Editing Henry Bird (chess player)

{{Short description|British chess player}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2023}}
{{Use British English|date=May 2022}}
{{Infobox person
| name               = Henry Bird
| image              = Henry Edward Bird (1877 drawing by Sam Loyd).jpg
| birth_date         = {{Birth date|1829|7|14|df=yes}}
| birth_place        = [[Portsea, Portsmouth]], [[Hampshire]], England
| death_date         = {{Death date and age|1908|4|11|1829|7|14|df=yes}}
| death_place        = [[London]], England
| nationality        = [[British people|British]]
| known_for          = [[Bird's opening]]
}}

'''Henry Edward Bird''' (14 July 1829<ref>A date of 1830 has been given, but baptismal records indicate 1829. {{cite book | title=H.E. Bird: A Chess Biography with 1,198 Games | first=Hans | last=Renette | year=2016 | publisher=McFarland | page=20}}</ref> – 11 April 1908) was an English [[chess]] player, author and accountant. He wrote the books ''Chess History and Reminiscences'' and ''An Analysis of Railways in the United Kingdom''.

Although Bird was a practising accountant, not a professional chess player, it has been said that he "lived for chess, and would play anybody anywhere, any time, under any conditions."<ref name="Schoenberg">Harold C. Schoenberg, ''Grandmasters of Chess'', W.W. Norton & Co., New York, Rev. Ed. 1981, p. 66.</ref>

==Tournament play==
At age 21, Bird was invited to the first international tournament, [[London 1851 chess tournament|London 1851]]. He also participated in tournaments held in [[Vienna]] and [[New York City]]. In 1858 he lost a match to [[Paul Morphy]] at age 28, yet he played high-level chess for another 50 years. In the New York tournament of 1876, Bird received the first {{chessgloss|brilliancy prize}} ever awarded, for his game against [[James Mason (chess player)|James Mason]].<ref name="Schoenberg"/>

==Legacy==
{{algebraic notation|pos=secright}}
In 1874 Bird proposed a new [[chess variant]], which played on an 8×10 board and contained two new pieces: ''guard'' (combining the moves of the [[rook (chess)|rook]] and [[knight (chess)|knight]]) and ''[[equerry]]'' (combining the [[bishop (chess)|bishop]] and knight). Bird's chess inspired [[José Raúl Capablanca]] to create another chess variant, [[Capablanca Chess]], which would ultimately differ from Bird's chess only by the starting position.

It was Bird who popularised the [[chess opening]] now called [[Bird's Opening]] (1.f4), as well as [[Ruy Lopez#Bird's Defence|Bird's Defence]] to the [[Ruy Lopez]] (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nd4). Bird's Opening is considered sound, though not the best try for an opening advantage. Bird's Defence is regarded as slightly inferior, but "{{chessgloss|trap|trappy}}".

==Bibliography==
{{Wikisource author}}
*Bird, H. E. ''Chess Masterpieces'' (London: Dean, 1875)
*Bird, H. E. ''The Chess Openings, Considered Critically and Practically'' (London: Dean, 1877; New York: Lockwood, 1880, 1886)
*Bird, H. E. ''Chess Practice'' (London: Sampson Low, Marston, Searle & Rivington, 1882; Sampson Low, Marston & Company, 1892)
*Bird, H. E. ''Chess History and Reminiscences'' (London: Dean, 1893)
*Bird, H. E. ''Chess Novelties and Their Latest Developments'' (London, New York: F. Warne, 1895)

==See also==
* [[Ruy Lopez#Bird's Defence|Bird's Defence]]
* [[Bird's Opening]]

==Notes==
{{Reflist}}

==References==
* {{citation
 |last1=Hooper | first1=David | authorlink1=David Vincent Hooper
 |last2=Whyld | first2=Kenneth | authorlink2=Kenneth Whyld
 |title=[[The Oxford Companion to Chess]]
 |year=1992 
 |edition=second
 |publisher=Oxford University Press
 |isbn=0-19-280049-3
 |oclc=34618196 }}
* {{citation
 |last1=Renette | first1=Hans
 |title=H.E. Bird: A Chess Biography
 |year=2016 
 |edition=first
 |publisher=McFarland & Company
 |isbn=978-0-7864-7578-0 }}

==External links==
* [http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessplayer?pid=10411 games at www.chessgames.com]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20060630172423/http://supreme-chess.com/famous-chess-players/henry-bird.html Henry Bird] download 22 of his games in pgn format.
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20080509190923/http://www.astercity.net/~vistula/hebird.htm Henry Edward Bird]
* {{Gutenberg author |id=1584}} 
* {{Internet Archive author |sname=Henry Edward Bird |birth=1830 |death=1908 |sopt=t}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bird, Henry}}
[[Category:1829 births]]
[[Category:1908 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Portsea, Portsmouth]]
[[Category:English chess players]]
[[Category:English sportswriters]]
[[Category:British chess writers]]
[[Category:Chess theoreticians]]
[[Category:English male non-fiction writers]]
[[Category:19th-century British chess players]]
[[Category:19th-century British sportsmen]]