Howard Staunton
Robert Fischer places Howard Staunton on his list of the best ten (greatest) players of all time. His view are below:
Howard Staunton
Staunton was the most profound opening analyst of all time. He was more theorist than player, but nonetheless he was the strongest player of his day. Playing over his game, I discover that they are completely modern; where Morphy and Steinitz rejected the fianchetto, Staunton embraced it. In addition, he understood all of the positional concepts which modern players hold so dear, and this – with Steinitz – must be considered the first modern player.
Besides his standardization of the chess set, Staunton’s fame rests with the four important textbooks he wrote: the “Handbook,” “The Chess Companion,” “The Chess Tournament,” and “Chess Praxis.”
Staunton appears to have been afraid to meet Morphy and I think his fears were well-founded. Morphy would have beaten him, but it wouldn’t have been the one-sided encounter that many writers now think it would. It would have been a great struggle.
Staunton often didn’t beat weaker players as easily as his contemporaries did, and very few of his games show brilliancies. But when Staunton fianchettoed his King Biswhop on the Black side of a closed Sicilian Defense his opponents had no conception of what he was doing and consequently, were generally wiped off the board. These were not just “fish” but the best players of his day. Staunton’s right to be on a list of the ten greatest players of all time is firmly founded in the profundity of his insights, especially in the opening, and the great wealth of book knowledge that was his.