Adolf Anderssen was one of the strongest players of his time, and the winner of London 1851, the first international chess tournament. Below, I explore his life and games.
Photo: Cleveland Public Library, Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Table of contents:
Biography
Early life
Adolf Anderssen was born in 1818 in Breslau, Germany. He learned to play chess from his father around the age of nine. He began to compose chess problems while at university, and would graduate to become a maths professor.
In 1842, he published a collection of 60 compositions. His compositions were soon noticed by German chess circles, and helped to establish his reputation. He was therefore invited to play a match against the German master Daniel Harrwitz in 1848. Anderssen proved himself to be a strong player by drawing the match against the master, which significantly boosted his reputation. As a result of his improved reputation in the German chess scene, he was asked to be Germany’s representative at the first ever international chess tournament, to be held in London in 1851.
London 1851
The tournament proved to be a great success for Anderssen, as he took 1st place ahead of famous names like Staunton, Lowenthal and Kieseritzky. As a result of this success, Anderssen was now seen as the strongest player in the world. He enhanced this reputation by winning another, smaller tournament in London a month later. The following year, Anderssen won one of his most famous games, today remembered as his “evergreen game”, a casual game played against the famous German player Jean Dufresne in Berlin. In 1855, Anderssen played an official match against Dufresne in Berlin, winning with the crushing score of six wins to none.
Match with Morphy
Soon Paul Morphy appeared in the chess world, proving himself to be the strongest player in America, and then travelling to Europe to compete against the best players in the world. A match between Anderssen and Morphy was arranged and took place in Paris in 1858. Although Anderssen won the first game, Morphy proved himself the stronger of the two by winning by seven wins to two. Despite this one-sided score, Anderssen still managed to win a game starting with 1.a3.
Return to the top
The following year, Morphy retired from chess, once again leaving Anderssen as the strongest active player in the world. He confirmed this reputation in the next few years by drawing a match against Kolisch in Paris in 1860, winning a match against the same opponent in London the following year, and winning the big international tournament held in London in 1862 with the incredible score of 12/13. There he finished ahead of many of the world’s leading players, like Paulsen, Blackburne, Löwenthal and Steinitz. This was the first tournament to make use of a time control and the round robin system.
Competing with the best
In July and August 1866 Anderssen played an interesting match against Wilhelm Steinitz, who was 18 years younger. Incredibly, of the 14 games, none ended in draws. Steinitz would ultimately win a close match by eight wins to six, giving the chess world an early sign of his successful future at the chessboard.
In 1868, Anderssen crushed Zukertort in a 12-game match in Berlin by the one-sided score of 8,5-3,5. This is an even more impressive achievement when considering that Zukertort would go on to play in the first ever World Championship Match, against Steinitz in 1886.
In 1869, Anderssen travelled to Hamburg to take part in a strong six-player event. He recorded an excellent performance, taking 1st place after winning a playoff match against Paulsen. He finished ahead of both Schallopp and Zukertort, amongst others.
A new decade
The early 1870s were a very successful time for Anderssen, despite him having entered his sixth decade. He won a strong tournament in Baden-Baden in 1870 ahead of Steinitz, Blackburne, Paulsen and Winawer. In 1871 he shared 1st place with Mieses at Leipzig, while he finished in clear 1st at the Third North German Chess Congress in Altona in 1872, ahead of Neumann. 1873 saw Anderssen finish 3rd in Vienna, behind only Blackburne and Steinitz.
Later years
Despite having turned 59 ten days before the start of the tournament, Anderssen performed at a high level, finishing in 2nd place after winning a playoff game against Zukertort. Paulsen took the tournament victory, but Anderssen finished ahead of several famous and far younger players, like Winawer and Englisch.
In 1878 Anderssen recorded another success, finishing 3rd in a ten-player field at Frankfurt, behind only Paulsen and Adolf Schwarz. Unfortunately, he died the following year from a heart attack. At 60, Anderssen remained one of the world’s strongest players, and had appeared ready to continue competing at the top level for some time.
Legacy
Today Anderssen is remembered as one of the strongest players of his era, and his victory at the first international tournament, London 1851. Generations of players have grown up learning from his games, and Anderssen’s contribution to advancing the chess world’s understanding of the game cannot be overstated. His “immortal” and “evergreen” games, against Kieseritzky at London 1851 and against Dufresne in Berlin in 1852 have become particularly famous and celebrated around the world.
Game Analysis
Anderssen won a memorable game against the German mathematician Jakob Rosanes in Breslau in 1862.
Lessons from this game:
- When the opponent has a lead in development, it’s normally more important to bring your pieces into the game as quickly as possible, rather than winning a pawn.
- When conducting an attack on the king, the first step is to provoke the advance of the pawns defending the king, creating weaknesses for the attacking side to exploit.
- The bishop pair can be a very powerful asset on an open board.
Puzzles
Anderssen – Kieseritzky, London 1851
Anderssen – Dufresne, Berlin 1852
Anderssen – Morphy, Paris 1858
Anderssen – Steinitz, London 1866
Solutions
Further Reading
To find more about Anderssen’s life and games, the following are useful sources:
Anderssen’s chessgames.com page,
his chess.com page,
this chessbase article by André Schulz,
and this collection of Anderssen’s tournament and match results.
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