Adolf Anderssen

Karl Ernst Adolf Anderssen was born on July 6, 1818 in Breslau, Germany (now Wroclaw, Poland). He lived in Breslau most of his life, never married, living with and supporting his widowed mother and his unmarried sister. He graduated from the public gymnasium in Breslau, then attended university where he studied mathematics and philosophy. In 1847, he graduated and became an instructor at the Friedrichs-Gymnasium, and later Professor of Mathematics. He lived a quiet, stable, respectable, middle-class life. His career was teaching math, while his hobby and passion was playing chess, which his father had taught him how to play at nine years old.

Anderssen said that as a boy, he learned the strategy of the game from a copy of William Lewis' book Fifty Games between Labourdonnais and McDonnell (1835). His progress was deliberate; he was not a chess prodigy. By age 22, he had not yet surpassed German masters such as Ludwig Bledow, von der Lasa, and Wilhelm Hanstein. In 1842, he came to the attention of the chess world when he published some short and lively chess problems. He went on to become an editor with the magazine Schachzeitung (later called Deutsche Schachzeitung) in 1846.

Anderssen was able to draw a match with a professional player by the name of Daniel Harrwitz in 1848. Because of this match and his chess reputation, he received an invitation to be the standard-bearer for German chess at the world's first international chess tournament in London of 1851. Travel costs were an issue for his limited pocketbook, so he was reluctant to accept the invitation, but Howard Staunton offered to pay his travel expenses with his own money if Anderssen failed to win a tournament prize. Anderssen accepted the offer and went on to defeat Lionel Kieseritzky, Jzsef Sz n, Staunton, and Marmaduke Wyvill to win the tournament to everyone's suprise.

Anderssen was celebrated for two of his casual chess games in which he won through combinations involving the heavy sacrifice of the pieces. One of them in 1851 and called the Immortal Game, he played as white against Lionel Kieseritzky and sacrificed a bishop, both rooks, and finally his queen. The second in 1852, and later called the Evergreen Game, he played as white against Jean Dufresne and sacrificed his queen and a minor piece. The next few years, many people considered Anderssen to be the world's best player, but because he needed to earn for a living, he had to go back to teaching again after the competition.

Then, the American star Paul Morphy beat Anderssen in a famous match help in Paris in 1858. He lost by a score of 2 wins, 7 losses, and 2 draws. In the match against Morphy, he played the strange opening move of 1. a3. This initial move is now referred to as "Anderssen's Opening", but has never been popular in serious competition.

Anderssen came back and won London 1862 three years after being beaten by Morphy. London was the first international round-robin event (each participant plays a game against all the others). In this tournament, he 12 out of 13 games, only losing once to John Owen. In 1866, Anderssen lost a close match to Wilhelm Steinitz by the score of 6 to 8. This match introduced various ideas in the field of chess strategy. Later, he lost a second match to Steinitz.

In 1870, Adolf Anderssen won Baden-Baden, which was his greatest chess achievement. Until that time, it was the strongest tournament ever held, and he finished first ahead of great players such as Neumann and Blackburne. He also finished ahead of his old nemesis Steinitz. He was still playing strongly in 1877, at age 59, when he won his last major victory by placing second at Leipzig. Two years later, in 1879, he died. This same year, the Deutsche Schachzeitung wrote about his death in a 19 page obituary.

Anderssen was considered very honest and was generally well-liked. Steinitz wrote: "Anderssen was honest and honourable to the core. Without fear or favour he straightforwardly gave his opinion, and his sincere disinterestedness became so patent....that his word alone was usually sufficient to quell disputes...for he had often given his decision in favour of a rival..." Of the classic masters of 19th century chess, Anderssen was one of the most renowned. Even today, he is world famous for his sparkling play.

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