The English Morphy? - Owen Hindle & Bob Jones

The Life and Games of Cecil De Vere, First British Chess Champion.

The first competition to identify a British Chess Champion was won, in 1866, by the young Cecil De Vere, thus gaining his unique place in chess history. However, so little is known about his short, tragic life that his chess talents and achievements are constantly being forgotten, leaving each generation to rediscover them afresh.

To redress this, the authors have pieced together contemporary records of his life and games to make this first ever biography of one of the 19th century's least-known masters.

A number of mysteries and coincidences have always featured in De Vere's life, not least being the identity of his father, and this book floats a new theory about his origins, which, if true, would link De Vere with several historical characters.

130pp