Howard Staunton (April 1810 – 22 June 1874) was an English chess master who is generally regarded as the world's strongest player from 1843 to 1851, largely as a result of his 1843 victory over Pierre Charles Fournier de Saint-Amant. He promoted a chess set of clearly distinguishable pieces of standardised shape – the Staunton pattern promulgated by Nathaniel Cooke – that is still the style required for competitions. He was the principal organiser of the 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 Shakespearean 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 British Chess Association president 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 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 openings 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.
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, 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. Record of his birth or baptism has never been found.
The chess historian H. J. R. Murray summarised the information that he gleaned from various sources: Staunton was born in 1810, reputedly the natural son (meaning illegitimately born) of 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.
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 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, Saint-Amant and George Walker, could easily have given him rook odds.
In 1838 he played many games with 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. Popert, a slow, cautious player with great defensive skill.
From May to December 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.
Early in 1843 Staunton prevailed in a long series of games against John Cochrane, a strong player and chess theoretician. 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.
A little later that year he lost a short match (2½–3½) in London against the visiting French player Saint-Amant, who was generally regarded as the world's strongest active player.
Staunton challenged Saint-Amant to a longer match to be played in Paris for a stake of £100, equivalent to £11,000 in 2025. Then he prepared new opening lines, especially those beginning 1.c4, which became known as the English Opening after this match. He also took Thomas Worrall and Harry Wilson to Paris as his assistants; this is the first known case where seconds were used in a match. 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.
Saint-Amant wanted a third match, but Staunton was initially unwilling as he had developed heart palpitations during the second match. Von der Lasa later suggested this was why Staunton faded in the second match. However, after a long, difficult negotiation, which he reported in the Chess Player's Chronicle, Staunton went to Paris intending to start their third match in October 1844, but he caught pneumonia while travelling and almost died; the match was postponed and never took place.
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. After Saint-Amant's defeat, no other Frenchmen arose to continue the French supremacy in chess established by Philidor, Deschapelles, La Bourdonnais and Saint-Amant. Some contemporary English commentators, mainly in Staunton's Chess Player's Chronicle, and some later writers hailed Staunton as the world champion.
The response was less enthusiastic elsewhere in Europe. Even in England some writers suggested other players, notably Buckle or von der Lasa, were stronger.
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. Although his articles mostly focused on over-the-board play, a significant number featured correspondence chess. Some followed with enthusiasm the progress of promising youngsters, including Paul Morphy. Staunton produced over 1,400 weekly articles for The Illustrated London News.
The first chess match by electric telegraph took place in 1844, between Washington and Baltimore. In April 1845 Staunton and 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 moves of the longest game had travelled a total of 220,000 miles (not much less than the distance between Earth and Moon).