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🏆 London (1883)

Chessgames.com Chess Event Description
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Player: Johannes Zukertort

 page 1 of 2; games 1-25 of 32  PGN Download
Game  ResultMoves YearEvent/LocaleOpening
1. Chigorin vs Zukertort 0-1291883LondonC67 Ruy Lopez
2. J Mortimer vs Zukertort 0-1511883LondonC45 Scotch Game
3. Mason vs Zukertort 0-1731883LondonA13 English
4. Mackenzie vs Zukertort 0-1491883LondonC49 Four Knights
5. A B Skipworth vs Zukertort 0-1341883LondonA13 English
6. Blackburne vs Zukertort ½-½311883LondonC53 Giuoco Piano
7. Zukertort vs Blackburne 1-0331883LondonA13 English
8. Zukertort vs J Noa 1-0551883LondonA46 Queen's Pawn Game
9. Zukertort vs Steinitz 0-1311883LondonC46 Three Knights
10. Zukertort vs Bird 1-0341883LondonC25 Vienna
11. Zukertort vs A G Sellman 1-0551883LondonC01 French, Exchange
12. Zukertort vs S Rosenthal 1-0321883LondonD05 Queen's Pawn Game
13. Zukertort vs Winawer ½-½351883LondonC67 Ruy Lopez
14. Winawer vs Zukertort 0-1381883LondonC67 Ruy Lopez
15. Zukertort vs Englisch ½-½231883LondonC53 Giuoco Piano
16. Englisch vs Zukertort ½-½361883LondonC65 Ruy Lopez, Berlin Defense
17. Zukertort vs Englisch 1-0681883LondonD02 Queen's Pawn Game
18. Bird vs Zukertort 0-1901883LondonC53 Giuoco Piano
19. Englisch vs Zukertort 0-1591883LondonC65 Ruy Lopez, Berlin Defense
20. Zukertort vs Mackenzie ½-½401883LondonC77 Ruy Lopez
21. Zukertort vs Mason 1-0581883LondonD04 Queen's Pawn Game
22. Zukertort vs Chigorin ½-½521883LondonD04 Queen's Pawn Game
23. J Noa vs Zukertort 0-1561883LondonC50 Giuoco Piano
24. Chigorin vs Zukertort 0-1521883LondonC51 Evans Gambit
25. Steinitz vs Zukertort 0-1891883LondonC77 Ruy Lopez
 page 1 of 2; games 1-25 of 32  PGN Download
  REFINE SEARCH:   White wins (1-0) | Black wins (0-1) | Draws (1/2-1/2) | Zukertort wins | Zukertort loses  

Kibitzer's Corner
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Nov-27-13
Premium Chessgames Member
  offramp: This is a great collection from <suenteus po 147>.

Thanks, <PAF>! There's a lot of hard work gone into this!

Jan-06-14  thomastonk: Can someone tell me the relation of this tournament to the "Victoria Hall Student accomodiation", which is established in the introduction by the link given as source (2)?

The Victoria Hall of the Criterion, where the tournament was held, has also been used for the BCA congress of 1886, and therefore I found the additional information Piccadilly, London. So, it could be this one: http://www.criterionrestaurant.com/....

Jan-06-14
Premium Chessgames Member
  Chessical: <thomasstonk> The Criterion Theatre And Restaurant at 224 Piccadilly included the <Victoria Hall> and the Grand Hall, on the first floor, which could be rented out. A contemporary photograph of its Edwardian splendour:

http://www.englishheritagearchives....

The link given in note 2 appears to be to an unconnected student accomodation company.

Jan-06-14  thomastonk: <Chessical> Thank you for the additional details. My question was a rhetorical one, of course. There are other, less nonsensical mistakes, too. But I'm still concerned with Paris, 1867.
Jan-06-14  thomastonk: <Chessical> BTW, it's similar to Steinitz-Blackburne (1876): the tournament book is available at Google books (as well as the BCM of 1883; only the Chess Monthly, volume 4 is apparently missing).
Apr-07-15  zanzibar: The opium usage statement definitely needs a reference.
Apr-07-15  zanzibar: Thanks to Spannard we have this ref: <BCM v08 Aug-Sep 1888 p338>

<So severe a contest as the Tournament of 1883 was not as may be supposed, without its effect upon the winner. Zukertort, who from an early stage had been compelled to sustain himself by terrible doses of aconite, almost broke down at last, and his health, never robust, began to give his friends grave anxiety. The doctors were unanimous in insisting upon the necessity of a thorough rest, and could he have been induced to take this, there is reasonto believe he might have recovered. Rest however, he did not, and much against general advice, started almost immediateely for a playing tour through the United States and Canada.>

More on aconite, aka wolfsbane (or wolf's bane):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aconitum

Apr-16-16  zanzibar: <7. Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays are days fixed for play, on each of which days every competitor, from the commencement till the termination of the Tournament, must play with the antagonist against whom he is drawn, during the hours fixed for play.

" 8. Wednesdays and Saturdays are bye-days, but on those days all players who have made a drawn game must play again with each other, and should the game again be drawn they must play for a third time, when the draw will be final, and scored one half to each player. The first move will be taken alternately by each player in the second or third game under these circumstances. All games unfinished on play-days must be played off on these bye-days, and when a player has to play out an unfinished game and a draw the former will have the precedence, but such player must play off the draw as soon as he has completed his unfinished game. When both players of an unfinished game standing over from a previous day have finished their game set down for any play-day before the adjournment they can be called upon by the Playing Committee to play out such unfinished game during the evening hours of play. Arrears must be played out at the end of the Tournament if required by the Committee, but this will only be insisted on when the score for a prize is dependent on the result.>

TB xi-xii/20-21

Apr-16-16  zanzibar: < "11. The player who exceeds the time limit forfeits the game, which will be scored as won by his opponent. It is the duty, not only of his antagonist, but of any competitor aware of the fact, to bring at once to the notice of the member of the Playing Committee present any infraction of the time limit, and he will decide on the facts of the case, and such decision shall be final. No mere onlooker may interfere in any way, either as regards the time limit or any infraction of the ordinary rules of play, unless called on to give evidence as to facts.>

TB xii/21

Apr-16-16  zanzibar: <" 17. In case of any competitor withdrawing from the Tournament before ho has completed a round, if he has played half or more of his games in that round, the score will stand good, and the unplayed games will be forfeited to his opponents. If he has played less than half his games his score will be annulled, and in this case the forfeit of his deposit will be given, at the discretion of the Managing Committee, as a solatinm to be divided between those players who have won games from him, and which will not count towards their score.>

TB xiii/22

Apr-16-16  zanzibar: This tournament is often cited as being the first to use chess clocks, which is wrong.

It was the first to use "dual-chess clocks", i.e. where stopping one side's clock automatically starts the other side's clock.

Apr-16-16  zanzibar: The rationale behind the draw policy - "draw odds", is maybe a little odd itself:

<As regards drawn games it was felt by all tho members of the Sub committee who drew up the rules that the previous practice by which a drawn game was final and counted one half to each was most unfair to the strongest players, as it compelled them in effect to give the odds of the drawn games to the weaker competitors. The latter would be perfectly satisfied with such a result against a leading master, while he could not afford to risk the loss of his position by drawing against one of tho weaker antagonists, and in endeavouring to win in a drawing position might even lose the game. The best remedy for the evil was to consider a drawn game, as it is called in French, a nullity, and to continue playing till one or other won. But as this would have entailed a greater expenditure of time than could be given to an International Contest, the compromise of accepting the third drawn game as final was agreed to, and experience has shown that the object which the Sub-Committee had in view, to give skill its fair advantage, was realised by the arrangement made.

It is a singular fact, considering the strong opposition that was after wards raised to the scheme, that in the close discussion in committee on the Sub-Committee's proposals a proposition made by one member that drawn games should be final, and count one half to each, failed at the time to find a seconder, and the scheme which the Sub-Committee had so much at heart was passed at the time with practical unanimity.>

Apr-16-16  zanzibar: <Where two players are content to draw, no rules that the wit of man can devise can prevent their obtaining their purpose: the men are changed off rapidly, no attack is attempted on either side, and on the first decent opportunity a draw is offered and accepted when the astonished spectator imagines that the real struggle is about to commence.>

No kidding!

TB xvii-xviii/25-26

Apr-16-16  zanzibar: <On this occasion the Committee determined that the play should take place in public throughout the Tournament, and through the intervention of Mr. Rosenbaum, an active member of the Managing Committee, the Victoria Hall in the Criterion was secured for a period of eight weeks, at a moderate rental, which afforded ample accommodation for the players in both the intended Tournaments, and for as large a body of spectators as could conveniently witness the play.

It was obvious that the work of carrying out all the arrangements connected with the fitting up of the Hall and the superintendence of the play could not be carried out by the Committee, and as Mr. Rosenbaum kindly offered to accept the task, he was appointed Director of Play, ...>

TB xviii/27

(Looks like previous refs might be a page off?)

Apr-16-16  zanzibar: This is also of interest:

<Before noon on Thursday, the 26th April, the Victoria Hall was filled with spectators eager to witness the commencement of the fray. Tbe players in the Major Tournament were placed in the northern portion of the Hall, protected by an inclosure of ropes from the pressure of lookers-on. Tbe competitors in the Vizayanagaram contest were arranged round the Hall. For the Major Tournament clocks bad been provided, each pair working on a balance, so that when one player's clock was stopped his opponent's was set in motion automatically. The device was the inven tion of Mr. Wilson, of Manchester, and answered admirably its intended purpose. In previous Tournaments complaints were often made that a player's clock, either from inattention or design, was not set going immediately that bis opponent had made his move. He was constantly recording the game, looking for the paper, lighting a cigar, or absent from the board when his clock ought to have been set in motion, and the result was that the sum of the time occupied by the two players never came up to that really occupied in the game. With the arrangement of the balanced pair of clocks no finessing was possible, and if a player were promenading the Hall when his clock had boon set in motion he paid the penalty of his self-imposed loss of time. As a result, at the close of a game, or at the adjournment, the sum of the time indicated on the clocks of the two players corresponded accurately with that shown on the Hall clock to have been spent on the game. The rigid accuracy of the automatic movement may sometimes have provoked an inattentive player, but the justice of the system was felt and its advantages acknowledged by all the players engaged.>

TB xxii/31

Apr-20-16  zanzibar: As an aside, here are the tally of games actually played during the tournament (might be off by a game or two here or there, but should be pretty accurate):

<

28 Skipworth, Arthur

30 Mortimer, James

33 Bird, Henry Edward

33 Chigorin, Mikhail

33 Steinitz, Wilhelm

33 Zukertort, Johannes Hermann

34 Noa, Josef

36 Sellman, Alexander G.

39 Blackburne, Joseph Henry

39 Mason, James

41 Mackenzie, George Henry

41 Winawer, Szymon

45 Englisch, Berthold

45 Rosenthal, Samuel

>

Confirming the reputations of the two leaders...

Apr-20-16  zanzibar: <Rosenthal was awared a special prize of $125 for the best score against the prize winners.>

http://www.chessarch.com/excavation...

Apr-20-16  zanzibar: FWIW- the very next item in the above clipping reads:

<The chess editor of the Leeds Mercury goes for the wicked Major warmly; but we suspect the Major has gone to the happy hunting ground, to save his scalp.>

Anyone able to decode that?

Nov-24-16
Premium Chessgames Member
  offramp: <Zanzibar>

<The chess editor of the Leeds Mercury>

A newspaper in England, not a planet,

<goes for the wicked Major warmly;>

has launched a verbal attack on Captain Mackenzie.

<but we suspect the Major has gone to the happy hunting ground,>

But we think that he has killed himself

<to save his scalp.>

rather than have the skin removed from the top of his skull.

Jul-09-17
Premium Chessgames Member
  mifralu: <Sketches at the International Chess Tournament, May 5, 1883>

https://www.allposters.de/-sp/Sketc...

Jul-09-17  zanzibar: <mifralu> nice, never saw a colorized version of that before...
Jan-15-20
Premium Chessgames Member
  An Englishman: Good Evening: Further proof of 19th Century bloodthirstiness--6 players, including 3 of the top 4, finished with zero draws.

The link in the <mifralu> post above no longer works; try https://www.allposters.com/gallery....

Jan-15-20  The Kings Domain: Quite the tournament. Quality games, innovation and a tournament leader smoking dope to stay on the lead!
Jan-07-22
Premium Chessgames Member
  offramp: <zanzibar:...Zukertort, who from an early stage had been compelled to sustain himself by terrible doses of aconite....>

...Or Wolfsbane. It causes headache, nausea, palpitations, sweating, dizziness, difficulty in breathing, headache, confusion, a sensation of burning, tingling, numbness in the mouth and face, motor weakness, cutaneous sensations of tingling, numbness of the limbs, ventricular arrhythmia, asystole of the assistole, paralysis of the heart, persistent depolarization of neuronal sodium channels, numbness in the mouth and face, burning in the abdomen, hypotension, sinus bradycardia, diarrhoea, convulsions, ventricular arrhythmia and death. BTW, in medical circles <paralysis of the heart> is considered extremely serious. You know, you urgently need a long holiday after you get heart-paralysis.

<"Zukertort, who from an early stage had been compelled to sustain himself by terrible doses of aconite, almost broke down at last, and his health, never robust, began to give his friends grave anxiety.">

😂😂😂😂😂

Apr-27-22  Albertan: London 1883:Prelude to the First World Championship Match (April 26,1883-June 23,1883):

https://en.chessbase.com/post/londo...

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