Johannes Zukertort, winner of the tournament
The London 1883 chess tournament, The Illustrated London News, 5 May 1883

The London 1883 chess tournament was a strong chess tournament among most of the leading players of the day. It was won convincingly by Johannes Zukertort (22 points out of 26) ahead of Wilhelm Steinitz (with 19 points). Remarkably, Zukertort was already assured of victory with three rounds to go, having scored an astonishing 22/23. He then lost his last three games against relatively weak players, probably due to exhaustion. The tournament established Zukertort as rivalling Steinitz to claim to be the best player in the world,[1] and led to the World Chess Championship 1886 match between the two (the first official World Chess Championship match). The event was a double round-robin tournament. Marmaduke Wyvill contributed to organizing the tournament.

Introduction of the chess clock

The tournament was also notable for the first use of the double-sided chess clock, invented and manufactured by Thomas Bright Wilson of Manchester Chess Club.

Claims to being the best chess player

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 Winter suggests that this story has been embellished.[2]

Irregularities

A game between Mason and Winawer was played, adjourned and resumed, but upon resumption the black knight on e7 was mistakenly placed on d7. Neither player noticed at the time and Winawer played the illegal, but powerful, Nc5! setting up a Ne4+ and eventually winning the match, with the mistake not being spotted until after the game concluded. It was not until days later that the mistake was noticed.

Patronage

The tournament book was dedicated to Prince Leopold, Duke of Albany, for his patronage of the tournament.[3]

Crosstable

The results and standings:[4]

# Player 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 Total
1 Johannes Zukertort (United Kingdom)Does not appear01d111d11d0dd111111d1d1111110101+22
2 Wilhelm Steinitz (Austria-Hungary)10Does not appear0100110dd11d1d0d011111d1111d11+19
3 Joseph Henry Blackburne (United Kingdom)d0010Does not appear01d001d01d1d1d-dd½dd10d11d1d11111116½
4 Mikhail Chigorin (Russian Empire)0d01110Does not appear110d1d010dd11010d101d1101+16
5 George Henry Mackenzie (United States)0d100d1100Does not appeardd½dd½0d1d0d1010d11d1dd½d1d111+15½
6 Berthold Englisch (Austria-Hungary)dd001dd00dd11d0dd½dd½Does not appeardd00dd½dd101d0111d11111+15½
7 James Mason (United Kingdom)000d00d0d101d0dd11Does not appeard10d1011dd½11dd1d111+15½
8 Samuel Rosenthal (France)00d1d1d0d-1dd0d1d0dd½dd0d01Does not appeardd½dd1d1001d0111d1+14
9 Szymon Winawer (Russian Empire)d0d000dd½dd0011010d01dd½dd0Does not appeard01dd101d1111+13
10 Henry Edward Bird (United Kingdom)00001d0011d0d1000d01d10Does not appear0011d11d1+12
11 Josef Noa (Austria-Hungary)000d00d0d010d000dd½010dd0111Does not appear01110+9½
12 Alexander Sellman (United States)0100d000d0dd½d0d000dd0d100d00010Does not appear110+6½
13 James Mortimer (United Kingdom)010d00001d0000d000000d000000Does not appear013
14 Arthur Skipworth (United Kingdom)0-0-000-0-0-0-d0-0-d0-1-1-10Does not appear3

In this tournament a game ending in a draw was replayed at least twice. The third game after two draws would count, whatever the result. In the table, "+" indicates win by default, "-" indicates loss by default or unplayed game, "d" indicates a drawn game that was replayed and not counted towards the final score.

Skipworth withdrew from the tournament two games after the half way point; the remainder of his games were scored as losses. The final game between Rosenthal and Blackburne was not replayed as by that point it was clear that it would have had no impact on the final result of the tournament.

References

  1. ↑ Edward Winter (chess historian). "Early Uses of 'World Chess Champion'".
  2. ↑ Chess Notes 4360, by Edward Winter, 13 May 2006
  3. ↑ Winter, Edward (4 December 2005), "4044. Prince Leopold, Duke of Albany", Chess Notes, retrieved 13 August 2012 {{citation}}: Cite uses generic title (help)
  4. ↑ C.E. Ranken (editor), The International Tournament of 1883, Chess Player's Chronicle, 27 June 1883, p. 26
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