other writings===
Staunton's edition of Shakespeare's plays was respected.<ref name="Murray1908Staunton"/><ref>
{{cite web
 |author=Gray, T.A.
 |year=2008
 |title=Howard Staunton
 |series=Shakespeare's editors
 |url=http://shakespeare.palomar.edu/Editors/Staunton.htm
 |access-date=19 June 2008 |url-status=dead
 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080515220544/http://shakespeare.palomar.edu/Editors/Staunton.htm
 |archive-date=15 May 2008
}} Quotes the ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography''.
</ref>

==Staunton Memorial Tournament==
Between 2003 and 2009, a [[Howard Staunton Memorial Tournament]] was held at [[Simpson's-in-the-Strand]], London,<ref>
{{cite web
 | title=The Howard Staunton Memorial Tournament
 | publisher=The Howard Staunton Memorial Society
 | url=http://howardstaunton.com/hsmt.shtml
 | access-date=25 June 2008 | url-status=dead
 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180321131220/http://howardstaunton.com/hsmt.shtml
 | archive-date=21 March 2018
}}
</ref> a restaurant which Staunton regularly visited in the 19th&nbsp;century to play and discuss chess (it was then a [[Coffeehouse|coffee house]] known as "The Divan" or "Simpson's Divan").<ref>
{{cite book
 | author=Schonberg, H.C.
 | year=1975
 | chapter=The Age of Staunton
 | title=Grandmasters of Chess
 | pages=37–46
 | publisher=Fontana
 | isbn=0-00-633618-3
}}
</ref> The 2008 tournament was the strongest to be held in London since 1986.<ref>
{{cite web
 | title=The 6th&nbsp;Staunton Memorial Tournament
 | year=2008
 | publisher=The Howard Staunton Memorial Society
 | url=http://www.howardstaunton.com/hsmt2008/index.shtml
 | access-date=25 June 2008 | url-status=dead
 | archive-url=https://archive.today/20130126023813/http://www.howardstaunton.com/hsmt2008/index.shtml
 | archive-date=26 January 2013
}}
</ref>
<!--

Staunton's work on Shakespeare was highly respected nearly 50&nbsp;years after his death,<ref>
{{cite book
 | title=The Cambridge History of English and American Literature in 18&nbsp;Volumes (1907–1921)
 | volume=Volume V: The Drama to 1642, Part&nbsp;One
 | url=http://www.bartleby.com/215/1119.html
 | access-date=19 June 2008
}}
</ref> and was still cited in mid-20th-century articles.<ref>
{{cite journal
 | author=Hulme, H.
 | date=December 1957
 | title= Three notes on the pronunciation and meaning of Shakespeare's text
 | journal=Neophilologus
 | volume=41 | issue=1
 | doi=10.1007/BF01539114
}}
</ref>

--> <!--

Old content, KEEP until mined out
***************
In 1852 Staunton wrote a book about London 1851 titled, ''The Chess Tournament''. The title page to that book read, "By H. Staunton, Esq., author of The Handbook of Chess, Chess-players Companion, &c.&c.&c" to which in 1853 a fifteen or sixteen-year-old lad named [[Paul Morphy]] scribbled in his copy, "and some devilish bad games". If Staunton was famous for his achievement as the best chess player in the world during the period 1843–51, then after 1851 to his last days in 1874, he was most famous for his contribution in making England the capital of the chess world. In 1874 Morphy was more polite, and gave his estimate that Staunton's best gift was not in playing chess, but as a theoretician and analyst. In some ways Staunton's style presaged more modern methods; the English opening (1. c4) was so named because he often used it in the period 1840–50.

The American World Champion [[Robert Fischer]], writing on Staunton more than a century later, had a similar opinion. "Playing over his games", Fischer said, "I find they are completely modern." So Staunton was actually well ahead of his time, playing in a style which would become known as the [[Hypermodern]] in the 1920s.

Birmingham 1858 was to be Staunton's last public chess competition. Staunton refused to play [[Paul Morphy]] in public during the latter's visit to England in 1858, saying he was too busy working on his Shakespeare annotations. By 1860 his edition of Shakespeare had been published. Staunton considered it a great work, but modern day critics do not agree, and Staunton is an obscure name in modern Shakespearean scholarship. Staunton also published a book in 1860 titled ''Chess Praxis'', which to take advantage of the public's desire for Morphy material had over 168 pages of the American's games annotated by Staunton.

 **************
-->

==Tournament results==
Sources:<ref name="storiascacchiTorneiAl1879">{{cite web
 | title=I tornei di scacchi fino al 1879
 | url=http://xoomer.alice.it/cserica/scacchi/storiascacchi/tornei/pagine/itorneifino1880.htm
 | access-date=19 June 2008
| archive-date=16 December 2008
| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081216145235/http://xoomer.alice.it/cserica/scacchi/storiascacchi/tornei/pagine/itorneifino1880.htm
 | url-status=dead
 }}</ref>

{| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:center; margin:1em auto 1em auto;"
|-
! style="width:50px;"|Date !! Location !! style="width:60px;"|Place !! style="width:60px;"|Score !! class="unsortable"|Notes
|-
| 1851 || align=left| [[London 1851 chess tournament|London International Tournament]] || 4 || --- || align=left | A knockout tournament in which the contestants played mini-matches in each round, increasing from best-of-three in the first round to best-of-eight in the final. Staunton was eliminated in the semifinal (−4=0+1) by [[Adolf Anderssen]], who won the tournament. Staunton was then beaten by [[Elijah Williams (chess player)|Elijah Williams]] in the play-off for third place.
|-
| 1858 || align=left| [[Birmingham]] || --- || --- || align=left | A knockout tournament in which the contestants played three-game mini-matches in each round. Staunton was eliminated in the second round (−2=0+0) by the eventual winner, [[Johann Jacob Löwenthal]].
|}

==Match results==
<!-- Other topics
telegraph chess:
http://www.correspondencechess.com/campbell/articles/a030127.htm
Popert see:
https://books.google.com/books?id=iO0IAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA187&lpg=PA187&dq=popert+chess&source=web&ots=9Af4Dhr__S&sig=ohfh6PqiIlFZ005ob8cRFr3BrZU&hl=en The Chess-player's Companion: comprising a new treatise on odds...&nbsp;by Staunton: 1 of best players in England; slow, cautious style; v good in defence
Self-criticism: The Chess-player's Companion, above
 -->
Sources:<ref name="ScoresRomanticEra">{{cite web
 | title=Scores of various important chess results from the Romantic era
 | url=http://www.vuse.vanderbilt.edu/~spin/chessmatches.html
 | access-date=19 June 2008
| archive-date=28 May 2008
| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080528014326/http://www.vuse.vanderbilt.edu/~spin/chessmatches.html
 | url-status=dead
 }}</ref><ref name="storiascacchiMatchesTo1849">{{cite web
 | title=I grandi matches fino al 1849
 | url=http://xoomer.alice.it/cserica/scacchi/storiascacchi/matches/fino1849.htm
 | access-date=19 June 2008
| archive-date=12 November 2007
| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071112222821/http://xoomer.alice.it/cserica/scacchi/storiascacchi/matches/fino1849.htm
 | url-status=dead
 }}</ref><ref name="WallStaunton">
{{cite web
 | author=Wall, Bill 
 | title=Howard Staunton
 | url=http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Lab/7378/staunt.htm 
 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090803195031/http://geocities.com/SiliconValley/Lab/7378/staunt.htm
 | archive-date=3 August 2009
}}{{webarchive
 |format=addlarchives
 |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091028083156/http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Lab/7378/staunt.htm
 |date=28 October 2009
}}
</ref><ref name="HardingLondonChessMagazine2">
{{cite web
 | author=Harding, T. | author-link=Tim Harding (chess)
 | title=A History of ''The City of London Chess Magazine'' (Part&nbsp;2)
 | url=http://www.chesscafe.com/text/kibitz49.txt
 | access-date=19 June 2008
}}
</ref><ref name="Matches1850To1864">{{cite web
 | title=I grandi matches 1850 – 1864
 | url=http://xoomer.alice.it/cserica/scacchi/storiascacchi/matches/1850-64.htm
 | access-date=19 June 2008
| archive-date=16 May 2008
| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080516084135/http://xoomer.alice.it/cserica/scacchi/storiascacchi/matches/1850-64.htm
 | url-status=dead
 }}</ref><ref name="weeks">
{{cite web
 | author=Weeks, M.
 | year=2001
 | title=Howard Staunton's tournament, match, and exhibition record
 | url=http://mark_weeks.tripod.com/chw00l01/staunton.htm
 | access-date=19 June 2008
}}
</ref><ref name="sympatico19thCentMatchesTournaments">
{{cite web
 |title=Major chess matches and tournaments of the 19th&nbsp;century
 |url=http://www3.sympatico.ca/g.giffen/19thcent.htm
 |access-date=19 June 2008 |url-status=dead
 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070926221345/http://www3.sympatico.ca/g.giffen/19thcent.htm
 |archive-date=26 September 2007
}}
</ref>
<!--
<ref name="Matches1865To1879"><ref name="ScoresRomanticEra"/>
{{cite web
 | title=I matches 1865/1879
 | url=http://xoomer.alice.it/cserica/scacchi/storiascacchi/matches/1865-79.htm
}}
</ref><ref name="Spinrad2006Bledow">
{{cite web
 | author=Spinrad, J.P.
 | title=Ludwig Erdmann Bledow
 | publisher=chesscafe.com
 | url=http://www.chesscafe.com/text/spinrad11.pdf
 | access-date=19 June 2008
}}
</ref><ref name="WallProfileAnderssen">
{{cite web
 | title=Adolf Anderssen (1818–1879)
 | url=http://www.geocities.com/siliconvalley/lab/7378/andersse.htm
 | access-date=17 June 2008
}}
</ref>
<ref name="sympatico19thCentMatchesTournaments"/>
-->

Notes:
#In some cases it is known who won but not by what score.
#Books and articles about most players often omit games at odds. But Staunton gave odds, usually successfully, in his matches against most UK-based players and most of his matches were played this way.
#"P + 1" means "Pawn and move", "P + 2" means "Pawn and two moves".{{efn|name="chessOdds"}} 
#In the second column of scores, "+" shows games Staunton won, "–" shows his losses, "=" shows draws.
{| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:center; margin:1em auto 1em auto;"
|-
! style="width:50px;"|Date !! Opponent !! style="width:60px;"|Result !! style="width:60px;"|[[Chess handicap|Odds]] !! style="width:80px;"|Location !! class="unsortable" colspan="2" style="width:50px;"|Score !! class="unsortable"|Notes
|-
| 1838 || [[Aaron Alexandre|Alexandre]] || Lost || none || London || N/A || N/A || align=center | &nbsp;
|-
| 1840 || Popert || Won || none || London || 13/21 || +8 =2 –3 || align=center | &nbsp;
|-
| 1841 || Stanley || Lost || P + 2 || London || 2½/6 || +2 =1 –3 || align=center | &nbsp;
|-
| 1843 || [[Adolf Zytogorski|Zytogorski]] || Lost || P + 2 || N/A || ½/7 || +0 =1 –6 || align=center | {{efn|The only evidence for this match was a claim by Brien in the ''Chess Player's Chronicle'' in 1855, after Brien and Zytogorski had fallen out with Staunton, and the result is considered unlikely by chess historians such as [[Philip Walsingham Sergeant]] and [[Tim Harding (chess player)|Tim Harding]].<ref name=Kibitzer2>{{cite web|first=Tim|last=Harding|author-link=Tim Harding (chess player)|url=http://www.chesscafe.com/text/kibitz187.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120119020442/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/kibitz187.pdf|title=The Kibitzer: The Double Life of Adolphus Zytogorski Part Two|publisher=[[ChessCafe.com]]|date=2011|archive-date=19 January 2012}}</ref>}}
|-
| 1843 || [[John Cochrane (chess player)|Cochrane]] || Won || none || London || 14/18 || +14 =0 –4 || align=center | <ref group=lower-alpha>Sources disagree about how many games should be counted and whether there was more than one match.<br/>
Some sources say there was a short match in which Staunton gave Cochrane odds of pawn and one move and drew, followed by a normal match that Staunton won by one game 
*{{cite web
 | title=Scores of various important chess results from the Romantic era
 | url=http://www.vuse.vanderbilt.edu/~spin/chessmatches.html
 | access-date=19 June 2008
| archive-date=28 May 2008
| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080528014326/http://www.vuse.vanderbilt.edu/~spin/chessmatches.html
 | url-status=dead
 }}<br/>
[[H. J. R. Murray]] says they played about 120&nbsp;games, Staunton scoring about 80/120, and that finally Staunton gave Cochrane P + 1 and scored +3 =1 –3 
* {{cite magazine
 |author       = Murray, H.J.R.
 |author-link  = H. J. R. Murray
 |date         = November 1908
 |title        = Howard Staunton: Part&nbsp;I
 |magazine     = British Chess Magazine
 |url          = http://sbchess.sinfree.net/Staunton_BCM.html
 |access-date  = 19 June 2008
|archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20071208141521/http://sbchess.sinfree.net/Staunton_BCM.html
 |archive-date = 8 December 2007
}} 
* {{cite magazine
 |author       = Murray, H.J.R.
 |author-link  = H. J. R. Murray
 |magazine     = British Chess Magazine
 |title        = Howard Staunton: Part&nbsp;II
 |date         = November 1908
 |url          = http://sbchess.sinfree.net/Staunton_BCM.html
 |access-date  = 19 June 2008
|archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20071208141521/http://sbchess.sinfree.net/Staunton_BCM.html
 |archive-date = 8 December 2007
}}<br/>
[[Chessmetrics]] treats all their games as one single match and lists it as Staunton's best performance 
* {{cite web
 | title=Chessmetrics Player Profile: Howard Staunton
 | url=http://chessmetrics.com/cm/CM2/PlayerProfile.asp?Params=199510SSSSS3S125695000000121000000000028210100
 | access-date=19 June 2008
}}<br/></ref>
|-
| 1843 || Taverner || Won || P + 2 || N/A || 5/6 || ??? || align=center | &nbsp;
|-
| 1843 || [[Pierre Charles Fournier de Saint-Amant|Saint-Amant]] || Lost || none || London || 2½/6 || +2 =1 –3 || align=center | &nbsp;
|-
| 1843 || Brooke-Greville || Lost || P + 1 || N/A || 0/3 || +0 =0 –3 || align=center | &nbsp;
|-
| 1843 || Brooke-Greville || Won || P + 2 || N/A || 5/6 || +5 =0 –1 || align=center | &nbsp;
|-
| 1843 || [[Henry Thomas Buckle|Buckle]] || Lost || P + 1 || London || 1/3 || +1 =0 –6 || align=left | &nbsp;
|-
| 1843 || Saint-Amant || Won || none || Paris || 13/21 || +11 =4 –6 || align=center | &nbsp;
|-
| 1844 || Tuckett || Won || P + 2 || N/A || 7½/9 || +7 =1 –1 || align=center | &nbsp;
|-
| 1845 || Tuckett || Won || P + 2 || N/A || 7½/9 || +7 =1 –1 || align=center | &nbsp;
|-
| 1845 || [[Augustus Mongredien|Mongredien]] || Won || P + 2 || N/A || 3½/5 || +2 =3 –0 || align=center | &nbsp;
|-
| 1845 || Spreckley || Won || P + 2 || N/A || 3½/5 || +3 =1 –1 || align=center | &nbsp;
|-
| 1845 || Williams || Won || P + 2 || N/A || 3½/4 || +3 =1 –0 || align=center | &nbsp;
|-
| 1845 || Kennedy || Won || P + 2 || N/A || 8½/11 || +7 =2 –2 || align=center | &nbsp;
|-
| 1846 || [[Bernhard Horwitz|Horwitz]] || Won || none || London || 15½/24 || +14 =3 –7 || align=center | &nbsp;
|-
| 1846 || Hannah || Won || Q Knight || N/A || 5½/8 || +5 =1 –2 || align=center | &nbsp;
|-
| 1846 || [[Daniel Harrwitz]] || Won || none || London || 7/7 || +7 =0 –1 || align=center | {{efn|name=Harrwitz3matches|The three Harrwitz matches may have been one complicated contest.<ref name="StauntonVsHarrwitz1846">[[H. J. R. Murray|Murray]] says this was one single match consisting of seven cycles of three games: One at P + 1, one at P + 2, the third at no odds (draws not counted): {{cite magazine
 | author=Murray, H.J.R.  | author-link=H. J. R. Murray
 | date=November 1908
 | title=Howard Staunton: Part&nbsp;I
 | magazine=British Chess Magazine
 | url=http://sbchess.sinfree.net/Staunton_BCM.html
 | access-date=19 June 2008
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20071208141521/http://sbchess.sinfree.net/Staunton_BCM.html
 | archive-date = 8 December 2007
}}
 and {{cite magazine
 | author=Murray, H.J.R.
 | date=November 1908
 | title=Howard Staunton: Part&nbsp;II
 | magazine=British Chess Magazine
 | url=http://sbchess.sinfree.net/Staunton_BCM.html
 | access-date=19 June 2008
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20071208141521/http://sbchess.sinfree.net/Staunton_BCM.html
 | archive-date = 8 December 2007
}}
</ref> }}
|-
| 1846 || [[Daniel Harrwitz]] || Lost || P + 1 || London || 1½/8 || +1 =1 –6 || align=center | {{efn|name=Harrwitz3matches}}
|-
| 1846 || [[Daniel Harrwitz]] || Won || P + 2 || London || 4/7 || +4 =0 –3 || align=center | {{efn|name=Harrwitz3matches}}
|-
| 1847 || Kenny || Drawn || Q Rook || N/A || 2/4 || +2 =0 –2 || align=center | &nbsp;
|-
| 1847 || Loewe || Lost || P + 2 || N/A || 2/7 || +1 =2 –4 || align=center | &nbsp;
|-
| 1847 || Medley || Won || P + 2 || N/A || 7½/10 || +6 =3 –1 || align=center | &nbsp;
|-
| 1851 || [[Carl Jaenisch]] || Won || none || London || 7½/10 || +7 =1 –2 || align=center | &nbsp;
|-
| 1851 || [[Elijah Williams (chess player)|Elijah Williams]] || Lost || none || London || 7½/13 || +6 =3 –4 || align=center | {{efn|Although Staunton won more games, he lost the match because he had given Williams a three-game start.<ref name="ScoresRomanticEra"/>}}
|-
| 1853 || [[Tassilo von Heydebrand und der Lasa|von der Lasa]] || Lost || none || Brussels || 5½/12 || +4 =4 –5 || align=center | {{efn|In von&nbsp;der Lasa's account, he describes the meeting as just a long series of games, played while they were in the same place, that ended due to Staunton's illness.<ref name="HardingLondonChessMagazine2"/>}}
|-
| 1854 || Brien || N/A || P + 2 || N/A || N/A || N/A || align=center | &nbsp;
|-
| 1859 || Worrall|| Won || Q Knight || N/A || 7½/10 || +6 =3 –1 || align=center | &nbsp;
|}

==Bibliography==
* {{cite book
 | author=Shakespeare, William
 | date=1858–1860
 | title=Plays
 | editor=Staunton, H. 
 | location=London
 | publisher=George Routledge & Co
 | oclc=50447723
 | url=https://archive.org/details/playsshakespear00gilbgoog
 | others=illustrations by [[John Gilbert (painter)|John Gilbert]], engraved by the [[Brothers Dalziel]]
}}

* {{cite book
 | author=Staunton, H.
 | year=1847
 | title=The Chess Player's Handbook
 | quote=A popular and scientific introduction to the game of chess
 | location=London
 | publisher=Henry G. Bohn
 | oclc=9171272
 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=r3MZAAAAYAAJ
}}

* {{cite book
 | author=Staunton, H.
 | year=1849
 | title=The Chess-player's Companion
 | url=https://archive.org/details/chessplayerscomp00stau
}}

* {{cite book
 | author=Staunton, H.
 | year=1849
 | title=The Chess-player's Text-book
 | url=https://archive.org/details/chessplayerstext00stau_0
}}

*{{cite book
 | author=Staunton, H.
 | year=1852
 | title=The Chess Tournament
 | url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_d69AAAAAcAAJ
}}

* {{cite book
 | author=Staunton, H.
 | year=1860
 | title=Chess Praxis
 | url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_nbACAAAAYAAJ
}}

* {{cite book
 | author=Staunton, H.
 | year=1865
 | title=The Great Schools of England
 | location=London
 | publisher=Sampson Low, Son, & Marston
 | oclc=4143800
 | quote=An Account of the Foundation, Endowments, and Discipline of the Chief Seminaries of Learning in England
 | url=https://archive.org/details/greatschoolseng00howagoog
}}

* {{cite book
 | author=Staunton, H.
 | year=1876
 | title=Chess: Theory and practice
}}

* {{cite book
 | author=Staunton, H.
 | year=1876
 | title=The Laws and Practice of Chess
}}

::{{small|It is unclear if ''The Laws and Practice of Chess'' is a second edition of ''Chess: Theory and Practice'', or a completely different book.}}

==See also==
* [[List of chess games]]

==Footnotes==
{{notelist}}

==References==
{{reflist|25em|refs=

<ref name=Konsala-1981>
 {{cite book
 | author=Konsala, Kimmo
 | year=1981
 | title=Shakin maailmanmestareita
 | publisher=Karisto
 | location=Hämeenlinna, FI
 | isbn=951-23-1789-3
 | language=fi
}}
</ref>

}}

==Further reading==
* {{cite book
 | author=Fine, Reuben   | author-link=Reuben Fine
 | orig-year=1951  |year=1983
 | title=The World's Great Chess Games
 | publisher=Bonanza (1951 edition); Dover (1983 edition)
 | id=ASIN B000GQSM6M (1951 edition); (1983 edition)
 | isbn=978-0-486-24512-6
}}
* {{cite book
 | author=Hartston, William | author-link=William Hartston
 | year=1986
 | title=The Kings of Chess
 | publisher=Pavilion
 | isbn=1-85145-075-0
}}
* {{cite book
 | author1=Hooper, David   | author1-link=David Vincent Hooper
 | author2=Whyld, Kenneth  | author2-link=Kenneth Whyld 
 | year=1984
 | title=[[The Oxford Companion to Chess]]
 | isbn=0-19-217540-8
 | publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]
}}
* {{cite book
 | author1=Keene, Raymond    | author1-link=Raymond Keene
 | author2=Coles, Richard N.
 | title=Howard Staunton – the English World Chess Champion
 | year=1975
 | publisher=St. Leonard's on Sea (British Chess Magazine)
 | isbn=0-900846-19-4
}}
* {{cite book
 | author=Winter, E.G.  |author-link=Edward Winter (chess historian)
 | year=1981
 | title=World Chess Champions
 | publisher=Pergamon
 | isbn=0-08-024094-1
}}

==External links==
{{Sister project links| wikt=no | commons=no | b=no | n=no | q=no | s=Author:Howard Staunton | v=no | voy=no | species=no | d=q311631}}
* {{chessgames player|id=19077}}
* {{Gutenberg author |id=6661| name=Howard Staunton}}
* {{Internet Archive author |sname=Howard Staunton}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20080924020620/http://howardstaunton.com/index.shtml The Howard Staunton Society]
* [[Edward Winter (chess historian)|Edward Winter]], [http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=5251 Pictures of Howard Staunton]
* {{webarchive |title=The Staunton Story |date=19 August 2000 |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20000819062645/http://chess.about.com/games/chess/library/weekly/aa091499.htm}}
* [https://www.chesshistory.com/winter/extra/debate.html Edward Winter's "A Debate on Staunton, Morphy, and Edge"]  (''Chess Notes'' feature article)
* [https://www.chesshistory.com/winter/extra/stauntonmorphy.html "The Staunton-Morphy Controversy" by Edward Winter]

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Staunton, Howard}}
[[Category:English chess players]]
[[Category:Burials at Kensal Green Cemetery]]
[[Category:1810 births]]
[[Category:1874 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Notting Hill]]
[[Category:English chess writers]]
[[Category:Shakespearean scholars]]
[[Category:Chess theoreticians]]
[[Category:19th-century British chess players]]
[[Category:19th-century British sportsmen]]
[[Category:English male dramatists and playwrights]]
[[Category:English male poets]]