Description
Paperback, 482 pages, McFarland Publishing
William Norwood Potter never played chess outside London, yet is a key figure in the development of 19th century chess. His play was surprisingly modern, while his writings are still a model of style, sense and competence. John Wisker was an amateur chess player who achieved excellent results among the few professionals of his time. He was recognized as the first British chess champion and had a prolific journalistic career. He spent the last seven years of his life in Australia, where he played an important role in a blossoming chess culture. This book, besides retrieving lost particulars of their lives, contains all their known games and many passages of their prose.
Fabrizio Zavatarelli is a teacher of applied mathematics and the author of several books and articles concerning chess history. He lives in Milan, Italy.
Historian Hans Renette is a FIDE master in chess (with 2 IM norms). He lives in Bierbeek, Belgium.
Introduction 1
Potter 1
Wisker 3
About the players’ games 3
About the punctuation and sources in this book 5
Thanks to others 5
William Norwood Potter, chess champion, writer, promoter and theorist 7
1. Family and youth (1840–1867) 7
The Potters 7
Infancy 8
Obscure years 9
2. Apprentice master (1868–1870) 10
The earliest recorded games 10
The match against the Westminster CC 13
3. The season 1870–71 14
The matches against the Sheffield Athenæum CC and the third Challenge Cup 14
The first rounds of the City of London handicap 15
The series of games against Cousin 22
The final pool of the City of London handicap 24
The return match against the Westminster CC 29
More games of the season 30
4. The seasons 1871–72 and 1872–73 32
City of London handicap 32
The rest of the season 37
The correspondence match against the Wiener Schachgesellschaft 38
More games of the season 1871–72 48
The first match against Coburn 50
The summer of consultation games 51
5. The season 1873–74 60
The second match against Coburn and the City of London handicap 60
6. The season 1874–75 66
New rooms for the club and the match against the Bermondsey CC 66
City of London handicap and some consultation games 68
The match against Fenton and the polemic with Berger 75
Gestation and birth of the West-End CC 82
7. The season 1875–76 92
The start of the West-End CC 92
The match against Bussy 93
The match against Zukertort 93
Two games with Boden and the end of The City of London Chess Magazine 119
City of London handicap 121
The Divan in the Strand tournament 121
The match against the Bermondsey CC 133
8. The season 1876–77 134
City of London handicap 134
The match between the West-End and the St. George’s CCs 136
The contribution to the Encyclopædia Britannica and the victory of the City of London handicap 137
The discontinuation of the West-End CC 141
9. The season 1877–78 142
City of London handicap and other engagements 142
The first match against Heywood 151
More games of the season 153
10. The season 1878–79 155
The second match against Heywood 155
The Ladies’ College CC 158
City of London handicap 161
The return match between the College and the Excelsior CCs 164
The fifth round of the City of London handicap against Bird and more 165
The Löwenthal tournament 171
The end of public play and the match against Mason 172
11. The last chess years (1879–1885) 194
The third match against Heywood 194
The last simultaneous performances 195
The first match against the St. George’s CC 197
Chess without games 200
The match against the City of London CC’s fourth class 202
More chess without games 203
The second match against the St. George’s CC 204
Curtain 207
12. No more chess (1886–1895) 211
13. Potter and Posterity 212
John Wisker, British and (de facto) Australian Champion 215
14. Early days 215
Life in Hull 215
Cassell’s 219
15. Redcar 1866 222
16. North Riding v. West Riding, December 1867 226
17. Moving to London 227
18. The festivals of the B.C.A. 1868–69 232
Challenge Cup 1868–69 233
Glowworm tournament 1868–69 240
Mongredien tournament 1868–69 244
Handicap tournament 1868–69 245
19. To the next Cup Tournament 248
20. The third Challenge Cup tournament, 1870 255
21. Match with Rosenthal, 1870–71 262
22. Malvern 1871 273
23. From 1871 to 1872 275
24. B.C.A. 1872 278
Tournament for the Challenge Cup 280
The Grand Tourney 285
The Handicap tournament 287
25. Owen and Zukertort 291
26. Two matches with Bird 295
27. Bristol 1873 315
28. Bird again 320
Third & fourth match 320
29. Handicap tournament at the City of London Chess Club 1873–74 337
30. Match with MacDonnell 340
31. Handicap tournament at the City of London Chess Club 1874–75 365
32. Health troubles & decline 1875–1876 370
33. London 1876 376
34. First weeks in Australia 381
35. Looking for work 387
36. Shining in Queensland 388
37. Arrival in Melbourne 402
38. A blindfold simul 406
39. Intercolonial match 409
40. Match with Esling 411
41. Colonial chess & intercolonial tournament 423
42. Consultation games 423
43. Blindfold exhibition—Melbourne 1881 431
44. Journalistic prominence 433
45. Simultaneous performance—Turn Verein, April 1883 434
46. Intercolonial match 435
47. The Victorian Chess Club 442
48. Death & family 443
Appendix A: Potter’s simultaneous performances 445
Appendix B: An anthology of Potter’s writings 447
The frontispiece of The City of London Chess Magazine’s first volume 447
The leaderettes in Land and Water 447
The Principles 456
Appendix C: The Potters’ family tree 459
Relatives of William Norwood Potter’s father 459
Relatives of William Norwood Potter’s paternal grandmother 460
Relatives of William Norwood Potter’s mother 460
William Norwood Potter and his siblings 460
References 461
Index of players (to game numbers) 46
Index of openings by traditional name (to game numbers) 465
Index of openings by ECO code (to game numbers) 466
Index of annotators (to game numbers) 467
General Index (to page numbers) 468
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