Karpova: "Buckle as a Chess Player" by Colonel Hugh Alexander Kennedy from his book "Waifs and Strays, Chiefly from the Chess-board" (second enlarged edition 1876): http://www.chesscafe.com/text/skitt...His strength:
<Mr. Buckle, by almost unanimous consent of his contemporaries, was
allowed to be a consummate master of chess-craft; but it is certain, that,
for some reason or other, his best play did not always find its way into
print. His published games, therefore, although many of them are of a
high order of merit, do not, in my opinion, sustain the great reputation he had acquired, and unquestionably deserved. Nature had gifted him with a
superlative aptitude for the game of chess, and he brought the powers of a
rare intellect - clear, penetrating, and sagacious beyond that of most men
- to bear upon it. His imagination was like that of the poet, "all compact," but still subservient to the dictates of a logical judgment. His
combinations, accordingly, under such guidance, seldom, if ever, exhibited a flaw, being characterised by exactitude of calculation, and
brilliant device. He excelled in pawn play, which he conducted with an
ingenuity and deadly accuracy worthy of the renowned pawn general,
Szén, himself. He gave large odds, such as rook and knight, with
wonderful skill and success, appearing to have a sort of intuitive
knowledge of a strange opponent's chess idiosyncracy, which enabled
him precisely to gauge the kind of risks he might venture to run. The
rendering of heavy odds, as every experienced chess-player knows,
necessitates hazardous and unsound play on the part of the giver.>
and
<I first knew him in June 1841, when he was nineteen years old, having lost his father a few months previously. He then played chess exceedingly well, so strongly, indeed, that I much doubt if the play of his maturity was anything in advance of that of his juvenile days. I remember, in that early time of our acquaintance, being struck by the bold originality and grasp of thought, the variety and extent of general knowledge possessed by the pale, delicate-looking stripling, who might have passed for a year or two younger than he really was.>
His weakness:
<With all Buckle's superb genius for the game, he lacked something of the solid power, the unflagging patience, resource, and depth of Staunton, and in a set encounter with him, would, in my judgment, have had the worst of it.> (Kennedy believes that Buckle would have been the favorite in a match with Staunton in 1850/51 but not in Staunton's prime).
His behaviour at the chessboard:
<Whether winning or losing, Mr. Buckle was a courteous and pleasant
adversary, and sat quietly before the board, smoking his cigar, and
pursuing his game with inflexible steadiness. He was sometimes harassed
when at play by a nervous hiccough, which he would endeavour to
suppress by humming some little air.>
There's much more, e. g. his preparation and training for chess contests, his aversion to music, his love for reading (he read everything), his exceptional memory, etc.
His last words: <"My book, my book, I shall never finish my book !"> (he was talking about "A History Of Civilisation").
Btw, Kennedy says that he died on May the 31st, 1862 (unlike the cg.com biography).
Kibitzing
