From around 1830 it gave increasing coverage to racing and this soon comprised more than a third of the paper, following general news and followed in its turn by other sporting news (notably boxing but all other sports too).
It is believed that the first time the term grandmaster was used was when a correspondent writing to Bell's Life in 1838 called the English player William Lewis (1787–1870) "our past grandmaster."
Born in Birmingham, as a young man Lewis moved to London where he worked for a merchant for a short period. He became a student of Jacob Sarratt, but in later years he showed himself to be rather ungrateful towards his teacher.
Although he considered Sarratt's Treatise on the Game of Chess (published in 1808) a poorly written book, in 1822 Lewis published a second edition of it three years after Sarratt's death. This was in direct competition with Sarratt's own superior revision published posthumously in 1821 by Sarratt's poverty-stricken widow. In 1843, many players contributed to a fund to help the old widow, but Lewis was not one of them.
Around 1819 Lewis operated the famous automation, the Turk. He suggested to owner Johann Maelzel that Peter Unger Williams, a fellow ex-student of Sarratt, should be the next person to operate inside the machine which Williams later did.
Lewis visited Paris along with Scottish player John Cochrane in 1821, where they played with Alexandre Deschapelles, receiving the advantage of Pawn and move. Lewis won the short match with a win and two draws. Lewis' career as an author began at this time and included translations of the works of Greco and Carrera.
He was the leading English player in the correspondence match between London and Edinburgh in 1824, won by the Scots (+2 = 2 -1). Later, he published a book on the match with analysis of the games.
During the period of 1834–36 he was also part of the Westminster Chess Club that lost two games in a match against the Paris Chess Club.
Starting from 1825 he preserved his reputation by the same means that Deschapelles used in France, by refusing to play anyone on even terms. In 1825 Lewis founded a Chess Club where he gave lessons.
He was declared bankrupt in 1827 due to bad investments on a patent for the construction of pianos and his chess club was forced to close.
The next three years were difficult, but in 1830 he got a job that assured him of solid financial security for the rest of his life and it allowed him to focus on writing his two major works: Series of Progressive Lessons (1831) and Second Series of Progressive Lessons (1832). The first lessons were elementary while the second concentrated on openings and for the first time the name Evans Gambit was used.
Eventually Lewis realized that he could no longer give the English players a handicap and so he gradually withdrew from active play. After retirement he wrote other chess books, but the positional ideas of the new generation players was beyond him and so his last book (A Treatise on Chess) that was published in 1844 was already out of date.
William Lewis - Jonathan Wilson
Result: 1-0
Site: London
Date: 1819
Sicilian Gran Prix Attack
[...] 1.e4 c5 2.f4 An early example of the Grand Prix Attack! Today practically all practitioners play 2.Nc3 and 3.f4. 2...e6
2...d5 3.exd5 ♘f6 This gambit was invented/discovered by Mikhail Tal back in 1979. In this line black sacrifices a P or two for rapid development and white's weak Ps give black sufficient compensation for the material. The main line runs 4.♗b5+ ♗d7 5.♗xd7+ ♕xd7 6.c4 e6 7.♕e2 ♗d6
3.♘f3 d5 4.♗b5+ ♗d7 5.♗xd7+ ♘xd7 6.e5
6.♘c3 dxe4 7.♘xe4 ♘gf6 8.♕e2 ♗e7 9.O-O O-O 10.b3 is equal. Aubert,L-Mercier,J (2215)/France 1989
6.exd5 exd5 7.O-O ♗d6 8.d4 ♘e7 9.♘c3 O-O Equals. Gillian,A-Ionescu,C (2465)/Debrecen 1992
(6.d3!?⩲) 6...♘h6 7.c3 ♗e7 8.d4 Not really bad, but 8...O-O and ...f6 was more active. 8...c4 9.O-O b5 10.♗e3 ♘f5 11.♕e2 ♘xe3 12.♕xe3 h6 13.♘bd2 a5 14.h3 ♘f8 15.♘h2 ♘h7 16.♕e2 At the time all this positional maneuvering was rare, but now in a completely even position black slips up and badly weakens his position. A good move was 16...b4 or even 16...O-O 16...g5 17.f5
17.♕h5 This move also packs a pretty good punch. 17...♕d7 18.♘g4 gxf4 19.♘xh6 ♘g5 20.h4 and black only has one good move... 20...♘h3+ 21.gxh3 ♗f8 22.♕xf7+ ♕xf7 23.♘xf7 ♔xf7 24.♖xf4+ with the advantage.
17...exf5 This results in his getting a lost position,
17...♕d7 would have limited the damage. 18.f6 ♗d8 19.♕h5 b4 20.♘g4 ♘f8 21.♘xh6 but here also black is in a difficult situation.
18.♖xf5 Black's position can safely be considered lost. 18...O-O 19.♕h5 ♖a6 20.♘g4 ♕b6 21.♖af1 ♕e6 For what is wa worth 21...Qg6 trading Qs was a smidgen better. 22.♖1f3
22.♖xf7 would have ended the game. 22...♖xf7 23.♘xh6+ ♔h8 24.♘xf7+ ♔g8 25.♘h6+ ♔h8 26.♕e8+ and wins
22...b4 By this time Q-side play is far, far too late, but there really wasn't anything better. 23.♘f1
23.♖xf7 This is the most forceful. 23...♕xf7 24.♖xf7 ♖xf7 25.♘xh6+ ♖xh6 26.♕xh6
23...bxc3 24.bxc3 ♕g6 25.♘g3 (25.♕xg6+ ♖xg6 26.♘fe3 was an equally good alternative.) 25...♔g7 Even trading Qs would not have helped his defense. 26.♘e3 ♕e6 27.♘g4 ♕g6 28.♕xg6+ fxg6 29.♖xf8 ♘xf8 30.♘e3 ♘e6 31.♘xd5 It may be something of a surprise that the game hasn't ended in with tactical demonstration, but just wait. 31...♗a3 32.♖f6 ♗c1 33.♘e4 ♘c7 There is no explanation for this that I can think of, but he was lost anyway! 34.♘xc7 ♖a7 35.♘d6
35.♘e6+ Mates in 5 35...♔h7 36.♖f8 ♗e3+ 37.♔f1 ♖f7+ 38.♖xf7+ ♔g8 39.♖f8+ ♔h7 40.♘f6#
35...♔h7 36.♘de8
36.♖f7+ leads to a forced mate. 36...♔g8 37.e6 ♖b7 38.e7 ♗e3+ 39.♔f1 ♖b1+ 40.♔e2 ♖b8 41.♔xe3 ♔h8 42.e8=♕+ ♖xe8+ 43.♘cxe8 a4 44.♘f6 a3 45.♖h7#
36...♗e3+ 37.♔f1 ♗d2 38.♖f7+ ♔g8 39.e6 ♗xc3 (39...♔h8 40.♘f6 ♖xc7 41.♖xc7 a4 42.♖h7#) 40.♘f6+ ♔h8 41.♖h7# The Arabian Mate, the oldest checkmate pattern in the history of the game. Very nice play by Lewis in a game that could have been played in modern times! Powered by Aquarium
