Our ongoing Monday series continues with a look at some of Howard Staunton’s Checkmates.
Howard Staunton was the world’s best chess player from 1843 (when he defeated Pierre Saint-Amant in a match) up until 1851 (when Adolf Anderssen won the first International Chess Tournament – ahead of Staunton).
Staunton’s name lives on in chess mainly due to being linked to the world’s most popular design of chess pieces. Designed by Nathaniel Cooke, Staunton advertised the pieces and removed a royalty whenever a set was sold.
It is also popular opinion to blame Staunton for the lack of a match between him and Paul Morphy, with the inference that the Englishman was running scared. The truth is not so clear. This is a story for another day, but it is worth noting here that Staunton had already retired from competitive play and would have needed more time to prepare properly.
Staunton was certainly a controversial character but he was also a very fine player.
See if you can match his checkmating skill from the following positions. It is Staunton to move in all four cases.
Checkmate in One Move
Howard Staunton – Adolf Anderssen
London, 1851
30 Qe8 checkmate.
Checkmate in Two Moves
Checkmate in Three Moves
Checkmate in Three Moves
London, 1851
Highlight the space under each diagram to see if you can match Howard Staunton’s checkmates.
Our series on checkmates will continue next Monday.
There are many more beautiful checkmate patterns in our course, The Checkmate Patterns Manual, by International Master John Bartholomew and CraftyRaf.
There is a shortened, free version of the course here.
Here is a handy guide to the episodes in our series of blog posts on Checkmate Patterns.
Checkmate Patterns: Six of the Best
Picturesque Checkmate Patterns
Adolf Anderssen’s Checkmating Skill
