A player is said to have the opposition when he can place his King directly in front of the adverse King, with only one square between them. This is often an important advantage in ending games.

Modern commentators consider Staunton's understanding of positional play to have been far ahead of his contemporaries'. In 1858 attempts were made to organise a match between Staunton and Morphy but they failed. Staunton has been a controversial figure since his own time and his chess writings could be spiteful.