‘You May Say What You Like to the Professional and Dismiss Them When You Want’: The Rise and Fall of Professional Chess Players in Victorian Britain

Abstract

From the 1840s chess was a popular game among the middle classes in Britain, commanding great respect because it was regarded as being an ‘improving’ recreation. In 1851 London staged the world's first international chess tournament, and from then until the 1880s large numbers of players, both British and foreign, endeavoured to earn their living from the game. These ‘professionals’ were gradually undermined by two attacks on the game's respectability. Foreign players were attacked on simple xenophobic lines, but more broadly all professional chess players were also undermined by a disapproval of the financial element of the game. The paper pays particular attention to two professionals, Staunton and Steinitz, who embodied the transformation in attitudes towards professional chess.