Henry Bird (chess player)

Henry Edward Bird ( * July 14 1830 in Portsea, Hampshire, † April 11, 1908 in London ) was one of the best English chess player of the 19th century.

He participated in the first chess tournament of the modern period in part in London in 1851, but resigned from in the first round. In 1858, he played a few games with Paul Morphy. Later he lost matches against the World Chess Champion Wilhelm Steinitz (1866, canceled at the score of 5:7 at 5 draws, as Bird had to travel for professional reasons in the USA) and Emanuel Lasker (1890, result: 3.5-8.5 and 1892 result: 0-5). Despite these failures, he was highly appreciated for its unusual style of play in the chess scene.

Bird was in 1876 in New York the first beauty contest in chess history, namely a silver cup for his match against James Mason.

Bird, who was an accountant by profession, also appeared as an author of several popular chess books in publication, including Chess Masterpieces (1875 ) and Chess history and reminiscences (1893 ). Also, some chess puzzles from him there.

According to him the Bird Opening ( 1.f2 - f4) is named. Also in the Ruy Lopez wears a variant ( 1 e2- e4 e7 - e5 2 Sg1 -f3 Sb8 - c6 3 Lf1 - b5 Nc6 -d4 ) the name Bird - defense.