Having
witnessed his play during 1845 to 1849, when he was still in full
force, deep impressions remain with us of his extraordinary
powers of combination, his soundness and accuracy. Although
comparison of chess-players, who lived or were in practice at
different times appear of little use or value, we yet have been
tempted once more to compare Staunton's, Anderssen's, Morphy's
and Steinitz's best games without arriving at any conclusion
except that Anderssen's style still appears more inventive and
finer than any other, while Steinitz is pre-eminent for care and
patience.
H. T. Buckle, writer and author, who died in 1862, was for
many years the strongest amateur player, mostly considered a
shade weaker than Staunton, but regarded by many as equal,
like Steinitz in style, sound and safe, running no risks, exactly
the reverse of that of Bird, who became his opponent on equal
terms in 1852.
All chess admirers, not in this country alone, but throughout
the world, would like to have seen the names of Staunton and
Buckle, and the more recent ones of Boden and Wisker as much
as those of Lowenthal and Horwitz. Less convenient for
facetious observation, it is yet more than probable that the grand
chess researches, works and sayings of the English champion and
Shakespearian Editor, and the Diary Chess Extracts of the highly
accomplished author of "The History of Civilization," (in which
reference is made to the relief and enjoyment afforded by chess),
would have interested the chess public fully as much as the
description of Lowenthal's shirt front, Rosenthal's grammar,
Winawer's inodorous and unsavoury cigars, or the fact that the
author had played billiards with M.
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