| Amos Burn | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Amos Burn | |
| Full name | Amos Burn |
| Country | England |
| Born | 31 December 1848 Kingston upon Hull, England |
| Died | 25 November 1925 (aged 76) London, England |
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.[1] As a teenager he moved to Liverpool, becoming apprenticed to a firm of shipowners and merchants.[1] He learned chess only at the relatively late age of 16.[1] He later took chess lessons from future World Champion Wilhelm Steinitz in London, and, like his teacher, became known for his superior defensive ability.[2] Aron Nimzowitsch, in his book The Praxis of My System, named Burn one of the world's six greatest defensive players.[2]
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.[3][4]
- ^ a b c Richard Forster, Amos Burn: A Chess Biography, McFarland & Company, 2004, p. 17. ISBN 0-7864-1717-X.
- ^ a b Forster 2004, p. 9.
- ^ Forster 2004, pp. 883–84, 888.
- ^ “Mr. Amos Burn, 76, the well-known chess master, died suddenly at his flat at Brook Green, Hammersmith, on Wednesday morning. The previous evening he entertained a friend to supper and a discussion of chess problems. After the meal the two men were chatting together when Mr. Burn put his hand to his head and said, ‘What a pain I have got here."¦ Rising from his chair, he staggered and would have fallen into the fire had not his friend been quick enough to save him. A doctor, resident in the same block of flats, was immediately called, and found that Mr. Burn was suffering from a stroke. His friend remained with him during the night, but Mr. Burn's condition was hopeless, and he passed away at 2 p.m.—West London Observer, 27 November 1925, p.9: