Editing World Chess Championship (section)

====Reign of Wilhelm Steinitz (1886–1894)====
[[File:Wilhelm Steinitz2.jpg| thumb | [[Wilhelm Steinitz]] dominated chess from 1866 to 1894. Some commentators date his time as World Champion from 1866; others [[World Chess Championship 1886|from 1886]].]]
Following the Steinitz–Zukertort match, a tradition continued of the world championship being decided by a match between the reigning champion, and a challenger: if a player thought he was strong enough, he (or his friends) would find financial backing for a match purse and challenge the reigning world champion. If he won, he would become the new champion.

Steinitz successfully defended his world title against [[Mikhail Chigorin]] in [[World Chess Championship 1889|1889]], [[Isidor Gunsberg]] in [[World Chess Championship 1891|1891]], and Chigorin again in [[World Chess Championship 1892|1892]].

In 1887, the [[American Chess Congress]] started work on drawing up regulations for the future conduct of world championship contests. Steinitz supported this endeavor, as he thought he was becoming too old to remain world champion. The proposal evolved through many forms (as Steinitz pointed out, such a project had never been undertaken before), and resulted in the [[American Chess Congress#Sixth American Chess Congress (1889)|1889 tournament in New York]] to select a challenger for Steinitz,<ref>{{Cite web |last=Green |first=Nathaniel |date=2022-06-08 |title=The 10 Most Brilliant Candidates Games |url=https://www.chess.com/article/view/10-most-brilliant-candidates-chess-games |access-date=2025-04-29 |website=Chess.com |language=en-US}}</ref> rather like the more recent [[Candidates Tournament]]s. The tournament was duly played, but the outcome was not quite as planned: Chigorin and [[Max Weiss]] tied for first place; their play-off resulted in four draws; and neither wanted to play a match against Steinitz – Chigorin had just lost to him, and Weiss wanted to get back to his work for the [[S. M. von Rothschild|Rothschild Bank]]. The third prizewinner, [[Isidor Gunsberg]], was prepared to play Steinitz for the title in New York, so this match was played in 1890–1891 and was won by Steinitz.<ref name="Thulin1899WorldChampionshipMatchOrNot">{{cite web | url=http://www.anders.thulin.name/SUBJECTS/CHESS/SteinitzChigorin1889.pdf | title=Steinitz—Chigorin, Havana 1899 – A World Championship Match or Not? | author=Thulin, A. | date=August 2007 | access-date=6 June 2008 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080530021654/http://www.anders.thulin.name/SUBJECTS/CHESS/SteinitzChigorin1889.pdf | archive-date=30 May 2008 | url-status=live }} Based on {{cite book | title=The Steinitz Papers: Letters and Documents of the First World Chess Champion | author=Landsberger, K. | publisher=McFarland | year=2002 | isbn=0-7864-1193-7 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NltT4BinugsC&q=steinitz+%22the+field%22+hoffer&pg=PA28 | access-date=25 October 2020 | archive-date=30 December 2020 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201230102635/https://books.google.com/books?id=NltT4BinugsC&q=steinitz+%22the+field%22+hoffer&pg=PA28 | url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="endgameNLNewYork1889And1924">{{cite web | url=http://www.endgame.nl/newyork.htm | title=New York 1889 and 1924 | access-date=7 June 2008 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080619023938/http://www.endgame.nl/newyork.htm | archive-date=19 June 2008 | url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name="storiascacchiMatches1880Al1999">{{cite web | url=http://xoomer.alice.it/cserica/scacchi/storiascacchi/matches/1880-99.htm | title=I matches 1880/99 | access-date=29 May 2008 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080524085111/http://xoomer.alice.it/cserica/scacchi/storiascacchi/matches/1880-99.htm | archive-date=24 May 2008 | url-status=live }}</ref> The experiment was not repeated, and Steinitz's later matches were private arrangements between the players.<ref name="NYTimes1894PreSteinitzLasker" />

Two young strong players emerged in late 1880s and early 1890s: [[Siegbert Tarrasch]] and [[Emanuel Lasker]].<ref name="Horowitz39" /> Tarrasch had the better tournament results at the time, but it was Lasker who was able to raise the money to challenge Steinitz.<ref name=Horowitz39>"From Morphy to Fischer", [[Israel Horowitz]], (Batsford, 1973) 39</ref> Lasker [[World Chess Championship 1894|won the 1894 match]] and succeeded Steinitz as world champion.