 The tournament was named after the unofficial world champion, during the 1840s and 50s, Howard Staunton, who had played at Simpson's.This sparked a series of such contests that continued annually until 2009.By 2006, the fourth Staunton Memorial was declared the strongest London all-play-all tournament since 1986, with high calibre grandmasters such as Michael Adams, Ivan Sokolov and Jan Timman competing.