Wilhelm Steinitz

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Wilhelm Steinitz

Personal information

Born

May 14, 1836

Died

August 12, 1900

(aged 64)

New York City, United States

Chess career

Country

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1886–1894

William Steinitz

(born

Wilhelm Steinitz

; May 14, 1836 – August 12,

1900) was a Bohemian-Austrian, and later American,

player. From

1886 to 1894, he was the first

. He was also a

highly influential writer and

When discussing chess history from the 1850s onwards, commentators have

debated whether Steinitz could be effectively considered the champion

from an earlier time, perhaps as early as 1866. Steinitz lost his title

in 1894, and lost a rematch in 1896–97.

Statistical rating systems give Steinitz a rather low ranking among

world champions, mainly because he took several long breaks from

competitive play. However, an analysis based on one of these rating

systems shows that he was one of the most dominant players in the

history of the game. Steinitz was unbeaten in match play for 32 years,

from 1862 to 1894.

Although Steinitz became "world number one" by winning in the all-out attacking style that was common in the 1860s, he

unveiled in 1873 a new

style of play, and demonstrated that it was superior to the previous style. His new

style was controversial and some even branded it as "cowardly", but many of Steinitz's games showed that it could also

set up attacks as ferocious as those of the old school.

Steinitz was also a prolific writer on chess, and defended his new ideas vigorously. The debate was so bitter and

sometimes abusive that it became known as the "Ink War". By the early 1890s, Steinitz's approach was widely accepted,

and the next generation of top players acknowledged their debt to him, most notably his successor as world champion,

Traditional accounts of Steinitz's character depict him as ill-tempered and aggressive, but more recent research shows

that he had long and friendly relationships with some players and chess organizations. Most notably from 1888 to 1889

he co-operated with the

in a project to define rules governing the conduct of future world

championships. Steinitz was unskilled at managing money and lived in poverty all his life.

Early life

[

]

Steinitz was born on May 14, 1836, in the Jewish

(now capital of the

; then in

a part of the

). The youngest of

tailor Josef-Salomon Steinitz's thirteen sons by his first wife, he

learned to play chess at age 12.

After studying Talmud in his youth,

he began playing serious chess in his

twenties, after leaving Prague in 1857 to study

at the

Steinitz spent two years

at the university.

Chess career (through 1881)

[

]

Steinitz improved rapidly in chess during the late 1850s, progressing from third place in the 1859 Vienna City

championship to first in 1861, with a score of 30/31.

During this period he was nicknamed "the Austrian

This achievement meant that he had become the strongest player in Austria.

International debut

[

]

Steinitz in 1866

Steinitz was then sent to represent Austria in the

. He

placed sixth, but his win over

was awarded the tournament's

brilliancy prize.

He immediately challenged the fifth-placed contestant, the

strong veteran Italian Master

, to a match, which Steinitz won (five

wins, one

, three losses).

This encouraged him to turn professional, and he took up residence in London.

1862–63 Steinitz scored a crushing win in a match with

, who went on to be one of the world's

top ten for 20 years, but who had only started playing chess two years earlier.

Steinitz then beat some leading UK

players in matches:

and the aforementioned Mongredien in 1863 followed by Valentine Green in

1864.

This charge up the rankings had a price: in March 1863 Steinitz apologized in a letter to

for

not repaying a loan, because while Steinitz had been beating Blackburne,

had "taken over" all of

Steinitz's clients at the London Chess Club, who had provided Steinitz's main source of income.

Match against Anderssen

[

]

was recognized as

the world's top

player until 1866,

when Steinitz won a

match against him.

These successes established Steinitz as one of the world's top players, and he was able to

arrange a match in 1866 in London against

, who was regarded as the world's

strongest active player because he had won the 1851 and 1862 London International Tournaments

and his one superior,

, had retired from competitive chess.

Steinitz won with eight

wins and six losses (there were no draws), but it was a hard fight; after 12 games the scores

were level at 6–6, then Steinitz won the last two games.

As a result of this match victory, Steinitz was generally regarded as the world's best

player.

The prize money for this match was £100 to the winner (Steinitz) and £20 for the loser (Anderssen). The

winner's prize was a large sum by the standards of the times, equivalent to about £57,500 in 2007's money.

Continued match play success

[

]

In the years following his victory over Anderssen, Steinitz beat

in 1866 (seven wins, five losses, five

draws). He also comfortably beat

in 1872 (seven wins, four draws, one loss; Zukertort had proved

himself one of the elite by beating Anderssen by a large margin in 1871).

Gradually improves tournament results

[

]

It took longer for Steinitz to reach the top in tournament play. In the next few years he took: third place at Paris

1867 behind

and

; and second place at

(1867;

won),

and

; behind Anderssen but ahead of Blackburne,

and other strong players.

His first

victory in a strong tournament was London 1872, ahead of Blackburne and Zukertort;

and the first tournament in

which Steinitz finished ahead of Anderssen was the

, when Anderssen was 55 years

old.

[

]

Changes style, introduces positional school

[

]

All of Steinitz's successes up to 1872 were achieved in the attack-at-all-costs "

" style exemplified by

Anderssen. But in the

, Steinitz unveiled a new "positional" style of play which was to

become the basis of modern chess.

He tied for first place with Blackburne, ahead of Anderssen,

Paulsen and

, and won the play-off against Blackburne. Steinitz made a shaky start, but won his last 14

games in the main tournament (including 2–0 results over Paulsen, Anderssen, and Blackburne

) plus the two play-off

games – this was the start of a 25-game winning streak in serious competition.

Hiatus from competitive chess

[

]

Between 1873 and 1882 Steinitz played no tournaments and only one match (a 7–0 win against Blackburne in 1876). His

other games during this period were in

and

exhibitions,

[

]

which contributed an

important part of a professional chess-player's income in those days (for example in 1887 Blackburne was paid 9

for two simultaneous exhibitions and a blindfold exhibition hosted by the Teesside Chess Association;

this

was equivalent to about £4,800 at 2007 values

Chess journalist

[

]

Instead, Steinitz concentrated on his work as a chess journalist, notably for

, which was Britain's leading

sports magazine.

Some of Steinitz's commentaries aroused heated debates, notably from Zukertort and

The Chess Monthly

(which they founded in 1879).

This "Ink War" escalated sharply in 1881, when Steinitz

mercilessly criticized Hoffer's annotations of games in the

(won by Blackburne ahead of

Zukertort). Steinitz was eager to settle the analytical debates by a second match against Zukertort, whose

unwillingness to play provoked scornful comments from Steinitz. In mid-1882

, a consistently strong

player,

challenged Steinitz to a match, and accused Steinitz of cowardice when Steinitz insisted the issue with

Zukertort should be settled first. Steinitz responded by inviting Mason to name a sufficiently high stake for a match,

at least £150 per player (equivalent to £15,601 in 2025), but Mason was unwilling to stake more than £100. Mason later

agreed to play a match with Zukertort for a stake of £100 per player, but soon "postponed" that match, writing that

"circumstances having arisen that make it highly inconvenient for me to proceed ..."

Rivalry with Zukertort

[

]

Steinitz's rival and

bitter enemy

lost matches to

him in 1872 and 1886. The

second match made Steinitz

the undisputed

Steinitz's long lay-off caused some commentators to suggest that Zukertort, who had

scored some notable tournament victories, should be regarded as the world chess

champion.

As an example, The

Chess Player's Chronicle

in July 1883 opined that

'Steinitz was, at one time, fairly entitled to the position of champion...He has just

taken an inferior place to Zukertort, in a tournament, and for the time being Zukertort,

in the opinion of some, becomes champion'.

Zukertort, the son of Jewish converts to

who missionized among Polish Jews,

told Steinitz: "You are not a

chessplayer, but a Jew".

Comeback success

[

]

Steinitz returned to serious competitive chess in the

, which has been described as the

strongest chess tournament of all time at that point. Despite a shaky start he took equal first place with

, ahead of

, Zukertort,

, Blackburne,

, Paulsen and

, and drew the play-off match.

Visits the United States

[

]

Steinitz visited the United States, mainly the

area, from December 1882 to May 1883. He was given an

enthusiastic reception. Steinitz played several exhibitions, many casual games, and a match for stakes of £50 with a

wealthy amateur. He also won three more serious matches with two New World professionals, Alexander Sellman (Steinitz

won both) and the Cuban champion

. The match with Golmayo was abandoned when Steinitz was leading

(eight wins, one draw, one loss). His hosts even arranged a visit to

, where Paul Morphy lived.

Return to London

[

]

Later in 1883, Steinitz took second place in the extremely strong

behind Zukertort, who

made a brilliant start, faded at the end but finished three points ahead.

Steinitz finished 2½ points ahead of the

third-placed competitor, Blackburne.

Zukertort's victory again led some commentators to suggest that Zukertort

should be regarded as the world chess champion, while others said the issue could only be resolved by a match between

Steinitz and Zukertort.

Settles in United States

[

]

In 1883, shortly after the London tournament, Steinitz decided to leave England and moved to New York City, where he

lived for the rest of his life.

This did not end the "Ink War": his enemies persuaded some of the American press to

publish anti-Steinitz articles,

and in 1885 Steinitz founded the

International Chess Magazine

, which he edited

until 1895. In his magazine he chronicled the lengthy negotiations for a match with Zukertort. He also managed to find

supporters in other sections of the American press including

Turf, Field and Farm

and the

both of which reported Steinitz's offer to forgo all fees, expenses or share in the stake and make the match "a

benefit performance, solely for Mr Zukertort's pecuniary profit".

World Championship match

[

]

Main article:

Eventually it was agreed that in 1886 Steinitz and Zukertort would play a

in New York,

and New Orleans,

and that the victor would be the player who first won 10 games. At Steinitz's insistence the contract said it would be

"for the Championship of the World".

After the five games played in New York, Zukertort led by 4–1, but in the

end Steinitz won decisively by 12½–7½ (ten wins, five draws, five losses), becoming the first official world

champion on March 29.

The collapse by Zukertort, who won only one of the last 15 games, has been described as

"perhaps the most thoroughgoing reversal of fortune in the history of world championship play."

Though not yet officially an American citizen, Steinitz wanted the United States flag to be placed next to him during

the match. He became a US citizen on November 23, 1888, having resided for five years in New York, and changed his

first name from Wilhelm to William.

[

]

In 1887 the

started work on drawing up regulations for the future conduct of world

championship contests. Steinitz actively supported this endeavor, as he thought he was becoming too old to remain

world champion – he wrote in his own magazine "I know I am not fit to be the champion, and I am not likely to bear

that title for ever".

Defeats Chigorin

[

]

Main article:

In 1888 the

Chess Club offered to sponsor a match between Steinitz and whomever he would select as a worthy

opponent. Steinitz nominated the Russian

[

]

on the condition that the invitation

should not be presented as a challenge from him. There is some doubt about whether this was intended to be a match for

the world championship: both Steinitz's letters and the publicity material just before the match conspicuously avoided

the phrase. The proposed match was to have a maximum of 20 games,

[

]

and Steinitz had said that fixed-

length matches were unsuitable for world championship contests because the first player to take the lead could then

play for draws; and Steinitz was at the same time supporting the American Chess Congress's world championship

project.

Whatever the status of the match, it was played in Havana in January to February 1889, and won by Steinitz

(ten wins, one draw, six losses).

[

]

New York 1889 tournament

[

]

The American Chess Congress's final proposal was that the winner of a tournament to be held in New York in 1889 should

be regarded as world champion for the time being, but must be prepared to face a challenge from the second or third

placed competitor within a month.

Steinitz wrote that he would not play in the tournament and would not challenge

the winner unless the second and third placed competitors failed to do so.

The tournament was duly played, but the

outcome was not quite as planned:

and

tied for first place; their play-off resulted in four

draws, and Weiss then wanted to get back to his work for the

, conceding the title to

Chigorin

[

]

. However, the third prize-winner

was prepared to play for the title.

Main article:

A Steinitz–Gunsberg match was played in New York in 1890 and ended in a 10½–8½ victory for Steinitz. The American

Chess Congress's experiment was not repeated, and Steinitz's last three matches were private arrangements between the

players.

[

]

Wins rematch against Chigorin

[

]

Main article:

In 1891 the

Chess Society and the Havana Chess Club offered to organize another Steinitz–Chigorin

match for the world championship. Steinitz played against Chigorin in Havana in 1892, and won narrowly (ten wins, five

draws, eight losses).

[

]

German Dr.

turned down an opportunity in 1892 to challenge Steinitz in a world championship match,

because of the demands of his medical practice.

[

]

Loses title to Lasker

[

]

Main article:

(right) playing

Steinitz for the

, New York 1894

Around this time Steinitz publicly spoke of retiring, but changed his mind when

, 32 years younger and comparatively untested at the top level,

challenged him. Lasker had been earlier that year refused a non-title challenge by

fellow German, Dr.

, who was at the time the world's most dominant

tournament player.

Initially, Lasker wanted to play for $5,000 a side, and a match was agreed at stakes of $3,000 a side, but Steinitz

agreed to a series of reductions when Lasker found it difficult to raise the money, and the final figure was $2,000

each, which was less than for some of Steinitz's earlier matches (the final combined stake of $4,000 would be worth

about $114,000 at 2016 values

). Although this was publicly praised as an act of sportsmanship on Steinitz's

part,

Steinitz may have desperately needed the money.

The match was played in 1894, at venues in New York, Philadelphia and

, Canada. The 32-year age difference

between the combatants was the largest in the history of world championship play, and remains so today.

Steinitz

had previously declared he would win without doubt, so it came as a shock when Lasker won the first game. Steinitz

responded by winning the second, and was able to maintain the balance until the sixth. However, Lasker won all the

games from the seventh to the 11th, and Steinitz asked for a one-week rest. When the match resumed, Steinitz looked in

better shape and won the 13th and 14th games. Lasker struck back in the 15th and 16th, and Steinitz was unable to

compensate for his losses in the middle of the match. Hence Lasker

with ten wins, five losses and four

draws.

Some commentators thought Steinitz's habit of playing "experimental" moves in serious competition was a

major factor in his downfall.

Increased tournament activity

[

]

After losing the title, Steinitz played in tournaments more frequently than he had previously. He won at New York City

1894, and was fifth at

(winning the first brilliancy prize for his game with

). At

, a super-strong four player, multi-round-robin event, with Lasker, Chigorin and

, he

took second place behind Lasker. Later his results began to decline: 6th in

1896, 5th in Cologne 1898, 10th

in London 1899.

[

]

In early 1896, Steinitz defeated the Russian

in a match (winning 6 games, drawing 1, losing 4).

Rematch with Lasker

[

]

In November 1896 to January 1897 Steinitz played a return match with Lasker in Moscow, but won only 2 games, drawing

5, and losing 10.

This was the last world chess championship match for eleven years. Shortly after the match,

Steinitz had a mental breakdown and was confined for 40 days in a Moscow sanatorium, where he played chess with the

inmates.

[

]

Controversy on the beginning of Steinitz's success

[

]

Steinitz beat him 7–0 in

1876, but

hailed

Blackburne as "World

Champion" for his win in

the 1881 Berlin

Tournament.

There is a long-running debate among chess writers about whether Steinitz's reign as

began in 1866, when he beat Anderssen, or in 1886, when he beat

Zukertort.

In April 1894 the

described Steinitz as holding

"the chess championship of the world for 28 years".

However, there is no evidence that

he claimed the title for himself in 1866, although in the 1880s he claimed to have been the

champion since his win over Anderssen.

It has been suggested that Steinitz could not

make such a claim while

was alive.

Morphy had defeated Anderssen by a far

wider margin, 8–3, in 1858, but retired from chess competition soon after he returned to

the US in 1859, and died in 1884. The 1886 Steinitz vs. Zukertort match was the first that

was explicitly described as being for the World Championship,

but

and

Paul Morphy had been unofficially described as "World Chess Champion" around the middle of the 19th century. In fact

one of the organizers of the

had said the contest was for "the baton of the

World's Chess Champion", and in mid-1840s

wrote a letter to

suggesting they should organize a world championship tournament in Germany.

Some commentators described Steinitz as

"the champion" in the years following his 1872 match victory against Zukertort. In the late 1870s and early 1880s some

regarded Steinitz as the champion and others supported Johannes Zukertort, and the 1886 match was not regarded as

creating the title of World Champion, but as resolving conflicting claims to the title.

On the other hand

hailed

as "World Champion" for his win in the 1881 Berlin Tournament,

as having "won the Chess Championship of the World" in 1887, and

as "among the champions of

the world" following his win at "Bradford Place" in 1888.

However, Steinitz regarded G.A. MacDonnell as "one of my

bitterest and most untruthful persecutors".

Personal life

[

]

Steinitz lived with Caroline Golder (born 1846) in the 1860s, and their only daughter Flora was born in 1866.

Flora died in 1888 at the age of 21,

and Caroline died in 1892.

He married his second wife a few years later,

and had two children by her. In 1897 he dedicated a pamphlet to the memory of his first wife and their daughter.

In February 1897,

prematurely reported his death in a New York mental asylum.

Some authors claim

that he contracted

which may have been a cause of the mental breakdowns he suffered in his last years. In

the months prior to his death, he spent some time in institutions as a result of his failing mental health.

Before

his confinement, Steinitz had been attempting to publish an essay calling for the emancipation of

, and

Steinitz himself attributed his symptoms entirely to mental fatigue.

His chess activities had not yielded any great

financial rewards, and he died a pauper in the

(

) on August 12, 1900, of a heart

attack.

Steinitz is buried in the

His second wife and their two

young children were still alive at the time of his death.

Assessment

[

]

Plaque in honor of Wilhelm

Steinitz, in

's Josefov

district

The book of the

, written collectively by the

players, described Steinitz as follows:

Mr. Steinitz stands high as a theoretician and as a writer; he has a

powerful pen, and when he chooses can use expressive English. He evidently

strives to be fair to friends and foes alike, but appears sometimes to fail

to see that after all he is much like many others in this respect.

Possessed of a fine intellect, and extremely fond of the game, he is apt to

lose sight of all other considerations, people and business alike. Chess is

his very life and soul, the one thing for which he lives.

Influence on the game

[

]

Steinitz's play up to and including 1872 was similar to that of his contemporaries: sharp, aggressive, and full of

play. This was the style in which he became "world number one" by beating

in 1866 and

confirmed his position by beating

in 1872 and winning the 1872 London International tournament (Zukertort

had claimed the rank of number two by beating Anderssen in 1871).

In 1873, however, Steinitz's play suddenly changed, giving priority to what is now called the positional elements in

chess:

, space, outposts for knights, the advantage of the two bishops, etc. Although Steinitz often

accepted unnecessarily difficult defensive positions in order to demonstrate the superiority of his theories, he also

showed that his methods could provide a platform for crushing attacks.

Steinitz's successor as world

champion,

, summed up the new style as: "In the beginning of the game ignore the search for

, abstain from violent moves, aim for small advantages, accumulate them, and only after having attained

these ends search for the combination – and then with all the power of will and intellect, because then the

combination must exist, however deeply hidden."

Although Steinitz's play changed abruptly, he said he had been thinking along such lines for some years:

Some of the games which I saw

play during the London Congress of 1862 gave a still stronger start to

the modification of my own opinions, which has since developed, and I began to recognize that Chess genius is

not confined to the more or less deep and brilliant finishing strokes after the original balance of power and

position has been overthrown, but that it also requires the exercise of still more extraordinary powers, though

perhaps of a different kind to maintain that balance or respectively to disturb it at the proper time in one's

own favor.

During his nine-year layoff from tournament play (1873–1882) and later in his career, Steinitz used his chess writings

to present his theories – while in the UK he wrote for

The Field

;

in 1885 after moving to New York he founded the

"International Chess Magazine", of which he was the chief editor;

and in 1889 he edited the book of the great

(won by

and

in which he did not compete as the tournament was

designed to produce his successor as World Champion.

Many other writers found his new approach incomprehensible,

boring or even cowardly; for example

said, "

is a highwayman and points the pistol at your

breast. Steinitz is a pick-pocket, he steals a pawn and wins a game with it."

But when he contested the first World Championship match in 1886 against

, it became evident that

Steinitz was playing on another level. Although Zukertort was at least Steinitz's equal in spectacular attacking play,

Steinitz often outmaneuvered him fairly simply by the use of positional principles.

By the time of his match in 1890–91 against Gunsberg, some commentators showed an understanding of and appreciation

for Steinitz's theories.

Shortly before the 1894 match with Emanuel Lasker, even the

New York Times

, which had

earlier published attacks on his play and character,

paid tribute to his playing record, the importance of his

theories, and his sportsmanship in agreeing to the most difficult match of his career despite his previous intention

of retiring.

By the end of his career, Steinitz was more highly esteemed as a theoretician than as a player. The comments about him

in the book of the Hastings 1895 chess tournament focus on his theories and writings,

and

was more

explicit: "He was a thinker worthy of a seat in the halls of a University. A player, as the world believed he was, he

was not; his studious temperament made that impossible; and thus he was conquered by a player ..."

As a result of his play and writings Steinitz, along with

, is considered by many chess commentators to be

the founder of modern chess.

Lasker, who took the championship from Steinitz, wrote, "I who vanquished him must see

to it that his great achievement, his theories should find justice, and I must avenge the wrongs he suffered."

emphasizes Steinitz's importance as a pioneer in the field of chess theory: "Steinitz was the first

to realise that chess, despite being a complicated game, obeys some common principles. ... But as often happens the

first time is just a try. ... I can't say he was the founder of a chess theory. He was an experimenter and pointed out

that chess obeys laws that should be considered."

Writings

[

]

English

has

original text related to this

article:

Steinitz was the main chess correspondent of

(in London) from 1873 to 1882,

and used this to present his ideas about chess strategy.

In 1885 he founded the

in New York City and edited it until 1891. In addition to

game commentaries and blow-by-blow accounts of the negotiations leading to his 1886

match with

and of the American Chess Congress's world championship

project, he wrote a long series of articles about

, who had died in

1884.

He wrote the book of the 1889 New York tournament, in which he annotated

all 432 of the games,

and in 1889 he published a textbook,

The Modern Chess Instructor

Steinitz also allegedly wrote a pamphlet entitled

Capital, Labor, and Charity

while confined at

in New York during the final months of his life.

Playing strength and style

[

]

Steinitz vs. von

Bardeleben, 1895

White to move.

Steinitz produced

this

age 59.

22.Rxe7+ Kf8 23.Rf7+ Kg8

24.Rg7+ Kh8 25.Rxh7+ and

Black

, as White gets

a huge advantage or

in 10 moves.

This example uses

Statistical rating systems are unkind to Steinitz. "Warriors of the Mind" gives him a

ranking of 47th, below several obscure Soviet grandmasters;

places him

only 15th on its all-time list.

Chessmetrics penalizes players who play

infrequently;

opportunities for competitive chess were infrequent in Steinitz's best

years,

and Steinitz had a few long absences from competitive play (1873–1876, 1876–

1882, 1883–1886, 1886–1889). However, in 2005, Chessmetrics' author, Jeff Sonas, wrote an

article which examined various ways of comparing the strength of "world number one"

players, using data provided by Chessmetrics, and found that: Steinitz was further ahead

of his contemporaries in the 1870s than

was in his peak period (1970–1972);

that Steinitz had the third-highest total number of years as the world's top player,

behind

and

; and that Steinitz placed 7th in a comparison of

how long players were ranked in the world's top three.

Between his victory over

Anderssen (1866) and his loss to Emanuel Lasker (1894), Steinitz won all his "normal"

matches, sometimes by wide margins; and his worst tournament performance in that 28-year

period was third place in Paris (1867).

(He also lost two handicap matches and a match

by telegraph in 1890 against

, where Chigorin was allowed to choose the

openings in both games and won both.)

The Edo rating system

that covers the years

from 1821 to 1937 places Steinitz 3rd in top peak rating; behind Jose Capablanca and Paul

Morphy but ahead of Emanuel Lasker and Alexander Alekhine.

Initially Steinitz played in the all-out attacking style of contemporaries like

Anderssen, and then changed to the positional style with which he dominated

competitive chess in the 1870s and 1880s.

wrote, "Steinitz aimed at positions with clear-cut features, to

which his theory was best applicable."

However, he retained his capacity for brilliant attacks right to the end of

his career; for example, in the

(when he was 59), he beat

in a

in which in the closing stages Steinitz deliberately exposed all his pieces to attack simultaneously (except

his king, of course).

His most significant weaknesses were his habits of playing "experimental" moves and getting

into unnecessarily difficult defensive positions in top-class competitive games.

Personality

[

]

Steinitz

"Traditional" accounts of Steinitz describe him as having a sharp tongue and violent

temper, perhaps partly because of his short stature (barely five feet) and

congenital lameness.

He admitted that "Like the Duke of Parma, I always

hold the sword in one hand and the olive branch in the other",

and under severe

provocation he could become abusive in published articles.

He was aware of his own tendencies and said early in his

career, "Nothing would induce me to take charge of a chess column ...Because I should be so fair in dispensing blame

as well as praise that I should be sure to give offence and make enemies."

When he embarked on chess journalism,

his brutally frank review of Wormald's

The Chess Openings

in 1875 proved him right on both counts.

His personal correspondence, his own articles and some third-party articles, however, show that he had long and

friendly relationships with many people and groups in the chess world, including

(one of his earliest

sponsors),

and the Cuban and Russian chess

communities.

He even co-operated with the American Chess Congress in its project to regulate future contests

for the world title that he had earned.

Steinitz strove to be objective in his writings about chess competitions and games; for example, he attributed to

sheer bad luck a poor tournament score by

, whom he considered no friend of his,

and was generous

in his praise of great play by even his bitter enemies.

He could poke fun at some of his own rhetoric; for example:

"I remarked that I would rather die in America than live in England. ... I added that I would rather lose a match in

America than win one in England. But after having carefully considered the subject in all its bearings, I have come to

the conclusion that I neither mean to die yet nor to lose the match."

At a joint simultaneous display in Russia

around the time of the 1895–96

tournament,

and Steinitz formed an impromptu comedy

double act.

Although he had a strong sense of honour about repaying debts,

Steinitz was poor at managing his finances: he

let a competitor "poach" many of his clients in 1862–63,

offered to play the 1886 world title match against

for free,

and died in poverty in 1900, leaving his widow to survive by running a small shop.

Competitive record

[

]

Tournament results

[

]

Sources:

[

]

Date

Location

Place

Score

Notes

1859

chess

society

3rd

Behind

and

1860

Vienna chess

society

2nd

Hamppe won.

1861

Vienna chess

society

3rd

Behind Hamppe and

1862

Vienna chess

society

1st

30/31

London

International

Tournament

6th

8/13

Behind

and

Draws were not scored in this tournament. Steinitz was awarded the brilliancy

prize for his win over

1862

London

championship

1st

7/7

1865

1st–

2nd

3½/4

Won play-off after tie with G. A. MacDonnell.

1866

London

handicap

tournament

1st

8/9

Steinitz won against

(2–1), MacDonnell (2–0), Mocatta

(2–0) – Steinitz gave odds of pawn and move, and in the final S. Green (2–0) –

Steinitz gave odds of pawn and two moves.

1867

handicap

tournament

1st–

2nd

3/3

Tied with J.C. Fraser. Steinitz won against MacDonnell (1–0), Keating (1–0) –

Steinitz gave odds of a knight, and Scott (1–0) – Steinitz gave odds of a

knight.

1867

Dundee

2nd

7/9

Behind Neumann (7½/9); ahead of MacDonnell, De Vere,

Robertson, J.C. Fraser, G.B. Fraser, Hamel and Spens.

Paris

3rd

+18−3=3

Draws counted as zero; third behind

(+20−2=2) and

(+19−4=1); ahead of

, De Vere,

, D'Andre,

, and

2nd

12½/18

Behind Anderssen (13/18); ahead of Neumann, Blackburne, Louis Paulsen, De Vere,

, Rosenthal and

1872

London

1st

7½/8

Ahead of Blackburne (5/8),

, MacDonnell and De Vere.

Vienna

1st–

2nd

10/11:

20½/25

Tied with Blackburne (10/11: 22½/30) and won the play-off 2–0; ahead of

Anderssen (8½/11: 19/30), Rosenthal (7½/11: 17/28), Louis Paulsen,

, Heral,

and

This tournament had a very unusual scoring system: each player played a 3-game

mini-match with each of the others and scored 1 for a won mini-match and ½

for a drawn mini-match. Steinitz won his last 14 games and therefore completed

his mini-matches by playing fewer games than anyone else. The numbers before

the colons (:) are the points awarded; the other 2 numbers are the usual "games

won / games played" scoring.

Vienna

1st–

2nd

24/34

Tied with Winawer and drew the play-off; ahead of Mason (23/34), Zukertort

(22½/34), Mackenzie, Blackburne,

, Paulsen and others

including

and Bird.

1883

London

2nd

19/26

Behind Zukertort (22/26); ahead of Blackburne (16½/24), Chigorin 16/24,

Englisch (15½/24), Mackenzie (15½/24), Mason (15½/24), Rosenthal, Winawer,

Bird and four others.

1894

New York

City

championship

1st

8½/10

After losing the world title to Emanuel Lasker.

5th

13/21

Behind

(16½/21), Chigorin (16/21),

(15½/21),

(14/21); ahead of

(12/21),

(11½/21),

(11/21), Blackburne (10½/21),

Mason, Bird,

and

1895–

2nd

9½/18

Behind Emanuel Lasker (11½/18); ahead of Pillsbury (8/18) and Chigorin (7/18).

The world's top 4 players played 6 games against each of the others.

6th

11/18

Behind Emanuel Lasker 13½/18,

(12½/18), Pillsbury (12/18),

Tarrasch (12/18), Janowski (11½/18); ahead of Walbrodt, Schiffers, Chigorin,

Blackburne,

, Marco, Albin, Winawer,

and Teichmann.

1897

New York

1st–

2nd

2½/4

triangular

"Thousand Islands" tournament; tied with

and ahead of

Vienna

4th

23½/36

Behind Tarrasch (27½/36), Pillsbury (27½/36), Janowski (25½/36); ahead of

Schlechter, Chigorin, Burn,

, Maroczy,

, Blackburne,

Schiffers, Marco, Showalter, Walbrodt,

and Herbert William Trenchard.

1898

5th

9½/15

Behind Burn, Charousek, Chigorin and

; ahead of Schlechter,

Showalter,

, Janowski and Schiffers.

1899

London

10–

11th

11½/27

Behind Emanuel Lasker (23½/27), Janowski (19/27), Maróczy (19/27), Pillsbury

(19/27), Schlechter (18/27), Blackburne (16½/27), Chigorin (16/27), Showalter

(13½/27), Mason (13/27). This was the first time he had not won any prize money

since 1859.

Match results

[

]

Sources:

[

]

Date

Opponent

Result

Location

Score

Notes

1860

Drew

2/4

2 : 2

1860

Lang

Won

Vienna

3/3

+3−0=0

1862

Won

London

5½/9

+5−3=1

1862

Lost

London

1/3

+1−2=0

Offhand games

1862–

Won

London

8/10

+7−1=2

Only 2 years after Blackburne started playing

chess

1863

Won

London

5½/7

+5−1=1

1863

Won

London

7/7

+7−0=0

1863–

Valentine

Green

Won

London

8/9

+7−0=2

1865

James Robey

Won

London

4/5

4 : 1

Probably not a formal match

1866

Won

London

8/14

+8−6=0

As a result of this win Steinitz was generally

regarded as the world's best player.

1866

Won

London

9½/17

+7−5=5

Bird was forced to discontinue match when sent on

business to America.

1867

George

Brunton

Fraser

Won

4/6

+3−1=2

1870

Blackburne

Won

London

1½/2

+1−0=1

1872

Won

London

9/12

+7−1=4

1873

Blackburne

Won

Vienna

2/2

+2−0=0

Play-off match

1876

Blackburne

Won

London

7/7

+7−0=0

1882

Drew

Vienna

1/2

1 : 1

Play-off match

1882

Won

7/7

+7−0=0

1882

Alexander

Sellman

Won

3½/5

+2−0=3

1883

Won

New York City

4/6

+3−1=2

1883

Martinez

Won

Philadelphia

4½/7

+3−1=3

1883

Won

9/11

9 : 2

1883

Martinez

Won

Philadelphia

10/11

10 : 1

1885

Alexander

Sellman

Won

Baltimore

3/3

+3−0=0

1886

Zukertort

Won

New York,

and

12½/20

+10−5=5

; the contract for

this match said it was "for the Championship of

the World".

1888

Alberto

Ponce

Won

Havana

4/5

4 : 1

1888

Andrés

Vásquez

Won

Havana

5/5

+5−0=0

1888

Golmayo

Won

Havana

5/5

+5−0=0

1889

Vicente

Carvajal

Won

Havana

4/5

4 : 1

1889

Won

Havana

10½/17

+10−6=1

; often described as

a World Championship match, but may not have

been

1890–

Won

New York

10½/19

+6−4=9

match

1892

Chigorin

Won

Havana

12½/23

+10−8=5

match

1894

Lost

New York,

Philadelphia and

7/19

+5−10=4

match; Steinitz's

first recorded defeat in a serious match

1896

Won

6½/11

+6−4=1

1896–

Lasker

Lost

Moscow

4½/17

+2−10=5

match

1897

Drew

New York

1/2

1 : 1

Play-off match

Notable games

[

]

Steinitz vs. Augustus Mongredien, London 1862.

Awarded the

at the 1862 London International

Tournament.

[

]

Adolf Anderssen vs. Steinitz; 13th match game, London 1866.

regarded this well-prepared attack

as a precursor of the positional approach that Steinitz later advocated.

Johannes Zukertort vs. Steinitz, WCH (9th game of the match) 1886, Queen's Gambit Declined: Vienna. Quiet Variation

(D37),

Steinitz exchanges his powerful centre to create two weak

on White's queenside and

creates strong pressure against them. Zukertort eventually tries to slug his way out of trouble, but Steinitz wins

with a sharp counterattack.

Steinitz vs. Mikhail Chigorin, Havana WCH 1892 (16th game of the match), Ruy Lopez,

Steinitz weakens

Chigorin's pawns, gains superior mobility then forces a pawn promotion with the aid of a little combination.

Steinitz vs. Mikhail Chigorin, Havana WCH 1892 (4th game of the match), Spanish Game: General (C65), 1–0.

Positional preparation creates the opportunity for a swift attack leading to mate on the 29th move.

Steinitz vs. Curt von Bardeleben, Hastings 1895, Italian Game: Classical Variation. Greco Gambit Traditional Line

(C54), 1–0.

A great attacking combination in the old 1860s style. After White's 22nd move, all the white

pieces are

but Black is lost. The game won the first brilliancy prize of the tournament.

See also

[

]

, a

tournament held from May 15 to 17, 2020, in honor of Wilhelm Steinitz

References

[

]

Schoenberg, Harold C. (1981).

Grandmasters of Chess

(Rev. ed.). New York: W.W. Norton & Co. p. 99.

Schulz, Andre (May 11, 2016).

. New In

Chess.

Harding, Tim (September 10, 2020).

. McFarland.

Landsberger, Kurt (2006).

William Steinitz, Chess Champion

. McFarland & Co. p. 17.

The World Chess Championship

, by

, Macmillan, New York, 1973, p. 19; Library of Congress Card Catalog Number 72-

80175

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Shibut, Macon (May 7, 2014).

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Horowitz, p. 20

Bill Wall.

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Landsberger, K. (2002).

McFarland.

The World Chess Championship

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72-80175

Winter, E.

Conversion based on average incomes, which are the most appropriate measure for a few weeks' hard work. If we use average

prices for the conversion, the result is about £6,500.

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(PDF)

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Note this article

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(January

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Conversion based on average incomes:

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From 1873 to 1882, Steinitz was a regular chess columnist for

The Field

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[

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in collaboration with his opponent and on the

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Winter, E.

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2008

Domański, Cezary W.; Lissowski, Tomasz; Macieja, Bartłomiej (2002).

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Jewish Advocate (1909–1990),

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Mark Weeks' Chess Pages:

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(PDF)

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Landsberg, K. (1993).

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Horowitz, p. 30

Thulin, A. (August 2007).

(PDF)

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Based on

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(PDF)

International Chess Magazine

370–

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2008

The World Chess Championship

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Using incomes for the adjustment factor, as the outcome depended on a few months' hard work by the players; if prices are used

for the conversion, the result is about $114,000 – see

. Retrieved

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2017

However, Lasker later published an analysis showing that the winning player got $1,600 and

the losing player $600 out of the $4,000, as the backers who had bet on the winner got the rest:

(January 1905).

. Retrieved

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. Archived from the original on November 24, 2007

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Giffard, Nicolas (1993).

Le Guide des Échecs

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. p. 394.

. Archived from the original on February 8, 2003

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Also available in 2 parts

. Archived from

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and

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. Retrieved

November 19,

2008

. Archived from

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Weeks, M.

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Dating the start of Steinitz's reign to 1886:

Gligoric, S. & Wade, R.G. (1972).

The World Chess Championship

. Harper & Row. p. xi.

Kazic, B.M. (1974).

International Championship Chess: A Complete Record of FIDE Events

. Pitman Publishing Corporation.

p. 206.

Hooper, D. & Whyld, K. (1992).

(2nd ed.). Oxford University Press. p.

Supporting 1866:

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British Chess Magazine

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{{

}}

Cite uses generic title

(

)

Devide, C. (1974) [1901].

William Steinitz: Selected Chess Games

. Dover. p. 4.

Lasker, Em. (May 1908).

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{{

}}

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generic title (

)

Fine, R. (1952).

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Golombek, H. (1977).

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Byrne, R. (December 17, 1989).

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Keene, R. (September 29, 2007).

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Sunnucks, A. (1970).

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441–

42.

Winter, E. (April 1894).

British Chess Magazine

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{{

}}

Cite uses generic title (

)

supported this view:

Winter, E. (May 1908).

Lasker's Chess Magazine

: 1.

Likewise

Fine, R. (1952).

The World's Great Chess Games

. André Deutsch (now as paperback from Dover).

See the extracts from contemporary documents at

Winter, E.

The 1882 quote from

Steinitz, two years before Morphy's death, might be interpreted as claiming that he was champion from 1866, but the 1888 extract

is his first absolutely unambiguous claim to have been champion since 1866.

; Goodman, David (1986).

The Centenary Match, Kasparov–Karpov III

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1–

Winter, E (January 1886).

Chess Monthly

. Chess History.

Spinrad, J.P. (2006).

(PDF)

. chesscafe.com.

MacDonnell, G.A. (1894).

The Knights and Kings of Chess

. London.

pages 7 and 10–11:

"won the championship of the world"

page 31: "... 1887, just after

had won the Chess Championship of the World"

page 78:

"... by his victory at Bradford Place

[

] in 1888, ...won a place among the champions of the

world"

Extracts are published at

Winter, E.

. Retrieved

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Steinitz, W. (May 1891).

International Chess Magazine

146–

. Retrieved

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{{

}}

Cite uses generic title (

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See extracts from UK census records for 1871 and 1881 at

Edward Winter.

. Retrieved

November 19,

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(PDF)

New York Times

. February 23, 1897

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The key passage is also

quoted at

(PDF)

. Retrieved

November 19,

2008

(PDF)

. Retrieved

November 19,

2008

(see last

sentence)

(PDF)

Baltimore American

. April 10, 1900

. Retrieved

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2011

Steinitz, William (1900).

. W.Steinitz.

Pickard, Sid, ed. (1995).

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. Pickard and Son.

Silman, J.

. Jeremy Silman. Archived from

on June 19, 2008

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Several examples of Steinitz testing his theories in top-class play.

Fine, R. (1952). "Wilhelm Steinitz".

The World's Great Chess Games

. Andre Deutsch (now as paperback from

Dover). pp.

30–

37.

The "Notable games" section contains two examples of positional play leading to powerful attacks,

and

against

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Lasker's Manual of Chess

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Watson, J. (2004).

. Archived from

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Steinitz, W., ed. (1982) [1891].

The book of the Sixth American Chess Congress

. Edition Olms.

. Archived from

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For example in

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See the individual game reports by 3 US journals, linked to in

Archived from

on December 16, 2008

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November 19,

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New York Times

. May 13, 1888. p. 13

. Retrieved

June 19,

2008

(1960) [1925].

. Dover.

. Retrieved

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Also at

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See, e.g.,

(1947).

Lasker's Manual of Chess

(2d ed.). New York: David McKay Co. p. 187.

wrote: "He has learned of the game only as much as a second-class player – the rest he has done from his own means. The whole of

the modern conduct of the game, or at least by far the greatest part of it, is his work":

Edward Winter.

. Retrieved

November 19,

2008

Kramnik, V.

. Archived from

on May 12, 2008

Retrieved

November 19,

2008

Steinitz, W. (1885–1891). Fiala, V. (ed.).

. Moravian Chess. Archived from

on May

20, 2008.

Reviewed at

Watson, J. (2004).

. Archived from

on December 16, 2008

Retrieved

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Available as part of the CD collection

Pickard, S. (ed.).

. Chess Central.

Archived from

on October 28, 2008

. Retrieved

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;

(1989).

Warriors of the Mind

. Brighton, UK: Hardinge Simpole.

See the summary list at

. Archived from

on November 26, 2009

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Sonas, Jeff.

. Retrieved

November 19,

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Sonas, J. (2005).

. Chessbase

. Retrieved

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Part IV gives

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Sonas, J. (2005).

. Chessbase

. Retrieved

November 19,

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(2004).

. Archived from

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Retrieved

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review of a book edited by Sid Pickard

. Archived from

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. Retrieved

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2023

(1976).

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Winter, E.

MacDonnell, G.A. (1894).

. London. pp.

39–

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Steinitz, W. (November 1875). "(review of Wormald's

The Chess Openings

)".

City of London Chess Magazine

297–

304.

and

Steinitz, W. (December 1875). "(review of Wormald's

The Chess Openings

)".

City of London Chess Magazine

331–

36.

Extracts at

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. Retrieved

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Winter concludes his

commentary with, "If instances can be identified of Steinitz being wrong in his denunciation of Wormald, we should like to be

informed."

for example he described Zukertort's win over Blackburne in the London 1883 tournament (where Steinitz finished second behind

Zukertort) as "one of the most brilliant games on record", and Blackburne's win over Schwarz in Berlin, 1881, with the words

"White's design, especially from the 21st move in combination with the brilliant finish, belongs to the finest efforts of chess

genius in modern match play."

Fine, R. (1952).

The World's Great Chess Games

. Andre Deutsch (now as paperback from Dover).

Zukertort's win is at

Blackburne's win is

Quarterly for Chess History

(3). 1999. Archived from the original on October 25, 2012

Retrieved

May 6,

2008

. Archived from

on December 16, 2008

. Retrieved

November 19,

2008

. Archived from

on December 16, 2008

. Retrieved

November 19,

2008

. Archived from

on May 24, 2008

. Retrieved

June 19,

2008

Tim Harding, Joseph Henry Blackburne: A Chess Biography (McFarland 2015)

Lasker, Emanuel (1947). "The Evolution of the Theory of Steinitz".

Lasker's Manual of Chess

. David McKay. pp.

200–

02.

Golombek, H. (1954). "The Great Masters: Steinitz".

The Game of Chess

. Penguin Books. pp.

209–

12.