Howard Staunton - Assessment

Assessment

Staunton has been a controversial figure ever since his own time. In the words of chess journalist Mark Weeks, "Staunton represents a unique challenge to chess history. Many players immediately associate his name with Paul Morphy, as in 'Staunton ducked a match with Morphy'. ... This is extremely unfair, as it concentrates the focus on Staunton to a relatively minor, factually controversial incident, while it ignores his significant achievements." As chess historian Edward Winter writes, "The issue of national bias does, unfortunately, require consideration in the Staunton–Morphy affair." Chess historian Dale Brandreth makes a similar point, from an American perspective:"the fact is that the British have always had their 'thing' about Morphy. They just can't seem to accept that Staunton was an unmitigated bastard in his treatment of Morphy because he knew damned well he could never have made any decent showing against him in a match." However, Frederick Edge (1830–82) and Philip W. Sergeant (1872–1952), two of Staunton's harshest critics, were British, while former world champion Bobby Fischer (1943–2008), one of the biggest fans of both Staunton and Morphy, was American.