Hastings 1895: Wilhelm Steinitz, Father of Positional Play

Wilhelm Steinitz was a 59 year old veteran at Hastings placing fifth in a field of 22 top contenders. Much has been written about this Austrian born chess player who later was an early Architect for the American Chess Congress that Frank Marshall later became known for.

After reviewing most of his wins, I wanted to label him either “Rumplestiltskin”, King Midas, or simply “the Alchemist” for his ability to turn crappy positions to wins or draws.

For instance, in a game against Teichman, which I mentioned previously and thanks for your patience, ( 3rd game down in this post ) , Steinitz is behind 2 pawns in this endgame and he manages to successfully force a draw against a tough tactician.

Teichman has to block with the rook in which case, Black ( Steinitz) moves Rb2.


In the game against Chigoran ( Game of the week with an Evan’s Gambit) , he has a lousy position in the middle game. We all have experienced that at some point in our chess career, I’m sure. As Black In the position here:


He plays 20…Qb5 and offers a Q exchange knowing that White will further reduce the forces by a series of exchanges. Ultimately this works for Steinitz, he does have a couple extra pawns for compensation of a weak and cramped queen side. Chigoran knows that the dual bishops will win over the dual Knights. After exchanging queens and a knight for a bishop, Chigoran still has a knight fork if he continues the exchange. But Wilhelm Steinitz sees through all this and places his bets on the imbalanced 2R versus R+B+2P endgame which he wins effortlessly.

Back in a day, he was labeled the first World Champion. Steinitz won every serious match he played from 1862 until 1892 inclusive, sometimes by wide margins. In the period of 1862 -1872 he played in the “Romantic” attack-at-all-costs style of play like Anderssen and Morphy.

It was after that period where he developed a more positional style which debuted in the 1873 Vienna tournament and was to become the basis of modern chess. His style of play later became the cornerstone of the turn of the last century and promted a new era several decades later known as Hypermodern. This is why I found "father of positional play" more of a fitting label in the title.

Sure enough, his games in this match were mostly positional in style, but his handling of Classic Evan’s gambits against Gunsberg had him showing his Romantic roots blended with his positional style rather nicely while keeping the game closed and held on to the pawn until his opponent cracked and dropped a piece. With Blackburne ( drunken master) trying to throw a King’s Gambit at him, he goes for rapid development and attacks at two weaknesses.

He gets the first Brilliancy prize for his game against Von Berdeleben in this CT-ART like position with a double attack and a “take my rook, please” series of moves that followed. ( Ok another game to watch posted in part 1 here )

He died in 1900, in poverty. He was not one to manage his finances wisesly depite being World champion, chess writer and architect of the modern era of positional play. Rather he was a man of honor, and willing to play for a title for no fee at all because of his passion for this game. It’s truly sad that such genious ( and many in that period) ended their lives in such disposition to their status in the chess world.

At least he is post humously honored in Praque at his place of birth.