THE HISTORY OF CHESS, PART 1

Greco

The path that chess took from the Italian school to the Botvinnik period and to today, resembles the path that a beginner takes to becoming a GM. In the 1600’s, the leading player was Gioachhino Greco, who played with such an attacking style that EVERYONE played like this before Philidor.

Philidor

The French player Francis Andre Danican Philidor was born in 1726 and was the first to use actual STRATEGIY in chess. He came up with many strategies involving pawns (pawns in front, pieces in back) and was the best player in the 1700s.

Who’s the best?

Philidor died in 1795, so no one knew who the best player was in Europe. Eventually 2 people became the best by far; Louis Charles de la Bourdonnais(background) and Alexander McDonnell. La Bourdonnais won a match between them for the title of “world champion,” at the time, by the score of +45 -27 =13 in 1834. But McDonnell died a year later, and LaBourdonnais 5 years after that, so again there was no strongest player in the world.

Who’s the best now?

After the deaths of LaBourdonnais and McDonnell, the 2 best players in the world were Pierre Charles de Saint-Amant (left) and Howard Staunton (right). A match was organized between them in 1843. The winner would be the first to win 11 games. Most people thought that Saint-Amant would win, but after eight games the score was 7-0 in Staunton’s favor! After the 15th game it was 10-3 in Staunton’s favor and he was only one win away from the match. Saint-Amant won the 16th game, and after draws in the 17th and 18th, also the 19th! The score was now 10-5 in Staunton’s favor! In the very next game, Saint-Amant won again, and the score was now 10-6! What was going on? All of Staunton’s fans panicked, but Staunton won the 21st game in grand style and won the match 11-6. Staunton then crushed all of the other great players and proceeded to organize the first international chess tournament in 1851.

London 1851

This tournament was held on the knockout system with 16 players. In the first round, it was first to win 2 games (draws not counting), and in all the other rounds, first to win 4. Saint-Amant was unable to play, and the Berlin Chess Society decided to replace the German superstar Tassilo von der Lasa with the unknown (at the time) Adolf Anderssen (background). In the first round the later-to-be-important Anderssen beat Kieseritzky +2 =1. The following day, Anderssen played a series of friendly games with Kieseritzky, and played the famous Immortal Game. In the next round, Anderssen lost his first 2 games to Szen, but then won the next 4 games to take this match. And then, in the semi-final, Anderssen was to play against Staunton! To the shock of everyone, Anderssen won the first 3 games! A little consolation was provided by Anderssen blundering into a mate in one in the next game, but Anderssen won the next game and the match +4 -1. Anderssen then beat Wyvill in the final +4 -2 =1 and thus won the tournament.

What to look forward to next

In The History of Chess, part 2, I will examine what happened after London 1851, the rise of Anderssen and Morphy, the Morphy-Anderssen match, and much, much more!