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London (1851) Some of the main organizers of the tournament were Bledow (who had passed away by the time the final proposals could be arranged), von der Lasa, Kennedy and Staunton(1). They wanted a congress of competitive chess players at the start of the London World's Fair that could serve as an international and recurring chess meeting for the best players in Europe and the rest of the world(2). The tournament started in May of that year and proceeded to standardize issues such as consistent time-controls, rules and notation in a knock-out style format. First Round Second Round Semi-final Final ---------- Anderssen 2½ Kieseritsky ½ Anderssen 4 Szen 2 Szen 2 Newham 0 ---------- Anderssen 4 Horwitz 2½ Staunton 1 Bird 1½ Staunton 4½ Staunton 2 Horwitz 2½ Brodie 0 ---------- Anderssen 4½ Williams 2 Wyvill 2½ Löwenthal 1 Williams 4 Mucklow 2 Mucklow 0 E Kennedy 0 Wyvill 4 ---------- Williams 3 H Kennedy 2 Mayet 0 Wyvill 4½ Wyvill 2 H Kennedy 3½ Löwe 0 Anderssen vs Kieseritzky, 1851, the famous Immortal Game, was played at the venue but was not part of the tournament. References: (1) Wikipedia article: London 1851 chess tournament , (2) Wikipedia article: The Crystal Palace Missing information: no dates  page 1 of 4; games 1-25 of 85  Game   Result Moves Year Event/Locale Opening 1. Szen vs H Kennedy 1-0 45 1851 London B40 Sicilian 2. Anderssen vs Wyvill 1-0 26 1851 London B20 Sicilian 3. H Kennedy vs Szen ½-½ 57 1851 London B45 Sicilian, Taimanov 4. H Kennedy vs Szen 0-1 30 1851 London C65 Ruy Lopez, Berlin Defense 5. Horwitz vs Bird 1-0 55 1851 London B21 Sicilian, 2.f4 and 2.d4 6. Bird vs Horwitz 0-1 32 1851 London B30 Sicilian 7. Mayet vs H Kennedy 0-1 39 1851 London C00 French Defense 8. Loewenthal vs E Williams 0-1 44 1851 London C01 French, Exchange 9. J S Mucklow vs E S Kennedy 1-0 62 1851 London D00 Queen's Pawn Game 10. Horwitz vs Bird ½-½ 54 1851 London A10 English 11. Staunton vs A Brodie 1-0 15 1851 London C44 King's Pawn Game 12. Szen vs S Newham 1-0 64 1851 London B44 Sicilian 13. Kieseritzky vs Anderssen 0-1 20 1851 London B20 Sicilian 14. E Lowe vs Wyvill 0-1 29 1851 London C00 French Defense 15. E Williams vs Loewenthal 0-1 50 1851 London C42 Petrov Defense 16. H Kennedy vs Mayet 1-0 60 1851 London A21 English 17. E S Kennedy vs J S Mucklow 0-1 43 1851 London B44 Sicilian 18. Wyvill vs E Lowe 1-0 41 1851 London A20 English 19. Bird vs Horwitz 1-0 59 1851 London C65 Ruy Lopez, Berlin Defense 20. A Brodie vs Staunton 0-1 52 1851 London A30 English, Symmetrical 21. S Newham vs Szen 0-1 43 1851 London C01 French, Exchange 22. Anderssen vs Kieseritzky ½-½ 55 1851 London C39 King's Gambit Accepted 23. Kieseritzky vs Anderssen 0-1 17 1851 London B20 Sicilian 24. Loewenthal vs E Williams 0-1 39 1851 London A40 Queen's Pawn Game 25. Staunton vs Anderssen 0-1 47 1851 London C50 Giuoco Piano  page 1 of 4; games 1-25 of 85    REFINE SEARCH:   White wins (1-0) | Black wins (0-1) | Draws (1/2-1/2)   < Earlier Kibitzing  · PAGE 3 OF 3 ·  Later Kibitzing> Jun-07-16    zanzibar: <sneaky pete> can I trouble to ask you if you're systematically going through all the Schachzeitung games and comparing to <CG>? Otherwise, what is your procedure/criteria for reviewing games? Jun-08-16    sneaky pete: <zanzibar> There is nothing systematic in what I do, it's all haphazardry. I wanted to take a new look at all the games from this tournament with Staunton as my guide. When I discovered he had clipped some games but cg.com gave a longer score, I looked elsewhere and found the alternate TB published in the 1852 Schachzeitung. I think cg.com copied the games from another database that used SZ as primary source, but (this other database) added some new mistakes (like 59.Rg7 .. for 59.g7 ..) to the ones SZ had already made (like 21... QR to K's sq = Rae8 misread as 21... QR to Kt's sq = Rab8). Jun-08-16    zanzibar: <sneaky> (and others...) Hot off the press... https://zanchess.wordpress.com/2016... Please try to download this PGN if you would. It's the most up-to-date and correct version of the tournament, in my belief. Jun-11-16    zanzibar: OK, just for chuckles, and because it seems reasonably correct, here is the dating of the games using the ILN reporting: R1.1 = 1851.05.27 R1.2 = 05.28 then "at the termination of this sitting, hostilities were adjourned until Friday, ...". R1.3 = 05.30 R1.4 = 05.31 (this is interpolated) R2.x and R3.x = 1851.06.?? R4.x = 1851.07.?? There might be some uncertainty for end R3/beginning R4, but it's not too likely. Nor significant, as an inexact date might suggest some uncertainty of a day or two. Now the question is, should Z-base actually adopt this dating? Dec-09-16    MissScarlett: I'm correcting the first round result between Williams and Lowenthal from 2-0 to 2-1. Dec-09-16    MissScarlett: <The ILN [of Saturday, May 31st] states that the 1st Rd pairings were picked randomly on Monday, May 26. The first day of play was Tuesday, the 27th. It appears that the second games were on Wednesday, the 28th. Although the day is not specifically stated, it's hard to imagine that there would already be a day off. Being a 2 out of 3 RD, six players were thus eliminated after only two days. The ILN (Staunton, I presume) laments the random pairings and the 2 of 3 format.> Actually, only five players were eliminated, because Anderssen vs Kieseritzky, 1851 was drawn, requiring a third game. It's curious that the ILN reporter wouldn't know this, especially if it was Staunton. Dec-09-16    MissScarlett: According to the <Northampton Mercury>, June 7th, round 2.1 was held on Monday, June 2nd. Dec-09-16    zanzibar: <MissS> any info on dating rounds would be appreciated. I don't think I ever folded the dates into Z-base, but it's never too late. Dec-09-16    MissScarlett: <R1.1 = 1851.05.27 R1.2 = 05.28 then "at the termination of this sitting, hostilities were adjourned until Friday, ...". R1.3 = 05.30 R1.4 = 05.31 (this is interpolated)> I'm pretty certain these are correct. As you're probably aware, tournament chess on a Sunday was a no-no in Britain, at least, until maybe as late as WW2. Dec-09-16    zanzibar: Yes, this was a fairly widespread convention for many of the early tournaments that I've researched. I can't remember, off-hand, which tournament first had a top-level round on a Sunday. Maybe the Dutch were first? . Dec-09-16    MissScarlett: More likely the French. Dec-10-16    MissScarlett: <R2.x and R3.x = 1851.06.?? R4.x = 1851.07.??> Yes, this is correct. <There might be some uncertainty for end R3/beginning R4, but it's not too likely. Nor significant, as an inexact date might suggest some uncertainty of a day or two.> Provincial papers were in the habit of unattributed copying of reports from bigger and better titles, and the necessary delay in recycling sometimes leads to confusion. Dec-10-16    zanzibar: <MissS> yes, but I think I exhausted the ILN reportage for info. So where else can hope reside? It's unfortunate the coverage tampered off in the later stages of the tournament (at least, iirc, not having worked on this for awhile now). Jun-27-17    zanzibar: Rookhouse has this interesting (but unsourced) Anderssen quote about the playing conditions: <Additionally, the playing conditions were reportedly bad enough to inspire the following quote from Anderssen: Things were not particularly comfortable; tables and chairs were both small and low; the large boards stuck out over both edges of the tables; any space near the player was taken away by the person recording the moves; in short, there was not the slightest amount of free space on which one could support one’s head which might be so full of care during the hard struggles.> http://www.rookhouse.com/london-1851/ Feb-19-19    MissScarlett: <So where else can hope reside?> I've been looking at some reports in the <Morning Chronicle>, a London daily, via the <BNA>. The print quality is generally poor, which hampers its searchability - presumably explaining why I wasn't aware of its coverage before - but I've already found some useful information regarding game dates. Feb-19-19    zanzibar: <MS> unlikely I'll be able to access that source anytime soon. But I'd encourage you to further the work, either here or on your own blog, and take up the work from where it was left off. . Feb-19-19    zanzibar: PS- There's only a select few "elite" posters I'd share this tip with, but <MS> is one of them, as concerns historical newspapers... For some issues, particularly old German/Austrian newspapers, the layout can be extremely dense - tight multiple columns across the page, with just a brief mention of a chess item in a passing paragraph, often without a heading. So, even knowing the page, the info can be hard to find - especially if in a foreign language. <A useful aid, then, is to add a column number to the page citation, e.g. p6 -> p6c4> Not often needed, but quite a convenience when it is. Feb-19-19    MissScarlett: <There's only a select few "elite" posters I'd share this tip with, but <MS> is one of them, as concerns historical newspapers...> Thanks, we'll just keep it between ourselves. Incidentally, no need to put elite between quotation marks - if I'm not part of the elite, the word has no meaning. Feb-19-19    hashtag: 3l173 m0n0l06u35 Feb-20-19    zanzibar: <MS> don't let it give you a big head, but I've always put you in a "special" category, all your own! * * * * * <hashtag> what is that? Gotta wonder if cryto-posts should be item #12. Hmmm... Feb-20-19    MissScarlett: <<MS> don't let it give you a big head, but I've always put you in a "special" category, all your own!> #metoo Started a collection: Game Collection: London 1851 Work in progress... <<hashtag> what is that?> Just my Russian handler. #callyoulater Feb-20-19    zanzibar: Looks like a good start. Might that be your first <CG> tournament in the making?! Sep-22-19    MissScarlett: I'm interested in historical precedents for use of the knock-out format in other sports or pastimes. What about mediaeval jousting tournaments or even the ancient Olympic Games? Wikipedia is singularly unhelpful: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Singl... Sep-22-19    beatgiant: <MissScarlett> Or maybe you didn't look in the right place in Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pankr... The ancient Olympic pankration is described as a 16-player, 4-round knock-out event with the pairings selected by drawing of lots. Sep-22-19    beatgiant: <MissScarlett> One finds random sources on the web that claim that mideaval jousting used elimination contests, but without citing authoritative sources. For example http://www.lordsandladies.org/joust... "Joust a plaisance - A series of elimination jousting contests which were held over over several days. An overall jousting winner would be determined" Other ancient civilizations like Egypt, China and India had sports competitions, but I couldn't quickly find any details about their tournament rules. You'd have to look for specialized academic literature. Jump to page #    (enter # from 1 to 3) search thread:    < Earlier Kibitzing  · PAGE 3 OF 3 ·  Later Kibitzing> NOTE: You need to pick a username and password to post a reply. Getting your account takes less than a minute, is totally anonymous, and 100% free—plus, it entitles you to features otherwise unavailable. Pick your username now and join the chessgames community! 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