author
Franklin K. (Franklin Knowles) Young
1857–1931
A colorful American chess writer and inventor, he is remembered for ambitious books that linked chess strategy with military thinking. His work has kept a curious reputation among chess readers for being original, elaborate, and sometimes hard to pin down.
1 Audiobook
Chess Generalship, Vol. I. Grand Reconnaissance
by Franklin K. (Franklin Knowles) Young
About the author
Born in 1857, Franklin Knowles Young was an American chess enthusiast, writer, and inventor associated with Boston, Massachusetts. Archival records at the University of Notre Dame describe him as someone who played, taught, and wrote about chess throughout his life, and report that he was said to have been New England chess champion in the 1880s.
Young wrote several books on chess, including The Minor Tactics of Chess and the two-volume Chess Generalship. His writing often treated chess in the language of military planning and strategy, which gave his books a distinctive voice among chess manuals of the period.
He died in 1931. Reliable sources found for this overview confirm his importance as a chess author, but they offer only limited biographical detail, so much of his personal life remains unclear here.