Hello everyone, welcome back to the third season of the Blindfold Chess Podcast. 

This week, we will be looking at a name synonymous with the chess community - Howard Staunton. If you have been around the game for any length of time, you may have heard of him as an unofficial World Champion in the mid-1800s, or you’ve heard of his opening - the Staunton Gambit of 1. d4 f5 2. e4, or you’ve heard of the House of Staunton chess sets/ company that has been recognized as the recommended chess set of use by FIDE since 2022, but he has more contributions than that to our game. 

Born in 1810 in London, Staunton did not become seriously interested in chess until 1836 when he was 26 years old. He started to play games against Captain Evans - the inventor of the Evans Gambit. In 1838, he lost a match to Aaron Alexandre - a German Chess Writer.

In 1840, Staunton became the editor of the chess column of the New Court Gazette, then that was spun off into the Chess Player’s Chronicle - which Staunton owned and edited until the 1850’s. 

In 1843 - 5 years after starting to seriously get into the game - Staunton reached a new high. He challenged the French player Pierre Charles Fournier de Saint-Amant, the presumed strongest player in the world, to a match. Staunton lost that match 2.5 - 3.5. 

Later in the year, Staunton requested a rematch in Paris against Saint-Amant for a stake of £100 (a little over £12,000 today, or about $16,000). During that match, Staunton pioneered the playing of 1.c4 - that new opening that was later named the ‘English Opening’ after this match. Staunton gained a 7-game lead but faltered before eventually winning the match 13-8 (11 wins, 4 draws, and 6 losses) at the end of 1843. 

His winning of this match awarded him the title of the Unofficial World Champion.

Saint-Amant wanted a 3rd match, but Staunton declined citing he’d developed heart palpitations during the 2nd match (which some reported was why he faulted). Eventually a 3rd match was agreed upon at the end of 1844, but Staunton caught pneumonia and almost died. The match was later canceled.

Later that year, Staunton and Captain Kennedy played a game via telegraph in Gosport, England against a team of 3 players in London losing 0.5 - 2. 
The Staunton style is recognized by the tallest piece being the king with a cross over the head, a coronet on the queen, the rooks have battlements on the top, knights have a sculpted head of a horse - modeled after the horses in the Elgin Marbles), and pawns have a small ball on the head and are the smallest pieces. The human-like characters - like bishops, pawns, kings, and queens - there is a flat disk toward the top that separates the body from the head known as a collar. 

Having such a prolific writing career, having the official chess set named after you, having the 4th most popular opening named after you, organizing the first international chess tournament, and being the unofficial World Champion for almost a decade - it is no wonder Staunton’s name is etched into the wall of chess history. 

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 exd4 4.Bc4 Bc5 5.c3 d3 6.b4 Bb6 7.b5 Qe7 8.O-O Nd8 9.e5 Ne6 10.a4 Bc5 11.Nbd2 Nh6 12.Ne4 Nf5 13.Qxd3 d6 14.Re1 O-O 15.exd6 Bxd6 16.Nxd6 Nxd6 17.Ng5 g6 18.Bxe6 Bxe6 19.Qe3 Rfe8 20.Ba3 Qf6 21.Bxd6 cxd6 22.Ne4 Qe7 23.Qd4 Red8 24.Nf6+ Kf8 25.Nd5 1-0

https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1055861

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Howard_Staunton 

https://blindfoldchesspodcast.com/