John Owen (chess player)

John Owen ( born July 1, 1827 in Marchington, † November 24, 1901 in Twickenham ) was a British chess player and clergyman.

Owen, vicar of profession, counted in the second half of the 19th century one of the strongest chess players in Britain. It was 1858 in Birmingham third ahead of players like Howard Staunton, Pierre St. Amant and Henry Bird. In 1862 he shared third place with George Alcock MacDonnell in London (before Wilhelm Steinitz ).

Owen played numerous competitions with the greats of his time. In 1858, he was subject to be located on a European tour American Paul Morphy in London with 1:6 ( 0, -5, = 2). Noteworthy was at this competition that Morphy Owen was a requirement of Bauer and train. 1860 Owen played a match against Ignaz Kolisch in Manchester draw 4:4 ( 4, -4, = 0). In 1875 he was defeated Amos Burn in London with 7,5:12,5 ( 6, -11, = 3), but took in 1888 in Liverpool revenge and defeated him 5-3 ( 5, -3, = 0). 1878 defeated Owen in Chislehurst the world class player Johannes Hermann Zukertort with 1,5:9,5 ( 0, -8, = 3).

According to Owen, a chess opening is named, the Owen - defense.

His best historical Elo rating was 2583, so he was in the July 1877 number 9 in the world rankings.