William Norwood Potter

Remembering William Potter (27-viii-1840 13-iii-1895)

Death Anniversary of William Norwood Potter, (27-viii-1840 13-iii-1895)

William Norwood Potter
William Norwood Potter

Here is his Wikipedia entry

From The Oxford Encyclopedia of Chess by Hooper & Whyld :

“Leading English player of the 1870s, barristers clerk. He met strong opposition in only one tournament, London 1876, when he took third place after Blackburne and Zukertort. In match
play he lost to Zukertort in 1875 ( + 2=8—4) and drew with Mason in 1879 ( + 5=11—5). Potter was editor of the London Chess Magazine (1874-6)

The London Chess Magazine
The London Chess Magazine

and wrote for the Westminster Papers and Land and Water, contributing annotations of a high standard to all three journals. He played a part in the development of new ideas attributed to Steinitz, with whom he established a firm friendship and to whom he may have shown the ideas of the English School (see schools of chess), in 1872 the London Chess Club, represented by Blackburne, Horwitz, Lowenthal, Potter, Steinitz, and Wisker, began a correspondence match of two games against a Viennese team led by Kolisch for stakes of £100 a side, (The moves were sent by telegraph and confirmed by letter.) Unable to accept the ideas of Potter and Steinitz, the rest of the London team soon withdrew, leaving these two to play on. They won the match. Subsequently Steinitz declared
that ‘modern chess’ began with these two games.

The City of London Chess Magazine
The City of London Chess Magazine

The Potter Variation in the Scotch is :

n.b. The Potter Memorial correspondence tournament was named after Reginald Potter, a past president of the BPCF.

William Norwood Potter, (27-viii-1840 13-iii-1895) from Howard Staunton, The English World Chess Champion
William Norwood Potter, (27-viii-1840 13-iii-1895) from Howard Staunton, The English World Chess Champion
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