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By
GM Yuri Averbakh, Yuri Zelenkov |
On the Occasion of the Kasparov - Kramnik Match
Part 2: Steinitz
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W.
Steinitz | The second
half of the Nineteenth Century was characterized by the
intensification of chess life in Western Europe. In 1851, in
connection with an international exhibition, the first international
tournament in chess history took place in London. Sixteen chess
players from four countries participated in it. The tournament’s
champion, A.Andersen, was considered the strongest European chess
player.
In 1858 America’s strongest chess player, the winner of
the first American Chess Congress, Paul Morphy, came to Europe.
After a series of victories over the English top masters, he played
Andersen in Paris.
This contest between the two continents’
strongest players can be considered the first, though informal,
world championship match. The rivals decided to play till one of
them won seven victories, draws not counting. And there was no time
control. The match took nine days and finished after the eleventh
game, the score being +7-2=2 in favor of the American player. The
shortest (ninth) game lasted only half an hour. The longest (sixth)
one –- lasted eight hours, though there were only 42 moves made in
it. Morphy’s second was Saint-Amand.
Returning to the USA,
Morphy soon gave up chess, and the second London international
tournament, which took place in 1862, brought Andersen another
victory. At the same time an array of other strong chess players
emerged in Europe, and the question concerning chess leadership
appeared on the agenda again. In the early 1860s, Wilhelm Steinitz,
who was born in Prague, migrated to England and became hugely
successful.
In 1866 the managers of the English clubs
organized his match with Andersen. The match continued till one of
the opponents won eight victories. W.Steinitz came out on top,
scoring 8:6, but the public was not yet prepared to recognize the
winner as the world’s best chess player. Twenty years passed before
the official world championship match was organized. In the 1870s –
1880s the German player Johann Zukertort distinguished himself as
one of Europe’s strongest masters. He soon migrated to England too.
It was not until J.Zukertort’s impressive victory at a large
international tournament in London (1883), where the world’s
strongest chess players participated, that W.Steinitz (who ranked
second at that competition, being three points behind Zukertort)
challenged Zukertort to a match and suggested that the winner of the
match be called the world champion.
The first official world
championship match between W.Steinitz and J.Zukertort was organized
by a special committee which worked out the match’s program and
regulations. It came about in 1886, 28 years after the A.Andersen –
P.Morphy match. It was this first world championship match that
proved the importance of organizational arrangements, and above all,
regulations. It took two and a half years to organize the match. We
can assume, though, that not all of this time was spent solely in
organizing the match, and that there were other reasons for the
organizational period’s being so prolonged. We can assume that most
probably P.Morphy still retained his competitive spirit, and the
chess community’s recognition of the match’s winner as champion was
needed badly while the chess genius was still alive.
The
following world championship matches proved that their organization
took months and sometimes more than a year, and that there should be
a special organizing group to hold them. At first, world
championship matches were held by various organizations. As
mentioned above, the first Steinitz – Zukertort match was held by a
special committee, but the following matches were organized by chess
clubs and at merchants’ expense. So the matches’ organizers were as
follows:
The first and second Steinitz – Chigorin matches
---- The Havana Chess Club
The Steinitz – Gunberg match ----
The Manhattan Chess Club
The Lasker – Steinitz match ---- The
USA chess clubs
The Lasker – Steinitz rematch ---- The Moscow
Chess Circle under the supervision of merchants, including
M.Bostanjoglo
The tournament’s organizers first of all had to
face a financial problem. More to the point, chess was not so
popular back in those times as it is today. The public was more
attracted by other sports, where people could bet on games and
competitions. Surely holding world championship matches boosted
chess’ popularity, and simultaneously opened new opportunities of
obtaining additional financial resources for organizing and holding
matches. So they were very often held in a succession of cities: New
York, Saint Louis, and New Orleans. The overall length of the match
was gradually increased -– a forced necessity at that time.
In the late Nineteenth Century a total of six matches were
held in eleven years. Their length (in days) was as follows:
Steinitz – Zukertort ---- 76 (including migrations and days
off)
Steinitz – Chigorin ---- 34
Steinitz – I.Gunberg ----
43
Steinitz – Chigorin ---- 57
Lasker – Steinitz ----
71
Lasker – Steinitz (rematch) ---- 67 (owing to Steinitz’s
illness)
In order to become world champion, a chess player
had to beat the sitting champion. How were the candidates for
playing in such matches selected? In those times there were no
formal regulations, and as a rule the champion himself chose an
opponent from among those who, in his opinion, most deserved to
participate in such a match. Otherwise he was granted this right by
the competition organizers who provided the prize money. Thus, the
Havana Chess Club suggested that Steinitz should designate his
future adversary himself, and the world champion chose Russia’s
strongest chess player M.Chigorin, who scored +3-1 playing him in
tournament games. Lasker’s way was different. After his success in a
series of tournaments he challenged Tarrash, but was refused: The
latter believed that Lasker should first win a more serious
tournament. So Lasker set off for the USA, hoping to play the world
champion there. He achieved success again in two years, and at last
he beat America’s champion, Showalter (+6-2=1). Thus he obtained the
right to play Steinitz in a match.
As we have already mentioned,
world championship matches continued till one of the opponents won a
certain number of victories or a certain number of games were
played. These two tendencies go hand in hand throughout chess
history. At first the preference was given to the former, the number
of victories not exceeding ten. Draws did not count. But from the
very first matches an attempt was made to impose certain limits on
the overall length of the competition. In the second Steinitz –
Chigorin match a rule was introduced to the effect that when
opponents scored 9:9, they had to play three more games to make the
victory more persuasive. Beginning from the sixth draw, each of the
rivals scored half a point.
It is interesting to note that
however the first matches were conducted, their outcome was
basically determined by the twentieth game, and the winner’s
advantage ranged from +2 to +8. And though the matches, played till
a certain number of victories were won, were more prolonged, they
were at the same time more hard-edged. The maximum number of draws
in these games made up 30%, whereas it came to nearly 50% in the
matches with a limited number of games. |
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When
the first world championship matches were held, the time control did
not experience considerable changes, and as a rule set aside 1 hour
for 15 moves, there being many variations. For example, in the
Steinitz – Zukertort match 2 hours were allotted for 30 moves,
followed by 1 hour for 15 moves; and in the first Steinitz –
Chigorin match the control was exercised every hour, and the
participant also had to make 15 moves. As early as in the first
match, a mechanical clock with two faces was used for controlling
time.
The Nineteenth Century’s last match was the Lasker –
Steinitz rematch. It was conducted in Moscow in late 1896 – early
1897. The next world championship match took place only 10 years
later, but you will learn about that in our following issue.
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See related articles:
On the Occasion of the Kasparov - Kramnik Match (8/17/2000)
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