Chess Classics: Steinitz-Zukertort World Championship 1886

With his convincing win against Adolf Anderssen in 1858, Paul Morphy had proven to be the strongest player of the mid-18th century. However, the chess world still never had an official world champion. That changed in 1886.

Around that time, Wilhelm Steinitz of Prague, Bohemia (now Czech Republic) could make the strongest claim for being the unofficial world champion. He had beaten Anderssen, Blackburne and Zukertort in matches after Morphy had returned to the United States, and said goodbye to the royal game.

Steinitz, who had emigrated to the United States in 1883, managed to convince his opponent to play an official world championship match in his new country. The winner would be the first to win 10 games.

Johannes Zukertort came from Lublin, Russian Empire (now Poland) but became a naturalised citizen of the United Kingdom in 1878. He was a soldier, musician, linguist, journalist, and political activist who sadly died at 45.

The match took place in New York (games 1-5), St. Louis (games 6-9) and New Orleans (games 10-20). Steinitz became the first official world champion on March 29, 1886 when he won game 20.