chess-The Oxford Companion to Chess - First Edition by David Hooper & Kenneth Whyld

about chess be lenrned by himsell. For thc mosi
parl heplayedlhcuslal o|eDingsolhis tinrebuthe
iniroduccd seleral positional @ncepts. Some oI
these had been touched upon by pHrLrDoB, othe6
were bis osd: rhe use of rhc nANcHEno lor
strategicends, thc developmentof rhN(oPENINGS
spccially suited 10 pawn play. He nalr be regarded
as the precrrsor of the SYPER
the srAUNroN sYsrEM lhe lreorsor of thc RarI
opENrNG. tn his Cnc$ Plat.ls Conp,,r, Sta n'
ion remarks that alrer 1 e4 e5 Black s Same is
embarrassed lrom the sta , a renark anticipatine
BREIB sideas abour the opcning by more than hall
acentun .rs.!.Rwrotein196,l: Stauntonwasthe
most pr;found opening analysr oi all 1ifre He was
moretheork than pl.yer bu1 nonc thc less hc was
the strongest player ol his day. Playing over his
ga6es I discoverthatrhey are completely nodern.
whcrc Morphy and sreinnz rejected tfie fia.-
chetlo. Staunron enbraced it. In addition he
understood all rhe positional conceprs which
modem playcnhotdso dear, andthuswithSleinitz
musr be considered the fiist nodem player. (See
Tall, erect. broad-sholldered, Nilh a leonine
head, Staunlon stood ort anong his lelloss,
walking 'like a king . He dressed elegantiy, even
ostentatiously, a rasle derivcd pcrhaps lrom his
background as an actor. G. A. M(DoNNELL
dcscribes him: ... seadng a lalender zeph)ir
outside hislrockcoat. Hn appeara nce was slighdy
gaudy, his vesi being nn enbroideredsalin. andiis
scait gold sprigeed sith a double pin thrusl in, the
hcads olshich {cre connected by a elittenng ch.in
. . . A great raconteur, an excellent mimic aho
could entertain byhis portrayals ofEdmund Kean,
Thackeray, a.d othcr celebrilies he bad met. he
likcd 10 hold lhe stage, icanng Ior no nan\
anecdote bur his oqn . He could neilher undcF
stand nor tolerale the acccptance of mediocrily,
thc failurc ofothcs to eile olrhen besr. A inan ol
dctcrmincd opinions, hc expresed them ponli-
6cally, brooking little opposilion. Alw.ys oul
spoken, be olten bebavFd, wrnes rcER. Nirh
gross uniairness tosards lhose whom hc disliked.
STAUNTON GAMBIT 327
or fr.n shom hc $rffered defert .r wh.m he
imagnrcd to stand between himself and the sun l
'DeverthelesJ. hc continucs. 'lbcr€ was nothing
*eak about him and be had a backbone ihai was
nevercurvedwi$tenrotanvone. Widelvdisliked.
Slaunton was aidcly admncd. a choicc ihatNould
have been his preference. Reninisci.g in 1897,
Charles Edward Ranlen (1828 1905)wrole: With
great defech he had -Erear
virlues; there was
nothine mean. cringing. orsnall in bis nature, and,
taking all in aU. England neve. had a more worthy
chess represedtative than Hoqdd Slaunton. (See
roN cHFssMEN,)
R. D. KeeneandR. N. Coles H, wa/d Stoubn the
Englith Wond Chess Chahp,,tr (19?5) coniains
biography. TS ganes, and 20 parls otganes.
STAUNTO!\ CHESSMEN, the standardpattern oI
chessmen designed around 1835 by Nathaniel
Cook wbo probably kncq of earlier sets beinnB
sinilar leatures, Only men of tbis general desiSn
are allovcd in FIDE e,enrs. Cook- who drew
inspiraiion lor the lnighl lron thc Parlhenon
frieze in ihe Bntnh Museun. rcgistered his desi8n
in Marcb 1849. In thc /llurraretl London NeNs si\
months later Stamton reomended rhe use of
thcscchessmen. a step towards the slandardizatio.
he sought. When proleclion olthc design expired
three yeas later he allosed a lacsinile oi his
signaturc io be included with every se1. tbus
afiording someprcrection, ioronlyther sdsserc
igetruine Staunton chessmenr.
_lhe design became
popular on account olthe p le asin8 ProPortions ol
rhe men rhe e?se Nnh uhich erch man could be
idenriEed, andnotleastStaunlontadvocacy. Each
set tbal was sold btought him a lee.
STAUNTON DETENCE, 20, theB.NoNr DEFENCE,
tsice played unsuccessfully by sANr-Mdr when
srA!NroN played I d4 in their semnd natch,1843.
The name is the.efore nisapplied.
STAT NTON GAMBIT, 124, ,igo.ons .esponse to
thc DUrcH DEFENCE played by sraumN against
Srauntond, (r .o r )pavn, rool. knishr, bishop, queen- kins