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World Chess Championship 1886 |  
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 were a number of "unofficial" world championship matches held between the undisputed leading players of the day, but talk of an official World Championship did not occur prior to the 1866 match between Steinitz and Adolf Anderssen. Steinitz won that match (+8 -6 =0) and although he made no known reference to a "World Championship" at the time, in later life he would sometimes backdate the tenure of his reign to the date of the Anderssen match. However, most historians now accept that the 1886 match between Steinitz and Zukertort was the first official World Championship match
Preparations 
At the London 1883 chess tournament, a prestigious 14-player, double-round, all-play-all tournament, Zukertort was the convincing winner with 22/26, ahead of Steinitz (19/26), Blackburne (16½/22) and Chigorin (16/22). In many respects, the event resembled a modern day Candidates Tournament, in that most of the world's leading players took part and the top two cemented their reputations as contenders for a world title.
(A common story relates to an incident that occurred at the tournament banquet, when the St. George Chess Club President proposed a toast to the best chess player in the world and both Steinitz and Zukertort stood up at the same time to thank him. Research by Edward G. Winter suggests that this story has been embellished.)
The following year saw the death of Paul Morphy and so finally, nothing stood in the way of a first official World Championship match between the two rivals. As there was a degree of hostility between them, the match arrangements were somewhat protracted and lasted almost 3 years. Disagreement over the choice of venue was resolved when Steinitz finally persuaded Zukertort to accept the USA over London, his new place of residence. This was mostly due to the better conditions offered to the players by the American organisers. Zukertort was given the princely sum of $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.
The match was to use the same chess clock as 3 years earlier and the time limit was determined as 30 moves in 2 hours, followed by another 15 moves in each subsequent hour. 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.
The match
Play commenced on January 11th, 1886 at 14.00 hours, in the Cartiers Academy Hall, No. 80, Fifth Avenue, New York. After the first five games, the venue switched to St. Louis for a further four. With the match result still in the balance (4-4, with one draw), the concluding chapter was played out in New Orleans, by which time Zukertort was said to be living on his wits, physically fatigued and approaching mental breakdown. Steinitz on the other hand, appeared to be playing more robustly, with a bottomless pit of mental stamina. His strategic mastery quickly took control of the match and he wrapped things up with a further six wins, four draws and just one defeat. The final game ended on March 29th, 1886 when Zukertort tended his resignation and congratulated the new 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. Two years later, Zukertort died of a heart attack. |
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