This is the first history of British chess to embrace the modern era, commencing with the earliest club established in Britain, in 1774 and going right through to 2000. Its principal focus is on those people who used the game to earn a living professionals, such as Staunton and Short though also deals with prominent amateurs for instance Thomas and Penrose. The book is interested in social attitudes towards chess, notably early struggles against moral disapproval, and its gradual ascent to become an accepted and popular recreation. Attention is paid to the evolution of various theoretical ideas, notably the ideas of Philidor and Steinitz. The major chess events in Britain are dealt with, the scores of games being provided (some with brief annotation) and tables of results. Amongst the events covered are matches such as de la Bourdonnais v McDonnell and tournaments such as London 1851 and 1883.
Adrian Harvey obtained a BA, majoring in History, in Humanities at Hatfield Polytechnic, an MA in Victorian Studies at Birkbeck College (London University, England) and a DPhil in Modern History at Nuffield College (Oxford University, England). He worked for London University's Birkbeck College and the Workers' Education Association, teaching History and English. His main focus is on the history of recreation, notably his PhD, The Beginnings of a commercial sporting culture in Britain 1793-1815 (2004). A year later, Football's first hundred years: the untold story (2005) completely rewrote the game's history. Thus far he has had 14 articles published on football and 16 on chess. The latter appearing in Caissa, Chess, Kassiber, Kingpin and Sport in History. Some of these have been translated into German and Italian. Additionally, he has work published on other topics, such as the history of the Paralympics, and was responsible for articles on nine people in The Oxford New Dictionary of National Biography (2004).
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