Influence on chess

Staunton proposed and was the principal organizer of the first international chess tournament which proved that such events were possible, and which produced a clear consensus on who was the world's strongest player - Adolf Anderssen. All subsequent international tournaments took place in Great Britain until Paris 1867 Contemporaries, including Steinitz and Morphy, regarded Staunton's writings on chess openings as among the best of their time. Chess historians agree that his Chess-Player's Handbook (1847) immediately became the leading English-language chess text-book, and it went through twenty-one reprints by 1935. Around 1888 Staunton's Chess: Theory and Practice, published posthumously in 1876, was regarded as modern in most respects, but there was a growing need for more up-to-date analysis of openings. His obituary in The City of London Chess Magazine said, "... his literary labours are the basis upon which English Chess Society ... stands".
His play, however, had little influence on other players of the day. William Hartston explains that, "... his chess understanding was so far ahead of his time. A deep strategist living in an era when shallow tactics were still the rule, Staunton's conceptions could not be assimilated by his contemporaries." Staunton's style and the openings that accompanied it were eclipsed by the more directly aggressive styles of Anderssen and Morphy, which dominated chess from 1851 until Steinitz unveiled his positional approach in 1873. There is little evidence that Staunton had much direct influence on modern chess. Although he introduced the English Opening, it has been called "really a twentieth century invention" that only became fully respectable after future World Champion Mikhail Botvinnik began playing it in the 1930s. Similarly, although he was an early champion of the Sicilian Defense, which is today the most popular opening, and the most successful response to 1.e4, he seems to have had little influence on how the Sicilian is played today: he regarded it as a safe defensive line, while it is now treated as a vigorous but slightly risky counter-attack. On the other hand, Raymond Keene wrote that "Taimanov revived some old, forgotten ideas of Staunton ..." in the Sicilian. Staunton and modern GMs agree that Black gets a good game after 1.d4 f5 2.h3 Nf6 3.g4 d5! Staunton introduced the Staunton Gambit against the Dutch Defense (1.d4 f5 2.e4!?). Although it was once a feared attacking line it has been out of favor since the mid-1920s and is thought to "offer White equality at best”.Staunton also introduced a different gambit approach to the Dutch, 2.h3 followed by g4. In 1979 Viktor Korchnoi, one of the world's leading players, successfully introduced this line into top-class competition, but later authorities concluded, as Staunton had, that Black gets a good game with 2...Nf6 3.g4 d5!Staunton also advocated the Ponziani Opening 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.c3, which was often called "Staunton's Opening".It is rarely played today because it allows Black to choose between a sharp counter-attack and a safe line that usually leads to a draw.