Burning Ships!

Amos Burn born on the 31st of December 1848 in Hull, Yorkshire, England, was one of the world's leading players at the end of the 19th century, and a chess writer. He became apprenticed to a firm of ship-owners and merchants. He only learned chess at the relatively late age of 16 and he started playing seriously in his mid-thirties. He took chess lessons from Wilhelm Steinitz, and, like his teacher, became known for his higher defensive ability. Aaron Nimzowitsch, in his book “The Praxis of My System,” named Burn one of the world's six greatest defensive players!
Historical rating lists show that the careers of Blackburne and Burn occupy a very similar level as does their mutual score of 10-9 in Blackburne’s favor. Just let us evaluate his results: in 1886 he was 1st with Joseph Henry Blackburne at London but lost the play-off. He was 1st at Nottingham 1886, 1st with Isidor Gunsberg at London 1887, 1st at Amsterdam 1889 and 2nd after Siegbert Tarrasch at Breslau 1889. His best result was at Cologne 1898, 1st ahead of Rudolf Charousek, Wilhelm Steinitz, Mikhail Chigorin and Carl Schlechter!
In matches from 1886, he drew one against Bird (+9, =0, -9) and one against Mackenzie (+4, =2, -4)
When in 1913, Leopold Hoffer, the editor for over 30 years of the chess column in “The Field”, the leading chess column in Great Britain died, the proprietors of The Field took seven weeks to select a successor, finally settling on Burn. He moved to London and wrote the column until his death in 1925! Although never a professional chess player, Burn had a long career. His first tournament, in 1867-68 was a handicap tournament at the Liverpool Chess Club and the last was Breslau 1912!
The astonishing black move, from the MacDonald-Burn game, is considered one of the ten most fantastic moves ever played!
Like Hernan Cortes, we can say that Amos Burn burned his ships!

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