Background
Ware was born in Wrentham, Massachusetts, and died in Boston, Massachusetts.
Ware was born in Wrentham, Massachusetts, and died in Boston, Massachusetts.
He is best known today for playing unorthodox chess openings. The "Yellow Button" was a pin worn in the hats of Chinese imperial officials to indicate high rank in the civil service. The were a group of chess players in the late 19th century, including John Finan Barry, L. Dore, C. F. Burille, F. H. Harlow, Doctor Edward Mowry Harris, C. F. Howard, Major Otho Ernst Michaelis, General William Cushing Paine, Doctor H. Richardson, C. West. Snow, Henry Nathan Stone, Franklin Knowles Young, and Preston Ware.
The group was the foundation of what would become the modern Deschapelles Chess Club in Boston.
Ware was an avid tournament player and played in the Second International Chess Tournament, Vienna 1882, the finest chess tournament of its time. Ware also competed in the first, second, fourth and fifth American Chess Congresses.
Ware"s other claim to fame was his eccentric opening play. He used the Ware Opening (then known as the Meadow Hay Opening), the Corn Stalk Defence (sometimes known as the Ware Defence), and the Stonewall Attack.
Around 1888 he reintroduced the Stone-Ware Defence to the Evans Gambit, named also for Henry Nathan Stone (1823–1909).
(lieutenant had originally been played by McDonnell against Louisiana Bourdonais in 1843).
Ware was an influential member of the "Mandarins of the Yellow Button" in Boston.