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 0 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) http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_... Original collection: Game Collection: WCC Index (London 1851), by User: suenteus po 147 Missing information: no dates  page 1 of 4; games 1-25 of 84  Game   Result Moves Year Event/Locale Opening 1. Wyvill vs H Kennedy 1-0 57 1851 London A13 English 2. Anderssen vs Staunton 1-0 32 1851 London B40 Sicilian 3. Staunton vs Anderssen 0-1 47 1851 London C50 Giuoco Piano 4. Anderssen vs Staunton 1-0 35 1851 London C45 Scotch Game 5. Staunton vs Anderssen 1-0 30 1851 London C53 Giuoco Piano 6. E Williams vs Wyvill 1-0 32 1851 London B21 Sicilian, 2.f4 and 2.d4 7. E Williams vs Wyvill 1-0 36 1851 London B21 Sicilian, 2.f4 and 2.d4 8. Wyvill vs E Williams 1-0 37 1851 London A13 English 9. E Williams vs Wyvill 0-1 50 1851 London A00 Uncommon Opening 10. J S Mucklow vs E Williams 0-1 29 1851 London C02 French, Advance 11. E Williams vs J S Mucklow 1-0 38 1851 London B30 Sicilian 12. J S Mucklow vs E Williams 0-1 44 1851 London A13 English 13. H Kennedy vs Wyvill 1-0 65 1851 London A03 Bird's Opening 14. Wyvill vs H Kennedy 0-1 35 1851 London A13 English 15. H Kennedy vs Wyvill 0-1 52 1851 London B54 Sicilian 16. Wyvill vs H Kennedy ½-½ 62 1851 London A13 English 17. H Kennedy vs Wyvill 1-0 37 1851 London B46 Sicilian, Taimanov Variation 18. Wyvill vs H Kennedy 1-0 36 1851 London A13 English 19. H Kennedy vs Wyvill 0-1 28 1851 London B34 Sicilian, Accelerated Fianchetto 20. E Williams vs J S Mucklow 1-0 77 1851 London B21 Sicilian, 2.f4 and 2.d4 21. Horwitz vs Szen 0-1 43 1851 London C00 French Defense 22. Szen vs Horwitz 1-0 28 1851 London C67 Ruy Lopez 23. Staunton vs E Williams 1-0 34 1851 London C01 French, Exchange 24. E Williams vs Staunton 1-0 46 1851 London A03 Bird's Opening 25. E Williams vs Staunton ½-½ 37 1851 London A43 Old Benoni  page 1 of 4; games 1-25 of 84    REFINE SEARCH:   White wins (1-0) | Black wins (0-1) | Draws (1/2-1/2)     Feb-25-13    Expendable Asset: From Wyvill's biography section on chessgames.com: <Marmaduke Wyvill was an English Member of Parliament who finished 2nd to Adolf Anderssen at the London (1851) tournament.> And the description above shows that Anderssen defeated Wyvill in the final to claim first place, thereby placing Wyvill as second. However, the standings at the top indicate that Wyvill came in third place. ? Feb-26-13    Dionysius1: It looks like he might have come second by knockout (the tournament table) and 3rd by his score in the games he played (chessgames table). Feb-26-13    Expendable Asset: <Dionysius1> So that's why. Thanks for pointing it out. Getting second place in the 1851 International was a very impressive feat at the time. But it doesn't seem to matter at all in the long-run, since very few chess players today even know about Wyvill. He's barely mentioned in any 20-21st century chess books, yet he came ahead of Staunton, Bird, Szen, Kieseritsky, Horwitz, and others. And he got the best performance overall against the winner of the tournament, Adolf Anderssen. Feb-26-13    keypusher: <Expendable Asset> Wyvill was a member of Parliament who didn't play a lot of chess compared to people like Staunton or Anderssen. He had a wonderful result in this tournament but had a relatively easy draw (Lowe, H.A. Kennedy, and Elijah Williams) before the final. If you play through the games I think you'll agree that Szen was Anderssen's toughest opponent. Szen also crushed H.A. Kennedy and Horwitz in "loser's bracket" matches -- he probably had the best overall performance after Anderssen. Feb-26-13    Expendable Asset: <keypusher> Understood. One should blame the format of the tournament and the lucky/unlucky pairings, though, not Wyvill for going up against weaker players. And I meant the best result <against> the winner of the tournament, meaning XYZ vs Anderssen, not who had the best performance overall in the tournament after Anderssen. Wyvill vs Anderssen was a 2.5/4.5, while Szen vs Anderssen was 2/4, both in Anderssen's favor, but Wyvill had the best individual overall performance playing against Anderssen alone. Wyvill was not a pushover. A lot of people mention how far Staunton got in 1851 but very few bother to give Wyvill some real credit for his accomplishment here. We're talking about the 1851 International, not the games anybody played after, not the games anybody played before. Ex. just because Bird played over 50 years more of chess doesn't suddenly make him more important or notable in <1851> than Wyvill. Mar-26-13    wordfunph: The Chess Tournament London 1851 by Howard Staunton.. http://www.ebay.com/itm/The-Chess-T... Mar-07-14    keypusher: <Expendable Asset> <And I meant the best result <against> the winner of the tournament, meaning XYZ vs Anderssen, not who had the best performance overall in the tournament after Anderssen. Wyvill vs Anderssen was a 2.5/4.5, while Szen vs Anderssen was 2/4, both in Anderssen's favor, but Wyvill had the best individual overall performance playing against Anderssen alone. > To quote myself, <If you play through the games I think you'll agree that Szen was Anderssen's toughest opponent. > None of Anderssen's four wins over Wyvill lasted 30 moves. Apr-21-14    zanzibar: Adding this short piece of information from wikipedia would be quite a bit helpful here: < Each first-round match was a best-of-three games, draws not counting. Subsequent rounds were best-of-seven, and losers played consolation matches. The pairings were made by chance,> NOTE: You need to pick a username and password to post a reply. Getting your account takes less than a minute, totally anonymous, and 100% free--plus, it entitles you to features otherwise unavailable. Pick your username now and join the chessgames community! If you already have an account, you should login now. 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