Preston Ware

Preston Ware Jr. (August 12 1821 – January 29 1890), was a U.S chess player.citation
last=Gaige | first=Jeremy | author-link=Jeremy Gaige
year=1987 | title=Chess Personalia, A Biobibliography
publisher=McFarland
isbn=0-7864-2353-6
page=456] He is best known today for playing unorthodox chess openings.Ware was born in Wrentham, Massachusetts, and died in Boston, Massachusetts.

He was an influential member of the "Mandarins of the Yellow Button" in Boston.The "Yellow Button" was a pin worn in the hats of Chinese imperial officials to indicate high rank in the civil service.The Boston Mandarins were a group of chess players in the late 19th century, including John Finan Barry, L. Dore, C. F. Burille, F. H. Harlow, Dr Edward Mowry Harris, C. F. Howard, Major Otho Ernst Michaelis, General William Cushing Paine, Dr H. Richardson, C. W. Snow, Henry Nathan Stone, Franklin Knowles Young, and Preston Ware.The group was the foundation of what would become the modern Deschapelles Chess Club in Boston.citation
last=Brace | first=Edward R.
year=1977 | title=An Illustrated Dictionary of Chess
publisher=Hamlyn Publishing Group
isbn=1-55521-394-4
pages=177, 302]

Tournaments

Chess diagram|=
tright
Ware versus Steinitz, 1882
=
| | | | | |kd| |=
| |qd| | | |pd| |=
| | |nd| |pd|pl| |=
pd| | |bd| |pl| | |=
| |pd|pl|pd|ql| | |=
bd| |pl| |nl| |bl| |=
pl|rd|bl| | | | | |=
| | | | |rl|kl| |=
Position after 37. Ne3.Ware was an avid tournament player and played in the Second International Chess Tournament [http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=2117 Second International Chess Tournament] , Vienna 1882 at Chessbase.com] , Vienna 1882, the finest chess tournament of its time. He finished in sixteenth place of eighteen scoring a total of 11 points out of 34, but he did beat Max Weiss and the winner of the tournament, Wilhelm Steinitzcitation
last=Whyld | first=Ken | author-link=Ken Whyld
year=1986
title=Chess: The Records
publisher=Guinness Books
isbn=0-85112-455-0
page=38] in a game lasting 113 moves [ [http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1001580 Ware's winning game against Steinitz] at Chessgames.com] . At the time, Steinitz had not lost or drawn a game for 9 years prior to this tournament and was the unofficial World Champion. Ware also competed in the first, second, fourth and fifth American Chess Congresses.

Openings

Ware's other claim to fame was his eccentric opening play. He used the Ware Opening (then known as the Meadow Hay Opening), the Corn Stalk Defence (sometimes known as the Ware Defence), and the Stonewall Attack.Around 1888 he reintroduced the Stone-Ware Defence to the Evans Gambit, named also for Henry Nathan Stone (1823–1909). (It had originally been played by McDonnell against La Bourdonais in 1843.)citation
last1=Hooper | first1=David | author1-link=David Vincent Hooper
last2=Whyld | first2=Kenneth | author2-link=Kenneth Whyld
year=1992 | title=The Oxford Companion to Chess | edition=2
publisher=Oxford University Press
isbn=0-19-280049-3
page=399]

References

External links

* [http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessplayer?pid=10423 Preston Ware's games] at ChessGames.com
*http://www.chesscafe.com/text/spinrad08.pdf (Includes a biography of Ware).