William Ewart Napier

William Ewart Napier
Association	United States
Born	January 17, 1881 East Dulwich
Died	Washington, DC September 6, 1952
Best Elo rating	2662 (June 1906) ( historical rating )

William Ewart Napier (born January 17, 1881 in East Dulwich , Surrey , † September 6, 1952 in Washington, DC ) was an American chess master of English origin.

Life

His parents emigrated to the United States when he was five years old. From 1895 he lived in Brooklyn , where he came into contact with some of the best chess players in the country. He had his first successes with simultaneous performances. a. he beat the reigning USA champion Jackson Whipps Showalter in December 1894 . In early 1896, despite his young age, he was accepted as a member of the Brooklyn Chess Club . In the same year he defeated the later grandmaster Frank James Marshall in a devastating match 7-1 in three draws . In 1897 he managed to win a tournament game against ex-world champion Wilhelm Steinitz .

In early 1899 Napier traveled to Europe to study music, visiting chess clubs in London , Paris and Berlin . In 1900 he returned to the USA and settled in Pittsburgh . There he headed the chess column for the Pittsburg Dispatch newspaper . In 1901 he finished 2nd at a championship tournament in Buffalo, which he shared with Eugene Delmar , behind the tournament winner Harry Nelson Pillsbury , but ahead of Marshall. This success encouraged him to take part in several international championship tournaments in the following years . He played in Monte Carlo and Hanover in 1902 and in Cambridge Springs in 1904. Although he could not win any of these tournaments against strong competition, he received a special prize for brilliantly played games. In July 1904 he visited England again and won a well-staffed tournament there in London in front of Richard Teichmann , Joseph Henry Blackburne and Isidor Gunsberg . He then took part in the British Championship in Hastings , where he was eligible to participate because of his English origins, and won the tournament tied with Henry Ernest Atkins , whom he defeated in the playoff with 2.5-1.5. In 1905 he played two competitions: against Jacques Mieses he scored a draw (4: 4 with 2 draws), against Teichmann he lost 1: 5 with 4 draws.

Then he retired from the international tournament arena. He received American citizenship in 1908 and made a career with an insurance company. He married Florence Gillespie, a niece of his friend, chess master Pillsbury, with whom he later had two daughters. He continued to take part in chess life, but no longer played any major tournaments. When he died at the age of 71, his chess fame was almost forgotten.

His best historical rating was 2662 in June 1906. He was 11th in the world.

Lot

Napier himself described a losing game as the best of his career. He played them in the third round of the 1904 Cambridge Springs tournament with the black stones against the then world champion Emanuel Lasker . He had to show all his skills in a tactical scuffle. Napier was particularly impressed that Lasker never lost track of things despite the great lack of time . Afterwards, Lasker said to his young opponent: It's your brilliant game, even if I won it .

Lasker - Napier

1. e2-e4 c7-c5 2. Nb1-c3 Nb8-c6 3. Ng1-f3 g7-g6 4. d2-d4 c5xd4 5. Nf3xd4

Now the accelerated kite variant has emerged.

Bf8-g7 6. Bc1-e3 d7-d6 7. h2-h3 Ng8-f6

Now the dragon variant has emerged.

8. g2 – g4 0–0 9. g4 – g5 Nf6 – e8 10. h3 – h4 Ne8 – c7 11. f2 – f4 e7 – e5 12. Nd4 – e2 d6 – d5 13. e4xd5 Nc6 – d4 14. Ne2xd4 Nc7xd5 15. Nd4 – f5 Nd5xc3 16. Qd1xd8 Rf8xd8 17. Nf5 – e7 + Kg8 – h8 18. h4 – h5 Rd8 – e8 19. Be3 – c5 g6xh5 20. Bf1 – c4 e5xf4 21. Bc4xf7 Nc3 – e4 22. Bf7xb2 23g. Ta1 – b1 Bb2 – c3 + 24. Ke1 – f1 Bc8 – g4 25. Be8xh5 Bg4xh5 26. Rh1xh5 Ne4 – g3 + 27. Kf1 – g2 Ng3xh5 28. Rb1xb7 a7 – a5 29. Rb7 – b3 Lc3 – g7 30. Rb3 – h3 Nh5 –G3 31. Kg2 – f3 Ra8 – a6 32. Kf3xf4 Ng3 – e2 + 33. Kf4 – f5 Ne2 – c3 34. a2 – a3 Nc3 – a4 35. Bc5 – e3 Black resigned. 1-0

Fonts

• Napier's Amenities and Background of Chess-Play , three volumes. Brooklyn 1934 (volumes 1 and 2) and 1935 (volume 3).
  • Posthumous reissue entitled Paul Morphy and The Golden Age of Chess . New York 1957, reprinted 1971.

literature

• John S. Hilbert: Napier, the forgotten chessmaster . Caissa Editions, Yorklyn 1997, ISBN 0-939433-51-6 .

Web links

• Fictional story about the analysis of the game Lasker - Napier ( Memento from November 6, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
• Edward Winter : The Chess Wit and Wisdom of WE Napier (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ William Ewart Napier's historical Elo numbers on chessmetrics.com (English)