Elijah Williams

Elijah Williams (7 October 1809 – 8 September 1854) was an eminent British chess player of the mid-19th century. The first president of the Clifton Chess Club, he was famed for the slowness of his play. He was known to take an average of 2½ hours per move during some matches, a strategy thought to cause opponents to lose their focus on the match, earning him the nickname of the Bristol Sloth.

Following a particularly dilatory performance by Williams in the London 1851 tournament, a 20 minute per turn time limit was adopted for standard play the next year.

A musical tune "The Bristol Sloth" was composed by guitarist Leo Kottke (who also applied the term 'sitzkrieg' in describing Williams' playing style).

British player Howard Staunton is quoted as remarking while playing against Williams, "... Elijah, you're not just supposed to sit there – you're supposed to sit there and think!"

Williams died in London.

* [http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessplayer?pid=22465 chess games of Elijah Williams]

References

*http://www.chessit.co.uk/Centenary/History/1982%20-%2075th/history/1982/bristolclifton.html
*http://www.geocities.com/siliconvalley/lab/7378/history.txt
* [http://www.oberheide.org/hargiss/Hargiss%27%20athletes/Williams/Williams%20letter.htm Tribute letter from Lige Williams to coach Bill Hargiss]
*Fox and James, "The Even More Complete Chess Addict" Faber and Faber.
*citation
last=Gaige | first=Jeremy | author-link=Jeremy Gaige
year=1987 | title=Chess Personalia, A Biobibliography
publisher=McFarland
isbn=0-7864-2353-6
page=465