Philip Richardson

 Philip Richardson (12.10.1841-28.09.1920) 

Chess player and chess composer

The now largely forgotten American Philip Richardson (12 October 1841-28 September 1920) was one of the strongest chess players in New York during his lifetime, although he rarely took part in tournaments. Some matches against his strongest contemporaries (including a 2:0 against Sam Loyd, who also played games) showed him to be on a par with his opponents; he only fell behind against Steinitz and Mackenzie, the recognised strongest players of his time. As a photographer, he had no time to play chess in bright, good weather, so he preferred to appear at the chess club in bad weather, which earned him the nickname "The Stormy Petrel". His absence from tournaments is probably the main reason why even large databases contain only very few of Richardson's games. The situation is similar with his chess problems, which he composed over a period of more than 60 years; the PDB contains 31 of his problems, including many self-mates,