Vienna, western capital of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and a city rich in culture and chess, hosted a World's Fair in the spring of 1873. In the tradition of earlier world exhibitions, great buildings were constructed, inventions and events were hosted and people all over the world were invited to come, observe, and participate in the modern Vienna.The central hall of the exhibition was erected at the Prater and the fair opened on May 1st. Unfortunately for the city and the fair, the stock market crashed the following week (later known as the "Panic of 1873") and a cholera epidemic later swept through the city and its people in early July. Whereas previous world's fairs were attended by hundreds of thousands to millions of people, Vienna was virtually deserted during the summer following the market crash and the growing epidemic.
In spite of these conditions, or perhaps because of them, Kaiser Franz Josef along with Baron Albert Rothchild and Ignatz Von Kolisch pooled together a large prize fund and organized an international chess tournament to be played from July 19th to August 29th, a period that would be during the worst of the epidemic. Games were played in the rooms of the Wiener Schachgesellschaft, and the tournament was organized differently from the previous world's fair competitions. The international chess tournament held at the London world's fair of 1851 was a knockout tournament. In 1862, it was the first all-play-all with draws to be replayed. At the Paris world's fair in 1867, double rounds had been played where draws were not counted. In Vienna an all-play-all system was devised, wherein each of the players were paired against each other and then made to play best of three rounds for each pairing. Unlike traditional scoring in previous tournaments, the results of all three games would be used to determine a sole winner for the pairing or if the two players were drawn. In the event a player won the first two games of the pairing, the third round need not be played. One of the goals of this format was to avoid replaying of draws and also to increase the chances of a definite result. Second round games were played with colors reversed, and if a third round game was required, the players would resume the colors they played in the first round. The schedule called for one game to be played a day, and twenty moves had to be played each hour. Every seventh day was a rest day, although chess masters who quickly dispatched an opponent could get "an extra rest day" on scheduled days for third round play.
Twelve chess masters were invited to participate in the elite event. Adolf Anderssen, who had won the previous world's fair competitions in 1851 and 1862, and Louis Paulsen participated on behalf of Germany. Joseph Henry Blackburne, Henry Edward Bird, and Wilhelm Steinitz (who had long played in Vienna prior) participated on behalf of Great Britain. Samuel Rosenthal, originally from Poland, participated on behalf of France. And the final six seats were occupied by chess masters of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, including Maximilian Fleissig, Oscar Gelbfuhs, Josef Heral, Philipp Meitner, Karl Pitschel, and Adolf Schwarz. Eight games from the tournament were decided by forfeit and they are omitted from this collection. Pitschel withdrew from the tournament after the completion of the eighth pairing's third round, so his six remaining games were forfeited. In the final pairing, both Fleissig and Meitner forfeited a game to each other. Although Anderssen was the clear favorite going into the competition, previous world's fair tournament participant and long time Viennese player Steinitz rose to the occasion and tied British chess master Blackburne in his international debut. Traditional scoring would have placed Blackburne a full point ahead of Steinitz in the final, but because the scoring followed best of three games for each pairing, both men finished with 10 points out of a possible 11 total. A two round playoff match was devised to determine a sole winner, and Steinitz, hot off a fourteen game winning streak to finish the tournament, swept the playoff match winning both games. His last sixteen wins here would contribute to an overall twenty-five game winning streak in professional competition, a record for chess history. Steinitz was crowned champion, being paid the prize fund of 1000 francs as well as an additional 200 golden ducats for winning the playoff match. Blackburne, as second, was awarded 600 francs, while Anderssen (as clear third) received 300 francs. Rosenthal received 200 francs for finishing clear fourth. The remaining players were compensated for their travel expenses. The tournament was later seen as a landmark moment in chess history, with the passing of the guard from Anderssen's reckless, swashbuckling style to Steinitz's more studied, "modern" play, a style that would come to influence the latter century of chess players and theory and herald a new era of competition.
The final standings and crosstable:
=1st Blackburne 10 /11 ** 1½1 101 00½ 101 11 11 101 11 101 1½1 011 <21½>
=1st Steinitz 10 /11 0½0 ** 11 11 11 11 11 ½½1 ½½1 11 11 11 <20½>
3rd Anderssen 8½/11 010 00 ** 101 11 101 101 0½1 ½1½ 011 11 1½1 <19>
4th Rosenthal 7½/11 11½ 00 010 ** 0½1 00 110 11 11 11 011 11 <17>
=5th Paulsen 6½/11 010 00 00 1½0 ** 11 0½1 11 1½1 1½0 11 11 <16>
=5th Bird 6½/11 00 00 010 11 00 ** 10½ 11 11 11 11 11 <14½>
=9th Heral 3 /11 00 00 010 001 1½0 01½ ** ½10 01½ 10½ ½10 001 <12>
=7th Fleissig 3½/11 010 ½½0 1½0 00 00 00 ½01 ** 101 01½ 010 11 <11½>
=7th Meitner 3½/11 00 ½½0 ½0½ 00 0½0 00 10½ 010 ** ½11 1½½ 11 <11½>
=9th Schwarz 3 /11 010 00 100 00 0½1 00 01½ 10½ ½00 ** ½½½ 1½½ <10½>
=9th Gelbfuhs 3 /11 0½0 00 00 100 00 00 ½01 101 0½½ ½½½ ** ½11 <10>
12th Pitschel 1 /11 100 00 0½0 00 00 00 110 00 00 0½½ ½00 ** <5>
Playoff Match
1st Steinitz 2/2 1 1
2nd Blackburne 0/2 0 0
Much of the historical content for this tournament comes from the incredible hard work of Jan van Reek and others.Original collection: Game Collection: Vienna 1873, by User: suenteus po 147
