The World Chess Championship 1886 was the first official World Chess Championship match contested by Wilhelm Steinitz and Johannes Zukertort. The match took place in the USA, the first five games being played in New York, the next four being played in St.Louis and the final eleven in New Orleans. The winner was the first player to achieve ten wins. Wilhelm Steinitz won the match 10-5, winning his tenth game in the twentieth game of the match (with five losses and five draws).

 

Background

Previously there have been many matches between the leading players on the world, but none of them was called "the world championship" at that time. By 1880's two players could (and have) claimed to being the best on the world - Wilhelm Steinitz and Johannes Zukertort.

Players

Wilhelm SteinitzWilhelm Steinitz's claim for being the best player on the world was based on his match records where he won against all the leading players of that time (including Zukertort), however his tournament play at that time, was less succesful. Later in his life Steinitz claimed to have been the world champion since 1866 match against Adolf Anderssen (the leading player before and after the brief Paul Morphy era), but there is no evidence that he claimed that at that time. Besides Steinitz claimed a lot of things in the last years of his life (including that he played against God and won - at pawn odds)

Johannes ZukertortJohannes Hermann Zukertort's claim for being the best is based on his tournament results, specially on the 1883 London tournament* where he won convincingly ahead of all the leadning players of that time (including Steinitz).

* - in those days the drawn games were replayed. If the game was still drawn, it was replayed again. If the third game was also drawn the result would stand (no wonder it took almost 3 months to finish the tournament ). Some games were not played.

In this tournament the doubled-sided chess clocks were used for the first time.

Preparations

Steinitz and Zukertort didn't like each other, so the negotiations for the match dragged on for a long time. At the end they finally agreed to play in the USA (Zukertort prefered London). Zukertort was given 750$ to make the trip across the Atlantic and the winner of the match was promised a quarter of the proceeds from the betting syndication. Steinitz insisted that this match is "for the championship of the world". It was the first match to be called the World championship beforehand - thats why this match is considered as the first 'official' World championship.

For the first time in chess history, a demonstration board measuring approximately 1 metre square was erected above the players, so that the spectators could follow the game while remaining in their seats.

Match Conditions:

• The stakes were $2000 per side.
• The time limit was 30 moves in two hours, and 15 moves an hour thereafter.
• Playing sessions were 8 hours a day, with a 2 hour interval after 4 hours.
• Games 1-5 were played in New York, Games 6-9 in Saint Louis, and Games 10-20 in New Orleans from January 11 to March 29, 1886.
• First to win 10 games becomes the World Champion
• In the event of a 9-9 tie, neither player is World champion

The Match

View/ Download Games

In case you are wondering about the flags:

Steinitz was born in Bohemia (today's Czech Republic) which was then part of the Austrian Empire (later Austro-Hungarian Empire). In 1860's he moved to London where he was resident until moving to USA in 1883. Though it was not until 1888 that he became an American citizen, Steinitz wanted (and did have) the US flag to be placed next to him during the match. But legally he was a British citizen at the time of the match.

Zukertort was born in Congress Poland (protectorate of the Russian Empire), but soon emigrated to Prussia (which was in 1871 unified into the German Empire). In 1872 he moved to London where he lived for the rest of his life. It is not entirely clear if he actually was a British citizen, so he might have been playing under the flag of German Empire.

Although being 1-4 down after 5 games, Steinitz ended up winning convincigly 10 wins to 5 (with 5 draws), thus becoming the first official World Champion.

In the aftermath, it was apparent that Zukertort's play had been overly impulsive; he had regularly taken half the time of Steinitz and it is likely that this was connected to a heart condition he had carried since childhood. Zukertort himself blamed his failure on the climate, explaining that he did fine in New York (4-1), not as well in Saint Louis (0.5-3.5), and fell apart in the New Orleans(3-8) heat. A rematch was discussed, but never took place, as Zukertort died two years later of a heart attack.

Impact on the Future

Obviously this match started an unbroken line (the successor always defeating previous champion in a match*) of World champions until Alekhine's death in 1946.

* - there is a little twist here concearning Lasker and Capablanca (we'll come to this match later)

For his 1975 title defence against Karpov, Bobby Fischer demanded that the match is played under the same rules as this 1886 Steinitz-Zukertort match. That where his 9-9 tie clause cames from, but with the slight difference - if the 1886 match would be tied at 9-9 neither player would be World champion, on the other hand a 9-9 tie in 1975 would mean that the reigning champion (Fischer) keeps the title, meaning that the challenger has to win with at least two games margin.

< Prev