World Chess Championship 1886 - Preparations

Preparations

At the London 1883 chess tournament, a prestigious 14-player, double-round, all-play-all tournament, Zukertort was the convincing winner with 22/26, ahead of Steinitz (19/26), Blackburne (16½/22) and Chigorin (16/22). In many respects, the event resembled a modern day Candidates Tournament, in that most of the world's leading players took part and the top two cemented their reputations as contenders for a world title.

(A common story relates to an incident that occurred at the tournament banquet, when the St. George Chess Club President proposed a toast to the best chess player in the world and both Steinitz and Zukertort stood up at the same time to thank him. Research by Edward G. Winter suggests that this story has been embellished.)

The following year saw the death of Paul Morphy and so finally, nothing stood in the way of a first official World Championship match between the two rivals. As there was a degree of hostility between them, the match arrangements were somewhat protracted and lasted almost 3 years. Disagreement over the choice of venue was resolved when Steinitz finally persuaded Zukertort to accept the USA over London, his new place of residence. This was mostly due to the better conditions offered to the players by the American organisers. Zukertort was given the princely sum of $750 to make the trip across the Atlantic and the winner of the match was promised a quarter of the proceeds from the betting syndication.

The match was to use the same chess clock as 3 years earlier and the time limit was determined as 30 moves in 2 hours, followed by another 15 moves in each subsequent hour. For the first time in chess history, a demonstration board measuring approximately 1 metre square was erected above the players, so that the spectators could follow the game while remaining in their seats.

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Famous quotes containing the word preparations:

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    Jane Austen (1775–1817)

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    Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)

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    Marcus Tullius Cicero (106–43 B.C.)