Editing Chess (section)

===1700–1873: Romantic era===
[[File:immortal Game, 1851.gif|thumb|right|240px|The "[[Immortal Game]]", Anderssen vs. Kieseritzky, 1851]]
In the 18th century, the center of European chess life moved from Southern Europe to mainland France.{{citation needed|date=February 2025}} The two most important French masters were [[François-André Danican Philidor]], a musician by profession, who discovered the importance of pawns for chess strategy, and later [[Louis-Charles Mahé de La Bourdonnais]], who won a famous series of matches against Irish master [[Alexander McDonnell (chess player)|Alexander McDonnell]] in 1834.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessplayer?pid=31596 |title=Louis Charles Mahe De La Bourdonnais |website=[[Chessgames.com]] |access-date=26 November 2008 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081229231938/http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessplayer?pid=31596 |archive-date=29 December 2008 |df=dmy-all}}</ref> Centers of chess activity in this period were [[coffee house]]s in major European cities like ''[[Café de la Régence]]'' in Paris and ''[[Simpson's-in-the-Strand|Simpson's Divan]]'' in London.<ref>{{harvp|Metzner|1998}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last1=Bird|first1=Henry Edward |url=http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/4902 |title=Chess History and Reminiscences |access-date=26 November 2008 |publisher=Gutenberg |date=January 2004 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090924125500/http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/4902 |edition=10|archive-date=24 September 2009 |url-status=live |author-link=Henry Edward Bird}}</ref>

At the same time, the [[Romanticism|Romantic]] intellectual movement had had a far-reaching impact on chess, with aesthetics and tactical beauty being held in higher regard than objective soundness and strategic planning. As a result, virtually all games began with the [[Open Game]], and it was considered unsportsmanlike to decline gambits that invited tactical play such as the [[King's Gambit]] and the [[Evans Gambit]].<ref name="Shenk, 2007">{{cite book|author=David Shenk|url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780385510103|title=The Immortal Game: A History of Chess|publisher=Knopf Doubleday|year=2007|page=[https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780385510103/page/99 99]|isbn=9780385510103|url-access=registration}}</ref> This chess philosophy is known as [[Romantic chess]], and its sharp, tactical style of play was predominant until the late 19th century.<ref>{{harvp|Landsberger|1992}}</ref>

[[Stalemate#History of the stalemate rule|The rules concerning stalemate]] were finalized in the early 19th&nbsp;century. Also in the 19th&nbsp;century, the convention that White moves first was established (formerly either White or Black could move first). Finally, the rules around castling and en passant captures were standardized&nbsp;– variations in these rules persisted in Italy until the late 19th&nbsp;century. The resulting standard game is sometimes referred to as ''Western chess''<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=3492 |title=XiangQi – an alternate to Western Chess |publisher=ChessBase.com |author=René Gralla |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110604145052/http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=3492 |archive-date=4 June 2011 |df=dmy-all |date=19 November 2006}}</ref> or ''international chess'',<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.chessvariants.org/oriental.dir/thaikramnik.html |date=January 2, 2005|title=Kramnik plays Makruk Thai |first1=René|last1=Gralla |access-date=12 December 2010 |website=[[The Chess Variant Pages]] |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110606155706/http://www.chessvariants.org/oriental.dir/thaikramnik.html |archive-date=6 June 2011 |df=dmy-all}}</ref> particularly in Asia where other games of the chess family such as [[xiangqi]] are prevalent. Since the 19th&nbsp;century, the only rule changes, such as the establishment of the correct procedure for claiming a draw by repetition, have been technical in nature.

[[File:Jean Henri Marlet Das berühmte Schachspiel zwischen Howard Staunton und Pierre Charles Fourrier Saint-Amant 1843.jpg|thumbnail|right|A depiction of the chess match between [[Howard Staunton]] and [[Pierre Charles Fournier de Saint-Amant|Pierre Saint-Amant]], on 16 December 1843]]
As the 19th century progressed, chess organization developed quickly. Many [[chess club]]s, chess books, and chess journals appeared. There were correspondence matches between cities; for example, the London Chess Club played against the [[Edinburgh]] Chess Club in 1824.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessplayer?pid=80740 |title=London Chess Club |website=[[Chessgames.com]] |access-date=26 November 2008 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081225144954/http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessplayer?pid=80740 |archive-date=25 December 2008 |df=dmy-all}}</ref> [[Chess problems]] became a regular part of 19th-century newspapers; [[Bernhard Horwitz]], [[Josef Kling]], and [[Samuel Loyd]] composed some of the most influential problems. In 1843, [[Tassilo von Heydebrand und der Lasa|von der Lasa]] published his and [[Paul Rudolf von Bilguer|Bilguer's]] ''[[Handbuch des Schachspiels]]'' (''Handbook of Chess''), the first comprehensive manual of chess theory.

The first modern chess tournament was organized by [[Howard Staunton]], a leading English chess player, and was [[London 1851 chess tournament|held in London in 1851]]. It was won by the German [[Adolf Anderssen]], who was hailed as the leading chess master. His brilliant, energetic attacking style was [[Romantic chess|typical for the time]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://worldchessnetwork.com/English/chessHistory/salute/matchesTournaments/london1851.php |title=London, 1851 |last=Parr|first=Larry |publisher=World Chess Network |access-date=26 November 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20031004035110/http://worldchessnetwork.com/English/chessHistory/salute/matchesTournaments/london1851.php |archive-date=4 October 2003  |author-link=Larry Parr (editor)}}</ref><ref>{{harvp|Hartston|1985|p=36}}</ref> Sparkling games like Anderssen's [[Immortal Game]] and [[Evergreen Game]] or [[Paul Morphy|Morphy's]] "[[Morphy versus the Duke of Brunswick and Count Isouard|Opera Game]]" were regarded as the highest possible summit of the art of chess.<ref>{{harvp|Burgess|Nunn|Emms|2004|p=14}}</ref>

Deeper insight into the nature of chess came with the American [[Paul Morphy]], an extraordinary [[chess prodigy]]. Morphy won against all important competitors (except Staunton, who refused to play), including Anderssen, during his short chess career between 1857 and 1863. Morphy's success stemmed from a combination of brilliant attacks and sound strategy; he intuitively knew how to prepare attacks.<ref>{{harvp|Shibut|2004}}</ref>