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Tim Harding: Eminent Victorian Chess Players. Ten Biographies. 163 games annotated in detail, 51 photos and line drawings.

In English. Algebraic Notation.

Biographies and games of William Davies Evans, Howard Staunton, John Jacob Löwenthal, Henry Edward Bird, Arthur Bolland Skipworth, William Steinitz, Joseph Henry Blackburne; Johannes Hermann Zukertort, Amos Burn and Isidor Arthur Gunsberg. 

This book portrays British chess life in the nineteenth century through biographical studies of ten players who shaped the modern game. From Captain Evans, inventor of the famous gambit, to Isidor Gunsberg, England’s first challenger for the world championship, personal narratives are blended with game annotations to reassess players’ achievements and character. The author has combined deep reading in primary sources with genealogical research to reveal new facts and correct previous misunderstandings. Major chapters on Howard Staunton and William Steinitz, in particular, highlight the tensions between Englishmen and immigrants, amateurs and professionals. The contrasting long careers of Henry Bird and Joseph Blackburne provide a thread of continuity. The lives of several other important figures in Victorian chess are also presented. Appendices provide career records for all ten; there are extensive notes, a bibliography and indexes.

Tim Harding played for Ireland at the 1984 FIDE chess olympiad in Thessaloniki. He is a FIDE Candidate Master and a Senior International Master of correspondence chess. A well-known writer on many aspects of chess, Tim is a former editor of Chess Mail magazine and for almost 20 years he contributed monthly articles in “The Kibitzer” series at www.chesscafe.com. He lives in Dublin, Ireland.

17.5 x 25 cm paperback. 400 pages. Mc Farland, Jefferson, 2012. Condition VG. Weight 745 g.

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