Baden-Baden 1870 - Johan Steenkamp
Baden-Baden 1870
The six games picked for this instalment are from the famous Baden-Baden tournament of 1870. The tournament is famous for several reason, but not for any of the six games I will present here. There is, however, a justification for the selection.
Baden-Baden 1870 was, by far, the strongest tournament of all time in 1870. The old master Adolf Anderssen was the favourite and he had a point to prove against a young Wilhelm Steinitz of the new generation, who beat him in a match in London in 1866 (6-8, with no draws). Also in the field was Joseph Blackburne, Louis Paulsen, Szyman Winawer, and Samuel Rosenthal – all famous masters. But Anderssen’s most dangerous opponent was Gustav Neumann, the form player of the last decade.
The tournament was significant for the chess world. Ten years after the retirement of Morphy and despite the Steinitz – Anderssen match of 1866, opinions as to who was the strongest player in the world were divided. Three players had a good claim on the title: Anderssen the best players of the previous generation, Steinitz, who was a brilliant match player, and Gustav Neumann, who was the most consistent winner of tournaments. Baden-Baden would see the three best exponents of Romantic Chess meet at the height of their powers and at the last tournament dominated by the Romantic style. Three years later, at Vienna 1873, Neumann would have been struck down by mental illness, time would have caught up with Anderssen and Steinitz would introduce the world to the new “positional” style.
We will look at the six games played between Anderssen, Neumann and Steinitz. These games were played early in the tournament and the sporting aspect of the result was not yet a concern. The general level of play was also not very high, and the games are marred by several blunders. Despite some passages of interesting play, none of the games display brilliancy of the invention of a new way to understand chess. We are looking at these games because they are the best representation of chess from the Romantic period. There are no sublime sacrifices to distract us, no brilliant conception to divert our attention, and no dramatic final round concerns to confuse us. These are the kind of messy games played by most players in most tournaments.
The tournament was to be played as a 10-player double round robin between 18 July and 4 August. It was also the first tournament, as far as I can tell, where the participants were obliged to hand in their score sheets and where clocks were used. The tournament was almost cancelled because of the imminent war. Now called the Franco-Prussian War between the second French Empire of Napoleon III and the North German Confederation. The players, however, agreed to play, according to the Neue Berliner Schachzeitung under the editorship of Johannes Minckwitz, one of the participants. Baden-Baden was part of the Grand Duchy of Baden, at that time, and they sided with the North German Confederation. Hostilities broke out very close to Badan-Baden just across the Rhine, in fact, and apparently some games were played with the sound of heavy artillery in the background. War was officially declared on 19 July, the day of the second round, but the only impact it had on the tournament was the withdrawal of Adolf Stern, who was called up by the army after playing only four games. He played Minckwitz (1-1), and Steinitz (0.5-1.5).
Baden-Baden 1870 saw the introduction of timed tournament games. Chess clocks have already been invented by 1870, first in the form of “sandglasses”, but soon also in the form we are used to. Originally players were only fined for taking too long to move, but at Baden-Baden overstepping the time limit was now penalised by forfeiting the game. Some players did, in fact, lose on time and in more than one game, a player refused to win on time, considering it poor form. Time control was 20 moves per hour per player and 15 minutes for a comfort break every four hours. Importantly, Baden-Baden 1870 predates adjournments. Play commenced at 09:00 in the morning and play would continue until the game was over.
Game 1
Game 2
Game 3
