James Mason (chess player)
Template:Short description Template:Use dmy dates Template:Use British English Template:Infobox chess player James Mason (19 November 1849 – 12 January 1905) was an Irish-American chess player, journalist and writer who became one of the world's best half-dozen players in the 1880s.<ref name="OxComp2">Template:Cite book</ref> Mason was ranked the number 1 player in the world by Chessmetrics during 11 separate months between August 1877 and June 1878.<ref name="chessmetrics">Jeff Sonas, Chessmetrics Player Profile: James Mason. Retrieved on 2018-06-02.</ref>
Biography
Mason was born in Kilkenny in Ireland. He was adopted as a child and took the name James Mason (his original birth name was unknown) when his family moved to the United States in 1861. There he learned chess and eventually secured a job at the New York Herald.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Mason made his first mark on the chess scene in 1876 when he won the Fourth American Chess Congress in Philadelphia, the New York Clipper tournament, and defeated Henry Bird in a match by the comfortable margin of 13–6. In 1878 he settled in England.<ref name="OxComp2"/> His best tournament results were third at the Template:Chessgloss Vienna 1882 tournament, third at Nuremberg 1883 and equal second at Hamburg 1885. At Hastings 1895, often considered the strongest tournament of the nineteenth century,<ref>Garry Kasparov calls Hastings 1895 "the most important tournament of the nineteenth century". Garry Kasparov, My Great Predecessors, Part I, Everyman Publishers, 2003, p. 126. Template:ISBN.</ref><ref>Arthur Bisguier and Andrew Soltis call Hastings 1895 the "greatest tournament of the nineteenth century". Arthur Bisguier and Andrew Soltis, American Chess Masters from Morphy to Fischer, Macmillan, 1974, p. 53. Template:ISBN.</ref> he finished tied for 12th–14th with 9½ points of 21 possible.<ref>Andy Soltis, The Great Chess Tournaments and Their Stories, Chilton Book Company, 1975, p. 76. Template:ISBN.</ref>
Mason wrote several books on chess, the most popular being The Principles of Chess in Theory and Practice (1894), The Art of Chess (1895), Chess Openings (1897) and Social Chess (1900).
In 1903 he became seriously ill and had to curtail almost all activities for the remainder of his life. He died on 12 January 1905 in Rochford, Essex, and is buried in nearby Thundersley churchyard.
Chess strength
According to Chessmetrics, at his peak in October 1876 Mason's play was equivalent to a Chessmetrics rating of 2715, and he was ranked number 2 in the world, behind only Wilhelm Steinitz.<ref>Jeff Sonas, October 1876 Rating List. Retrieved on 2018-06-02.</ref> However, Mason was ranked number 1 in the world, albeit with a slightly lower rating, during 11 separate months between August 1877 and June 1878.<ref name="chessmetrics" /> His best single performance was at Vienna 1882, where he scored 15 of 23 possible points (65%) against 2622-rated opposition, for a performance rating of 2732.<ref>Jeff Sonas, Vienna, 1882. Retrieved on 2018-06-02.</ref>
Legacy
Template:AN chess The London System opening 1.d4 d5 2.Bf4 is sometimes called the Mason Variation in his honour;<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> he played it several times from the 1880s. The variation of the King's Gambit 1.e4 e5 2.f4 exf4 3.Nc3 (allowing 3...Qh4+) is sometimes called the Mason Gambit or Keres Gambit, although Mason lost the only game he played with it (against Samuel Rosenthal at Paris 1878). The 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Nxe5 d6 4.Nf3 Nxe4 5.d4 d5 6.Bd3 Be7 7.0-0 0-0 variation of the Petroff Defence is named after him, as well as the Mason Gambit in the Giuoco Piano: 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.c3 Nf6 5.d4 exd4 6.0-0.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>