Anderssen

His life in chapters

1. 1818–1850

   The schoolmaster of Breslau

   Breslau, 1818. My father taught me the moves when I was a boy, and I never quite put the pieces down. I became a teacher of mathematics — a quiet life of classrooms and chalk — and in the evenings I composed chess problems and dreamed of combinations. The board was where a modest man could be gallant.

2. 1851–1857

   London 1851 — the Immortal

   They summoned the strongest players in the world to London in 1851, the first great international tournament — and the schoolmaster won it. That same summer, in a casual game against Kieseritzky, I gave away both rooks, the bishop and the queen, and delivered mate with what remained. They called it the Immortal Game; a year later, against Dufresne, came the Evergreen. I did not play for points. I played for beauty.

3. 1858–1865

   The meteor from America

   In 1858 a young man from New Orleans crossed the ocean, and in Paris he defeated me soundly. I said of Morphy what I believed: that he was the strongest who had ever played. There is no shame in bowing to a comet. I returned to my classroom, and in 1862 I won London again — the old lion still had teeth.

4. 1866–1879

   The last romantic

   In 1866 Steinitz beat me in a match — every game a fight, not a single draw — and a new age began that was not mine. No matter: at Baden-Baden in 1870 I finished ahead of him and won the strongest tournament yet held. I taught, I played, I attacked until the end, in my Breslau, in 1879. Let others accumulate advantages; I gave checkmate.