Capablanca had a gift for chess that may never be seen again. He was able to play beautiful positional games, spiced with deadly tactics, and all at breathtaking speed, at least in his early years. He could see at a glance what other masters struggled with. I have included a couple of his elegant combinations,…
First on the King’s-side: Then on the Queen’s-side: Marshall’s most famous game was this one, not a Queen’s Gambit: When the last move was played, spectators threw gold coins onto the board. Maybe they were settling bets, but I like to think they were appreciating the move!
The first Hastings tournament in 1895 was the strongest tournament up to that time. Every top player was invited and they all turned up: World Champion Lasker, ex-champion Steinitz, Steinitz’ challengers Chigorin and Gunsberg, Lasker’s future challengers Schlechter and Janowsky, the old British Champions Bird, Blackburne and Burn, and the new US Champion, Pillsbury, whom…
Steinitz could do everything well, and Lasker beat Steinitz. So what was Lasker doing? We are used to seeing the many photos of Lasker taken when he was an old man, but we must notice that Lasker was a young man when he beat Steinitz in 1894. So age may have had something to do…
Wilhelm (or William) Steinitz was the first official World Chess Champion in 1886, when he beat Zukertort. He had probably been the best chess player in the world for a long time before then! Andersson was reckoned to be the best player before then, and Steinitz beat Andersson in a match in 1866. So he…
Adolf Anderssen was the best player in the world for a lot of his life, but was never ‘World Champion’ because there was no official match or organisation to arrange an official match. But from the time he won the 1851 London Tournament (the first ever international chess tournament), he was recognised as being the…
