Preston Ware

Preston Ware Jr. (August 12, 1821 – January 29, 1890) was an American chess player. He is best known today for playing unorthodox chess openings.

Ware was born in Wrentham, Massachusetts, and died in Boston, Massachusetts.

Chess career

Ware was an avid tournament player and played in the Second International Chess Tournament, Vienna 1882, the finest chess tournament of its time. He finished in sixteenth place of eighteen scoring a total of 11 points out of 34, but he did beat Max Weiss and the winner of the tournament, Wilhelm Steinitz, in a game lasting 113 moves. At the time, Steinitz had not lost or drawn a game for nine years prior to this tournament A newspaper article contemporary to the event stated, "Ware's avowal of his right to sell a game in a tourney was a novelty in chess ethics ... Ware's veracity has not been questioned, only his obliquity of moral vision ..."