World Championship Contenders: Matches and Tournaments
Unofficial Champions (pre-1886)
The first match that was agreed to be the first World Championship match was Johannes Zukertort (defendant, winner of 1883 London tournament) vs. Wilhelm (William) Steinitz (challenger). However, there were reigning masters before this match, and those were unofficial champions. Such masters are:
- Franci de Castellví
- Narcís Vinyoles
- Bernat Fenollar
- Francesc Vicent
- Luis Ramirez de Lucena
- Pedro Damiano
- Ruy López de Segura
- El Morro
- Leonardo da Cutro
- Paolo Boi
- Giulio Polerio
- Alessandro Salvio
- Gioachino Greco
- Pietro Carrera
- Alexander Cunningham (in Dutch)
- Legall de Kermeur
- François-André Danican Philidor
- Johann Baptist Allgaier
- Verdoni
- Jacob Henry Sarratt
- Alexandre Deschapelles
- Louis-Charles Mahé de La Bourdonnais
- Alexander McDonnell
- Pierre Charles Fournier de Saint-Amant
- Howard Staunton
- Adolf Anderssen
- Paul Morphy
- Adolf Anderssen
- Wilhelm Steinitz
- Johannes Zukertort
WILHELM STEINITZ (1836-1900)
Tournament Results (Notes, Tournament Name, Date, Place, Score)
| Date | Location | Place | Score | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1859 | Viennachampionship | 3rd | ??? | Behind Carl Hamppe and Eduard Jenay. |
| 1860 | Vienna championship | 2nd | ??? | Hamppe won. |
| 1861 | Vienna championship | 1st | 30/31 | |
| 1862 | London International Tournament | 6th | 8/13 | Behind Adolf Anderssen, Louis Paulsen, John Owen, George Alcock MacDonnell and Serafino Dubois. Draws were not scored in this tournament. Steinitz was awarded the brilliancy prize for his win over Augustus Mongredien. |
| 1862 | London championship | 1st | 7/7 | |
| 1865 | Dublin | 1st-2nd | 3½/4 | Tied with MacDonnell. |
| 1866 | London handicap tournament | 1st | 8/9 | Steinitz won against Cecil Valentine De Vere (2-1), MacDonnell (2-0), Mocatta (2-0) - Steinitz gave odds of pawn and move, and in the final S. Green (2-0) - Steinitz gave odds of pawn and two moves. |
| 1867 | Dundeehandicap tournament | 1st-2nd | 3/3 | Tied with J.C. Fraser. Steinitz won against MacDonnell (1-0), Keating (1-0) - Steinitz gave odds of a knight, and Scott (1-0) - Steinitz gave odds of a knight. |
| 1867 | Dundee | 2nd | 7/9 | Behind Neumann (7½/9); ahead of MacDonnell, De Vere, Joseph Henry Blackburne, Robertson, J.C. Fraser, G.B. Fraser, Hamel and Spens. |
| 1867 | Paris | 3rd | (+18 −3 =3) | Draws counted as zero; third behind Ignaz von Kolisch (+20 −2 =2) and Szymon Winawer (+19 −4 =1); ; ahead of Gustav Neumann, De Vere, Jules Arnous de Rivière, Hieronim Czarnowski,Celso Golmayo Zúpide, Samuel Rosenthal, Sam Loyd, D'Andre, Martin Severin From, andEugène Rousseau. |
| 1870 | Baden-Baden | 2nd | 12½/18 | Behind Anderssen (13/18); ahead of Neumann, Blackburne, Louis Paulsen, De Vere, Szymon Winawer, Rosenthal and Johannes von Minckwitz. |
| 1872 | London | 1st | 7½/8 | Ahead of Blackburne (5/8), Johannes Zukertort, MacDonnell and De Vere. |
| 1873 | Vienna | 1st-2nd | 10/11: 20½/25 | Tied with Blackburne (10/11: 22½/30) and won the play-off 2-0; ahead of Anderssen (8½/11: 19/30), Rosenthal (7½/11: 17/28), Louis Paulsen, Henry Edward Bird, Heral, Max Fleissig,Philipp Meitner, Adolf Schwarz, Oscar Gelbfuhs and Karl Pitschel. This tournament had a very unusual scoring system: each player played a 3-game mini-match with each of the others and scored 1 for a won mini-match and ½ for a drawn mini-match. Steinitz won his last 14 games and therefore completed his mini-matches by playing fewer games than anyone else. The numbers before the colons (:) are the points awarded; the other 2 numbers are the usual "games won / games played" scoring. |
| 1882 | Vienna | 1st-2nd | 24/34 | Tied with Winawer and drew the play-off; ahead of Mason (23/34), Zukertort (22½/34), Mackenzie, Blackburne, Berthold Englisch, Paulsen and others including Mikhail Chigorin and Bird. |
| 1883 | London | 2nd | 19/26 | Behind Zukertort (22/26); ahead of Blackburne (16½/24), Chigorin 16/24, Englisch (15½/24), Mackenzie (15½/24), Mason (15½/24), Rosenthal, Winawer, Bird and four others. |
| 1894 | New Yorkchampionship | 1st | 8½/10 | After losing the world title to Emanuel Lasker. |
| 1895 | Hastings | 5th | 13/21 | Behind Harry Nelson Pillsbury (16½/24), Chigorin (16/21), Emanuel Lasker (15½/21), Siegbert Tarrasch (14/21); ahead of Emanuel Schiffers (12/21), Curt von Bardeleben (11½/21), Richard Teichmann (11½/21), Carl Schlechter (11/21), Blackburne (10½/21), Carl August Walbrodt,Amos Burn, Dawid Janowski, Mason, Bird, Isidore Gunsberg, Adolf Albin, Georg Marco,William Pollock, Jacques Mieses, Samuel Tinsley and Beniamino Vergani. |
| 1895-96 | Saint Petersburg | 2nd | 9½/18 | Behind Emanuel Lasker (11½/18); ahead of Pillsbury (8/18) and Chigorin (7/18). The world's top 4 players played 6 games against each of the others. |
| 1896 | Nuremberg | 6th | 11/18 | Behind Emanuel Lasker 13½/18, Géza Maróczy (12½/18), Pillsbury (12/18), Tarrasch (12/18), Janowski (11½/18); ahead of Walbrodt, Schiffers, Chigorin, Blackburne, Rudolf Charousek, Marco, Albin, Winawer, Jackson Showalter, Moritz Porges, Emil Schallopp and Teichmann. |
| 1897 | New York | 1st-2nd | 2½/4 | A triangular "Thousand Islands" tournament; tied with S. Lipschütz and ahead of William Ewart Napier. |
| 1898 | Vienna | 4th | 23½/36 | Behind Tarrasch (27½/36), Pillsbury (27½/36), Janowski (25½/36); ahead of Schlechter, Chigorin, Burn, Paul Lipke, Maroczy, Simon Alapin, Blackburne, Schiffers, Marco, Showalter, Walbrodt, Alexander Halprin, Horatio Caro, David Graham Baird and Herbert William Trenchard. |
| 1898 | Cologne | 5th | 9½/15 | Behind Burn, Charousek, Chigorin and Wilhelm Cohn; ahead of Schlechter, Showalter, Johann Berger, Janowski and Schiffers. |
| 1899 | London | 10-11th | 11½/27 | Behind Emanuel Lasker (23½/27), Janowski (19/27), Maróczy (19/27), Pillsbury (19/27), Schlechter (18/27), Blackburne (16½/27), Chigorin (16/27), Showalter (13½/27), Mason (13/27). This was the first time he had not won any prize money since 1859. |
Match results
| Date | Opponent | Result | Location | Score | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1860 | Eduard Jenay | Drew | Vienna | 2/4 | 2 : 2 | |
| 1860 | Max Lange | Won | Vienna | 3/3 | +3−0=0 | |
| 1862 | Serafino Dubois | Won | London | 5½/9 | +5−3=1 | |
| 1862 | Adolf Anderssen | Lost | London | 1/3 | +1−2=0 | Offhand games |
| 1862–63 | Joseph Henry Blackburne | Won | London | 8/10 | +7−1=2 | Only 2 years after Blackburne started playing chess. |
| 1863 | Frederic Deacon | Won | London | 5½/7 | +5−1=1 | |
| 1863 | Augustus Mongredien | Won | London | 7/7 | +7−0=0 | |
| 1863–64 | Valentine Green | Won | London | 8/9 | +7−0=2 | |
| 1865 | James Robey | Won | London | 4/5 | 4 : 1 | |
| 1866 | Adolf Anderssen | Won | London | 8/14 | +8−6=0 | As a result of this win Steinitz was generally regarded as the world's best player.[8] |
| 1866 | Henry Edward Bird | Won | London | 9½/17 | +7−5=5 | |
| 1867 | George Brunton Fraser | Won | Dundee | 4/6 | +3−1=2 | |
| 1870 | Blackburne | Won | London | 5½/6 | +5−0=1 | |
| 1872 | Johannes Zukertort | Won | London | 9/12 | +7−1=4 | |
| 1873 | Blackburne | Won | Vienna | 2/2 | +2−0=0 | Play-off match. |
| 1876 | Blackburne | Won | London | 7/7 | +7−0=0 | |
| 1882 | Szymon Winawer | Drew | Vienna | 1/2 | 1 : 1 | Play-off match. |
| 1882 | Dion Martinez | Won | Philadelphia | 7/7 | +7−0=0 | |
| 1882 | Alexander Sellman | Won | Baltimore | 3½/5 | +2−0=3 | |
| 1883 | George Henry Mackenzie | Won | New York | 4/6 | +3−1=2 | |
| 1883 | Martinez | Won | Philadelphia | 4½/7 | +3−1=3 | |
| 1883 | Celso Golmayo Zúpide | Won | Havana | 9/11 | 9 : 2 | |
| 1883 | Martinez | Won | Philadelphia | 10/11 | 10 : 1 | |
| 1885 | Alexander Sellman | Won | Baltimore | 3/3 | +3−0=0 | |
| 1886 | Zukertort | Won | New York, St.Louisand New Orleans | 12½/20 | +10−5=5 | World Chess Championship 1886; the contract for this match said it was "for the Championship of the World".[8] |
| 1888 | Alberto Ponce | Won | Havana | 4/5 | 4 : 1 | |
| 1888 | Andrés Vásquez | Won | Havana |
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