Wilhelm Steinitz Founder of Modern Chess

Wilhelm Steinitz, an Austrian and later American chess master, was the first official World Chess Champion from 1886 to 1894. More impressively, he was unbeaten in match play for 32 years, from 1862 to 1894.

Steinitz was a prolific chess writer and developed many of the theories of modern chess. His theory of equilibrium dictates that a player should first build up a gradual advantage before launching a winning attack against his opponent.

Let’s see how Steinitz puts this into practice in his world championship match against Zukertort. The annotations are from the great Bobby Fisher who is known for his fine positional style.

What a game! Steinitz’s views on chess are further captured by memorable quotes such as “Capture of the adverse King is the ultimate but not the first object of the game”, “Only the player with the initiative has the right to attack”, and “Chess is not for timid souls”.

That’s all for today. Stay on top of COVID-19 by following the WHO Guidelines and keep breaking the equilibrium by building up positional advantages like Steinitz, the founder of modern chess.