Saturday 23 June 2018

Howard Staunton

While Steinitz is rightly credited with creating a new 'positional' style of chess, the concepts he popularised didn't come from nowhere. Howard Staunton deserves a lot of credit for showing the way to Steinitz, as his style and results were a clear influence. While there has been a reassessment of Staunton's contribution to chess in the last 40 years, he still gets bad press from chessplayers who only know about his non-match with Paul Morphy. I suspect if this contoversy hadn't clouded his actual playing career, his role in developing modern chess principles who have been more appreciated.
Today (22nd June) is the anniversary of his death, and so I've selected possibly the last competitive game he played to show his style. The opening is positively modern, and after Barnes' attempt at a tactical finesse blows up in his face, Staunton keeps control all the way to the end.


Barnes,Thomas Wilson - Staunton,Howard [C42]
London consultation London, 1859



1 comment:

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