Wilhelm Steinitz (1836 - 1900)
The
Austrian was chess world master 1886 through 1894; he was the first official
world master of chess history. Steinitz was born in Prague on May 17, 1836
and died in New York in 1900. He began his studies in Wien, and then later
became a chess pro. He customarily played the traditional combinations. In
1862, he participated in the Congress of the English chess association as
the representative of Wien. There he recieved sixth place. He stayed in England
where he was superior to every English master. He defeated Adolph
Anderssen, who was considered to be the best chess player in 1866. From
that time on, Steinitz called himself the "world master". But he was not accepted
as world master because the genial American Paul Morphy was still alive. Steinitz
fascinated everyone through his perfect defensive game and his skill to take
advantage of the mistakes made by his enemies.
Later Steinitz changed from a combination- to a position player. He discerned that you can not attack until you have achieved an advantage. In1882, Steinitz immigrated to the USA and settled down in New York. During the first official world championship in 1886 in the USA, Steinitz defeated the Pole Johannes Zukertort 10:5 and became the first official world champion. He defended his title three times: in 1889 against Tschigorin, in 1890 against Gunsberg and in 1892 again against Tschigorin. But in 1894 Steinitz lost his world master title to the German Emanuel Lasker. The fight ended 10:5 for the challenger. The rematch 1896/1897 was also won by Lasker with 10:2. He could not bear this defeat and so had to be admitted to an insane asylum supposedly because he challenged God to play with him.