Vienna 1873 chess tournament

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The Vienna 1873 chess tournament was a side event of the world exhibition of 1873 (the fifth since the first Great Exhibition in London in 1851).

Contents

Background

The fair was held in the Prater in Vienna, and opened in the Rotunde on May 1. [1] Companies of all 35 participating countries presented their state of the art products and inventions. The world exhibitions aimed to promote international trading relations and to propagate the technical and cultural progress. [2] Through this tournament, Austria-Hungary aimed to present itself as a world leader and the equal of England and France.

The Chess tournament

During the exhibition, the tournament took place in the rooms of the Wiener Schachgesellschaft from June 21 to August 29. The time limit was twenty moves per hour. It was a twelve player tournament. Each participant played every other for a match for two points with a maximum of three games. There were eleven rounds of match competitions. Every short match had to be ended within two days. If the overall score gave no winner (1:1,=1 or 0:0,=3), the result was drawn with a half point given to each player. Wilhelm Steinitz won the tournament after a play-off with Joseph Henry Blackburne (2–0). Almost everyone now conceded that Steinitz was the strongest chess player in the world. [3]

Emperor Franz Josef I of Austria, Baron Albert Salomon von Rothschild and Baron Ignaz von Kolisch contributed large sums to the prize fund. [4]

The results and standings: [5]

#Player123456789101112TotalFinal Total
1Flag of the United Kingdom.svg  Joseph Henry Blackburne  (United Kingdom)x1 1 ½1 0 10 0 ½1 1 01 11 11 1 01 11 1 01 ½ 10 1 121.510.0
2Flag of Bohemia.svg  Wilhelm Steinitz  (Bohemia)0 0 ½x1 11 11 11 11 1½ ½ 1½ ½ 11 11 11 120.510.0
3Flag of the German Empire.svg  Adolf Anderssen  (German Empire)0 1 00 0x1 0 11 11 0 11 0 10 ½ 1½ 1 ½1 1 01 11 ½ 119.08.5
4Flag of France (1794-1815, 1830-1958).svg  Samuel Rosenthal  (France)1 1 ½0 00 1 0x0 ½ 10 01 1 01 11 11 10 1 11 117.07.5
5Flag of the German Empire.svg  Louis Paulsen  (German Empire)0 0 10 00 01 ½ 0x1 10 ½ 11 11 ½ 11 ½ 01 11 116.06.5
6Flag of the United Kingdom.svg  Henry Edward Bird  (United Kingdom)0 00 00 1 01 10 0x1 0 ½1 11 11 11 11 114.56.5
7Flag of the Habsburg Monarchy.svg  Josef Heral  (Austria)0 00 00 1 00 0 11 ½ 00 1 ½x½ 1 00 1 ½1 0 ½½ 1 00 0 112.03.0
8Flag of the common ministries of the Lands of the Holy Hungarian Crown (1896-1915).svg  Max Fleissig  (Hungary)0 0 1½ ½ 01 ½ 00 00 00 0½ 0 1x1 0 10 1 ½0 1 01 111.53.5
9Flag of the Habsburg Monarchy.svg  Philipp Meitner  (Austria)0 0½ ½ 0½ 0 ½0 00 ½ 00 01 0 ½0 1 0x½ 1 11 ½ ½1 111.53.5
10Flag of the common ministries of the Lands of the Holy Hungarian Crown (1896-1915).svg  Adolf Schwarz  (Hungary)0 0 10 00 0 10 00 ½ 10 00 1 ½1 0 ½½ 0 0x½ ½ ½1 ½ ½10.53.0
11Flag of the Habsburg Monarchy.svg  Oscar Gelbfuhs  (Austria)0 ½ 00 00 01 0 00 00 0½ 0 11 0 10 ½ ½½ ½ ½x½ 1 110.03.0
12Flag of the Habsburg Monarchy.svg  Karl Pitschel  (Austria)1 0 00 00 ½ 00 00 00 01 1 00 00 00 ½ ½½ 0 0x5.01.0

References

  1. http://en.kollenburgantiquairs.com/collection/detail/1095/ [ dead link ]
  2. WILLIAM STEINITZ (1836-1900)
  3. "World exhibitions". Archived from the original on 2008-06-19. Retrieved 2010-04-06.
  4. "Vienna". Archived from the original on 2011-08-05. Retrieved 2009-02-04.

Literature

Lehner, Hermann; Schwede, Constantin "Der Erste Wiener Internationale Schachkongreß im Jahre 1873", Verlag von Veit & Comp., Leipzig, 1874