★ ★ ★ 1810s ★ ★ ★

Adolf Anderssen was born on July 6th,1818.

★ ★ ★ 1820s ★ ★ ★

When he was 9 years old, his father taught him how to play chess.

★ ★ ★ 1840s ★ ★ ★

In 1842, he published a collection of 60 puzzles.

Example: White to move, mate in 4

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Solution: 1.h5 xh5 2.g7 h6 3.f6 h4 4.g6# 1-0

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In 1848,he drew a match against Daniel Harrwitz (+3,=0,-3).

★ ★ ★ 1850s ★ ★ ★

In 1851, Anderssen participated in the first international tournament, London 1851 (see : Game Collection: WCC Index (London 1851) for games ). He won the first match against Lionel Adalbert Bagration Felix Kieseritsky (+2,=1,-0), the second match against Jozsef Szen (+4,=0,-2), the third match against Howard Staunton (+4,=0,-1), and the final match against Marmaduke Wyvill (+4,=1,-2). He won first prize (which was about £335).After winning the tournament, many people regarded Anderssen to be the best player in Europe and was even the considered the world's leading player.

In 1852, he published a second collection of puzzles.

In 1858 he played a famous match in Paris against Paul Morphy. Anderssen lost +2,=2,-7 (see : Game Collection: WCC Index ( Morphy - Anderssen 1858 ) for the games ). After the match, Morphy was then regarded as the world's top player. In 1859, Morphy retired from professional chess allowing Anderssen re-gain the title of being the world's leading player.

After losing the Morphy match, he played two matches against Ignatz Von Kolisch. The first match was drawn (+5,=1,-5). However, Anderssen won the second match (+4,=2,-3).

★ ★ ★ 1860s ★ ★★

In 1862, Anderssen participated in the first international round-robin (in which each player plays each other player once) which took place in London. He won first prize (+12,=0,-1), a full two points ahead of Louis Paulsen who took second place. He only lost one game to John Owen (see Owen vs Anderssen, 1862). The prize for first place was £100.

In 1864, he played a match against Berthold Suhle (+3,=2,-3) which ended up being drawn.

In 1866, he played a match against Wilhelm Steinitz in which he lost (+6,=0,-8) (see : Game Collection: WCC Index (Anderssen - Steinitz 1866) for the games ). This made Steinitz the world's leading player.

★ ★ ★ 1870s ★ ★ ★

In 1870, he participated and won the very strong Baden-Baden chess tournament which took place in France (+10,=2,-4) half a point ahead of second place winner, Steinitz. The first place prize was 3000 francs (see : Game Collection: Baden-Baden 1870 for games ).

In 1873, he placed third place (+17,=4,-9) in the Vienna tournament of 1873, which was quite good, considering he was 55 at the time.He took home 300 francs (see : Game Collection: Vienna 1873 for the games ).

In 1877, he played in Leipzig (see Game Collection: Leipzig 1877, The Anderssen-Feier for the games). He finished second. He was almost sixty at the time.

Adolf Anderssen died on March 13th, 1879 at age 60.

★ ★ ★ OPENINGS ★ ★ ★

Anderssen Opening
1.a3

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Opening Explorer

Famous match and single-round tournaments results for Anderssen :

Morphy-Anderssen,1858
Anderssen 1 1/2 0 0 0 0 0 1/2 0 1 0 (2 wins,2 draws,7 losses) <27.3% score> <Lost>

Steinitz-Anderssen,1866
Anderssen 1 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 (6 wins,0 draws,8 losses)<42.9% score> <Lost>

Baden-Baden,1870
Anderssen 1 1/2 1 - 1 1 0 - - 1/2 1 1 0 - 1 1/2 1 - (8 wins,3 draws,2 losses,5 non-played games) <73.1% score> <1st>

Vienna,1873
Anderssen 1/2 1/2 1 0 1 1 0 1 1 0 1 1 1 1 - 1/2 1 1 0 0 - 1 0 0 0 1 1 0 1 1/2 1 1 (17 wins,4 draws,9 losses,2 non-played games) <67.9% score> <3rd>

Below are the final positions of Anderssen's ten best games according to the chessgames.com database.

The Final Position of Anderssen vs Kieseritzky, 1851 1-0

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The Final Position of Anderssen vs Dufresne, 1852 1-0

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The Final Position of J Rosanes vs Anderssen, 1863 1-0

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The Final Position of Anderssen vs Zukertort, 1869 1-0

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The Final Position of J Rosanes vs Anderssen, 1862 0-1

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The Final Position of Anderssen vs B Suhle, 1860 1-0

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The Final Position of Mayet vs Anderssen, 1859 0-1

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The Final Position of Anderssen vs Morphy, 1858 1-0

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The Final Position of J Schulten vs Anderssen, 1846 0-1

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The Final Position of Anderssen vs Kieseritzky, 1851 1-0

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★ ★ ★ CREDITS ★ ★ ★

Main Sources:

http://www.wikipedia.org

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