The Most Famous

CHESS PLAYERS from United Kingdom

This page contains a list of the greatest British Chess Players. The pantheon dataset contains 461 Chess Players, 14 of which were born in United Kingdom. This makes United Kingdom the birth place of the 8th most number of Chess Players behind Poland, and Germany.

Top 10

The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the top 10 most legendary British Chess Players of all time. This list of famous British Chess Players is sorted by HPI (Historical Popularity Index), a metric that aggregates information on a biography’s online popularity. Visit the rankings page to view the entire list of British Chess Players.

1. Howard Staunton (1810 - 1874)

With an HPI of 56.45, Howard Staunton is the most famous British Chess Player. His biography has been translated into 35 different languages on wikipedia.

Howard Staunton (April 1810 – 22 June 1874) was an English chess master who is generally regarded as the world's strongest player from 1843 to 1851, largely as a result of his 1843 victory over Pierre Charles Fournier de Saint-Amant. He promoted a chess set of clearly distinguishable pieces of standardised shape – the Staunton pattern promulgated by Nathaniel Cooke – that is still the style required for competitions. He was the principal organiser of the first international chess tournament in 1851, which made England the world's leading chess centre and caused Adolf Anderssen to be recognised as the world's strongest player. From 1840 onwards he became a leading chess commentator, and won matches against top players of the 1840s. In 1847 he entered a parallel career as a Shakespearean scholar. Ill health and his two writing careers led him to give up competitive chess after 1851. In 1858 attempts were made to organise a match between Staunton and Paul Morphy, but it never came about. It was alleged by British Chess Association president Lord Lyttelton that Staunton misled Morphy while trying to avoid the match; it is also possible Staunton overestimated his chances of getting physically fit and of making time available for a match. Modern commentators consider Staunton's understanding of positional play to have been far ahead of his contemporaries. Although not a rampant attacking player, he attacked when his preparations were complete. His chess articles and books were widely read and encouraged the development of chess in the United Kingdom, and his Chess-Players' Handbook (1847) was a reference for decades. The chess openings the English Opening and Staunton Gambit were named for his advocacy of them. Staunton has been a controversial figure since his own time, and his chess writings could be spiteful. On the other hand, he maintained good working relationships with several strong players and influential chess enthusiasts, and demonstrated excellent management skills.

2. Joseph Henry Blackburne (1841 - 1924)

With an HPI of 55.44, Joseph Henry Blackburne is the 2nd most famous British Chess Player. His biography has been translated into 25 different languages.

Joseph Henry Blackburne (10 December 1841 – 1 September 1924) was a British chess player. Nicknamed "The Black Death", he dominated the British scene during the latter part of the 19th century. Blackburne learned the game at the relatively late age of 17 or 18, but he quickly became a strong player and went on to develop a professional chess career that spanned over 50 years. At one point he was one of the world's leading players, with a string of tournament victories behind him, and popularised chess by giving simultaneous and blindfold displays around the country. Blackburne also published a collection of his own games.

3. Michael Adams (b. 1971)

With an HPI of 53.02, Michael Adams is the 3rd most famous British Chess Player. His biography has been translated into 42 different languages.

Michael Adams (born 17 November 1971) is an English chess grandmaster and is an eight-time British Chess Champion. His highest ranking is world No. 4, achieved several times from October 2000 to October 2002. His peak Elo rating is 2761, the highest achieved by an English chess player. Several times a World Championship Candidate, he reached the semifinals in 1997, 1999 and 2000. He reached the final at the 2004 FIDE Championship, narrowly losing out to Rustam Kasimdzhanov in the tie-break games. Adams won the World Senior Chess Championship (Over-50 category) in 2023.

4. Alexander McDonnell (1798 - 1835)

With an HPI of 48.49, Alexander McDonnell is the 4th most famous British Chess Player. His biography has been translated into 22 different languages.

Alexander McDonnell (1798–1835), sometimes spelled MacDonnell, was an Irish chess master, who contested a series of six matches with the world's leading chess player Louis-Charles Mahé de La Bourdonnais in 1834.

5. Horatio Caro (1862 - 1920)

With an HPI of 47.24, Horatio Caro is the 5th most famous British Chess Player. His biography has been translated into 15 different languages.

Horatio Caro (5 July 1862 – 15 December 1920) was an English chess player. Caro was born in Newcastle upon Tyne, England, but spent most of his chess career in Berlin, Germany having moved there when he was two years old. He played several matches. In 1892, he drew with Curt von Bardeleben (+2 –2 =0) and lost to Szymon Winawer (+2 –3 =1). In 1897, he was defeated by Jacques Mieses (+3 –4 =3). In 1903, he drew with Bardeleben (+4 –4 =0). In 1905, he won against Moritz Lewitt (+4 –3 =5). In tournaments, he won in Berlin in 1888, 1891, 1894, 1898 (jointly), and 1903. He also took 10th at Berlin 1883, took 4th at Berlin 1887, tied for 2nd-3rd at Nuremberg 1888, took 3rd at Berlin 1889, took 2nd at Berlin 1890. He took 3rd at Berlin 1894, took 9th at Berlin 1897, took 17th at Vienna 1898, took 4th at Berlin 1899, tied for 6-7th at Berlin 1902, tied for 11-12th at Coburg 1904, tied for 7-8th at Barmen 1905, took 9th at Berlin 1907, tied for 3-5th at Berlin 1908, and took 4th at Berlin 1911. Caro died in London aged 58. He was discharged from a workhouse in Whitechapel citing his death as the reason. He is known for the Caro-Kann Defence (B12), an opening which he analysed along with Marcus Kann and jointly published about on the German journal Brüderschaft in 1886. He is also known for beating World Champion Emanuel Lasker in 1890 in 14 moves only, and for his appearance in the 1898 Anglo-American cable chess match.

6. Henry Bird (1830 - 1908)

With an HPI of 45.63, Henry Bird is the 6th most famous British Chess Player. His biography has been translated into 22 different languages.

Henry Edward Bird (14 July 1829 – 11 April 1908) was an English chess player, author and accountant. He wrote the books Chess History and Reminiscences and An Analysis of Railways in the United Kingdom. Although Bird was a practising accountant, not a professional chess player, it has been said that he "lived for chess, and would play anybody anywhere, any time, under any conditions."

7. Amos Burn (1848 - 1925)

With an HPI of 44.68, Amos Burn is the 7th most famous British Chess Player. His biography has been translated into 16 different languages.

Amos Burn (31 December 1848 – 25 November 1925) was an English chess player, one of the world's leading players at the end of the 19th century, and a chess writer. Burn was born on New Year's Eve, 1848, in Hull. As a teenager he moved to Liverpool, becoming apprenticed to a firm of shipowners and merchants. He learned chess only at the relatively late age of 16. He later took chess lessons from future World Champion Wilhelm Steinitz in London, and, like his teacher, became known for his superior defensive ability. Aron Nimzowitsch, in his book The Praxis of My System, named Burn one of the world's six greatest defensive players. Although never a professional chess player, Burn had a long career of playing tournaments and writing. In 1913, Leopold Hoffer, the editor for over 30 years of the chess column in The Field, the leading chess column in Great Britain, died. The proprietors of The Field took seven weeks to select a successor, finally settling on Burn. He moved to London and wrote the column until his death in 1925 from a stroke.

8. Jonathan Penrose (1933 - 2021)

With an HPI of 43.95, Jonathan Penrose is the 8th most famous British Chess Player. His biography has been translated into 16 different languages.

Jonathan Penrose, (7 October 1933 – 30 November 2021) was an English chess player, who held the titles Grandmaster (1993) and International Correspondence Chess Grandmaster (1983). He won the British Chess Championship ten times between 1958 and 1969.

9. John Owen (1827 - 1901)

With an HPI of 43.40, John Owen is the 9th most famous British Chess Player. His biography has been translated into 15 different languages.

John Owen (8 April 1827 – 24 November 1901) was an English vicar and amateur chess master. He ranked among the world's top ten chess players for certain periods of the 1860s. He was a major figure in English chess from the mid 1850s to the 1890s.

10. John Nunn (b. 1955)

With an HPI of 42.63, John Nunn is the 10th most famous British Chess Player. His biography has been translated into 23 different languages.

John Denis Martin Nunn (born 25 April 1955) is an English chess grandmaster, a three-time world champion in chess problem solving, a chess writer and publisher, and a mathematician. He is one of England's strongest chess players and was formerly in the world's top ten.

People

Pantheon has 16 people classified as British chess players born between 1798 and 1971. Of these 16, 5 (31.25%) of them are still alive today. The most famous living British chess players include Michael Adams, John Nunn, and Nigel Short. The most famous deceased British chess players include Howard Staunton, Joseph Henry Blackburne, and Alexander McDonnell. As of April 2024, 2 new British chess players have been added to Pantheon including Horatio Caro, and John Owen.