Since then she has gone on from triumph to triumph, until, at last, by universal consent, the title of the QUEEN OF CHESS was spontaneously conferred upon her.

^{Edith Baird: "The Queen of Chess"}

Table of Content

• Introduction

• [A Quick Guide] How to Solve Chess Compositions

• Early Life

• Her Achievements

• Baird's chess-playing strength

• Her major collection of chess problems

• The Grueling process of chess composing?

• Edith's later life

• Why should we remember Edith Baird?

• References

List of Chess Problems presented in this Blog: 

• Problem 1 - Edith Baird - The Twentieth Century Retractor, Chess Fantasies, and Letter Problems, 1907
• Problem 2 - Edith Baird - The Chess Amateur, 1924
• Problem 3 - Edith Baird - Kentish Express and Ashford News, 1888
• Problem 4 - Edith Baird - Sheffield Weekly Independent, 1888 3rd Prize
• Problem 5 - Edith Baird - Hackney Mercury, Tourney No. 9, 1893  1st Prize
• Problem 6 - Problem 6: Edith Baird, Manchester Weekly Times, 1893  1st Prize
• Problem 7 - Edith Baird - The Twentieth Century Retractor, Chess Fantasies, and Letter Problems 1907
• Problem 8-11 Edith Baird - The Twentieth Century Retractor, Chess Fantasies, and Letter Problems, 1907
• Problem 12 Lilian Baird - Das interessante Blatt, 13 Nov 1890 (46a)

Your Final Puzzle Scores

^Introduction

For a while now, I wanted to spotlight a remarkable chess problem composer who was celebrated not merely as a rare female figure in this field, but as one of the greatest chess problem composers of all time. As a primary school teacher, I believe it’s vital to share these stories — not only to give young learners role models they can relate to, but also to encourage more girls to take part in chess and to explore its many dimensions.  To help you get better at the game (or a least better at solving chess problems), there will also be some advice in how to solve her tricky chess problems. Do let me know your score at the end in the comments below!

A portrait of Edith Baird

Problem 1: Edith Baird, 1907 - Letter Problem

A quick guide to solving chess compositions

Composition puzzles are not like your regular puzzle rush/chess.com puzzles. They are much harder puzzles that often have a unique, thematic solution to them. Here is my quick step by step guide to solving them:

1. There is only ever one key move: There are no moves that are just "good enough" or "will win eventually" - these puzzles are designed for people to be economical with their moves by solving them in as few moves as possible. If you think you have found more than one solution, chances are that you have made a mistake or have not accurately understood all of black's defenses. Good compositions rarely ever have dual-solutions (unless it is expressed by the composer for a particular reason).

2. Look at the entire board: How safe is the black king? What squares are available to him? Look at all the ways you can check the black king: it is very rare for the first move to be a check but it is important to see what available defenses there are for black against each check. You should also observe if your king can be checked at any point as well as whether black may be able to throw in some desperate check defenses to hold off checkmate by a move or two.

3. What can black do? What moves does black have that can prevent mate in a certain amount of moves? If black does not have any useful moves, perhaps there is a zugzwang theme that white can exploit to mate you on the next move.

4. Working backwards from black's defenses: For every move that black might play, ask yourself, how does white checkmate now? If you do not have an answer for one of the defenses, perhaps your first candidate move is incorrect. Whilst these problems demand an accurate first move, they also require accurate defenses from the black side. 

Now that we have covered the essentials of chess composition, let's return to the 'Queen of Chess' composition, Edith Baird.

Problem 2: Edith Baird - The Chess Amateur, 1924

Early Life

Edith Elina Helen Baird (née Winter-Wood, 1859–1924) was one of the most accomplished chess problem composers of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. She was born Brixton, England on February 22, 1859 into a family who were highly appreciative of the arts: Her father, Thomas Winter Wood, was a published poet, avid chess player and president of the Plymouth and Torquay Chess Club.¹ Historical note: Wikipedia states that she was born in Boulogne/Toulouse, France to a now defunct link to the "ChessDevon" Page, the county she was from - Historian Batgirl suggests otherwise. Her brothers E.J Winter-Wood and Carslake W. Wood, were "also well-known composers, and have been the heroes of many a stout fight over the checkered board."²  Edith Baird had a range of hobbies besides chess such as archery, painting and writing verse. However, it was chess where Baird demonstrated immense talent having first been taught to play at the tender age of just five-years-old. "The moves came to me", as she says, "by a kind of instinct"³, she would later reflect, after mastering the game before her 10th birthday. She wouldn't however, compose any chess problems until many years into her marriage to Deputy Inspector-General W. J. Baird, M.D., R,N. an accomplished person within his own professional field. According to Frederick Richard Gittens, after 8 years of marriage, she submitted her first problem and thus commenced a series of chess problems that would garner her plenty of attention amongst chess players and problemists which won her many awards in the process:

Problem 3: Edith Baird - Kentish Express and Ashford News, 1888

Her Achievements

"Mrs. Baird had composed over 750 problems, which have appeared in one or another chess columns (many in several), and of which not one per cent, have been found to contain a flaw - a remarkable record; while, by the unanimous consent of all the best judges, their elegance and freshness have been as notable as their purity." 

In that same year, she was successful in winning the third prize in the Sheffield Independent two-move tourney, the first of many awards which she would go on to win as a problem composer. Due to her mounting success, she was bestowed the title of the "QUEEN OF CHESS:"

Problem 4: Edith Baird - Sheffield Weekly Independent, 1888
3rd Prize

Edith's successes would continue through the late 19th century. Her greatest achievement was her victory in the 1893 Hackney Mercury three-mover tournament of 1893, which came with the restrictive limit of only six pieces. Despite these restrictions she produced a highly celebrated problem in which a king is checkmated on a wide open board:

Problem 5: Edith Baird - Hackney Mercury, Tourney No. 9, 1893

1st Prize

Among those with whom she had to contend with were an international "who's who" of chess puzzle composing at the time:

"Mr. B. G. Laws, Mr. James Stuart, Mr. H. Hosey Davis, Mr. P.H.Williams, Mr. James Rayner, Mr. J. Neild, Mr. H.F.L. Meyer, Mr. T. Guest, Mr. A. Bolus, and Mr. V. Wahltuch, England; Mr. R.G. Thompson, Scotland; Mr. R. H. Seymour and Mr. C.H. Latting, United States; Mr. W. Fermie, Amsterdam; the Rev. J. Jespersen, Denmark; Mr. O. Brenander, Finland; and Mr. A.P. Silvera, Jamaica. Amongst all the men, Mrs. Baird won first prize in the tourney, and as Mr. J.D. Seguin, of the New Orleans Times Democrat, said: "The fact that the tourney assumed almost an international character rendered the triumph of the distinguished lady victor as noteworthy as it was creditable." ⁴ 

Another portrait of Edith Baird - This time with what appears to be her pocket chess set. To think she potentially composed so many of her problems on such a flimsy board like that. Hats off to her!

Baird's chess-playing strength

Baird made rare appearances in playing chess. Instead, she much preferred composing and solving chess problems. Despite this, she was successful in both of her appearances in competitive chess:

Only twice have I engaged in serious competition. In 1897, I entered for the Ladies' Championship for Sussex, which I won without the loss of a game and in 1900, in the ladies section of the "Leisure Hour," I tied for first prize.⁵ 

A rare published game of Edith Baird (the only one I could find online).⁶ Here she plays in a 6 board blindfold simultaneous against the Dutch Chess Master Rudolf Loman:

Over her lifetime, Baird would go on to create more than 2,000 chess problems.⁷ Her major collection of chess problems: Seven Hundred Chess Problems (1902) is one of the greatest chess problem composition books of all time which highlight some of her best compositions that she had published in hundreds of newspapers and editorials. One thing I enjoy about this book is how well organised it is as a chess problem book. It shows where each problem was published and page dedicated to all her "prize problems" - useful if you just want to see her highlights.  Her Book is available via public domain: Link to Book via hathitrust
The preface in the book exemplifies Mrs. Baird's love of the game. She never sees it as a "labour" rather a "pleasure" to compose chess problem. I am not sure many chess players reading this would agree with that sentiment as puzzle composing is an incredibly difficult and frustrating art, but it is lovely to read about Baird's love for the game in chess composing. The book would take her 14 years to complete with all of her published problems - I had worked out that this would have meant she had produced and published a chess problem (for the book) every seven days or so.

The Grueling process of chess composing?

It is fair to say for chess players that puzzle composing looks like an impossible artform to produce soundly (even with the help of a chess engine!) yet Baird was able to produce a large variety of chess problems with apparent ease. It turns out that Edith Baird was far from a natural to this process. In an article in the December 9, 1894 edition of the New York Times, Notes About Women, it stated:

Mrs. Baird is now able to turn out a chess problem in half an hour. Her first one, composed six years ago, took 100 hours to accomplish."⁷ 

This at least shows that "practice makes perfect." Whilst it may be challenging to begin with, with practice, it is possible to produce any chess problem with ease. I am however skeptical if this next prize winner merely took only 30 minutes to compose: 

Problem 6: Edith Baird, Manchester Weekly Times, 1893
1st Prize

After her "magnus opus" of a chess book, Baird admitted that she wanted to cease composing to a great extent. However, her attention was drawn to another type of chess problem: The retractor - 

After the publication of my work...in May, 1902, it was my intention to cease composing...But a few months afterwards the idea occurred to me that "as direct-mate problems were composed 1 forwards,' why should not problems be composed also ' backwards ' ? "This idea grew and intensified to such a degree that I could not rest until I had put it to a practical test, combining with it the helpmate principle.⁸

Thus her next chess problems book was produced: "The Twentieth Century Retractor, Chess Fantasies, and Letter Problems." The book illustrates her love of poetry and Shakespeare. The book is littered with references to Shakespeare and many lines are quoted throughout:

Problem 7: Edith Baird - The Twentieth Century Retractor, 1907

An example page from her book: The Twentieth Century Retractor.9 One of the slightly easier (if you can even call these easy) retractor puzzles in a fictional game between the aptly named Ms. Lily White and Mr. Pitch Black. 

Stipulation: Go back two moves but only one move for white and then two moves for black. Upon the previous moves, what move would be checkmate in 1 for white. 

Solution:

The first to retract for white: Bxg4 ----> Bh3 leaving a rook behind

The first move to retract for black: Rxg4 ----> Rd4 leaving a white queen behind

The second move to retract for black: Rf5 ----> Rf4

This should be the position now: 

Checkmate in 1: Qe6# - A swallow Tail mate. If you know this pattern, this would have made this problem much simpler as this would have been the only way to checkmate the black king in a board this open.

Step by step visual: 

Problem 8-11 - The D-O-V-E Problem, Edith Baird - The Twentieth Century Retractor, 1907

Hint: Whilst this looks very hard, in actual fact, the trick with this one is to imagine that each section is in the top left corner. Once you reimagine it this way, the solutions are much easier: 

Solution to D

Solution to O

Solution to V
This one is hard to reproduce as the initial position would be illegal if I were to set it up on the 8th rank to emulate the edge of the sector.

Solution to E

Again, the initial position is illegal to reproduce on an analysis board

Edith's later life

Unfortunately, there are scant sources with regards to Edith's later life. According to the Yacpdb.org, she published in newspapers until 1908. There followed a lengthy hiatus until 1918, no doubt in some capacity due to the impact of the Great War, and she then published occasionally in the early 1920s. Edith did have a daughter called Lillian who also possessed a similar gift in the game and even published a number of her own chess problems.

Problem 12 - Lilian Baird - Das interessante Blatt, 13 Nov 1890 (46a)

Lilian would be considered a chess prodigy at the time showed great promise in her composing, much like her mother, at a very early age. Sadly her interest in this field waned during her teenage years.

Information about Lilian Baird from a newspaper in Brighton.¹⁰ 

At the end of her life, she resided in Plymouth, Devon. Fittingly for a chess player, on February 1, 1924, she died in Paignton, Devon, at the age of 64, which is the same number of squares that are on a chessboard.¹¹ 

Why should we remember Edith Baird?

Edith Baird's life and work display how passion, creativity and perseverance can overcome any barriers. She went against the grain in a time where there was rigid social and gendered expectations in a game. Despite these challenges, Baird was not just celebrated as the unusual "woman in chess," but as an undisputed master of her craft, producing elegant,  ingenious and, crucially, accurate problems that have stood the test of time. For myself as an educator, this story is especially useful for young learners - especially girls. She stands as an invitation for players to see chess not just as a competitive game but as an art form where imagination and intellect intersect. In sharing her achievements, we keep alive not only her legacy but also the hope that future generations continue to broaden and enrich the world of chess in many different brilliant ways.  

The most famous chess composers of all timeA Simple Google Search: "The most famous chess problem composers" - Edith Baird is the only female on that illustrious list. 

Puzzle Score

Give yourself a big pat on the back for attempting to solve her puzzles. They are certainly not easy! Remember to comment below with your scores to the puzzles

• 0-3: These puzzles are difficult. Read through guide and have another go.
• 4-6: Well done! These are tough puzzles but you managed to solve some a few of them!
• 7-9: You are a seasoned puzzle solver!
• 10-12: Are you Edith Baird?

Jump Back to Table of Content 

^References

• ^{1 The Chess Bouquet: Or, The Book of the British Composers of Chess Problems, with Portraits  by Frederick Richard Gittins; Published in 1897 by Harvard University pp. 9-11}
• ^{2 https://www.victorianresearch.org/atcl/show_author.php?aid=125}
• ^{3 The Chess Bouquet: Or, The Book of the British Composers of Chess Problems, with Portraits  by Frederick Richard Gittins; Published in 1897 by Harvard University pp. 9-11}
• ^{4 https://www.chess.com/blog/batgirl/edith-e-helen-winter-wood-bai}
• ^{5 The Chess Bouquet: Or, The Book of the British Composers of Chess Problems, with Portraits  by Frederick Richard Gittins; Published in 1897 by Harvard University pp. 9-11}
  
• ^{6 https://www.chessproblem.net/viewtopic.php?t=622 - game provided by archivist Brian Denman, archivist for the Sussex Chess Association, which was published in the "Western Morning News."}
• ^{7 Seven hundred chess problems, selected from the composition of Mrs. W. J. Baird - Accessible here: https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=hvd.hn53bh&seq=17}
• ^{8 https://www.uschess.org/index.php/April/Mr.-Postman-Have-You-Got-A-Letter-For-Me.html}
• ^{9 The Twentieth Century Retractor https://archive.org/details/twentiethcentur00bairgoog/page/n12/mode/2up}
• ^{10 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/71316974}
• ^{11 http://www.edochess.ca/batgirl/baird.html + https://www.chessproblem.net/viewtopic.php?t=622}
• ^{I have quoted and sourced things from chess blogging historian BatGirl: https://www.chess.com/blog/batgirl/edith-e-helen-winter-wood-bai and chess historian and writer Edward Winter: https://www.chesshistory.com/winter/extra/women.html#:~:text=attractions%20of%20Home%E2%80%9D.-,',means%20of%20attack%20or%20defence.}
• ^{For further reading about the interesting history of the Plymouth Chess Club: https://plymouthchess.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/PCC_history.pdf}