Ronen Greatest Hits : Wilhelm Steinitz (3 part series)

Wilhelm Steinitz

Opening: :

Player(s): Steinitz

Ronen continues his journey through the life of the greatest chess players with the third video of a mini-series on the first official World Chess Champion: Wilhelm Steinitz. Born in 1836, Steinitz is considered by many as the father of strategic and positional play. Pieces on the center, pair of bishops, grab a pawn and keep the advantage to win the game. His style was bitterly criticized by his contemporaries, who were used to see amazing - though often unsound - sacrifices and the typical 'full-force attack' play of the Romantic era. His main competitor was Adolf Anderssen, and when Steinitz beat him in 1886, our hero became what experts considered the strong chess player in the world. The reign of Steinitz ended in 1894, when he lost the crown to Emanuel Lasker. Steinitz, in his long chess career, has laid down the basis of modern chess; quoting the great champion Garry Kasparov: 'what Steinitz did for and to chess is comparable with the great scientific discoveries of the nineteenth century'.