Amos Burn

Amos Burn ( born December 31, 1848 in Kingston upon Hull, † November 25, 1925 in London ) was an English chess master, the end of the 19th century was one of the best players of his country.

He learned chess at age 16, played only on local tournaments, which he won almost all. Nevertheless, he decided against a financially insecure career as a professional player and learned the trade of a merchant. Frequent business trips abroad, there were several years of pauses between his appearances in the Tournament Arena.

In 1886 he held competitions against Henry Edward Bird ( 9:9 ) and George Henry Mackenzie ( 4:4 with 2 draws ) undecided. His first internationally acclaimed tournament success he achieved through his split with Isidor Gunsberg victory in London in 1887, before Joseph Henry Blackburne and Zukertort Johannes Hermann. In 1889 he won the tournament in Amsterdam before the later world chess champion Emanuel Lasker and was in Wroclaw second behind Siegbert Tarrasch. His greatest achievement was probably winning the DSB Congress in Cologne in 1898, where he was Rudolf Charousek, Wilhelm Steinitz, Mikhail Chigorin, Carl Schlechter and behind.

After his playing strength decreased slowly and he could win no more tournament victories. After the tournament in Breslau in 1912, in which he finished only 12th place, he ended his international chess career. He took over the regular chess column of the newspaper The Field, which he headed until his death.

Burn used a more defensive style and was considered a supporter of the principles formulated by Steinitz positional play.

According to him, a variation of the French Defence is named, the first e2- e4 e7 - e6 2 d2 -d4 d7 -d5 3 Nb1 - c3 Ng8 - f6 - g5 4 Lc1 d5xe4 arises after the moves.

His best Historical Elo rating was 2728 in October 1900.