Frederick Deacon

Frederick Deacon (January 1829 – 20 November 1875, in Brixton, London) was a British chess master.^[1] He is mainly notable for spurious claims to have drawn against Paul Morphy,^{[2][3][4][5][6]} making himself both notorious and unpopular.^[7][8]

He won a match against W. Gilby (2–1) and lost a match to Charles Edward Ranken (0–2) at London 1851 (Provincial, Samuel Boden won).^[9] Deacon won matches against Edward Löwe (7½–2½) in 1851, and Carl Mayet (5–2) in 1852.^[10] He drew against Paul Morphy (1–1) in 1858.^[11]

He took 2nd, behind George Henry Mackenzie, at London 1862 (handicap),^[12] shared 11th at London 1862 (the 5th BCA Congress, Adolf Anderssen won),^[13] and lost a match to Wilhelm Steinitz (1½–5½) at London 1863.

References

1. The British chess magazine Volume 95 1975 "we add a note on Frederick Deacon, whom Sergeant refers to as 'a young amateur from Bruges', but British by birth. He became well known in London chess circles. In the London 'Provincial Tournament' of 1851 (not the international tournament) he was knocked out 2-0 in the second round by the Rev. CERanken. In London 1862 (the first Round-robin ."
2. Max Lange Paul Morphy: Sein Leben und Schaffen 2009, p. 236 "... Schachfreund, FREDERIC DEACON,in Gesellschaft seines Vetters, des Oberst CHARLES DEACON, besucht und mit ihm von 11 bis 2 Uhr zwei Partien gespielt haben, welche zuerst in der Illustrierten Londoner Zeitung („Illustrated London News“).. "
3. Paul Morphy: the pride and sorrow of chess, p. 363 David Lawson, Thomas Aiello, 2010 "Upon their reaching America, Mr. Morphy flatly denied that he had ever played a single game with Mr. Deacon. ... spurious,” “fabrications,” a base attempt to sully the star-spangled banner, &c. "
4. Chess review: Volumes 36-37; Volumes 36-37 1968 "When Morphy returned from his European tour, he was given a Victory tanquet by the New York Chess Club. ... one of his favorite imaginary correspondents, maintains his personal honesty in reference to the spurious Morphy — Deacon games."
5. Macon Shibut Paul Morphy and the Evolution of Chess Theory, p. 350, 2004 "The subject of spurious Morphy games has been reviewed in Lawson's book on Morphy. 1t is rather well accepted that at least the Deacon "games "and the Ruggles "game" were fakes, but how many more which have been accepted as genuine are ..."
6. ed. Philip Sergeant Paul Charles Morphy, Morphy's Games of Chess 1957, p. 23 "The two games which Deacon claimed to have played with him, a win to either side, were declared by Morphy himself to be spurious. In Paris Morphy lost no level games, outside his matches, except one to Anderssen and one to Harrwitz."
7. The British chess magazine: Volume 105 1985 " Notes to the games are by Hort, round by round summaries are by a number of journalists. ... several rounds had been played, the inside story of English club dissensions and expulsions, Deacon's spurious games with Morphy and Steinitz ."
8. The Oxford Companion to Chess David Hooper, Kenneth Whyld, David Hooper, 1987 "In this manner Frederick Deacon (fl.1860) claimed victories against MORPHY and STEINITZ thus becoming both notorious and unpopular. "
9. London
10. Welcome to the Chessmetrics site
11. http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chess.pl?pid=10360&pid2=16002
12. http://www.anders.thulin.name/SUBJECTS/CHESS/CTCIndex.pdf Name Index to Jeremy Gaige's Chess Tournament Crosstables, An Electronic Edition, Anders Thulin, Malmö, 2004-09-01
13. London

External links

• Frederick Deacon player profile and games at Chessgames.com