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Wilhelm (later William) Steinitz (May 17, 1836, Prague–August 12, 1900, New York) was a Jewish-Austrian-American chess player and the first official world chess champion. Known for his original contributions to chess strategy such as his ideas on positional play, Steinitz, along with Paul Morphy, is considered by many chess commentators to be the founder of modern chess.[1] His theories were further developed by innovative chess masters such as Aron Nimzowitsch, Siegbert Tarrasch, Isidor Gunsberg and Emanuel Lasker. Image File history File links Wilhelm_Steinitz2. ...
Image File history File links Flag_of_Austria. ...
Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ...
May 17 is the 137th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (138th in leap years). ...
Year 1836 (MDCCCXXXVI) was a leap year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian Calendar (or a leap year starting on Wednesday of the 12-day slower Julian calendar). ...
Nickname: City of a Hundred Spires Motto: Praga Caput Rei publicae Location within the Czech Republic Coordinates: Country Czech Republic Region Capital City of Prague Founded 9th century Government - Mayor Pavel Bém Area - City 496 km² (191. ...
August 12 is the 224th day of the year (225th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...
Year 1900 (MCM) was an exceptional common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar, but a leap year starting on Saturday of the Julian calendar. ...
NY redirects here. ...
Current World Champion, Vladimir Kramnik. ...
1886 (MDCCCLXXXVI) is a common year starting on Friday (click on link to calendar) // Events January 18 - Modern field hockey is born with the formation of The Hockey Association in England. ...
1894 (MDCCCXCIV) was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ...
May 17 is the 137th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (138th in leap years). ...
Year 1836 (MDCCCXXXVI) was a leap year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian Calendar (or a leap year starting on Wednesday of the 12-day slower Julian calendar). ...
Nickname: City of a Hundred Spires Motto: Praga Caput Rei publicae Location within the Czech Republic Coordinates: Country Czech Republic Region Capital City of Prague Founded 9th century Government - Mayor Pavel Bém Area - City 496 km² (191. ...
August 12 is the 224th day of the year (225th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...
Year 1900 (MCM) was an exceptional common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar, but a leap year starting on Saturday of the Julian calendar. ...
NY redirects here. ...
The word Jew ( Hebrew: יהודי) is used in a wide number of ways, but generally refers to a follower of the Jewish faith, a child of a Jewish mother, or someone of Jewish descent with a connection to Jewish culture or ethnicity and often a combination...
Current World Champion, Vladimir Kramnik. ...
This article seems not to be written in the formal tone expected of an encyclopedia entry. ...
Aron Nimzowitsch (also Nimzovich or Niemzowitsch) (November 7, 1886, Riga – March 16, 1935, Denmark) was a chess player of grandmaster strength and a very influential chess writer. ...
Siegbert Tarrasch Siegbert Tarrasch (March 5, 1862 – February 17, 1934) was one of the strongest chess players of the late 19th century and early 20th century. ...
Isidor Gunsberg (Hungary, 1854 – 1930) began his career as the player inside the chess automaton Mephisto but later became a chess professional. ...
Emanuel Lasker (December 24, 1868 – January 11, 1941) was a German World Chess Champion, mathematician, and philosopher born at Berlinchen in Brandenburg (now Barlinek in Poland). ...
Life Born in Prague (today Czech Republic, then Austrian Empire), Steinitz learned chess at age 12. Leaving Prague to study mathematics in Vienna, he began playing serious chess in his twenties.[2] Barely five feet in height, and handicapped by lameness and later arthritis, Steinitz was easy to dislike due to his sharp tongue and violent temper.[3] Nonetheless, after his victory over Adolf Anderssen in their 1866 match, Steinitz was widely acknowledged as the best player in the world.[4] His 1886 match victory over Johannes Zuckertort is considered by most as the first World Chess Championship. Nickname: City of a Hundred Spires Motto: Praga Caput Rei publicae Location within the Czech Republic Coordinates: Country Czech Republic Region Capital City of Prague Founded 9th century Government - Mayor Pavel Bém Area - City 496 km² (191. ...
Anthem: Volkshymne (Peoples Anthem) Capital Vienna Language(s) German Religion Roman Catholic Government Monarchy History - Established 1804 - Disestablished 1867 Flag of the Habsburg Monarchy The Crown of the Austrian Emperor The Austrian Empire (German: ) was an empire centred on what is modern day Austria that officially lasted from 1804...
Adolf Anderssen Karl Ernst Adolf Anderssen (July 6, 1818 - March 13, 1879) was a famous German chess master, one of the most renowned of the classic masters of 19th century chess. ...
1866 (MDCCCLXVI) is a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar or a common year starting on Wednesday of the 12-day-slower Julian calendar. ...
1886 (MDCCCLXXXVI) is a common year starting on Friday (click on link to calendar) // Events January 18 - Modern field hockey is born with the formation of The Hockey Association in England. ...
Jan Herman Zukertort (1842 Lublin - 1888 London) was a leading Polish chess master. ...
Current World Champion, Vladimir Kramnik. ...
Steinitz defended his title from 1886 to 1894, retaining it in four matches against Zuckertort, twice against Mikhail Chigorin and once over Isidor Gunsberg. He lost two matches against Lasker, in 1894 and 1896, who became his successor as world champion. Steinitz adopted a scientific approach to his study of the game. He would formulate his theories in scientific terms and "laws". Mikhail Chigorin (12 November 1850–25 January 1908) was a leading Russian chess player and the first grandmaster from Russia. ...
Isidor Gunsberg (Hungary, 1854 – 1930) began his career as the player inside the chess automaton Mephisto but later became a chess professional. ...
Steinitz became a U.S. citizen on November 23, 1888, having resided for five years in New York, and he changed his first name from Wilhelm to William. Motto: (Out Of Many, One) (traditional) In God We Trust (1956 to date) Anthem: The Star-Spangled Banner Capital Washington D.C. Largest city New York City None at federal level (English de facto) Government Federal constitutional republic - President George Walker Bush (R) - Vice President Dick Cheney (R) Independence from...
November 23 is the 327th day of the year (328th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 38 days remaining. ...
Year 1888 (MDCCCLXXXVIII) was a leap year starting on Sunday (click on link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a leap year starting on Tuesday of the 12-day slower Julian calendar). ...
After losing the world title, Steinitz developed severe mental health problems and spent his last years in a number of institutions in New York, making a series of increasingly bizarre claims (including that he could move the pieces by emitting bolts of electricity from his fingertips). Some claim that he actually died of syphillis,[citation needed] so that may have been a cause of his mental breakdown. His chess activities had not yielded any great financial rewards, and he died a pauper in his adopted home city in 1900. Steinitz is buried in Cemetery of the Evergreens in Brooklyn, New York. Mental states redirects here. ...
The Cemetery of the Evergreens, is a non-denominational cemetery in Brooklyn, New York. ...
Brooklyn (named for the Dutch city Breukelen) is one of the five boroughs of New York City. ...
State nickname: Empire State Other U.S. States Capital Albany Largest city New York Governor George Pataki Official languages None Area 141,205 km² (27th) - Land 122,409 km² - Water 18,795 km² (13. ...
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."[5] Steinitz's fate, and Lasker's keenness to avoid a similar situation of financial ruin, have been cited among the reasons Lasker fought so hard to keep the world championship title. Image File history File links Lasker-Steinitz. ...
Image File history File links Lasker-Steinitz. ...
Emanuel Lasker (December 24, 1868 – January 11, 1941) was a German World Chess Champion, mathematician, and philosopher born at Berlinchen in Brandenburg (now Barlinek in Poland). ...
Contributions to Chess Steinitz began to play professional chess at the age of 26 in England. His play at this time was no different than that of his contemporaries: sharp, aggressive, and full of sacrificial play. In 1873 however, his play suddenly changed. He gave immense concern to what we now call the positional elements in chess: pawn structure, space, outposts for knights, etc. Slowly he perfected his new method of play that helped form him into the first Chess World Champion. Image File history File links Steinitz1866. ...
Image File history File links Steinitz1866. ...
What Steinitz gave to chess could be compared to what Newton gave to Physics: he made it a true science. By isolating a number of positional features on the board, Steinitz came to realize that all brilliant attacks resulted from a weakness in the opponent's defense. By studying and developing the ideas of these positional features, he perfected a new art of defense that sharply elevated the current level of play. Furthermore, he outlined the idea of an attack in chess formed off of what we now know as "Accumulation Theory", the slow addition of many small advantages.
Though it was not immediately evident, Steinitz had just given the chess world its greatest gift. Though tactics were, and still are, the most basic element to strong play, his new theory gave greater opportunity to both defend and use the brilliant combinations the era was renowned for.
When he fought for the first World Championship in 1886 against Zukertort, it became evident that Steinitz was playing on another level. Though he suffered a series of defeats at the beginning of the match, it becomes evident when watching the games who understood the game better (for example, in the third game he was strategically superior but failed to pull it together at the end). Over time however, Steinitz's level of play continued to improve and finished with a solid victory(+10 -5 =5).
Perhaps the evaluation of Steinitz's impact on chess can best be evaluated by a fellow master of strategy, Tigran Petrosian: "The significance of Steinitz's teaching is that he showed that in principle chess has a strictly defined, logical nature." Tigran Petrosian. ...
Notable chess games - Johannes Zukertort vs Wilhelm Steinitz, Ch World (9th game of the match) 1886, Queen's Gambit Declined: Vienna. Quiet Variation (D37), 0-1 A good demonstration of Steinitz' positional principles. Black exchanges his powerful centre for two weak "hanging Pawns" on White's side and creates a powerful pressure against them.
- Wilhelm Steinitz vs Mikhail Chigorin, Havana WCH 1892 (4th game of the match), Spanish Game: General (C65), 1-0 A strategically prepared combinational attack.
- Wilhelm Steinitz vs Curt von Bardeleben, Hastings 1895, Italian Game: Classical Variation. Greco Gambit Traditional Line (C54), 1-0 A great attacking combination. After the 22nd move of White, all White pieces hang, but Black is lost anyway.
Image File history File links Wilhelm_Steinitz. ...
Image File history File links Wilhelm_Steinitz. ...
Notes - ^ See, e.g., Emanuel Lasker, Lasker's Manual of Chess, 2d ed., David McKay Co., New York, 1947, p. 187.
- ^ Harold C. Schoenberg, Grandmasters of Chess, W.W. Norton & Co., New York, Rev. Ed. 1981, p. 99.
- ^ Ibid., p. 96.
- ^ Ibid., p. 96.
- ^ Ibid.
References Edward Winter is a noted journalist and author about chess. ...
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