George H. D. Gossip

George H. D. Gossip
George H.D. Gossip
Full name	George Hatfeild Dingley Gossip
Country	United States England
Title	Master

George Hatfeild Dingley Gossip (December 6, 1841, New York – May 11, 1907, Liphook, England) was a minor American-English chess master and writer. He competed in British and international chess tournaments between 1870 and 1895, playing against the world's leading players, including Lasker, Steinitz, Zukertort, Chigorin, Tarrasch, Gunsberg, Burn, Blackburne, Mason, Pillsbury, and Bird. However, he had only modest success. G.H. Diggle calls him "the King of Wooden Spoonists" because he usually finished last in the strongest tournaments.

Gossip was also a chess writer of some note. His treatise The Chess-Player's Manual—A Complete Guide to Chess, a 900-page tome published in 1874 after several years of work, was harshly received by the critics, largely because he had included a number of skittles games that he had (atypically) won against stronger players. As a result, Gossip developed a lifelong enmity toward chess critics, whom he often attacked ferociously in his books. However, his 1879 book Theory of the Chess Openings was well received. Wilhelm Steinitz, the first World Chess Champion, wrote that the 1888 edition of The Chess-Player's Manual was one of the best available books on the game. Thanks in part to a 122-page appendix by Samuel Lipschütz, it became one of the standard opening works of the time.

Gossip made his living primarily as a journalist, author, and translator. He wrote for publications in England, France, Australia, and the United States. At various times he resided in all of those countries, as well as Germany and Canada.

Chess writers have often mocked Gossip's play, calling him a "grandpatzer" and the like. However, a modern assessment system, Chessmetrics, concludes that Gossip at his peak was close to grandmaster strength. One of his former critics, Kenneth Whyld, suggests that chess history may have given Gossip an unfair verdict.

Early life and education

Gossip was born in New York City on December 6, 1841 to George Hatfeild Gossip, an Englishman, and his wife Mary Ellen Dingley Gossip, of New York. When he was only sixteen months old, his mother died; about two years later his father brought him to England. His aunt, Mrs. Reaston Rodes, raised him, apparently with little involvement by his father. Gossip grew up at Barlborough Hall, Derbyshire (the Rodes family seat) and at Hatfield, in Yorkshire. Both the Gossip and Rodes families are listed in Burke's Landed Gentry. He was educated at Windermere College, Westmorland. He won a scholarship to Oxford University, but was unable to attend because his father, uncle, and aunts lost a lawsuit, which ruined them financially. As a result, Gossip had to support himself through his own labors.

Non-chess career, family, and world travels

Gossip made his living primarily as a writer and translator, writing for newspapers and magazines on three continents. His profession is described in the 1871, 1881, and 1891 United Kingdom censuses as, respectively, "translator of languages", "author of work on chess", and "literary profession". He lived for over five years in Paris, contributing to some French newspapers. From 1879 to 1880 he was employed occasionally as a translator and otherwise in The Times of London's office in Paris. He also lived in Germany.

What little is known of Gossip's family as an adult comes from the aforementioned U.K. census records. They reflect that as of 1871, he had married Alicia, a woman from Dublin a year older than himself, and they were living in London with their 11-month-old son George, a servant, and a nursemaid. By 1881, Gossip and his wife had moved to Ipswich, where they lived with their children Helen (born in London c. 1872), Harold (born in East Borgholt, near Colchester, c. 1874), and Mabel (born in East Borgholt c. 1879). By 1891 Alicia had died, leaving Gossip a widower, and he was living without any family members as a tenant in a London lodging house.

In 1884, Gossip emigrated from England to Melbourne, Australia. While living in Australia from 1884 to 1888, he contributed articles to the Sydney Star, Sydney Globe, Sydney Evening News, Town and Country Journal, The Advertiser (Adelaide), and other publications. He contributed literary articles to Once a Month magazine (Melbourne) and the Sydney Quarterly Magazine.

Gossip moved to the United States in 1888. He traveled on the steamship Alameda from Sydney to San Francisco where, he wrote, "I first set foot on my native soil after an absence of over forty years". He wrote articles for the San Francisco Examiner on the "Chinese Question in Australia" and the San Francisco Chronicle on "Protection and Free Trade in New South Wales".

In 1889, Gossip returned to Europe. In 1894, he moved to Montreal, Canada. While living there, he contributed articles to a newspaper in Manchester, England. In June 1895, the British Chess Magazine (BCM) reported that Gossip had left Montreal and was "sojourning in Buffalo". Two years later, the American Chess Magazine described him as a "Buffalo player".

Under the pseudonym "Ivan Trepoff", Gossip wrote a book, "The Jew of Chamant", which Hausauer (Buffalo, New York) published in 1898, and F.T. Neely (London and New York) published in 1899. The two versions are subtitled, respectively, "or, the modern Monte Cristo" and "a romance of crime". The chess literature is silent about the last decade of Gossip's life. He died of heart disease on May 11, 1907 at the Railway Hotel in Liphook, England.

George Hatfield Dingley Gossip, born in Sydney in 1897 and apparently Gossip's grandson, was a World War I flying ace for Australia.

Chess career

By 1864, Gossip was appearing in London chess circles, drawing a game against Joseph Henry Blackburne at a simultaneous exhibition in April. He played in a number of British and international chess tournaments between 1870 and 1895, usually with unimpressive results. At London 1870, the Third British Chess Association Challenge Cup (won by John Wisker after a playoff against Amos Burn), Gossip scored 2 of 6 possible points, finishing 5th–6th out of 7 players. At London 1872 (won by Steinitz ahead of Johannes Zukertort and Blackburne), he scored just 1 of 7 possible points, finishing 7th out of 8 players.

He won the 1873-74 correspondence chess tournament of the Chess-Players Chronicle. In an 1879 correspondence chess match between England and the United States, Gossip lost all four of his games against Mrs. J.W. Gilbert of Hartford, Connecticut. Mrs. Gilbert famously announced mate in 21 moves in one game, and mate in 35 moves in another.

Gossip's first significant competitive success was at the 1883 London Vizayanagaram minor tournament. He scored 17.5 of 25 possible points, tying for 5th place out of 26 players with Charles Ranken, who later gained fame as co-author of the opening treatise Chess Openings Ancient and Modern (1889). Curt von Bardeleben won with 21.5 points; Isidor Gunsberg, who would narrowly lose an 1890–1891 World Championship match to Steinitz, finished 4th with 19 points.

In 1885 Gossip, a year after emigrating to Australia, issued a challenge to any player in the Australian colonies to play a match with him for 20 pounds a side and the title of Australian champion. Frederick Karl Esling, a leading Melbourne player, accepted the challenge. Esling won the first game, and the second was adjourned in a position favorable to him. Gossip then forfeited the match, pleading illness, making Esling the first champion of Australia. Kenneth Whyld writes that the Australians probably considered Gossip a "whingeing Pom". The Second Australian Chess Championship, a tournament, was held at Adelaide 1887. Gossip finished third with 6.5 of 9 possible points, behind Henry Charlick (7.5 points) and Esling (7 points).

After returning to America in 1888, Gossip obtained an appointment at the Columbia Chess Club. The following year, he had what G.H. Diggle calls "perhaps the best performance of his career" at the Sixth American Chess Congress at New York 1889. That tournament, a double round robin that was one of the longest tournaments in history, was intended to select a challenger for the world championship title. Gossip scored 13.5 of 38 possible points (11 wins, 5 draws, 22 losses), finishing 17th–18th out of 20 players. He scored wins over Samuel Lipschütz, Max Judd, Eugene Delmar, Jackson Showalter, William Pollock (twice), Henry Bird (twice), David Graham Baird, James Moore Hanham, and John Washington Baird. Mikhail Chigorin and Max Weiss tied for first with 29 points, edging out Gunsberg (28.5 points).

Gossip concluded his tournament career by finishing last in a series of strong tournaments: the Master Section at London 1889 (scoring 1.5 of 10 possible points; Bird won on tiebreak over Gunsberg); the Meisterturnier (Master Tournament) at Breslau 1889 (scoring 3 of 10 possible points; Siegbert Tarrasch won); the Master Section of Manchester 1890 (scoring 4 of 19 possible points; Tarrasch won); the Master Tournament at London 1892 (scoring 2.5 of 11 possible points; future World Champion Emanuel Lasker won); and New York 1893 (scoring 2.5 of 13 possible points; Lasker won with a perfect score; Harry Nelson Pillsbury, not yet aged 21, scored 7 points). Gossip's run of last-place finishes moved Diggle to dub him "the King of Wooden Spoonists".

A report in the BCM in 1889 observed that Gossip suffered from great nervousness that prevented him from fully displaying his abilities at chess tournaments, where he had to stop his ears "to keep out the low hum inseparable from a large concourse of people". The commentator wrote that Gossip "would make a good stand in a single encounter with men who are much higher in the tournament than he is".

Following his move to Montreal, Gossip in a letter to a friend dated October 20, 1894 complained, "The French Canadian Chessplayers here are the poorest, meanest humbugs I ever met – all Jesuits." The next month, a Montreal amateur sponsored a match between Gossip and Pollock, which ended in a tie, each player winning six games with five draws. This was an impressive result for Gossip "in view of Pollock's undoubted strength". The following year, Pollock finished 19th out of 22 players, scoring 8 of 21 possible points (including wins over Tarrasch and Steinitz), at Hastings 1895, arguably at that time the strongest tournament in history. Diggle writes that Gossip's drawn match with Pollock vindicates the observation of the 1889 BCM commentator that Gossip was more at home in a match than a tournament.

Chess books and articles

The Chess-Player's Manual by George H.D. Gossip and Samuel Lipschütz (1902 edition)

In 1874, after several years' work, Gossip published his magnum opus, The Chess-Player's Manual—A Complete Guide to Chess. It was "a handsomely produced work with more than 800 of its 900 pages devoted to openings and illustrative games". The book became the subject of biting criticism, largely because Gossip had included 27 illustrative games that he had won against leading players of the day, and only 12 games that he had lost. Steinitz later wrote:

Mr Gossip had practiced the unfair ruse of carefully preserving stray skittles games which he had happened to win or draw, generally after many defeats, against masters whose public records stood far above his own, ... thus leading the public to believe that the author stood on a par with them, or was even their superior.

According to Diggle, this edition of the book "failed utterly". The harsh reception accorded it embittered Gossip against all chess critics for the rest of his life.

In 1879, Gossip published Theory of the Chess Openings, a shorter work more in the style of Modern Chess Openings, which sold out within six months. The preface and the concluding chapter of the book bitterly attacked the critics who had savaged his earlier treatise. This time the critics, "while deploring 'the outside slices of Mr. Gossip's sandwich' ", praised the main body of the work. William Wayte in the Chess Players Chronicle called the book "fairly in possession of the field among English elementary treatises". Unfortunately, Gossip "was the victim of an act of gross piracy, as many copies forming no part of the edition printed by his orders were circulated in America and the 'pirates' never brought to justice."

Gossip's Vest-Pocket Chess Manual

A new edition of The Chess-Player's Manual was published in 1888, this one with a 122-page appendix written by Lipschütz. Steinitz wrote that "Mr Gossip has produced a useful work, which in some respects must be regarded even superior to that of Staunton or any other previous writers on the chess openings. ... But the most meritorious distinguishing feature of the Manual is the large collection of illustrative games by various first-class masters, and in that respect Mr Gossip’s work stands second only to Signor Salvioli's Teoria e Pratica among the analytical works in any language." An anonymous reviewer in the New York Times called it "probably the most convenient, trustworthy, and satisfactory chess book accessible in the English language". The reviewer concluded that the games and problems in the volume would "afford great entertainment" to the casual enthusiast, "while for real students of chess ... it is very nearly indispensable." He also praised "Mr. Lipschütz's appendix, which brings the development of the openings almost down to date". Hooper and Whyld write in The Oxford Companion to Chess that Lipschütz's appendix "helped to make this one of the standard opening books of the time". World Champion Bobby Fischer had a copy of The Chess-Player's Manual in his personal library.

The June 1888 issue of Steinitz's International Chess Magazine contained an article by Gossip that Robert John McCrary calls "a very illuminating, important, and detailed account of the state of San Francisco chess." For the last few months of 1888 Gossip was listed as being on the "Editorial Staff" of the Columbia Chess Chronicle. Its December 29, 1888 issue contained a lengthy article by him entitled "Chess in the Present Day", which offered a broad sweep of chess history and the advances made by chess in the United States. Gossip called Paul Morphy and Steinitz "the two greatest chessplayers that have ever lived" and remarked that "no Englishman has yet attained, or probably ever will attain, to the eminence of chess champion of the world. ... The deep-thinking German, the brilliant Frenchman and the versatile American have always been too much for sober, stolid John Bull."

Gossip in 1891 published a second revised edition of his Theory of the Chess Openings, which Diggle calls "a handsome volume with an appendix of sixty-one pages". Characteristically, he devoted much of the appendix to criticizing his detractors and anticipating their further attacks.

Gossip also wrote a number of less well-known chess books, including The Chess Players' Text Book (1889), The Chess-player's Vade Mecum And Pocket Guide To The Openings (1891), Modern Chess Brilliancies (1892), The Chess Player's Pocket Guide To Games At Odds (1893), The Chess Pocket Manual (1894), The Chess Player's Mentor (with F.J. Lee, 1895), The Complete Chess-Guide (with F.J. Lee, 1903), and Gossip's Vest-Pocket Chess Manual (date unknown; pictured at left).

Manner and reputation

Gossip at New York 1893

A writer in the New York Times, describing the players in the Sixth American Chess Congress (1889), portrayed Gossip as follows:

Gossip, with his long, flowing beard, looks like one of the old-time monks. He has a good-shaped cranium, bald at the top, and is a little above the medium height. ... He believes himself to be one of the greatest chessplayers in the world, and thinks that if everything had gone on to his liking he could have beaten all the champions at the tournament. He is a deliberate player, but every now and then he takes a nip from a flask of brandy that generally stands on his table. He complained that his chair was too low, and he once attributed a defeat to that. Finally, he got a large ledger and sat upon it. He did, in fact, seem to derive some inspiration from its contents, for he played two or three excellent games afterward.

Diggle observes that Gossip "developed 'a happy knack of treading on other people's corns' by rushing into print" his occasional wins in offhand games against such leading players as Bird and Zukertort. He also vehemently denounced his critics and those with whom he disagreed. For example, in 1888, the Columbia Chess Chronicle quoted a lecture that he had given two days before on the Steinitz Gambit. After condemning as "utterly worthless" the analysis of that opening published in two English periodicals, Gossip declaimed:

In order, therefore, to establish an important point of theory, and at the same time to prevent American chessplayers from being misled and deceived by the superficial analysis of incompetent British chess editors, whose object in condemning the Steinitz Gambit has obviously been mainly to depreciate the originality of its illustrious inventor, whom they invariably try to drag down to their own miserable level of shallow incompetency and self-conceit, I submit the following variations which at any rate possess the undeniable merit of exposing the hollow analytical twaddle continually published in the two London journals above named.

Hooper and Whyld note Gossip's "unusual talent for making enemies" and attribute the critical reception of his books to this, since in their opinion "his books were not significantly worse than the general run of the time, and they were better than, for example, those by Bird, who was popular." They remark on his travels that, "Disliked in England, he travelled to Australia, the United States, and Canada, where he also became unpopular."

Chess historian Edward Winter observes that "Gossip has always been a soft target for mockery". He notes that Hooper and Whyld in the first edition (1984) of the Oxford Companion to Chess "treated him essentially as light relief"; the second edition (1992) treated him more equitably, but like the first omitted any mention of his performance at New York 1889. Yakov Damsky in The Batsford Book of Chess Records (2005), addressing the question of which player "achieved the greatest negative distinction" on the international level, opines that Gossip "can probably feel safe from competition". Mike Fox and Richard James in their book The Even More Complete Chess Addict (1993) write that, "Of players who’ve entered chess history, perhaps the strongest claimant for the all-time grandpatzer title is George Hatfeild Dingley Gossip (1841-1907). George had a worse record in major tournaments than anyone in history (last at Breslau 1889, London 1889, Manchester 1890, London 1892, and New York 1893: a total of just 4 wins, 52 losses and 21 draws)." Like Hooper and Whyld, they omit mention of his result at New York 1889, a major tournament where he won 11 games and finished above the bottom. In a 2001 article, Whyld himself takes notice of Gossip's result at New York 1889 and suggests that "history has perhaps given him an unfair verdict".

Today FIDE, the World Chess Federation, often awards the Grandmaster title to players with Elo ratings of 2500 and above, and the lesser International Master and FIDE Master titles to players rated at least 2400 and 2300, respectively. By Arpad Elo's calculation, Gossip's strength during his five-year peak was equivalent to an Elo rating of 2310. Another assessment system, Chessmetrics, calculates that Gossip's highest rating was 2470 (number 50 in the world) in April 1889. By comparison, the world's three highest-rated players at that time had Chessmetrics ratings over 2700. Chessmetrics also ranks Gossip number 17 in the world during four one-month periods between February and July, 1873, when opportunities for high-level competition were much rarer. Like Diggle, Chessmetrics considers New York 1889 Gossip's best individual performance, concluding that he scored 39% against opponents with an average rating of 2595, giving him a performance rating of 2539 for that tournament.

Diggle writes that despite his faults, Gossip was "a man of dauntless courage and infinite capacity for hard work", which enabled him to become a recognized author despite the disastrous reception that the first edition of his Chess-Player's Manual received. His literary style was vigorous, and shows him to be an educated and well-read man.

Notable games

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Showalter–Gossip, final position

The following game was played between future five-time U.S. Champion Jackson Showalter (White) and Gossip (Black) at the Sixth American Chess Congress, New York 1889.
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 exd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nxc6 bxc6 6.Bd3 d5 7.e5? 7.exd5 is correct. 7...Ng4 8.O-O Bc5 9.Bf4 9.h3 Nxe5 10.Re1 fails to 10...Qf6 11.Qe2 0-0! 12.Qxe5 Qxf2+ 13.Kh1 Bxh3! 9...g5! 10.Bd2 White is already in serious trouble. 10.Bg3 is met by 10...h5! 11.h3 h4! 12.Bh2 Nxh2 13.Kxh2 g4! 14.hxg4 Qg5 15.Be2 Qf4+ 16.Kh1 (or 16.Kg1 h3!) 16...Bxf2 and wins. 10...Nxe5 11.Re1 Qe7 12.Nc3 Bd7 13.Qh5 O-O-O! Since 13...h6 would still be answered by 14.Bxg5, Gossip sacrifices the pawn, anticipating a killing attack along the g-file. 14.Bxg5 f6 15.Bh4 Qg7 16.Ba6+ Kb8 17.Bg3 Rhg8 18.Qd1 Ng4 More accurate was 18...Bg4 followed by ...h5, initiating the same attack that Black begins on his 20th move. 19.Bf1 Ne5 20.b4 Bg4 21.Qb1? 21.Be2 was better than this attempt at counterattack. 21...Bd4 22.Qb3 h5! 23.Rab1 h4! Steinitz writes, "The initiation of a masterly combination eight moves deep." 24.Bxh4? 24.Bxe5 holds out longer. Now, writes Andrew Soltis, "Black crowned his play with one of the most beautiful combinations ever played". 24...Nf3+! 25.gxf3 25.Kh1 Nxh4 leaves Black a piece ahead with a won game. 25...Bxf3+ 26.Bg3 Qxg3+! 27.hxg3 Rxg3+ 28.Kh2 If 28.Bg2, Rxg2+ 29.Kf1 Rh2 and mates. 28...Bxf2 29.Bh3 Rxh3+! 0–1 30.Kxh3 is met by ...Rh8 mate.

Fred Reinfeld calls the game "a glorious masterpiece". Steinitz proclaims, "One of the finest specimens of sacrificing play on record. Mr. Gossip deserves the highest praise for the ingenuity and depth of combination which he displayed in this game." Soltis writes that "there were many raised eyebrows" when the tournament committee awarded the prize for the best-played game not to Gossip for this game, but to Gunsberg for his win over Mason. After comparing the two games, Whyld writes, "The verdict seems clear. Gossip was robbed!" Diggle states, "Gossip was, of course, the last man to keep quiet about this decision, and for once he had considerable public sympathy on his side."

a b c d e f g h 8 8 7 7 6 6 5 5 4 4 3 3 2 2 1 1 a b c d e f g h

a b c d e f g h 8 8 7 7 6 6 5 5 4 4 3 3 2 2 1 1 a b c d e f g h Chigorin–Gossip, final position

When facing world-class opponents, Gossip more often fell victim to their combinations. A famous example is his loss, also at New York 1889, to Mikhail Chigorin (White), who lost world championship matches to Steinitz in 1889 and 1892.
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.c3 d5 3...Nf6 is the safest response if Black is not well versed in the ensuing complications—as Gossip proves not to be. 4.Qa4 f6 5.Bb5 Ne7 6.exd5 Qxd5 7.O-O 7.d4! is the main line today. 7...Bd7? 7...e4! 8.Ne1 Bf5 9.f3 leads to equality. 8.d4 e4 9.Nfd2 Ng6? 9...f5! was correct. 10.Bc4 Qa5 11.Qb3 f5? 11...0-0-0! was the best chance. 12.Bf7+ Ke7? Yet another mistake; 12...Kd8 is forced. Damsky asks, "Just how many wrong moves is it possible to play?" 13.Nc4! Setting up a problem-like finish with a fatal double check two moves later. 13...Qa6 14.Bg5+! Kxf7 15.Nd6# 1–0

References

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• Chernev, Irving and Reinfeld, Fred (1976). The Fireside Book of Chess. Simon and Schuster. ISBN 0-671-21221-4.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
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• de Firmian, Nick (2008). Modern Chess Openings (15th edition). McKay Chess Library. ISBN 978-0-8129-3682-7.
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• Elo, Arpad E. (1978). The Rating of Chessplayers, Past and Present. Arco Publishing. ISBN 0-668-04721-6.
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• Gossip, G. H. D. and Lipschütz, S. (3rd ed. 1902). The Chess-Player's Manual. David McKay. {{cite book}}: Check date values in: |year= (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: year (link)
• Hooper, David and Whyld, Kenneth (1st ed. 1984). The Oxford Companion to Chess. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-217540-8. {{cite book}}: Check date values in: |year= (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: year (link)
• Hooper, David and Whyld, Kenneth (2nd ed. 1992). The Oxford Companion to Chess. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-866164-9. {{cite book}}: Check date values in: |year= (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: year (link)
• Kasparov, Garry (2003). My Great Predecessors, Part I. Everyman Publishers. ISBN 1-85744-330-6.
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• Korn, Walter (1978). America's Chess Heritage. David McKay. ISBN 0-679-13200-7.
• McCrary, Robert John. The Hall-of-Fame History of U.S. Chess, Number 1. U.S. Chess Trust.
• McCrary, Robert John. "Chess in the Old West". excaliburelectronics.com. Retrieved 2008-12-07.
• Mechanics' Institute Chess Club (2007). "Mechanics' Institute Chess Room Newsletter #354". Mechanics' Institute Chess Club. Retrieved 2008-12-13.
• Minchin, J.I., ed. (1883). The Games Played in the London International Chess Tournament 1883. British Chess Magazine (1973 reprint). {{cite book}}: |author= has generic name (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
• "A New Chess Book". New York Times. May 13, 1888. Retrieved 2008-12-07.
• "New General Catalog of Old Books and Authors". authorandbookinfo.com. November 2008. Retrieved 2008-12-07.
• Reinfeld, Fred (1950). A Treasury of British Chess Masterpieces. Bell Publishing Co.
• Soltis, Andy (1978). Chess to Enjoy. Stein and Day. ISBN 0-8128-6059-4.
• Soltis, Andy (1975). The Great Chess Tournaments and Their Stories. Chilton Book Company. ISBN 0-8019-6138-6.
• Sonas, Jeff. "Chessmetrics Player Profile: George Gossip". chessmetrics.com. Retrieved 2008-12-07.
• Steinitz, Wilhelm (1891). "The Book of the Sixth American Chess Congress". Google Books. Retrieved 2008-12-07.
• Steinitz, Wilhelm (1889). The Modern Chess Instructor. Edition Olms Zürich (1990 reprint). ISBN 3-283-00111-1.
• Sukhin, Igor (2007). Chess Gems: 1,000 Combinations You Should Know. Mongoose Press. ISBN 9780979148255.
• Wellmuth, Francis J. (1943). The Golden Treasury of Chess. Chess Review.
• Whyld, Ken (May 2001). "Old Gossip". British Chess Magazine. pp. 262–65.
• Winter, Edward (2004). "Gossip". chesshistory.com. Retrieved 2008-12-07.
• Winter, Edward (August 6, 2007). "Chess Note 5100. Hatfeild or Hatfield?". chesshistory.com. Retrieved 2008-12-07.
• Winter, Edward (August 10, 2008). "Chess Note 5710, Pen Portraits". chesshistory.com. Retrieved 2008-12-07.
• Winter, Edward (November 15, 2008). "Chess Note 5842, The Jew of Chamant". chesshistory.com. Retrieved 2008-12-07.

External link

• George Hatfeild Gossip player profile and games at Chessgames.com