text: george h. d. gossip george hatfeild dingley gossip ( december 6 , 1841 – may 11 , 1907 ) was a minor american - english chess master and writer . he competed in chess tournaments between 1870 and 1895 , playing against most of the world 's leading players , but with only modest success . the writer g. h. diggle calls him " the king of wooden " because he usually finished last in strong tournaments . gossip was also a noted writer . his treatise the chess - player 's manual — a complete guide to chess , a 900 - page tome published in 1874 after several years of work , was harshly received by the critics , largely because he had included a number of informal skittles games that he had ( atypically ) won against stronger players . as a result , gossip developed a lifelong enmity toward chess critics , whom he often attacked ferociously in his books . however , his 1879 book theory of the chess openings was well received . wilhelm steinitz , the first world chess champion , wrote that the 1888 edition of the chess - player 's manual was one of the best available books on the game . thanks in part to a 122 - page appendix by s. lipschütz , it became one of the standard opening works of the time . gossip made his living primarily as a journalist , author , and translator . he wrote for publications in england , france , australia , and the united states . at various times he resided in each of those countries , as well as in germany and canada . in 1898 and 1899 , two publishers issued gossip 's sole book about a subject other than chess , the jew of chamant . published under the pseudonym " ivan " , it was virulently antisemitic . chess writers have often mocked gossip 's play , calling him a " " and the like . however , kenneth whyld , one of his previous critics , suggests that history may have judged him unfairly . early life and education gossip was born in new york city on december 6 , 1841 , to george hatfeild gossip , an englishman , and his wife mary ellen dingley gossip , of new york . when he was sixteen months old , his mother died ; about two years later , he and his father moved to england . his aunt , mrs. rodes , raised him , apparently with little involvement by his father . gossip grew up at hall , derbyshire ( the rodes family seat ) and at hatfield , in yorkshire . both the gossip and rodes families are listed in burke 's landed gentry . he was educated at windermere college , westmorland , and won a scholarship to oxford university , but was unable to attend as his father , uncle , and aunts lost a lawsuit that ruined them financially . as a result , gossip had to support himself through his own labors . non - chess adult life gossip made his living primarily as a writer and translator , writing for newspapers and magazines on three continents . his profession is described in the 1871 , 1881 , and 1891 united kingdom censuses , respectively , as a " translator of languages " , an " author of work on chess " , and a member of the " literary profession " . he lived for over five years in paris , contributing to french publications . from 1879 to 1880 he was " employed occasionally as translator and otherwise " in the times of london 's office in paris . he also lived in germany . gossip married alicia ( the name is sometimes given as " alice " ) , a music teacher from dublin , in jersey in 1868 . as of 1871 , they were living in london with their 11 - month - old son george and two servants . by 1881 , gossip and his wife had moved to ipswich , and had three more children : helen ( born c . 1872 ) , harold ( c . 1874 ) , and mabel ( c . 1879 ) . after gossip 's father died in 1882 , the gossips and their four children emigrated to australia , arriving in january 1883 . while in that country , gossip wrote articles for the sydney star , sydney globe , sydney evening news , town and country journal , the advertiser ( adelaide ) , and other publications . he contributed literary articles to once a month magazine ( melbourne ) and the sydney quarterly magazine . gossip moved to the united states in 1888 , departing in april from sydney on the steamship alameda . in may , the ship arrived in san francisco , where , gossip wrote , " i first set foot on my native soil after an absence of over forty years . " he wrote articles for the san francisco examiner on the " chinese question in australia " and the san francisco chronicle on " protection and free trade in new south wales " . his family apparently remained in australia , where alicia died of cancer in october 1888 . in 1894 , gossip 's children helen and harold both married , in victoria and melbourne , respectively . gossip 's grandson , george hatfield dingley gossip , born in sydney in 1897 , was a world war i flying ace for australia , " shooting down six enemy aircraft while flying his sopwith camel along the belgian coast " . in 1889 , gossip returned to europe . by 1891 , he was living as a tenant in a london boarding house . in 1894 , he moved to montreal , canada . while living there , gossip contributed articles to a newspaper in manchester , england . the june 1895 british chess magazine ( bcm ) and june 1897 american chess magazine reported that he was living in buffalo , new york . under the pseudonym " ivan " , gossip wrote a book , the jew of chamant , which was published by ( buffalo ) in 1898 , and by f.t. neely ( london and new york ) in 1899 . the two versions are subtitled , respectively , " or , the modern monte cristo " and " a romance of crime " . the book is intensely antisemitic . the author explains in its preface : my object in the present work is to paint the rich jew in his true colors , as the enemy of society ; to show that the jew who steals millions , can , in europe , at any rate , defy the laws with impunity , and that he almost invariably escapes punishment owing to improper occult influences , and the mighty power of gold . the chess literature is silent about the last decade of gossip 's life . he died of heart disease on may 11 , 1907 , at the railway hotel in , england . chess career by 1864 , gossip was appearing in london chess circles , drawing a game against joseph henry blackburne at a simultaneous exhibition in april . he played in a number of chess tournaments between 1870 and 1895 , usually with unimpressive results . at london 1870 , the third british chess association congress ( won by john after a playoff against amos burn ) , gossip scored two of six possible points , finishing in a tie for fifth – sixth out of seven players . he had the consolation of handing burn his only loss . at london 1872 ( won by steinitz ahead of johannes zukertort and blackburne ) , he scored just one out of seven , finishing seventh out of eight players . gossip won the 1873 – 74 correspondence chess tournament of the chess - players chronicle , after which he " was thought by some to be the strongest correspondence player known " . however , playing first board for england in an 1879 correspondence chess match against the united states , he lost all four of his games to ellen gilbert of hartford , connecticut . she " caused a sensation in the chess world " by announcing mate in 21 moves in one game , and mate in 35 moves in another . gossip responded gallantly , dedicating his book theory of the chess openings to her . in 1874 , gossip lost a match for the championship cup of the provinces to rev. john owen , retiring because of illness after one win , two draws , and two losses . he won a local tournament at the café de la régence in paris in 1880 . in 1882 , he beat wordsworth donisthorpe in a match held at simpson 's divan in london . gossip 's first significant success at over - the - board chess came at the 1883 london minor tournament . he scored 17 ½ out of 25 , tying for fifth – sixth place out of 26 players with charles ranken , who later co - authored the treatise chess openings ancient and modern ( 1889 ) . curt von bardeleben won with 21 ½ points ; isidor gunsberg , who would narrowly lose an 1890 – 91 world championship match to steinitz , finished fourth with 19 points . in 1885 gossip , a year after emigrating to australia , issued a challenge to any player in the australian colonies to play a match with him for 20 pounds a side and the title of australian champion . frederick karl esling , a leading melbourne player , accepted the challenge . esling won the first game , and the second was adjourned in a position favorable to him . gossip then pleaded illness and forfeited the match . kenneth whyld writes that the australians probably considered gossip a " whingeing pom " . an australian commentator observes , " gossip may not have been the most popular itinerant to venture to these shores in the nineteenth century , but when he announced his challenge ... he at least brought the question of an official chess champion of australia before the chess playing fraternity " . in 1950 , when esling was 90 , the australian chess federation formally declared , belatedly , that he had become the first australian chess champion by winning his 1885 match against gossip . the second australian chess championship , a tournament , was held at adelaide in 1887 . gossip finished third with 6 ½ out of 9 , behind henry ( 7 ½ points ) and esling ( 7 points ) . after returning to america in 1888 , gossip obtained an appointment at the columbia chess club . the following year , he represented england at the sixth american chess congress ( new york 1889 ) , one of the greatest tournaments of the 19th century . the congress , a double round robin that was one of the longest tournaments in history , was intended to select a challenger for the world championship title . there , gossip had what g. h. diggle calls " perhaps the best performance of his career " . he scored 13 ½ out of 38 ( 11 wins , 5 draws , 22 losses ) , finishing 17th – 18th out of 20 players . he won games from s. lipschütz , max judd , eugene delmar , jackson showalter , william pollock ( twice ) , henry bird ( twice ) , david graham baird , james moore hanham , and john washington baird . mikhail chigorin and max weiss tied for first with 29 points , edging out gunsberg ( 28 ½ points ) . gossip was unable to repeat even this modest level of success in his final tournaments . he finished last in five consecutive strong events : the master section at london 1889 ( scoring 1 ½ out of 10 ; bird won on tiebreak over gunsberg ) ; the ( master tournament ) at breslau 1889 ( scoring three out of ten ; siegbert tarrasch won ) ; the master section of manchester 1890 ( scoring four out of nineteen ; tarrasch won ) ; the master tournament at london 1892 ( scoring 2 ½ out of 11 ; future world champion emanuel lasker won ) ; and new york 1893 ( scoring 2 ½ out of 13 ; lasker won with a perfect score ) . gossip 's run of last - place finishes moved diggle to dub him " the king of wooden " . gossip 's last event was a minor tournament in skaneateles , new york in july – august 1895 , where he scored three out of six , finishing in a tie for third – fifth of seven players . a report in the bcm in 1889 observed that gossip suffered from great nervousness that prevented him from fully displaying his abilities at chess tournaments , where he had to stop his ears " to keep out the low hum inseparable from a large concourse of people " . bird likewise wrote that minor distractions that he would not even notice would " drive ... gossip to despair " . the bcm commentator accordingly believed that gossip " would make a good stand in a single encounter with men who are much higher in the tournament than he is " . following his move to montreal , gossip in a letter to a friend dated october 20 , 1894 complained , " the french canadian chessplayers here are the poorest , meanest i ever met – all jesuits . " he and pollock played a match at the montreal chess club in december 1894 and january 1895 ; each won six games , with five draws . this was an impressive result for gossip " in view of pollock 's undoubted strength " . later in 1895 , pollock finished 19th out of 22 players , scoring 8 out of 21 ( including wins over tarrasch and steinitz ) , at hastings 1895 , arguably at that time the strongest tournament in history . diggle writes that gossip 's drawn match with pollock vindicates the bcm 's 1889 observation that gossip would be more at home in a match than a tournament . gossip was only a minor master , " a mediocre player who figured at or near the bottom of every better than average tourney in which he participated " . however , during his career he played tournament games against most of the world 's leading players , including world champions lasker and steinitz ; world championship challengers zukertort , tarrasch , chigorin , and gunsberg ; louis paulsen , harry nelson pillsbury , and james mason , all at some point ranked number 1 in the world by chessmetrics ; burn , blackburne , bird , and cecil de vere ( all ranked number 2 ) ; and weiss and ( both ranked number 3 ) . chess books and articles as of 1874 , gossip was the chess editor of the hornet . in that year , after several years ' work , he published his magnum opus , the chess - player 's manual — a complete guide to chess . it was " a handsomely produced work with more than 800 of its 900 pages devoted to openings and illustrative games " . the book became the subject of biting criticism , largely because gossip had included 27 illustrative games that he had won against leading players of the day , and only 12 games that he had lost . steinitz later wrote : mr gossip had practiced the unfair ruse of carefully preserving stray skittles games which he had happened to win or draw , generally after many defeats , against masters whose public records stood far above his own , ... thus leading the public to believe that the author stood on a par with them , or was even their superior . according to diggle , this edition of the book " failed utterly " . the harsh reception accorded it embittered gossip against chess critics for the rest of his life . in 1879 , gossip published theory of the chess openings , a shorter work more in the style of modern chess openings , which sold out within six months . the preface and the concluding chapter of the book bitterly attacked the critics who had savaged his earlier treatise . this time the critics , " while deploring ' the outside slices of mr. gossip 's sandwich ' " , praised the main body of the work . william wayte in the chess players chronicle called the book " fairly in possession of the field among english elementary treatises " . unfortunately for gossip , he " was the victim of an act of gross piracy , as many copies forming no part of the edition printed by his orders were circulated in america and the ' pirates ' never brought to justice . " while in australia , gossip wrote a chess column that appeared in once a month magazine from february to october 1885 . a new edition of the chess - player 's manual was published in 1888 , this one with a 122 - page appendix by lipschütz . steinitz wrote that " mr gossip has produced a useful work , which in some respects must be regarded even superior to that of staunton or any other previous writers on the chess openings . ... but the most meritorious distinguishing feature of the manual is the large collection of illustrative games by various first - class masters , and in that respect mr gossip 's work stands second only to signor 's e pratica among the analytical works in any language . " the following year , steinitz cited it in the modern chess instructor as one of the 12 principal authorities he had relied on in writing that treatise . an anonymous reviewer in the new york times called the new edition of the chess - player 's manual " probably the most convenient , trustworthy , and satisfactory chess book accessible in the english language " . the reviewer concluded that the games and problems in the volume would " afford great entertainment " to the casual enthusiast , " while for real students of chess ... it is very nearly indispensable " . he also praised " mr. lipschütz 's appendix , which brings the development of the openings almost down to date " . david hooper and kenneth whyld write in the oxford companion to chess that lipschütz 's appendix " helped to make this one of the standard opening books of the time " . world champion bobby fischer had a copy of the chess - player 's manual in his personal library , and cited it in his famous 1961 article " a bust to the king 's gambit " . the june 1888 issue of steinitz 's international chess magazine contained an article by gossip that robert john mccrary calls " a very illuminating , important , and detailed account of the state of san francisco chess " . for the last few months of 1888 gossip was listed as being on the " editorial staff " of the columbia chess chronicle . its december 29 , 1888 issue contained a lengthy article by him entitled " chess in the present day " , which offered a broad sweep of chess history and the advances made by chess in the united states . gossip called paul morphy and steinitz " the two greatest chessplayers that have ever lived " and remarked that " no englishman has yet attained , or probably ever will attain , to the eminence of chess champion of the world . ... the deep - thinking german , the brilliant frenchman and the versatile american have always been too much for sober , stolid john bull . " gossip in 1891 published a second revised edition of his theory of the chess openings , which diggle calls " a handsome volume with an appendix of sixty - one pages " . characteristically , he devoted much of the appendix to criticizing his detractors and anticipating their further attacks . gossip also wrote the lesser - known chess books the chess players ' text book ( 1889 ) , the chess - player 's vade and pocket guide to the openings ( 1891 ) , modern chess ( 1892 ) , the chess player 's pocket guide to games at odds ( 1893 ) , the chess pocket manual ( 1894 ) , the chess player 's mentor ( with francis joseph lee , 1895 ) , the complete chess - guide ( with lee , 1903 ) , gossip 's vest - pocket chess manual ( date unknown ; pictured at above left ) , and a collection of his own games , games : g. h. d. gossip versus , clerc , donisthorpe , , gunsberg , hoffer , owen , sanders , vines played during the last 10 years in england & france ( 1882 , with gunsberg and steinitz ) . manner and reputation burn 's biographer richard forster notes that gossip " was well - known for his exaggerated self - esteem " . philip sergeant in his book a century of british chess remarks that his " play was never quite up to his own estimate of it " . the new york times portrays him at the sixth american chess congress ( 1889 ) as follows : gossip , with his long , flowing beard , looks like one of the old - time monks . he has a good - shaped cranium , bald at the top , and is a little above the medium height . ... he believes himself to be one of the greatest chessplayers in the world , and thinks that if everything had gone on to his liking he could have beaten all the champions at the tournament . he is a deliberate player , but every now and then he takes a nip from a flask of brandy that generally stands on his table . he complained that his chair was too low , and he once attributed a defeat to that . finally , he got a large ledger and sat upon it . he did , in fact , seem to derive some inspiration from its contents , for he played two or three excellent games afterward . diggle observes that gossip " developed ' a happy knack of treading on other people 's ' by rushing into print " his occasional wins in offhand games against such leading players as bird and zukertort . he also vehemently denounced his critics and those with whom he disagreed . for example , in 1888 the columbia chess chronicle quoted a lecture he had given two days before on the steinitz gambit . after condemning as " utterly worthless " the analysis of that opening published in two english periodicals , gossip declaimed : in order , therefore , to establish an important point of theory , and at the same time to prevent american chessplayers from being misled and deceived by the superficial analysis of incompetent british chess editors , whose object in condemning the steinitz gambit has obviously been mainly to depreciate the originality of its illustrious inventor , whom they invariably try to drag down to their own miserable level of shallow incompetency and self - conceit , i submit the following variations which at any rate possess the undeniable merit of exposing the hollow analytical twaddle continually published in the two london journals above named . hooper and whyld note gossip 's " unusual talent for making enemies " and attribute the critical reception of his books to this , since in their opinion " his books were not significantly worse than the general run of the time , and they were better than , for example , those by bird , who was popular " . they remark on his travels that , " disliked in england , he travelled to australia , the united states , and canada , where he also became unpopular . " some measure of his talent for stirring up controversy is provided by a letter pollock wrote during their 1894 – 95 match : i and gossip are six each and may draw the match . he has proved a terrible crank and has had several games by forfeit , and one " cancelled " . he now has a libel suit against the chess column of the herald . ... we have just agreed , per the committee , to call the match a draw . all parties are relieved . chess historian edward winter observes that " gossip has always been a soft target for mockery " . he notes that hooper and whyld in the first edition ( 1984 ) of the oxford companion to chess " treated him essentially as light relief " ; the second edition ( 1992 ) treated him more equitably , but like the first omitted any mention of his performance at new york 1889 . yakov in the batsford book of chess records ( 2005 ) , addressing the question of which player " achieved the greatest negative distinction " on the international level , opines that gossip " can probably feel safe from competition " . mike fox and richard james in their book the even more complete chess addict ( 1993 ) write that , " of players who 've entered chess history , perhaps the strongest claimant for the all - time title is george hatfeild dingley gossip ( 1841 – 1907 ) . george had a worse record in major tournaments than anyone in history ( last at breslau 1889 , london 1889 , manchester 1890 , london 1892 , and new york 1893 : a total of just four wins , 52 losses and 21 draws ) . " like hooper and whyld , they overlook his result at new york 1889 , a major tournament where he won 11 games and finished above the bottom . in a 2001 article , whyld himself takes notice of gossip 's result at new york 1889 and suggests that " history has perhaps given him an unfair verdict " . by arpad elo 's calculation , gossip 's strength during his five - year peak was equivalent to an elo rating of . today fide , the world chess federation , often awards the grandmaster title to players with elo ratings of 2500 and above , and the lesser international master and fide master titles to players rated at least 2400 and 2300 , respectively . another assessment system , chessmetrics , calculates that gossip 's highest rating was 2470 ( number 50 in the world ) in april 1889 . by comparison , the world 's three highest - rated players at that time had chessmetrics ratings over 2700 . chessmetrics also ranks gossip number 17 in the world during four one - month periods between february and july 1873 , when opportunities for high - level competition were much rarer . like diggle , chessmetrics considers new york 1889 gossip 's best individual performance , concluding that he scored 39 % against opponents with an average rating of , giving him a performance rating of for that tournament . in 1904 , the deutsche schachzeitung , on the basis of its tabulation of players ' percentage scores in all major international tournaments from london 1851 to cambridge springs 1904 , ranked gossip the number 62 living player in the world . diggle writes that despite his faults , gossip was " a man of dauntless courage and infinite capacity for hard work " , which enabled him to become a recognized author despite the disastrous reception that the first edition of his chess - player 's manual received . his literary style was vigorous , and shows him to be an educated and well - read man . notable games showalter vs. gossip , new york 1889 the following game was played between future five - time u.s. champion jackson showalter ( white ) and gossip ( black ) at the sixth american chess congress , new york 1889 . 1.e4 e5 2.nf3 nc6 3.d4 exd4 4.nxd4 nf6 bxc6 6.bd3 d5 ? is correct . 7 ... ng4 - o bc5 9.h3 nxe5 fails to 10 ... qf6 0 - 0 ! qxf2 + bxh3 ! 9 ... g5 ! white is already in serious trouble . is met by 10 ... h5 ! h4 ! g4 ! qg5 + ( or h3 ! ) 16 ... bxf2 and wins . 10 ... nxe5 qe7 bd7 o - o - o ! since 13 ... h6 would still be answered by , gossip sacrifices the pawn , anticipating a killing attack along the g - file . f6 + kb8 ng4 more accurate was 18 ... bg4 followed by ... h5 , initiating the same attack that black begins on his 20th move . ne5 bg4 ? was better than this attempt at counterattack . 21 ... bd4 h5 ! h4 ! steinitz writes , " the initiation of a masterly combination eight moves deep . " ? holds out longer . now , writes andrew soltis , " black crowned his play with one of the most beautiful combinations ever played " . 24 ... nf3 + ! nxh4 leaves black a piece ahead with a won game . 25 ... bxf3 + + ! + if , + and mates . 28 ... bxf2 + ! 0 – 1 is met by ... rh8 mate . fred reinfeld calls the game " a glorious masterpiece " . steinitz proclaims , " one of the finest specimens of sacrificing play on record . mr. gossip deserves the highest praise for the ingenuity and depth of combination which he displayed in this game . " soltis writes that " there were many raised eyebrows " when the tournament committee awarded the prize for the best - played game not to gossip for this game , but to gunsberg for his win over mason . after comparing the two games , whyld writes , " the verdict seems clear . gossip was robbed ! " diggle states , " gossip was , of course , the last man to keep quiet about this decision , and for once he had considerable public sympathy on his side . " chigorin vs. gossip , new york 1889 when facing world - class opponents , gossip more often fell victim to their combinations . a famous example is his loss , also at new york 1889 , to mikhail chigorin ( white ) , who lost world championship matches to steinitz in 1889 and 1892 . 1.e4 e5 2.nf3 nc6 d5 3 ... nf6 is the safest response if black is not well versed in the ensuing complications — as gossip proves not to be . f6 ne7 qxd5 - o 7.d4 ! is the main line today . 7 ... bd7 ? 7 ... e4 ! bf5 leads to equality . e4 ng6 ? 9 ... f5 ! was correct . qa5 f5 ? 11 ... 0 - 0 - 0 ! was the best chance . + ke7 ? yet another mistake ; 12 ... kd8 is forced . yakov asks , " just how many wrong moves is it possible to play ? " ! setting up a problem - like finish with a fatal double check two moves later . 13 ... qa6 + ! kxf7 # 1 – 0