Wilhelm Steinitz

Surname	Wilhelm Steinitz
Association	Austria , United States (from 1888)
Born	May 14, 1836 Prague
Died	New York City August 12, 1900
World Champion	1886-1894
Best rating	2826 (April 1876) ( historical )

Wilhelm Steinitz (born May 14, 1836 in Prague , † August 12, 1900 in New York as William Steinitz ) was an Austrian - American chess master from Bohemia and the first generally recognized world chess champion from 1886 to 1894 . He is considered to be a revolutionary in chess theory, who sharply criticized the then dominant game of stormy attack chess, the so-called "romantic chess". With a scientific approach for the first time, Steinitz formulated strategic and positional principles that are still valid today and thus laid the foundation for modern chess theory.

Life

youth

The Rebhuhn café in Vienna, where Wilhelm Steinitz played regularly.

Wilhelm Steinitz was born the ninth of 13 children of the tailor Josef Salamon Steinitz (1789–1868) and his wife Anna. May 17th is sometimes given as the birthday. This is based on an erroneous statement made by Steinitz himself in 1887, which he later corrected. May 14th is evidenced by the birth certificate and records of the Jewish community. The family lived in poor conditions, several of his siblings died in childhood. Wilhelm had a clubfoot from birth and needed a crutch. As a child he was considered one of the best chess players in Prague.

In 1858 he moved to Vienna to study mathematics at the Polytechnic Institute . For a while he financed his studies through journalistic work for the Constitutionelle Österreichische Zeitung , for which he wrote parliamentary reports. But it soon became clear to Steinitz that playing chess in Viennese coffeehouses could make a lot more money. At first he frequented the Café de l'Europe on Stephansplatz , where he played for stakes and attracted attention with “his well-thought-out, brisk game”. Subsequently he was introduced to exclusive circles of "the diplomatic world", where he could demonstrate his chess skills and increase his income further.

In 1859 he took part in the championship tournament of the Vienna Chess Society for the first time and immediately won third prize. In his subsequent participations in 1860 and 1861 he was first second, then first. His appearance and behavior gave rise to numerous stories about him in the Viennese chess circles. Its appearance has been compared to the character of Narciß-Rameau from the drama of the same name by Albert Emil Brachvogel . A well-known anecdote , first published in the Austrian chess newspaper in 1873, describes a game against the wealthy banker Epstein, to whom he is said to have said: "You are Epstein on the stock exchange, here - I am Epstein." His successes quickly made him international known.

The years in London

In 1862 he took part in his first international tournament in London and achieved 6th place. He won a £ 5 prize. From his games there, his victory in Black against the Italian champions Serafino Dubois was known. The contemporary press rumored that Steinitz did not travel to London as the official representative of the Vienna Chess Club, as the latter "took offense at Steinitz's not very pleasant appearance (!)", But had to raise the funds for the trip himself. He said to a friend in Vienna: "Either you won't hear from me at all, or I'll be the first chess player in Europe in several years."

Steinitz then moved to London, as England was the center of the chess world at the time. Here he was able to make a living by playing for money in the metropolis' coffee houses.

Steinitz played his way up in the next few years: immediately after the London tournament he defeated Serafino Dubois in a competition with 5.5: 3.5, in 1863 he defeated Joseph Henry Blackburne 8: 2. In the same year he won against Deacon 5.5: 1.5 and Mongredien 7: 0. At the turn of the year 1863/1864 he beat Green 8: 1. He then won two tournaments: Dublin 1865 and London 1866.

Steinitz during his competition with Anderssen (London 1866)

The great success of Steinitz in England prompted the local chess enthusiasts to organize a competition between him and the Prussian world-class player Adolf Anderssen , who was considered the unofficial world champion. In 1866, the two chess masters met in London: From the bitter fight - no game ended in a draw  - Steinitz emerged victorious with 8: 6. The highly regarded competition that the Austrian won against Prussia took place in July and August, while the Austro-Prussian war was raging on the continent . Steinitz's victory was dubbed "revenge for Sadowa" by the international press of the time .

From now on, the chess world regarded Steinitz as the world's best chess master. He demonstrated his superiority repeatedly in the following years very impressively: In 1866 he defeated Henry Edward Bird 9.5: 7.5, Blackburne in 1870 with 5.5: 0.5 and in 1872 Johannes Hermann Zukertort with 9: 3. In fact, Steinitz won every duel at the time, but he was not able to win another tournament for a long time: in 1867 in Paris he was third (behind Ignaz von Kolisch and Gustav Neumann ), in Dundee in 1867 second (behind Neumann), as well as in Baden-Baden in 1870 (behind Anderssen). Only in London in 1872 and Vienna in 1873 was he able to win tournament victories again. From 1872 to 1874 he played two long-distance games for the City of London Chess Club against the Vienna Chess Society under the direction of Ignaz von Kolisch, in which it was a bet of 100 pounds sterling , and won 1.5: 0.5.

Steinitz did not play tournaments and competitions for three years after his triumph in Vienna, but in 1876 Blackburne challenged him again. Steinitz won against the British a victory that nobody expected: he defeated Blackburne 7-0. He then retired from tournament operations for a few years and devoted a lot of time to theoretical chess analysis . Steinitz took over the chess column in The Field , which, together with the game for use against amateurs in the London cafés, gave him a sufficient livelihood. As a correspondent, he attended various tournaments without playing, including Paris 1878 and Berlin 1881.

In 1882 he returned to the arena after a nine-year break (apart from the competition against Blackburne in 1876): he took part in the tournament in Vienna, where he was tied for first with Szymon Winawer . The following year he finished second at the big tournament in London behind Zukertort, who won the best tournament of his life by 3 points and now considered himself the world's best chess player.

In the same year Steinitz gave up the position at The Field and accepted an invitation to the USA , which at the same time entailed his settlement there. With his successor at The Field , Leopold Hoffer , he delivered a journalistic feud that lasted for several years from 1881, which the chess historian Kenneth Whyld later referred to as the Steinitz-Hoffer Ink War . Steinitz used to call Hoffer, who supported his rival Zukertort, mostly "dirty soul".

Stay in the United States and world title

After 21 years in England, Steinitz moved to the United States. As a sought-after guest in various US clubs, as well as in Cuba, as well as editing various chess columns in US newspapers, Steinitz had a sufficient income. A large number of simultaneous , blind , casual and competitive games have survived from his American times.

International Chess Magazine, edited by W. Steinitz

From 1885 to 1891 he headed the International Chess Magazine , a globally recognized chess magazine . Due to the principled and sharp-tongued defense of his views, Steinitz fell out with many of his readers and admirers, on whom he was financially dependent. For these reasons (subscribers jumped out, Steinitz's performance was rejected and he was rarely invited to guest performances in the clubs) he was later forced to discontinue his magazine.

At the end of 1885, when Steinitz was enjoying great popularity in the USA, patrons and patrons were found who wanted to organize a competition for the Championship of the World in the United States. As an opponent of Steinitz, Zukertort was invited, who had won the tournament in London in 1883 superior to Steinitz. Before the competition, however, there were tough negotiations about prize money, playing conditions and the mode of the event. Both players made a stake of $ 2,000 , each raised by supporters. The winner received $ 1,000 as prize money, the remaining $ 3,000 was paid to his supporters, who could thus make a profit if they had bet on the right player. Zukertort finally crossed the Atlantic to the match, which is considered the first official competition for the world chess championship . The duel was fought in three American cities, was played from January 11, 1886 in New York in the same premises on Broadway where the American Paul Morphy had celebrated numerous successes decades earlier , and the same chess table and chess pieces were used with which Morphy had played back then. The other stations of the match were St. Louis and finally New Orleans.

Steinitz, who analyzed the games played for his International Chess Magazine during the fight, won against Zukertort by a large margin. Although he was 1: 4 behind in the first part of the competition, he recovered in the middle of the competition and beat Zukertort, who finally collapsed physically and mentally, 10: 5 after winning games (five games ended in a draw). The 20th game of the competition had to be postponed for three days because of Zukertort's illness. Then, on March 29, he lost her in just 19 moves after half an hour. Steinitz was now officially the Champion of the World .

He became a US citizen on November 23, 1888 . He lived in a house in Montclair , about thirty miles from New York.

As a combative spirit, Steinitz did not rest on the laurels he had once earned: he recruited American chess fans to support further competitions. As long as he was world champion, Steinitz played all his competitions for the world championship in the new world: in 1889 he won in Havana, Cuba against the Russian Michail Tschigorin , against whom he had previously lost both games in London in 1883, with 10.5: 6, 5. At the turn of the year 1890/1891 he played a world championship fight in New York City against the Hungarian Isidor Gunsberg , which he defeated with 10.5: 8.5, in 1892 he played again against Chigorin, again in Cuba. This time his victory was a bit happy: the final result of 12.5: 10.5 belies the course of the fight, as Chigorin only got a few points from many well-standing games. Especially the last game of this competition, in which Chigorin overlooked a trivial mate in two moves, went down in history as a classic example of chess blindness .

World championship fights against Lasker

Steinitz (left) and Lasker (right) during their world championship match in 1894

Steinitz's last challenger was the young German Emanuel Lasker , who had been in the United States since 1892. Clubs in the USA and Canada held a duel in 1894 that was designed for ten winning games: the 58-year-old Steinitz was clearly defeated by the 25-year-old new world champion with 5:10 (four games ended in a draw).

Steinitz never let his unconditional will to regain the world title rest. He competed in various tournaments throughout the 1890s, and although he couldn't win any more, he made it into the prizes in every tournament except London 1899. On a good day he could be dangerous to any opponent, and some of his brilliant games come from the last few years of his chess career. The most famous of these games is his victory against von Bardeleben in the Hastings tournament in 1895, in which Steinitz came in 5th. His best result from this last creative period was second place at the St. Petersburg four-master tournament in 1895/1896 (behind Lasker).

At the turn of the year 1896/1897, Lasker granted Steinitz a fight for revenge for the world championship in Moscow . The now 60-year-old Steinitz lacked the energy and stamina to survive against the young world champion, he was clearly defeated with 2:10 wins (five games ended in a draw).

The loss of his title severely affected Steinitz's mental health. Even in Moscow, after losing the competition, it deteriorated so much that he had to be treated in a Moscow mental hospital from March to April 1897. After the competition, Steinitz devoted himself to his planned invention: he wanted to make phone calls through thought transmission without technical aids, i.e. without apparatus and wires. His secretary, who watched Steinitz standing at the open window waiting for an answer, initiated the steps to instruct Steinitz. After his release, Steinitz returned to New York via Vienna and played in international tournaments for the next three years until shortly before his death. In February and May 1900 Steinitz was treated again for psychiatric treatment. Most recently he had hallucinations that electrical currents were emanating from him and that he could move the chess pieces in this way.

Steinitz died embittered and marked by material hardship a few months later in the "New York state madhouse Wards-Island", according to the death certificate of heart failure . He was buried in Evergreen Cemetery , Brooklyn, and his grave number is 5892 Bethel Slope.

Wilhelm Steinitz achieved his highest historical rating in April 1876 with a value of 2826.

Private

Memorial plaque on Široká ulice in Prague

From 1866 Steinitz lived with Caroline Golder, with whom he had a daughter Flora. Flora died at the age of 21 on January 13, 1888 in Brooklyn of heart disease endocarditis . Four years later, on May 27, 1892, Caroline also died at the age of 45. After her death, Steinitz married Elisabeth Wiebel, 28 years her junior, in the same year. With her he had the son William (* December 1894). In July 1897 Elisabeth gave birth to a daughter Julia. It is unlikely that she was the daughter of Steinitz, as Steinitz was traveling abroad at the time of conception.

various

In Prague, the city of Steinitz's birth, there is a plaque in honor of the world chess champion, which is attached to the Philosophical Faculty of Charles University . It was unveiled on June 30, 2004 by the Czech President Václav Klaus and was made by the Czech sculptor Vladimír Oppl . In 2009 the Vienna Nordsteg over the Danube was renamed Steinitzsteg in honor of Wilhelm Steinitz .

Contribution to the development of chess

Wilhelm Steinitz

Steinitz's great merit lies in his thorough analysis of the principles of chess. He saw himself as the founder of a modern school, whose followers systematically designed a game of chess according to strategic principles. In contrast to this stood the Romantic School, which characterized the master players before Steinitz. From the beginning of the game they played keenly on direct king attacks and trusted in the intuition and genius of the chess master. Steinitz aimed to refute the positionally insufficiently justified game structure of these players by strictly positional play.

In fact, Steinitz fascinated the chess audience in the first few years of his career with romantic chess, which he was very good at. However, after he had come into contact with the style of play of the English masters, which expressed itself more in closed openings and solidly laid out games, his attention was drawn to the hidden laws of chess strategy. He meticulously analyzed the master roles of the past and his present and published his findings. He carried out his chess columns with great effort. He already shared his advice on the principles he recognized with the readers of The Field and his International Chess Magazine , but in 1889 he published the textbook The Modern Chess Instructor , a work in which he explained his modern school in more detail and discovered all of him Principles that are common to all chess players today.

Steinitz was initially only understood by a few. He applied his knowledge in his own games, but these appeared to his contemporaries as bizarre and dark. Most found it difficult to see the ideas behind Steinitz's features and many tried to ridicule him. It was only with the generation of Emanuel Lasker and Siegbert Tarrasch that he was recognized as an innovator. Lasker claimed to have beaten Steinitz with his own weapons. In his textbook on the game of chess (1925) the presentation of the principles developed by Steinitz occupies a large space.

Emanuel Lasker - Steinitz, Hastings 1895

	a	b	c	d	e	f	G	H
8th									8th
7th									7th
6th									6th
5									5
4th									4th
3									3
2									2
1									1
	a	b	c	d	e	f	G	H

Position after 17.… Ne7 – g8

In 1927 the Viennese master Hans Kmoch formulated his conception of Steinitz's way of playing as follows: “Steinitz was such a high idealist that he did not care about practical principles. If his principles told him that this or that position had to be favorable or durable, then he has thrown himself into every adventure without hesitation. He did not expect the inadequacy of human ability. He owes many painful defeats to this circumstance. In pursuing his deep but extremely arduous strategy, he had to use all his strength to such an extent that he often didn't have enough time to look at smaller details. But if he succeeded in carrying out his principles in one piece, then he would deliver the most wonderful games. "

An example of the belief in the resilience of a position without pawn weaknesses is the game of Steinitz against Lasker in the tournament of Hastings 1895. After 17 moves all black pieces are again gathered on their own back row. Over time, this game, which Lasker won after 40 moves, received very different comments. While the Deutsche Schachzeitung said that this way of playing showed Steinitz's peculiar humor, later authors spoke of a profound plan for regrouping the pieces or a psychological trick to tempt the opponent into hasty attacks.

Garri Kasparow praised Steinitz as an innovator, whose insights into chess strategy represented a turning point in chess history. He noted, however, that Steinitz often overestimated the importance of abstract positional principles in his games.

Position assessment

Steinitz counted among the most important factors that allow a position assessment to be made:

1. the material ratio
2. the effectiveness of the characters
3. the effectiveness of the farmers
4. the positioning of the peasants
5. the king position
6. the interaction of all figures

Taken in isolation, none of these points was a novelty. As early as the middle of the 18th century, Philidor claimed : “The pawns are the soul of the game of chess”, and the romantic chess school attached great importance to the effectiveness of the pieces. Steinitz, however, systematized the position assessment and propagated many new perspectives. He proved, for example, that the basic position of the pawns in front of the (castled) king is the safest defensive position for him. He also helped to make the importance of the runner pair clear to his contemporaries , a rather new strategic concept at the time. Steinitz also formulated the principle that a wing attack is best answered by a counterstrike in the center . He considered positions with an Isolani to be unfavorable because of the resulting field weaknesses.

strategy

	a	b	c	d	e	f	G	H
8th									8th
7th									7th
6th									6th
5									5
4th									4th
3									3
2									2
1									1
	a	b	c	d	e	f	G	H

The Steinitz variant of the French game after 4. e4 – e5

Based on his novel assessment of a position, he established the following principles of strategy:

1. From the basic position there is a balance of forces.
2. Only when this balance is disturbed is a sharp attack justified or tactical strikes possible.
3. Attacks must be made against the weak points of the opponent.
4. Defense must be as economical as possible.

These formulations have remained valid to this day.

Opening theory

Steinitz contributed many ideas to the opening theory . A variant of the Spanish game is named after him, which is named after

1. e2 – e4 e7 – e5 2. Ng1 – f3 Nb8 – c6 3. Bf1 – b5 d7 – d6 ( see also: chess notation )

arises. Later you usually switched on the moves 3.… a7 – a6 4. Bb5 – a4, before then playing 4.… d7 – d6 ( improved Steinitz defense ). White can fall into a familiar opening trap if he now plays 5. d2 – d4: 5.… b7 – b5 6. Ba4 – b3 e5xd4 7. Nf3xd4 Nc6xd4 8. Qd1xd4 c7 – c5 9. Qd4 – d5 Bc8 – e6 10. Qd5 – c6 + Be6 – d7 11. Qc6 – d5 c5 – c4 and White loses a piece ( Noah's Ark trap ).

In the French defense , the order of turns is

1. e2 – e4 e7 – e6 2. d2 – d4 d7 – d5 3. Nb1 – c3 Ng8 – f6 4. e4 – e5

referred to as the Steinitz variant , in the Scottish game the sequence of moves

1. e2 – e4 e7 – e5 2. Ng1 – f3 Nb8 – c6 3. d2 – d4 e5xd4 4. Nf3xd4 Qd8 – h4 .

	a	b	c	d	e	f	G	H
8th									8th
7th									7th
6th									6th
5									5
4th									4th
3									3
2									2
1									1
	a	b	c	d	e	f	G	H

The Steinitz gambit of the Viennese game, position after 5th Ke1 – e2

Steinitz also invented the gambit named after him in the Viennese part :

1. e2 – e4 e7 – e5 2. Nb1 – c3 Nb8 – c6 3. f2 – f4 e5xf4 4. d2 – d4 ?!

Since after 4.… Qd8 – h4 + 5. Ke1 – e2 the white king loses his castling right , the “ Steinitz Gambit ” was considered incorrect by many of his contemporaries. Steinitz stuck to his view and defeated Zukertort with this variant in the last game of the world championship match in 1886.

His insistence on variations that he believed to be right, however, occasionally earned him defeat. In 1890, Tschigorin questioned his assessment of two variants in the Evans gambit and the two-finger game afterwards and invited him to a competition to clarify the difference of opinion on the chessboard. This then happened through two long - distance games played by telegraph , both of which Chigorin won.

Endgame theory

Like many great chess players, Steinitz also made a contribution to endgame theory with some studies . All of the endgames composed by him have a strong practical relevance, but do not always meet the requirement for clarity of the solution, which will only finally become established in chess composition at a later point in time . Subsequent processing in an elementarily won pawn endgame is very instructive.

From a game by Steinitz
Schachzeitung 1862, p. 247, no. LVI

	a	b	c	d	e	f	G	H
8th									8th
7th									7th
6th									6th
5									5
4th									4th
3									3
2									2
1									1
	a	b	c	d	e	f	G	H

White moves and wins

Solution:

1. h6 – h7 + Kg8 – g7
2. h7 – h8D +! Kg7xh8 The queen sacrifice acts as a distraction and Hinlenkung same time.
3. Ke7 – f7! (threatens 4. Bf6 mate and 4. g7 +) Rh1 – f1 +
4. Bh4 – f6 + Rf1xf6
5. Kf7xf6 Kh8 – g8 Now the known forced position is reached.
6. g6 – g7 Kg8 – h7
7. Kf6 – f7 and wins

Lots

• Dubois - Steinitz, London 1862
• Steinitz - from Bardeleben, Hastings 1895

List of tournament and competition results

year	competition	place	Result / score	rank
1859	Tournament of the Vienna Chess Society	Vienna	unknown	3rd place
1859/60	Tournament of the Vienna Chess Society	Vienna	unknown	2nd place
1861/62	Tournament of the Vienna Chess Society	Vienna	30/31 (+30, −1) or 31.5 / 34 (+30 = 3 −1)	1st place
1862	International tournament on the occasion of the world exhibition , also the 5th congress of the British Chess Association (BCA)	London	7.5 / 15 (+6 = 3 −5)	6th place
	Competition against Serafino Dubois	London	5.5 / 9 (+5 = 1 −3)	Steinitz wins with 5.5-3.5
1863	Competition against Joseph Henry Blackburne	London	8/10 (+7 = 2 −1)	Steinitz wins with 8–2
	Competition against Frederic Deacon	London	5.5 / 7 (+5 = 1 −1)	Steinitz wins with 5.5-1.5
1864	Competition against Valentine Green	London	8/9 (+7 = 2 −0)	Steinitz wins with 8–1
1865	Chess Congress	Dublin	4.5 / 5 (+4 = 1 −0)	1st place
1866	Competition against Adolf Anderssen	London	8/14 (+8 = 0 −6)	Steinitz wins with 8-6 and is henceforth the world's best player
	Competition against Henry Edward Bird	London	9.5 / 17 (+7 = 5 −5)	Steinitz wins with 9.5–7.5
1867	Competition against George Brunton Fraser	Dundee	4/6 (+3 = 2 −1)	Steinitz wins with 4–2
	International tournament on the occasion of the world exhibition	Paris	17.5 / 22 (+16 = 3 −3)	3rd place
	Chess Congress	Dundee	7/9 (+7 = 0 −2)	2nd place
1870	International tournament	Baden-Baden	12.5 / 18 (+11 = 3 −4)	2nd place
1872	International tournament	London	7/8 (+7 = 0 −1)	1st place
	Handicap tournament	London	1.5 / 4 (+0 = 3 −1)	Steinitz was eliminated in the 2nd round against Johannes Hermann Zukertort . (The only games played by Steinitz without specifications.)
	Competition against Johannes Hermann Zukertort	London	9/12 (+7 = 4 −1)	Steinitz wins with 9–3
1873	International tournament on the occasion of the world exhibition	Vienna	22.5 / 27 (+20 = 5 −2)	1st place
1876	Competition against Joseph Henry Blackburne	London	7/7 (+7 = 0 −0)	Steinitz wins with 7-0
1882	International tournament	Vienna	22/34 (+18 = 8 −8)	1st – 2nd Place (with Szymon Winawer )
	1st competition against Dion Martinez	Philadelphia	7/7 (+7 = 0 −0)	Steinitz wins with 7-0
	2. Competition against Dion Martinez	Philadelphia	4.5 / 7 (+3 = 3 −1)	Steinitz wins with 4.5-2.5
	Competition against Alexander Sellman	Baltimore	3.5 / 5 (+2 = 3 −0)	Steinitz wins by 3.5-1.5
1883	Competition against George Henry Mackenzie	New York City	4/6 (+3 = 2 −1)	Steinitz wins with 4–2
	Competition against Celso Golmayo Zúpide	Havana	8.5 / 10 (+8 = 1 −1)	Steinitz wins with 8.5-1.5
	International tournament	London	21.5 / 32 (+18 = 7 −7)	2nd place
1885	Competition against Alexander Sellman	Baltimore	3/3 (+3 = 0 −0)	Steinitz wins by 3–0
1886	Competition for the world championship against Johannes Hermann Zukertort	New York City / St. Louis / New Orleans	12.5 / 20 (+10 = 5 −5)	Steinitz wins with 12.5–7.5
1888	Competition against Andrés Clemente Vázquez	Havana	5/5 (+5 = 0 −0)	Steinitz wins with 5–0
	Competition against Celso Golmayo Zúpide	Havana	5/5 (+5 = 0 −0)	Steinitz wins with 5–0
1889	Competition for the world championship against Mikhail Chigorin	Havana	10.5 / 17 (+10 = 1 −6)	Steinitz wins with 10.5–6.5
1890/91	Competition for the world championship against Isidor Gunsberg	New York City	10.5 / 19 (+6 = 9 −4)	Steinitz wins with 10.5–8.5
1892	Competition for the world championship against Mikhail Chigorin	Havana	12.5 / 23 (+10 = 5 −8)	Steinitz wins with 12.5-10.5
1894	Competition for the world championship against Emanuel Lasker	New York City / Philadelphia / Montreal	7/19 (+5 = 4 −10)	Lasker wins with 12–7 and becomes world champion
	International tournament	New York City	8.5 / 10 (+8 = 1 −1)	1st place
1895	International tournament	Hastings	13/21 (+11 = 4 −6)	5th place
1895/96	International tournament	St. Petersburg	9.5 / 18 (+7 = 5 −6)	2nd place
1896	Competition against Emanuel Schiffers	Rostov on Don	6.5 / 11 (+6 = 1 −4)	Steinitz wins with 6.5-4.5
	International tournament	Nuremberg	11/18 (+10 = 2 −6)	6th place
1896/97	Revenge competition for the world championship against Emanuel Lasker	Moscow	4.5 / 17 (+2 = 5 −10)	Lasker wins with 12.5–4.5
1897	National tournament "Thousand Islands"	New York City	3/5 (+2 = 2 −1)	1st – 2nd Place (with Samuel Lipschütz )
1898	International "Kaiser Jubilee Tournament"	Vienna	23.5 / 36 (+18 = 11 −7)	4th Place
	11th Congress of the German Chess Federation (DSB)	Cologne	9.5 / 15 (+8 = 3 −4)	5th place
1899	International tournament	London	10.5 / 26 (+7 = 7 −12)	10-11 Place (with Wilhelm Cohn )

Works

• The International Chess Magazine. Published by Wilhelm Steinitz. New York 1885-1891. Reprint: Edition Olms , Zurich 1985 (3 volumes).
• Wilhelm Steinitz: The Modern Chess Instructor. G. P. Putnam's sons, New York 1889 ( digitized ). Reprint: Edition Olms ( Tschaturanga Volume 47), Zurich 1984, ISBN 3-283-00111-1 .

literature

• Constantin von Wurzbach : Steinitz, Wilhelm . In: Biographisches Lexikon des Kaiserthums Oesterreich . 38th part. Kaiserlich-Königliche Hof- und Staatsdruckerei, Vienna 1879, pp. 101–103 ( digitized version ).
• Ludwig Bachmann : Chess master Steinitz. A picture of the life of the first world chess champion, presented in a complete collection of his games. Volume 1-4. Ansbach 1910-1921. Olms reprints: Volume 1–2: ISBN 3-283-00080-8 , Volume 3–4: ISBN 3-283-00081-6 .
• Jacques Hannak : The Michel Angelo of the game of chess. Verlag der Wiener Schachzeitung, Vienna 1936. Olms reprint: ISBN 3-283-00105-7 .
• Tim Harding: Steinitz in London. A Chess Biography with 623 Games. McFarland, Jefferson 2020. ISBN 9781476669533 .
• Hans Kmoch : The Art of Defense. 4th edition. De Gruyter, Berlin, New York 1982, ISBN 3-11-008908-4 .
• Kurt Landsberger: William Steinitz, Chess Champion: A Biography of the Bohemian Caesar. McFarland, Jefferson 1993, ISBN 0-89950-758-1 (The author Landsberger is a great-great-great-nephew of Wilhelm Steinitz).
• Sid Pickard (Ed.): The Games of Wilhelm Steinitz, First World Chess Champion. Pickard & Son, Dallas 1995, ISBN 1-886846-00-6 .
• Kurt Landsberger (Ed.): The Steinitz Papers. Letters and documents of the first world chess champion. McFarland, Jefferson 2002, ISBN 0-7864-1193-7 .
• Thorsten Heedt: William Steinitz - the first world chess champion. ChessBase, Hamburg 2003, ISBN 3-935602-63-4 (CD-ROM, contains a biography and parts played by Steinitz).
• Johannes Fischer: William Steinitz: researcher, artist, chess player. In: Karl  - The cultural chess magazine, No. 4/2003, p. 12 f. ( Online ).
• Isaak Linder, Vladimir Linder: Wilhelm Steinitz, first world chess champion . Milford, Russell Enterprises 2014. ISBN 978-1-936490-92-9 .

Web links

Commons : Wilhelm Steinitz  - Album with pictures, videos and audio files

• Literature by and about Wilhelm Steinitz in the catalog of the German National Library
• Steinitz . In: Meyers Konversations-Lexikon . 4th edition. Volume 15, Verlag des Bibliographisches Institut, Leipzig / Vienna 1885–1892, p. 268.
• Replayable chess games by Wilhelm Steinitz on chessgames.com (English)
• Compositions by Wilhelm Steinitz on the Schwalbe's PDB server

Individual evidence

1. ↑ On Steinitz's scientific understanding of chess, see Kmoch 1982, pp. 3–5.
2. ↑ See Landsberger 1993, p. 2 f.
3. ^ ^{A b c} Constantin von Wurzbach : Steinitz, Wilhelm . In: Biographisches Lexikon des Kaiserthums Oesterreich . 38th part. Kaiserlich-Königliche Hof- und Staatsdruckerei, Vienna 1879, pp. 101–103 ( digitized version ).
4. ^ Oesterreichische Schachzeitung, September 1873, p. 268.
5. ↑ Fred Kahl: Wilhelm Steinitz entry on the website koenig-plauen.de . Retrieved March 29, 2021.
6. ^ ^{A b} K. Pfisterer: Das Novellenbuch No. 83, October 15, 1866, p. 332. [1] .
7. ↑ See Landsberger 1993, p. 204 f.
8. ↑ Landsberger 2002, pp. 65-69. His supporters are also listed there with the sums they have paid in.
9. ↑ "Today, on December 29, 1885, an agreement was reached between Wilhelm Steinitz in New York and JH Zukertort from London to the effect that a chess competition for the championship of the world and a stake of two thousand (2000) To play dollars from every side. ”
   This is how the written agreement between Steinitz and Zukertort, which had been deposited with a notary, began. Quoted from Johannes Minckwitz : The decisive battle between W. Steinitz and JH Zukertort for the championship of the world . Roegener, Leipzig 1886. p. 19.
10. ↑ After: Raymund Stolze : Contested Crown . 3rd Edition. Sportverlag, Berlin 1992.
11. ↑ Johannes Minckwitz, Emil Schallopp : The chess competition between Steinitz and Zukertort 1886. Edition Olms, Zurich 1986, ISBN 3-283-00122-7 .
12. ↑ Landsberger 1993, p. 206 f.
13. ↑ Game to replay (Java) .
14. ↑ Deutsche Schachzeitung , April 1897, pp. 122–124.
15. ↑ Deutsche Schachzeitung, March 1900, p. 96.
16. ↑ The chess genius who ended up in the madhouse In: Welt Online. November 18, 2014, accessed August 13, 2019.
17. ↑ Deutsche Schachzeitung, September 1900, p. 292. It is about the Manhattan State Hospital founded in 1899.
18. ↑ International Chess Magazine, February 1888, p. 42.
19. ↑ https://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?dbid=61779&h=30786726&indiv=try&o_vc=Record:OtherRecord&rhSource=7884 .
20. ↑ https://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?dbid=7602&h=21568193&indiv=try&o_vc=Record:OtherRecord&rhSource=61779 .
21. ↑ https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/101385046:7884?indiv=try&o_vc=Record%3aOtherRecord&rhSource=7602 .
22. ↑ See Landsberger 1993, p. 341 f.
23. ↑ Zeitschrift Schach , 8/2004, p. 68. Short report with pictures on the Wiener Zeitung chess server (last accessed on March 24, 2008).
24. ↑ Hans Kmoch: The art of defense. 4th edition. Berlin / New York 1982, p. 43.
25. ↑ Amatzia Avni: Devious chess ; London: Batsford, 2006; ISBN 0-7134-9004-7 ; P. 79 f.
26. ^ Garry Kasparov: My great predecessors , Volume 1; London: Everyman, 2003; ISBN 1-85744-330-6 ; P. 6.
27. ^ André Danican Philidor: Analyze du Jeu des échecs . 1749. In the original: Les pions sont l'âme des échecs .
28. ↑ For the dating see the information in the Berliner Schachzeitung , 1860, p. 246, on the "Schachturnier zu Wien" .

This version was added to the list of articles worth reading on May 9, 2007 .