1889 World Chess Championship
Wilhelm Steinitz (USA) vs. Mikhail Tchigorin (Russia)
Havana, Cuba
January 20 - February 24, 1889
Conditions: Best of 20 Games. In the event of a
10-10 tie, Steinitz retains the title.
| Cuba, 1889
|
1
|
2
|
3
|
4
|
5
|
6
|
7
|
8
|
9
|
10
|
11
|
12
|
13
|
14
|
15
|
16
|
17
|
|
Score
|
| Steinitz
|
0
|
1
|
0
|
1
|
1
|
0
|
0
|
1
|
1
|
1
|
0
|
1
|
0
|
1
|
1
|
1
|
½
|
|
10½
|
| Tchigorin
|
1
|
0
|
1
|
0
|
0
|
1
|
1
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
1
|
0
|
1
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
½
|
|
6½
|
Result: William Steinitz retains the World Championship.
See the Games of the Match!
When the match ended after 17 games, the remaining three games were played
as exhibition consultation games, with both players teaming up with local
Havana chess officials. Tchigorin and Judge Alberto Ponce played the final three
games against Steinitz and Dr. Gavilan. Since Steinitz desired to further test
his Q-B3 line in the Evans Gambit, the colors were reversed for these three
games, allowing Tchigorin to have White in two of them.
| Cuba, 1889
|
18
|
19
|
20
|
|
Score
|
| Steinitz/Gavilan
|
0
|
½
|
1
|
|
1½
|
| Tchigorin/Ponce
|
1
|
½
|
0
|
|
1½
|
The 1889 Championship was unique in the history of chess. For the
first and last time, match backers gave the World Champion carte blanche to
choose his opponent. Steinitz chose Mikhail Tchigorin (or Chigorin),
the champion of Imperial Russia, for two reasons.
1) Tchigorin had a 3-1 record against Steinitz in previous encounters,
a blot which Steinitz wished to erase from his record.
2) Steinitz, as the Father of Positional Play, found his theories severely
criticized by the Classical school. Tchigorin, as a bold gambiteer,
brilliant attacking player, and greatest living exponent of the Evans
Gambit, would play precisely the type of chess that Steinitz wanted to
play against in order to illustrate his theories.
The highlight of this match is Steinitz's bizarre 6... Qf6 line in the Evans
Gambit, and the outlandishly tangled positions he voluntarily accepted (sometimes
successfully) to try to prove that Black could keep the Pawn and emerge with the
better endgame. Henry Bird, speaking of Steinitz' style, once wrote
"Place the contents of the chessbox in your hat, shake them vigorously,
pour them on the board at the height of two feet, and you get the
style of Steinitz." He could have easily been thinking about this
variation when he said it.
This line appears in all the odd numbered games
of the regular contest, save Game 3, and also in Exhibition Games 18
and 20.
Another highlight of this match is Game 17, the final game, and a strong contender
for the worst game ever played in a World Championship match. Take a look in the viewer
at the dream of a position after White's 30th move, in which Steinitz's entire position
is practically being strangled where it stands, and try to imagine that 15 moves later,
White will be scrambling to draw an inferior ending, and without having made any overt
material-dropping blunders. Can't be done, you say? Well, play on and see.
Incidentally, Tchigorin's last-round woes didn't end here. Check out game 23 of
the 1892 Match, to see the jaws of victory go hungry at Tchigorin's hands again.
Tchigorin's name is often Anglicized as Chigorin.
Match Breakdown
# White - Black Locale Date ECO Result
1 Chigorin - Steinitz Havana 01-20-1889 C52 1-0
2 Steinitz - Chigorin Havana 01-22-1889 D02 1-0
3 Chigorin - Steinitz Havana 01-24-1889 C62 1-0
4 Steinitz - Chigorin Havana 01-26-1889 D02 1-0
5 Chigorin - Steinitz Havana 01-27-1889 C52 0-1
6 Steinitz - Chigorin Havana 01-29-1889 D02 0-1
7 Chigorin - Steinitz Havana 01-31-1889 C52 1-0
8 Steinitz - Chigorin Havana 02-04-1889 D46 1-0
9 Chigorin - Steinitz Havana 02-05-1889 C52 0-1
10 Steinitz - Chigorin Havana 02-08-1889 D07 1-0
11 Chigorin - Steinitz Havana 02-10-1889 C52 1-0
12 Steinitz - Chigorin Havana 02-12-1889 D07 1-0
13 Chigorin - Steinitz Havana 02-16-1889 C52 1-0
14 Steinitz - Chigorin Havana 02-19-1889 D07 1-0
15 Chigorin - Steinitz Havana 02-21-1889 C52 0-1
16 Steinitz - Chigorin Havana 02-23-1889 A85 1-0
17 Chigorin - Steinitz Havana 02-24-1889 C52 ½-½
See the Games of the Match!
Steinitz describes his theories
Steinitz introduces this match
Return to the Chesschamps Main Page
Return to the World Championship Main Page