Johannes Zukertort was Steinitz’s opponent in the first ever official match for the world championship in 1886. Below, I explore Zukertort’s life and games.
Photo: Cleveland Public Library, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Table of contents:
Biography
Early life
Johannes Zukertort was born in 1842 in Lublin, Poland, although his family moved to the German city of Breslau in 1855. After school, Zukertort began to study medicine, but it is not clear whether he ever completed his training. In Breslau, he met the famous player Adolf Anderssen. He would become Anderssen’s pupil, and the two played over 1000 games over their lifetimes.
Duels with Anderssen
In 1866, Zukertort showed that he had improved greatly as a chess player over the past five years by defeating Anderssen in a short match (2,5-1,5). He moved to Berlin the following year. There, together with Anderssen, he edited the Neue Berliner Schachzeitung until the end of 1871. In these years he played two more matches against his mentor, losing 3,5-8,5 in Berlin in 1868, and winning 5-2 in 1871. As Anderssen was considered to be one of the world’s strongest players at the time, this last result greatly enhanced Zukertort’s reputation.
Life in London
In 1872, Zukertort moved to London, where he decided to devote himself fully to chess. He joined the St George’s Chess Club, and often played for stakes at Simson’s Divan, one of the most famous chess venues at the time. In this same year, Zukertort also lost a match against Steinitz (9-3), but finished a respectable equal third in the London tournament, behind only Steinitz and Blackburne.
Zukertort continued to improve in the next few years, and this was reflected in his results. In 1875, he won a match against the English master William Potter (8-6). In 1876, he finished in 2nd place in the 1876 London tournament behind only Blackburne. And in 1877, Zukertort finished in 2nd place with Anderssen at Leipzig, and 1st at the tournament in Cologne.
Improving results
In 1878, Zukertort may have become a naturalised citizen of the United Kingdom, although this is not clear. What is clear is that his results continued to improve. 1st place at the strong Paris tournament of 1878 was followed up with a match victory at the St George’s club against the French champion, Samuel Rosenthal, in 1880. The final score of seven wins to one, with 11 draws, clearly showed the high level of Zukertort’s play. In between these two events, in 1879, Zukertort founded the magazine Chess Monthly, together with Leopold Hoffer. He used this magazine to conduct his lengthy war of words with Steinitz.
In 1881, Zukertort convincingly won a match against Blackburne, one of the strongest players in the world, by the score of 9,5-4,5. This was followed by 2nd place at the strong tournament in Berlin that same year, behind Blackburne. The following year, he finished equal 4th at the Vienna tournament, behind Steinitz, Winawer and Mason. However, this slight dip was to be followed by Zukertort’s greatest achievement.
Zukertort’s greatest victory
London 1883 was a double round robin tournament between 14 players, many of whom were among the strongest in the world at that time. It was also the first time that double sided clocks were used in an international tournament. Zukertort started with an incredible 22/23, before losing the last three rounds to finish on 22/26. This was three whole points ahead of Steinitz, who finished on 19/26. An especially impressive accomplishment, considering that Steinitz would become the first official World Champion just three years later. This tournament victory is considered to be Zukertort’s greatest chess achievement.
World Championship match
Zukertort’s incredible performance caused considerable debate in the chess world about who was the strongest player of the time. Although the negotiations took years to complete, this lead to the first ever official match for the title of World Champion. The match took place in New York, St Louis, and New Orleans, as Steinitz now lived in America. Although Zukertort was leading by four wins to one as the match moved from New York to St Louis, it was Steinitz who ultimately won the match by ten wins to five, and with it the title of World Champion.
Declining health
The stress of the match had a profound effect on Zukertort’s health, which began to decline over the next few years. This was reflected in his results: in 1886, he finished equal seventh in London and equal third in the smaller Nottingham tournament. The following year, he finished equal 14th at Frankfurt and fourth in the smaller London tournament. This was followed by a loss in a match with Blackburne in 1887 by five wins to one with eight draws, and equal seventh at London 1888. Later in 1888, Zukertort died of a stroke at the age of 46.
Ahead of his time
Contrary to other top players of his time, Zukertort liked to start the game with 1.Nf3 or 1.c4. He was ahead of his time, as these moves were only accepted by the chess world in general as an effective way to start the game in the early twentieth century. Also noteworthy were his blindfold simultaneous displays, which gathered a lot of attention and enhanced his reputation. Zukertort was taken from the chess world far too soon, and if his health had permitted, he would have produced many more instructive and entertaining games.
Game Analysis
In London, 1876, Zukertort played a little known but very instructive game, which demonstrates the power of maintaining and increasing the pawn tension.
Lessons from this game:
- It is often more effective to maintain and increase the pawn tension, initiating the exchange at the best possible moment, than to release it immediately. In this game, black did not open the kingside at the first opportunity, but first built up their pieces behind the pawns before pulling the trigger.
- When the kings have castled on opposite sides, it is often necessary to play quickly and energetically to build an attack. In this game, 14.Kg2? was too slow, and white got punished for it.
- When defending against an attack on the king, it can be helpful to identify the key attacking pieces, and to exchange them off. In this game, 17.Bxd5 would have been a good example, exchanging off the powerful knight.
Puzzles
Norwood – Zukertort, London 1875
Blackburne – Zukertort, London 1876
Paulsen – Zukertort, Leipzig 1877
Rosenthal – Zukertort, London 1880
Solutions
Further Reading
Of course, the first volume of Kasparov’s My Great Predecessors is a great place to start.
Other great rescources include:
Jimmy Adams’ book, Johannes Zukertort – Artist of the Chessboard,
Zukertort’s chessgames.com page,
his chess.com page,
this article from Chessbase,
and this article from britishchessnews.com.
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