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{{short description|English chess player (1839–1903)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
'''Robert Steel''' (1839–1903)<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Linder|first1=Isaak|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7pBXDwAAQBAJ&dq=:modern+chess+instructor%22+%22robert+steel%22&pg=PT198|title=Wilhelm Steinitz: 1st World Chess Champion|last2=Linder|first2=Vladimir|year=2014|publisher=SCB Distributors|isbn=978-1-936490-93-6|language=en}}</ref> was a notable businessman and internationally renowned chess player, originally from [[Liverpool]].

Steel spent a considerable period in [[Kolkata|Calcutta]] (now Kolkata) in [[British India]]. Steel was described by the ''[[The Times of India|Times of India]]'' in 1898 as "one of the best known and most popular figures" in Calcutta, and "probably the finest chess player India has ever seen".<ref name=":18">{{Cite news|date=15 March 1898|title=Current Events|page=7|work=Times of India|publication-place=Bombay|url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/234109221|id={{ProQuest|234109221}}|url-access=subscription}}</ref> The London ''[[Daily News (UK)| Daily News]]'' similarly called Steel "the foremost player in India".<ref>{{Cite news|date=1880-12-18|title=International Chess Match|work=Evening News|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article108741552|access-date=2021-10-25}}</ref> Steel is credited with many efforts to popularise chess in India (ironically, the country where the game was [[History of chess|initially born]]). Notably, he had conceived of and organised the historic [[Liverpool versus Calcutta, 1880|Liverpool-Calcutta telegraph cable chess match]] in 1880 (having also been a former president of the Liverpool Chess Club). Steel was further joint winner of India's first round-robin chess tournament in Calcutta, held in 1878.<ref>{{Cite book|last=King|first=Daniel|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gUXcDwAAQBAJ|title=Sultan Khan: The Indian Servant Who Became Chess Champion of the British Empire|year=2020|publisher=New In Chess|isbn=978-90-5691-876-7|language=en}}</ref>

The first [[World Chess Championship|World Chess Champion]], [[Wilhelm Steinitz]], dedicated his book ''The Modern Chess Instructor'' to Steel, calling him "a generous patron of chess and chess masters".<ref name="Steinitz 1889">{{Cite book|last=Steinitz|first=William|url=https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/000252097|title=The modern chess instructor.|date=1889|publisher=G. P. Putnam's sons|location=New York etc.}}</ref> Steinitz also credited Steel with inventing an "ingenious" variation of the [[Giuoco Piano]] opening.<ref name="Steinitz 1889"/> Steinitz stated elsewhere that Steel had defeated him and "different first-class masters" in some unrecorded games.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fpYP7iUiHz8C|title=The International Chess Magazine|date=1889|pages=331}}</ref>

Steel played with and against many well-known players of his era, such as [[James Mason (chess player)|James Mason]], [[Joseph Henry Blackburne]], [[Johannes Zukertort]] and [[Leopold Hoffer]].<ref name=":18" /><ref>{{Cite web|title=The chess games of Blackburne / R Steel|url=https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessplayer?pid=160982|access-date=2021-10-25|website=www.chessgames.com}}</ref> In a modern assessment of Steel's game, [[Lubomir Kavalek]] termed a match that Steel played in India as one of the "immortal games" of chess history, and described Steel's methods as possessing a "certain craziness".<ref>{{Cite news|last=Kavalek|first=Lubomir|date=December 25, 2000|title=Chess|work=The Washington Post|url=http://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/2000/12/25/chess/0283a86b-91b8-4eb0-b5a6-19d827223975/}}</ref>

Steel reportedly belonged to "an old Liverpool family".<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dJpJAAAAYAAJ|title=The British Chess Magazine|date=1903|publisher=Trubner & Company|pages=340}}</ref> He arrived in Calcutta from England in 1871, and retired and returned to England in 1898.<ref name=":18" /> He worked as a jute shipping merchant in Calcutta, heading the eponymous R. Steel & Co. He rose to become a member of the [[Viceroy's Executive Council]],<ref name=":18" /> president of the [[Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry]],<ref name=":18" /><ref>{{Cite web|title=Past Presidents The Bengal Chamber of Commerce & Industry, Kolkata, India|url=https://www.bengalchamber.com/presidents.html|access-date=2021-10-25|website=www.bengalchamber.com}}</ref> and president of the [[The Bengal Club|Bengal Club]], where he presided over a dinner in honour of [[Prince Albert Victor, Duke of Clarence and Avondale|Prince Albert Victor]] during his visit to Calcutta.<ref name=":18" /> He was also awarded the [[Order of the Star of India|Companion of the Order of the Star of India]], which the ''Times of India'' described as "a very high honour for a non-official and one which has only been twice so bestowed".<ref name=":18" /> [[Henry Cotton (civil servant)|Sir Henry Cotton]] described Steel as a businessman of "exceptional ability".<ref>{{Cite book|last=Cotton|first=Henry|url=http://archive.org/details/indianhomememori00cottuoft|title=Indian & home memories by Sir Henry Cotton|date=1910|publisher=London T.F. Unwin|others=Robarts – University of Toronto|page=191}}</ref>

== References ==

{{reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Steel, Robert}}
[[Category:1839 births]]
[[Category:1903 deaths]]
[[Category:British sportspeople in British India]]
[[Category:English chess players]]
[[Category:19th-century British chess players]]
[[Category:Businesspeople from Liverpool]]
[[Category:19th-century English businesspeople]]
[[Category:Companions of the Order of the Star of India]]

Robert Steel (chess player) - Revision history

Brigette13M: added new stub nd citations