Charles Edward Ranken was born in Brislington, near Bristol. He learned chess as a schoolboy and became a strong player while attending Wadham College, Oxford. He graduated from Oxford in 1850. He took 2nd place at the 1851 London Provincial Tournament, losing to Samuel Standidge Boden.
In 1867, he became Vicar at Sandford-on-Thames near Oxford. In April, 1869, he founded the Oxford University Chess Club with Lord Randolph Churchill (Winston Churchill's father), and became its first president. In 1869, he tied for 2nd-3rd at the 5th British Counties Chess Association Congress in York, England, behind Rev. Arthur Skipworth. The Counties Chess Association was organized for amateur players outside London.
In 1871, Ranken moved to Malvern, England, where he lived for the rest of his life. In 1872, he won the 8th British Counties Chess Association Congress in Malvern. He participated in several correspondence matches and took 1st place in the British Chess Association's 1872 competition. In 1878, he took 2nd at the 14th British Counties Chess Association Congress in London. The event was won by Edmund Thorold. In 1881, he won the 16th British Counties Chess Association Congress in Leamington ahead of John Owen and William Wayte. In 1883, he took 5th-6th place at the Vizayanagaram tournament in London.
From 1877 to September 1880, Ranken was the editor of the Chess Player's Chronicle. In 1889, Chess Openings Ancient and Modern by Ranken and E. Freeborough was published. Second, third, and fourth editions of the book were published in 1893, 1896, and 1910, respectively. Historian H. J. R. Murray wrote in A Short History of Chess that it was "the most useful book on its subject until the later editions of" Modern Chess Openings (first published in 1911).
Wikipedia article: Charles Ranken
Kibitzing
