Editing World Chess Championship (section)

==== From 1851 to 1886 ====
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| caption1          = [[Adolf Anderssen]], who won three strong international tournaments and is often considered the world's leading player around the mid-nineteenth century<ref name=hooper15>David Hooper and Kenneth Whyld, ''The Oxford Companion to Chess'', Oxford University Press, 1992 (2nd edition), p.15. {{ISBN|0-19-866164-9}}.</ref><ref name=horowitz4/>
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| caption2          = [[Paul Morphy]], who dominated all of his opposition during his brief chess career before retiring from chess at the age of 21 in 1859<ref>David Hooper and Kenneth Whyld, ''The Oxford Companion to Chess'', Oxford University Press, 1992 (2nd edition), p.263. {{ISBN|0-19-866164-9}}.</ref>
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An important milestone was the [[London 1851 chess tournament]], which was the first international chess tournament, organized by Staunton. It was played as a series of matches, and was won convincingly by the German [[Adolf Anderssen]], including a 4–1 semi-final win over Staunton. This established Anderssen as the world's leading player.<ref name=horowitz4>"From Morphy to Fischer", [[Israel Horowitz]], (Batsford, 1973) p.4</ref> In 1893, [[Henry Bird (chess player)|Henry Bird]] retrospectively awarded the title of first world chess champion to Anderssen for his victory,<ref name="BirdReminiscencesProgress">Section "Progress of Chess" in {{cite book | title=Chess History And Reminiscences | author=Henry Edward Bird | publisher=Kessinger | orig-year=1893 | year=2004 | isbn=1-4191-1280-5 | url=http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Chess_History_and_Reminiscences | access-date=7 June 2008 | author-link=Henry Bird (chess player) | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080628164838/http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Chess_History_and_Reminiscences | archive-date=28 June 2008 | url-status=live }}</ref> but there is no evidence that he was widely acclaimed as such at the time, and no mention of such a status afterwards in the tournament book by Staunton. Indeed, Staunton's tournament book calls Anderssen "after [[Tassilo von der Lasa|Heydebrand der Laza]] [Tassilo von der Lasa, another of the Berlin Pleiades], the best player of Germany": von der Lasa was unable to attend the 1851 tournament, though he was invited.<ref name="StauntonLondon1851">{{cite book | title=The Chess Tournament | last=Staunton | first=Howard | date=April 2003 | publisher=Hardinge Simpole | isbn=1-84382-089-7}} This can be viewed online at or downloaded as PDF from {{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_SUCAAAAYAAJ&q=1851+london+tournament+book+staunton&pg=PR24 | title=Google books: The Chess Tournament | last=Staunton | first=Howard | year=1852 | access-date=25 October 2020 | archive-date=20 March 2022 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220320113951/https://books.google.com/books?id=_SUCAAAAYAAJ&q=1851+london+tournament+book+staunton&pg=PR24 | url-status=live }}</ref> In 1851, Anderssen lost a match to von der Lasa;<ref name=tassilo/> in 1856, George Walker wrote that "[von der Lasa] and Anderssen are decidedly the two best in the known world".<ref>[[Bell's Life in London]], 24 February 1856, p. 5</ref> Von der Lasa did not compete in tournaments or formal matches because of the demands of his diplomatic career, but his games show that he was one of the world's best then: he won series of games against Staunton in 1844 and 1853.<ref name=tassilo>David Hooper and Kenneth Whyld, ''The Oxford Companion to Chess'', Oxford University Press, 1992 (2nd edition), pp.216–217. {{ISBN|0-19-866164-9}}.</ref>

Anderssen was himself decisively beaten in an 1858 match against the American [[Paul Morphy]] (7–2, 2 draws). In 1858–59 Morphy played matches against several leading players, beating them all.<ref>[http://www.mark-weeks.com/chess/v$m$$mix.htm 1858–59 Paul Morphy Matches] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070625170112/http://www.mark-weeks.com/chess/v$m$$mix.htm |date=25 June 2007 }}, Mark Weeks' Chess Pages</ref><ref name="storiascacchiMatches1850To1864">{{cite web | url=http://xoomer.alice.it/cserica/scacchi/storiascacchi/matches/1850-64.htm | title=I grandi matches 1850–1864 | access-date=15 September 2008 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080516084135/http://xoomer.alice.it/cserica/scacchi/storiascacchi/matches/1850-64.htm | archive-date=16 May 2008 | url-status=live }}</ref> This prompted some commentators at the time to call him the world champion:<ref name="WinterEarlyWorldChessChampion">[http://www.chesshistory.com/winter/extra/champion.html Early Uses of 'World Chess Champion'] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131113172956/http://www.chesshistory.com/winter/extra/champion.html|date=13 November 2013}}, [[Edward G. Winter]], 2007</ref> Gabriel-Éloy Doazan, who knew Morphy, wrote that "one can and...must place [him] in the same bracket" as Deschapelles and La Bourdonnais, who he had played years before, and that "his superiority is as obvious as theirs".<ref>{{cite book |last=Doazan |first=Gabriel-Éloy |author-link= |date=1859 |title=Labourdonnais – Morphy |url=https://www.kwabc.org/files/kwabc/books/yuletide/yuletide0.pdf |location= |publisher= |page=4 |isbn= |quote=Après Deschapelles et Labourdonnais, il m'a été donné de voir un jeune homme que l'on peut et que l'on doit placer sur la même ligne. Sa supériorité est aussi évidente que la leur. Elle est aussi incontestable et se révèle de la même manière. |archive-date=7 June 2023 |access-date=9 September 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230607231755/https://www.kwabc.org/files/kwabc/books/yuletide/yuletide0.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> But when Morphy returned to America in 1859, he abruptly retired from chess, though many considered him the world champion until his death in 1884. His sudden withdrawal from chess at his peak led to his being known as "the pride and sorrow of chess".<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/585455.Paul_Morphy|title=Paul Morphy: The Pride and Sorrow of Chess|author=David Lawson|accessdate=December 27, 2022|archive-date=27 December 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221227104058/https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/585455.Paul_Morphy|url-status=live}}</ref>

After Morphy's retirement from chess, Anderssen was again regarded as the world's strongest active player,<ref name="Hor16">"From Morphy to Fischer", [[Israel Horowitz]], (Batsford, 1973) p.16</ref> a reputation he reinforced by winning the strong [[London 1862 chess tournament]].<ref name="Hor16" /> [[Louis Paulsen]] and [[Ignatz Kolisch]] were also playing at a comparable standard to Anderssen in the 1860s:<ref name=Hor16/><ref name=kaufman>{{cite web |url=https://www.chess.com/article/view/chess-accuracy-ratings-goat |title=Accuracy, Ratings, and GOATs |last=Kaufman |first=Larry |date=4 September 2023 |website=Chess.com |publisher= |access-date=7 September 2023 |archive-date=7 September 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230907091032/https://www.chess.com/article/view/chess-accuracy-ratings-goat |url-status=live }}</ref> Anderssen narrowly won a match against Kolisch in 1861, and drew against Paulsen in 1862.<ref name=Hor16/>

In 1866, [[Wilhelm Steinitz]] narrowly defeated Anderssen in a match (8–6, 0 draws). However, he was not immediately able to conclusively demonstrate his superiority. Steinitz placed third at the [[Paris 1867 chess tournament]], behind Kolisch and [[Szymon Winawer]]; he placed second at the Dundee 1867 tournament, behind [[Gustav Neumann]];<ref>{{cite book |last=Kasparov |first=Garry |author-link= |date=2003 |title=My Great Predecessors, Vol. I |url= |location= |publisher=Everyman Chess |page=55 |isbn=1857443306}}</ref> and he again placed second at the [[Baden-Baden 1870 chess tournament]], which was the strongest that had been held to date (Anderssen came first, and won twice against Steinitz).<ref name=hooper15/><ref>{{cite book |last=Kasparov |first=Garry |author-link= |date=2003 |title=My Great Predecessors, Vol. I |url= |location= |publisher=Everyman Chess |page=31 |isbn=1857443306}}</ref> Steinitz confirmed his standing as the world's leading player by winning the London 1872 tournament, winning a match against [[Johannes Zukertort]] in 1872 (7–1, 4 draws), winning the [[Vienna 1873 chess tournament]], and decisively winning a match over [[Joseph Henry Blackburne]] 7–0 (0 draws) in 1876.<ref>{{cite book |last=Kasparov |first=Garry |author-link= |date=2003 |title=My Great Predecessors, Vol. I |url= |location= |publisher=Everyman Chess |page=59 |isbn=1857443306}}</ref>

Apart from the Blackburne match, Steinitz played no competitive chess between the Vienna tournaments of [[Vienna 1873 chess tournament|1873]] and [[Vienna 1882 chess tournament|1882]]. During that time, Zukertort emerged as the world's leading active player, winning the [[Paris 1878 chess tournament]]. Zukertort then won the [[London 1883 chess tournament]] by a convincing 3-point margin, ahead of nearly every leading player in the world, with Steinitz finishing second.<ref>[http://www.mark-weeks.com/chess/y3lon-ix.htm 1883 London Tournament] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070813072439/http://www.mark-weeks.com/chess/y3lon-ix.htm |date=13 August 2007 }}, Mark Weeks' Chess Pages</ref><ref name="Hooper">David Hooper and Kenneth Whyld, ''The Oxford Companion to Chess'', Oxford University Press, 1992 (2nd edition), p.459. {{ISBN|0-19-866164-9}}.</ref> This tournament established Steinitz and Zukertort as the best two players in the world, and led to a match between these two, the [[World Chess Championship 1886]],<ref name="Hooper" /><ref>"The Centenary Match, Kasparov–Karpov III", [[Raymond Keene]] and David Goodman, Batsford 1986, p.9</ref> won by Steinitz.

There is some debate over whether to date Steinitz's reign as world champion from his win over Anderssen in 1866, or from his win over Zukertort in 1886. The 1886 match was clearly agreed to be for the world championship,<ref>J.I. Minchin, the editor of the tournament book, wrote, "Dr. Zukertort at present holds the honoured post of champion, but only a match can settle the position of these rival monarchs of the Chess realm." J.I. Minchin (editor), ''Games Played in the London International Chess Tournament, 1883'', British Chess Magazine, 1973 (reprint), p.100.</ref><ref name="WinterEarlyWorldChessChampion" /> but there is no indication that Steinitz was regarded as the defending champion.<ref name=Horowitz24>"From Morphy to Fischer", [[Israel Horowitz]], (Batsford, 1973), p.24</ref> There is also no known evidence of Steinitz being called the world champion after defeating Anderssen in 1866.<ref name="WinterEarlyWorldChessChampion" /> It has been suggested that Steinitz could not make such a claim while Morphy was alive<ref>{{Cite book | title=The Centenary Match, Kasparov–Karpov III | last1=Keene | first1=Raymond | author1-link=Raymond Keene | last2=Goodman | first2=David | year=1986 | pages=1–2 | publisher=Collier Books | isbn=0-02-028700-3 }}</ref> (Morphy died in 1884). There are a number of references to Steinitz as world champion in the 1870s, the earliest being after the first Zukertort match in 1872.<ref name="WinterEarlyWorldChessChampion" /> Later, in 1879, it was argued that Zukertort was world champion, since Morphy and Steinitz were not active.<ref name="WinterEarlyWorldChessChampion" /> However, later in his career, at least from 1887, Steinitz dated his reign from this 1866 match,<ref name="WinterEarlyWorldChessChampion" /> and early sources such as the New York Times in 1894,<ref name="NYTimes1894PreSteinitzLasker">{{cite journal|date=11 March 1894|title=Ready for a big chess match|url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1894/03/11/106900358.pdf|journal=The New York Times|access-date=13 June 2018|archive-date=8 June 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200608021345/https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1894/03/11/106900358.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref> [[Emanuel Lasker]] in 1908,<ref name="WinterEarlyWorldChessChampion" /> and Reuben Fine in 1952<ref name="Fine1952WorldsGreatChessGames">{{cite book|author=Fine, R.|title=The World's Great Chess Games|publisher=André Deutsch (now as paperback from Dover)|year=1952}}</ref> all do the same.

Many modern commentators divide Steinitz's reign into an "unofficial" one from 1866 to 1886, and an "official" one after 1886.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://chess.about.com/library/ble40wcc.htm |title=World Chess Champions |first=Mark |last=Weeks |access-date=7 June 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080423044630/http://chess.about.com/library/ble40wcc.htm |archive-date=23 April 2008 }}</ref><ref name="SilmanSteinitz">{{cite web|url=http://www.jeremysilman.com/chess_history/grt_plyr_w_steinitz.html |title=Wilhelm Steinitz |author=Silman, J. |author-link=Jeremy Silman |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120417202107/http://jeremysilman.com/chess_history/grt_plyr_w_steinitz.html |archive-date=17 April 2012 }}</ref><ref>{{cite encyclopedia | url=http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761595555/Wilhelm_Steinitz.html | encyclopedia=[[MSN Encarta]]| title=Wilhelm Steinitz | access-date=7 June 2008 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091101141511/http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761595555/Wilhelm_Steinitz.html | archive-date=1 November 2009 | url-status=dead }}</ref> By this reckoning, the first World Championship match was [[World Chess Championship 1886|in 1886]], and Steinitz was the first official World Chess Champion.<ref>{{Cite web|date=19 December 2015|title=Do You Know The World Chess Champions?|url=https://rafaelleitao.com/know-world-chess-champions/|access-date=24 February 2022|website=Rafael Leitão|language=en-US|archive-date=11 December 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211211125837/https://rafaelleitao.com/know-world-chess-champions/|url-status=live}}</ref>