Adolf Anderssen (1818 - 1879) Great Tacticians

Born in Breslau, Germany. Adolf Anderssen is considered to be one of the greatest combinative players of all time. In the course of his long tournament and match career, he won the first big international tournaments (London, 1851) and was considered to be the strongest player in the world until his defeat in the match play by the American Paul Morphy in 1858. He also won first prizes at Manchester in 1862 and Baden-Baden in 1870, at the age of 60.

       In 1877, Anderssen received a very rare honour from German chess players, who organised a tournament to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Anderssen's first chess game. He showed that he had learned the game well by tying for second and third place in the tournament at the advanced age of 59.

Anderssen-Zukertort Berlin, 1869

The following example shows how Anderssen typically hacked his opponent to bits. In the diagram, material is even, but Black's minor pieces are out of battle and White's pieces and pawns are threatening the Black King. Seeing his chance for a strange back rank checkmate, Anderssen lures Black's King into the open with 1. Qxh7+! kxh7 (now 2.Rh3+ allows 2...Qh6, so White prevents Black's Queen from defending) 2.f6+! Kg8 3.Bh7+! 3...Kxh7 4.Rh3+ Kg8 5.Rh8 CHECKMATE.