Wilhelm Steinitz
Wilhelm (later
William)
Steinitz (
May 17,
1836,
Prague–
August 12,
1900,
New York) was an
Austrian- chess player and the first official
world chess champion. Known for his original contributions to
chess strategy such as his ideas on positional play, his theories were held in high regard by such disparate chess players as
Aron Nimzowitsch,
Siegbert Tarrasch, and
Emanuel Lasker.
Born in
Prague (today
Czech Republic, then
Austrian Empire), Steinitz was regarded the best player in the world ever since his victory over
Adolf Anderssen in their
1866 match. His
1886 match victory over
Johannes Zuckertort is considered by most as the first
World Chess Championship.
Steinitz defended his title from
1886 to
1894, retaining it in four matches against Zuckertort,
Mikhail Chigorin (two times) and
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".
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.
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 his having won—at
pawn odds!—a game of chess with
God conducted via an invisible
telephone line and that he could move the pieces by emitting bolts of electricity from his fingertips). 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.
Lasker, who took the championship from Steinitz, once said, "I who defeated Steinitz shall do justice to his theories, and I shall avenge the wrongs he suffered." 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.
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.
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
Johann Hermann 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."
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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.
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Wilhelm Steinitz vs Mikhail Chigorin, Havana WCH 1892 (4th game of the match), Spanish Game: General (C65), 1-0 A strategically prepared combinational attack.
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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 22th move of White, all White pieces hang, but Black is lost anyway.
World chess champions by
Edward G. Winter, editor. 1981 ISBN 0080249041
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Relative Value of Pieces and Principles of Play from
The Modern Chess Instructor by Wilhelm Steinitz
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Wilhelm Steinitz download 75 of his games in pgn format.
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Steinitz's games at muljadi.org*
30 Crucial Positions from His Games*
View 392 Wilhelm Steinitz Games*
Steinitz biography
