William Lewis (1787-1870)
On October 9, 1787, William Lewis was born in Birmingham, England.
Around 1810, he moved to London where he worked for a merchant for a short period.
Lewis began playing chess at the London Chess Club at Tom’s Coffee House, Cornhill, formed in 1807.
Lewis became a student of schoolmaster Jacob Sarratt (1772-1819) at the Salopian Coffee House. Sarratt was the house professional. Lewis called Sarratt the finest and most finished player he had ever seen.
Around 1813, Lewis began recording his chess games. His notebook containing many games between 1813 and 1840 was given by Lewis to von der Lasa in 1858. Many of these games appeared in the earlier years of the Chess Player’s Chronicle.
In 1816, Lewis borrowed a chess book called Essays on Chess, written by Trevangadacharya Shastee, from his friend Joseph Wood. The book was published in Bombay in 1814. From that, he created his own chess book, called Oriental Chess.
In April 1817, Oriental Chess or Specimens of Hindoostanee Excellence in that Celebrated Game, Volume 1, was published by William Lewis.
In 1817, Oriental Chess, Volume 2, was published by William Lewis. The books were a collection of 150 problems. The second volume contained the problem diagrams from the first volume.
In 1817, Lewis played a match with Peter Pratt.
In June 1818, Stamma on the Game of Chess, by William Lewis, was published in London. It was perhaps the first book that used colored chess diagrams. It was based on Phillip Stamma’s book, The Noble Game of Chess, published in England in 1745. Lewis thought that Stamma’s chess notation was tedious and fatiguing. It was in algebraic notation vs. Lewis’s descriptive notation.
In 1819, Lewis’s book, Stamma on the Game of Chess, second edition, was published in London.
Around 1819, Lewis was the hidden player inside the automaton called The Turk. He met all comers successfully when it was brought to London by Maelzel and displayed in London. Lewis was supplanted by Peter Williams.
In March 1819, Gioachino Greco on the Game of Chess, by William Lewis, was published in London. It contained 47 games played or collected by Greco.
After the death of Jacob Sarrat in 1819, Lewis became the undisputed leader of English chess. He started calling himself the “Teacher of Chess.”
In April 1821, Lewis visited Paris along with the Scottish player John Cochrane. They both played Alexandre Louis Honore Lebreton Deschapelles, receiving the advantage of pawn and move. The necessary arrangements were made by Labourdonnais, who served as umpire. Lewis won one game and drew two games.
In 1821, A New Treatise on the Game of Chess was published posthumously by Sarratt. The preface mentioned that an “unknown friend” was responsible for seeing it through the press. That person was William Lewis.
In 1822, A Treatise of the Game of Chess by Lewis was published. This was a second edition to Sarratt’s A Treatise on the Game of Chess, (in two volumes) written in 1808. Lewis called his book a new edition, revised and improved, with additional notes and remarks. Lewis was calling himself, the Teacher of Chess (Sarratt called himself the Professor of Chess). The book was in direct competition with Sarratt’s revision, A New Treatise on the Game of Chess, published posthumously in 1821 by Sarratt’s poverty-stricken widow.
In 1822, Elements of the Game of Chess, by William Lewis, was published in London. It was a treatise on the chess endings.
In November 1822, he translated the works of Pietro Carrera (1573-1647). In 1617, Carrera wrote and published Il Gioco degli Scacchi (The Game of Chess). Lewis called his book, Treatise on the Game of Chess, First Published in 1617 by D. Pietro Carrera, translated from the Italian. It was published in London by J. M. Richardson.
In 1823 Labourdonnais defeated Lewis in a match.
In 1824, Lewis was the leading English player in the correspondence match between London and Edinburgh. He was part of the London Committee that included Lewis, Cochrane, Pratt, Parkinson, Samuda, Tomlin, Willshire, Wood, Keen, Brand, and Mercier. The London team lost to the Edinburgh team, with all the games finished by 1828.
In 1825, Lewis played about 70 games with Labourdonnais at his house when Labourdonnais visited England.
In 1825, Lewis refused to play anyone on even terms.
In 1825, Lewis founded a chess club (Lewis’ Subscription Rooms) at his home in St. Martin’s Lane, where he gave lessons. He gave chess lessons to George Walker and Alexander McDonnell. His other students included Brand and Mercier.
In 1825, Lewis wrote 1st and 2nd games of the Match: London-Edinburgh.
In 1826, Lewis patented an improvement in the connection with the manufacture of pianofortes.
In January 1827, Elements of the Game of Chess, by William Lewis and updated by an American amateur, was published in New York. It was the first chess book published in New York.
In May 1827, Chess Problems: Being a Selection of Original Problems, by Lewis, was published inLondon. Many of the problems were contributed by Rev. H. Bolton.
In 1828, Lewis was declared bankrupt twice in one year due to bad investments on a patent for the construction of pianofortes that nobody would buy, and his chess club was forced to close. Most of his students and others returned to the London Chess Club (formed in 1807). Lewis did not allow any eating or drinking at his club or at his house, so many players went on to other chess clubs.
In 1829, Remarks of the Report of the Committee of the Edinburgh Chess Club, by Lewis, was published.
In 1829, The Games of the Match at Chess Played by London and Edinburgh, by Lewis, was published in London.
In October, 1829, Lewis and George Walker arranged a match of 21 games, at the odds of a knight that Lewis gave. After a year, Lewis reduced the odds to pawn and two moves.
In 1830, The Games of the Match at Chess Played by the London and Edinburgh Chess Clubs, by Lewis, was published.
In 1830, Lewis got a job that assured him of solid financial security for the rest of his life. He was the secretary and actuary of the Family Endowment Society. He held this post for many years located at Chatham Place, Blackfriars, until he retired on a comfortable pension.
In 1831, he wrote A Series of Progressive Lessons on the Game of Chess.
In the summer of 1831, he visited Stroebeck, Germany and played chess with some of the villagers according to their curious rules.
In 1832, Second Series of Lessons on the Game of Chess by William Lewis was published. In it, is the first time the Evans Gambit appeared in print.
In 1832, Fifty Games at Chess, by Lewis, was published. The book concludes with an interesting account of Lewis’s visit to Stroebeck, Germany, famous for its chess.
In 1833, Chess Problems: Being a Selection of Original Problems, by Lewis, was published in London.
In 1833, a second edition of Greco on the Game of Chess was published. He titled it A Treatise on the Game of Chess by Giochino Greco. This remained the standard English “Greco” until Professor Hoffmann’s edition of 1900, called The Chess Games of Greco.
In 1834, he was part of the Committee of the Westminster Chess Club, who played and lost a match my correspondence with the Paris Chess Club.
In 1834, A Second Series of Lessons on the Game of Chess was published.
In 1834, Game of Chess by Lewis was published.
In 1835, Chess for Beginners by Lewis was published. Its cost was 5 shillings. It ran through three editions.
In 1835, A selection of Games at Chess Played at the Westminster Chess Club by Lewis was published. It contained 50 games from the Labourdonnais-McDonnell match.
In 1837, Chess for Beginners by Lewis was published in London.
In 1838, The Chess-board Companion, by Lewis, was published. It ran through nine editions of 1,000 copies each. The cost was half-a-crown.
In 1838, a correspondent writing in the weekly magazine Bell’s Life, with a chess column edited by George Walker from 1834 to 1873, called Lewis “our past grandmaster.” This is the first known use of the term in chess.
In 1841, Lewis wrote a letter to Staunton, which was published in the first volume of The Chess Player’s Chronicle.
In 1842, the First Series of Progressive Lesson on the Game of Chess, by Lewis, was published.
In 1843, many players contributed to a fund to help the old widow of Jacob Sarratt, but Lewis did not contribute.
In 1844, A Treatise of the Game of Chess was published in London by A. H. Baily and Co., Cornhill. He included 25 original chess problems.
In 1846, a 3rd edition of Chess for Beginners by Lewis was published.
In 1846, Traite du jeu de echecs, by Lewis, was published.
In 1848, Letters on Chess, by Lewis was published. He published it under the name U. Ewell.
In 1850, The Chess-board Companion, by Lewis, was published.
In 1853, Lewis wrote that he had given up chess.
In 1855, the 8th edition of The Chess-board Companion, by Lewis, was published.
In 1855, Gentleman’s Magazine reported that William Lewis had died in New Cross, England.
In 1858, Lewis acted as stakeholder in the Morphy-Loewenthal match.
In 1858, the 10th edition of The Chess-Board Companion, by Lewis, was published.
In later years, Lewis played over published games and was collecting material for a new edition of his chess treatise, but it was never published.
On August 22, 1870, William Lewis died at the age of 82.
The variation 1.e4 e5 2.Bc4 Bc5 3.c3 d5 is known as the Lewis counter-gambit. Another variation, 1.e4 e5 2.Bc4 Bc5 3.d4 is known as the Lewis counter-gambit.
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