Paul Morphy and the Golden Age of Chess - Softcover

Napier, William Ewart

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9784871871716: Paul Morphy and the Golden Age of Chess

Softcover

ISBN 10: 4871871711 ISBN 13: 9784871871716

Publisher: Ishi Press, 2018

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Everybody knows (or ought to know) of the meteoric career of Paul Morphy, who vanquished the mighty paladins of chess and became the first uncrowned champion of the world. And everyone enjoys (or ought to enjoy) the games, the men and the scene when Morphy reigned supreme. Add to this the background the charm and the piquancy of William Napier's pen, and an era is reborn that is dear to the hearts and minds of all lovers of chess. This work spans roughly the period from the middle 1800s to the early 1900s including choice morsels extending slightly beyond the fingers in each direction so that even Capablanca and grandmasters of his day are set off in focus against the distant horizons of the earlier period. Napier is supreme in bringing to life the chess giants of his time, relating their human foibles and peccadillos and even their cardinal sins yet all in a spirit of veneration as though these were the mighty indeed. He makes his time seem what in fact it may have been the Golden Age of Chess. Napier's chess was always on a high plane. In 1902 he won the brilliance prize at Monte Carlo. And in 1904 he took premier honors at London ahead of Teichman, Blackburne and Gunsberg. Chess was never extracurricular with Napier, for it is no easy matter to subdue such a passion. It left room, however for the amenities of life.

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About the Author

Born in Woolrich, England on 17 January 1881, William Ewart Napier came to the United States at the age of five. At fifteen he won the championship of the Brooklyn Chess Club and one year later he defeated Wilhelm Steinitz in a set game. Chess was never extracurricular with Napier, for it is no easy matter to subdue such a passion. It left room, however for the amenities of life. Napier was at one time a reporter, later an actuary and vice-president of the Scranton Life Insurance Company. He died on 6 September 1952 in Washington, D.C. This book is essentially a collection of his works and came out in 1957 five years after his death. Napier had dual American/English Citizenship. He never contested the US Championship but he won a match against Marshall in 1904. He won the British Championship in England in 1904 after a play-off. William Ewart Napier was an American chess master of English birth. His parents emigrated to the United States when he was five years old. From 1895 he lived in Brooklyn and came into contact with some of the best chess players of the country. He had his first successes with simultaneous games, among other things winning in December 1894 versus the acting United States Chess Champion Jackson Whipps Showalter. At the beginning of 1896 he became a member of the Brooklyn Chess Club and won the club championship later that year, at the age of 15. In the same year he defeated the future grandmaster Frank James Marshall in a match, winning 7:1 with 3 draws. 1897 saw him win a tournament game against ex-world champion Wilhelm Steinitz. At the beginning of 1899 Napier traveled to Europe and visited the chess clubs of London, Paris and Berlin. In 1901, he won a master tournament in Buffalo versus Eugene Delmar, placing behind tournament winner Harry Nelson Pillsbury, but still above Marshall. He played in Monte Carlo and Hanover in 1902 as well as in Cambridge Springs in 1904. In July 1904, he visited Great Britain and won a tournament in London against Richard Teichmann, Joseph Henry Blackburne and Isidor Gunsberg. Subsequently, he participated in the British championship in Hastings and won the tournament against Henry Atkins, whom he defeated in the pass fight with 2.5-1.5, to become the first British Chess Federation Champion. Napier was at one time a reporter, later an actuary and vice-president of the Scranton Life Insurance Company. He died on 6 September 1952 in Washington, D.C.

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