Amos Burn

Amos Burn, 1909
Association	United Kingdom
Born	December 31, 1848 Kingston upon Hull , United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
Died	London November 25, 1925
Best Elo rating	2728 (October 1900) ( historical rating )

Amos Burn (born December 31, 1848 in Kingston upon Hull , † November 25, 1925 in London ) was an English chess player who was one of the best players in his country at the end of the 19th century .

He learned chess at the age of 16 and initially only played in local tournaments, which he won almost all of them. Nevertheless, he decided against a financially insecure career as a professional player and learned the trade of a businessman. Due to frequent business trips abroad, there were breaks of several years between his performances in the tournament arena.

chess

In 1886 he held matches against Henry Edward Bird (9: 9) and George Henry Mackenzie (4: 4 with 2 draws ) in a draw. He achieved his first internationally acclaimed tournament success when he shared a victory with Isidor Gunsberg in London in 1887, ahead of Joseph Henry Blackburne and Johannes Hermann Zukertort . In 1889 he won the tournament in Amsterdam before the later world chess champion Emanuel Lasker and was second in Breslau behind Siegbert Tarrasch . His greatest success was his victory at the DSB Congress in Cologne in 1898, in which he left Rudolf Charousek , Wilhelm Steinitz , Michail Tschigorin and Carl Schlechter behind. He was fourth at the master tournament of the German Chess Federation (12th DSB Congress) in Munich in 1900 , which Harry Nelson Pillsbury and Carl Schlechter won.

After that his skill level slowly decreased and he could not win any more tournaments. After the tournament in Breslau in 1912, in which he only finished 12th, he ended his international chess career. He took over the regular chess column for The Field newspaper , which he directed until his death.

Burn cultivated a more defensive style and was considered a supporter of the principles of positional play formulated by Steinitz .

A variant of the French defense is named after him, which is based on the moves 1. e2 – e4 e7 – e6 2. d2 – d4 d7 – d5 3. Nb1 – c3 Ng8 – f6 4. Bc1 – g5 d5xe4 .

His best historical rating was 2728 in October 1900 and his best world ranking was second in September 1876.

literature

• Richard Forster: Amos Burn, a chess biography . McFarland, Jefferson 2004. ISBN 0-7864-1717-X .

proof

1. ↑ The International Tournament Cologne 1898 (11th DSB Congress) on TeleSchach (cross table and games)
2. ↑ The International Tournament Munich 1900 (12th DSB Congress) on TeleSchach (cross table and all games)

Web links

Commons : Amos Burn  - collection of images, videos and audio files