William Norwood Potter

William Norwood Potter (27 August 1840 – 13 March 1895) was an English chess master and writer. He is primarily remembered for the quality of his chess journalism, and for his association with Wilhelm Steinitz, the first winner of a world chess championship match.

Life and career Potter was born in London on 27 August 1840 to William and Mary Anne (Martin) Potter. He had three brothers and a sister, Mary Potter.

A barristers' clerk by trade, Potter first appeared in London chess circles in 1867 and rose quickly from obscurity, winning the 1870 City of London Chess Club handicap tournament, in which he defeated Joseph Henry Blackburne and Cecil Valentine De Vere on even terms. From 1872 to 1874 the City of London Chess Club contested a two-game correspondence chess match with Vienna: the other London team members eventually dropped out, leaving Potter and Steinitz to continue the match by themselves, which they ultimately won by a score of 1½–½. Steinitz would later point to this match as the beginning of the "systematic analytical development of modern ideas" in chess. In 1879 he drew a match against James Mason, both sides scoring five wins apiece with eleven draws. Subsequently, he became the last chess editor at Land and Water from 1877 to 1885.

After 1885 Potter retired from the London chess scene. He died in his home in Sutton on 13 March 1895.

Assessment and legacy

The Saavedra position, one of the best-known endgame studies in chess, originates from a game of Potter's against Richard Fenton in 1875. from which the following quotes are taken.