Play Chess Against Wilhelm Steinitz

Wilhelm Steinitz (1836-1900), the first official world champion and founder of positional chess, sits across the board. Set the strength, clock, color and starting position, then press Start game.

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Portrait of Wilhelm Steinitz — Wilhelm Steinitz, 1836-1900.

Black · Wilhelm Steinitz10:00

Choose the settings, then press Start game.

White · You10:00

Wilhelm Steinitzhistorical player

Preparing the board.

Set the game on the right. Start unlocks the board and starts the side-to-move clock.

Set up your game against Wilhelm Steinitz

Wilhelm Steinitz stays selected. Choose the playing strength, clock, color and starting position.

OpponentWilhelm SteinitzStrength1500Clock10+5You playWhite

Opponent

Wilhelm Steinitz remains selected while you choose the settings for this game.

Wilhelm Steinitz1836-1900

Playing strength

Legend playing strength100-point steps

1500

1500Steinitz, 1500 Elo target2600

Time control

The first number is the starting time in minutes. The second is the increment after each completed legal move.

Your color

Starting position optional

All chess legends

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About Wilhelm Steinitz

Wilhelm Steinitz with New Orleans chess players

Wilhelm Steinitz (1836-1900) was the first official world chess champion and the man who turned chess into a science. Born poor in the Prague ghetto, he rose through Vienna and London, beat Johannes Zukertort in the first recognized title match in 1886 and held the crown for eight years. His doctrine that a sound attack must grow from accumulated small advantages overthrew the romantic era and became the grammar of modern chess. He died penniless in New York in 1900.

First world championBeat Zukertort in 1886 in the first officially recognized title match

Champion for eight yearsHeld the crown from 1886 to 1894, beating Chigorin twice and Gunsberg once

Father of positional chessTaught that attacks must rest on the accumulation of small advantages

Whitewashed BlackburneWon all seven games of their 1876 match, a rout without equal among elite rivals

1836
Born in the Prague ghetto
Wilhelm Steinitz was born in May 1836, one of a tailor's many sons, and learned chess as a boy.
1861
Champion of Vienna
Won the Vienna championship and was soon being called the Austrian Morphy for his dashing attacks.
1866
Beats Anderssen
Defeated Adolf Anderssen 8-6 in a London match with no draws, a result many historians treat as the start of his time as the world's best player.
1873
A new chess is born
Won at Vienna after a playoff with Joseph Blackburne, now playing the patient positional style that would change the game forever.
1876
Seven straight against Blackburne
Won their match 7-0 without a draw, the most crushing result ever inflicted between two elite masters.
1886
First world champion
Beat Johannes Zukertort 10-5 in a match across New York, St. Louis and New Orleans, the first officially recognized world championship.
1889
Defends the crown
Beat Mikhail Chigorin in Havana, then defended again against Isidor Gunsberg and Chigorin once more by 1892.
1894
Lasker takes the title
Lost the championship to the young Emanuel Lasker and failed to regain it in the 1896-97 rematch in Moscow.
1900
Dies in New York
Died penniless on 12 August 1900. Every positional idea taught today, from weak squares to the good knight, descends from his writings.