Robert Steel (1839–1903) was a notable businessman and internationally renowned chess player, originally from

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

. Steel spent a considerable period in

Calcutta Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, the official name until 2001) is the Capital city, capital of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal, on the eastern ba ...

(now Kolkata) in

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...

. Steel was described by the ''

Times of India ''The Times of India'', also known by its abbreviation ''TOI'', is an Indian English language, English-language daily newspaper and digital news media owned and managed by The Times Group. It is the List of newspapers in India by circulation, t ...

'' in 1898 as "one of the best known and most popular figures" in Calcutta, and "probably the finest chess player India has ever seen". The London '' Daily News'' similarly called Steel "the foremost player in India". Steel is credited with many efforts to popularise chess in India (ironically, the country where the game was initially born). Notably, he had conceived of and organised the historic 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. The first

World Chess Champion The World Chess Championship is played to determine the world champion in chess. The current world champion is Magnus Carlsen of Norway, who has held the title since 2013. The first event recognized as a world championship was the 1886 match ...

, Wilhelm Steinitz, dedicated his book ''The Modern Chess Instructor'' to Steel, calling him "a generous patron of chess and chess masters". Steinitz also credited Steel with inventing an "ingenious" variation of the

Giuoco Piano The Giuoco Piano (Italian: "Quiet Game"; ), also called the Italian Opening, is a chess opening beginning with the moves: :1. e4 e5 :2. Nf3 Nc6 :3. Bc4 Bc5 "White aims to develop quickly – but so does Black. White can construct a pawn cen ...

opening. Steinitz stated elsewhere that Steel had defeated him and "different first-class masters" in some unrecorded games. Steel played with and against many well-known players of his era, such as

James Mason James Neville Mason (; 15 May 190927 July 1984) was an English actor. He achieved considerable success in British cinema before becoming a star in Hollywood. He was the top box-office attraction in the UK in 1944 and 1945; his British films inc ...

, Joseph Henry Blackburne, Johannes Zukertort and

Leopold Hoffer Leopold Hoffer (1842 in Hungary – 28 August 1913 in England) was an English chess player and journalist. He left Budapest for Switzerland. From 1867, he lived in Paris, where he won matches against, among others, Ignatz von Kolisch, Samuel R ...

. 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". Steel reportedly belonged to "an old Liverpool family". He arrived in Calcutta from England in 1871, and retired and returned to England in 1898. 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 The Viceroy's Executive Council was the cabinet of the government of British India headed by the Viceroy of India. It is also known as the Council of the Governor-General of India. It was transformed from an advisory council into a cabinet consistin ...

, president of the

Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry The Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry is a non-governmental trade association and advocacy group based in West Bengal, India. It is the oldest chamber of commerce in India, and one of the oldest in Asia. Established in 1853, finding its ...

, and president of the

Bengal Club The Bengal Club is a social and business club in Kolkata, India. Founded in 1827, the club is the oldest social club in India. When Kolkata was the capital of British India, the club was considered to be the "unofficial headquarters of the Raj ...

, where he presided over a dinner in honour of

Prince Albert Victor Prince Albert Victor, Duke of Clarence and Avondale (Albert Victor Christian Edward; 8 January 1864 – 14 January 1892) was the eldest child of the Prince and Princess of Wales (later King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra) and grandson of the re ...

during his visit to Calcutta. He was also awarded the 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". Sir Henry Cotton described Steel as a businessman of "exceptional ability".

References

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