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Adolf Anderssen of Germany won the first international
tournament in chess history, which was organized by
Howard Staunton and run on the knockout system.
As a result of the victory, Anderssen
became known UNOFFICIALLY as the world's best chess
player, although he did not receive any award or title.
He eliminated, in order,
Lionel Kieseritzky (+2 =1), Joszef Szen (+4 -2),
Staunton (+4 -1), and Marmaduke Wyvill (+4 -2 =1).
Staunton floundered, losing a playoff match to Elijah
Williams for third prize. Anderssen seemed to be infusing a
new spirit into the game as he swept several players off
the board with aggressive Kingside assaults and was reported
to have won the tournament in easy fashion.
This
was an impressive accomplishment, especially considering
the fact that there were not yet any type of time
controls in place and players could move at their own
pace. Some players used this factor as a psychological
tactic, which caused severe irritation amongst some of
the players. Additionally, the playing conditions
were reportedly bad enough to inspire the following
quote from Anderssen:
"Things
were not particularly comfortable; tables and chairs
were both small and low; the large boards stuck out over
both edges of the tables; any space near the player was
taken away by the person recording the moves; in short,
there was not the slightest amount of free space on
which one could support one's head which might be so
full of care during the hard struggles."
Anderssen received 20 pounds
and a large silver cup for his victory. The other
participants previously not mentioned were Johann Jacob Loewenthal, Carl Mayet, J R Mucklow,
Bernhard Horowitz, E S Kennedy, E Loewe, Henry Edward
Bird, Alfred Brodie, Hugh Alexander Kennedy, and W. Newham. |
