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| A man of many hats |
The strategy seen in those old games is easier to understand and today lower rated players still make the mistakes many of the old time players did such as disregarding opening principles...things like control of the center, rapid piece development, avoiding P moves in front of the K, not moving a piece twice in the opening, don't bring out the Q early, etc. Seeing how the stars of yesteryear punished those violations is instructive.
And, from what I've seen online a lot of players having heard that tactics win games think they are playing tactically when they just willy-nilly throw away a piece believing they are making a sacrifice.
Eventually defensive technique became much better, but the games of the titans of yesteryear are still instructive,
Even if you aren't looking for instruction and just want entertainment, the old games are (for me at least) more entertaining than playing over the sleep-inducing games of modern players.
One player of those bygone days of wooden ships and iron men was Johannes Zukertort (September 7, 1842 - June 20, 1888). Unappreciated today, Zukertort was a leading Polish-German-British master during most of the 1870s and 1880s. Besides chess Zukertort was a soldier, musician, linguist, journalist and political activist.
In 1886, he lost a match to Wilhelm Steinitz in what is generally regarded as the first World Chess Championship match. He was also defeated by Steinitz in 1872 in an unofficial championship match.
Born in Lublin, Poland, then part of the Russian Empire, the Zukertort family emigrated to Prussia. He was educated at the gymnasium of Breslau and in 1866 at the University of Breslau from which he graduated in medicine in 1866. As a member of the medical corps of the German army he saw service in 1866 and again during the Franco-Prussian war of 1870–71.
Zukertort is widely believed to have embellished his biography and others have made many claims about him such as he was of aristocratic descent, he was fluent in nine to fourteen languages (depending on the source) and he was proficient in swordsmanship, dominoes and whist.
I was not aware that there was actually a domino strategy, but there is. I have read of a lot of old generation players who enjoyed whist which is the direct forerunner of bridge and is of English origin. Before the days of auction bridge and contract bridge it was a very popular game, but today it has been superseded by Bridge.
It was also claimed that he had played 6,000 games of with Adolf Anderssen, fought in numerous battles and was awarded seven medals besides the Order of the Red Eagle and the Iron Cross of the German Army. He worked on the staff of Otto von Bismarck's private newspaper the Allgemeine Zeitung, a leading political daily journal in Germany in the first part of the 19th century. And, if that wasn't enough he wrote two chess books and worked as the editor of a chess magazine for several years. The Oxford Companion to Chess comments, "There is some truth in the last sentence: he was co-author of the books, co-editor of the chess magazine."
Style-wise Zukertort's play was very similar to almost every player of his day...aggressive and tactical. He liked murky attacks and flashy sacrifices. His openings weren't the popular ones on the day; he liked 1.c4 and 1.Nf3 and unlike his contemporaries who preferred open positions, he also liked semi-closed positions. His greatest weakness was that he never approached Steinitz' understanding of positional play and Steinitz often outplayed him positionally fairly simply.
Zukertort learned to play in Breslau when he was about 19. Entering a tournament in that city, and receiving the Q odds he lost every game after which he began studying Bilguer's Handbuch, the equivalent of Modern Chess Openings.
By 1862 he was winning N odds games from Adolf Anderssen and began studying with Anderssen. As a result, in a few years he became one of the strongest players in Germany.
In 1867 Zukertort moved to Berlin and in 1872 to London.
In 1872 he lost a match to Steinitz with a score of +1 =7 =4. Clearly he was not Steinitz' equal, but by the late 1870s and early 1880s he was among the best in the world.
In those days first class tournaments were rare and his best performances were in matches as he demonstrated against Anderssen (1871) and Blackburne (1881).
Zukertort finished third place behind Steinitz and Blackburne at London, 1872, finished first at Cologne and second at Leipzig in 1877, tied for first with Simon Winawer at Paris 1878 and defeated Winawer in the playoff. He finished second at Berlin in 1881, tied for fourth at Vienna in 1882 and first at London in 1883.
The London 1883 tournament was his greatest success as he won his games against most of the world's leading players, scored 22-4 and finished three points ahead of Steinitz. This success established him and Steinitz as the best two players in the world and led to their World Championship match in 1886.
After his defeat by Steinitz he continued to play chess, but his health began to deteriorate and he only lived two more years. His ailments included rheumatism, coronary heart disease, kidney problems and arteriosclerosis.
Some commentators alluded to his health problems as early as his 1872 match defeat by Steinitz.
Zukertort died in London on June 20, 1888, from a cerebral hemorrhage after playing a game in a tournament at Simpson's Divan, which he was leading at the time.
In their biography of Zukertort, Domanski and Lissowski referred to an observation by Leopold Hoffer, co-editor of The Chess Monthly, who wrote that Zukertort had increasing problems to articulate and generally had lost his zest for life. This observation is typical for a stroke. He is buried in Brompton Cemetery in London.
The following game is from his match against Adolf Anderssen that was played in Breslau, 1885. Zukertort won 10-4.
Johannes Zukertort - Adolf Anderssen
Result: 1-0
Site: Match, Breslau
Date: 1865
Muzio Gambit
[...] 1.e4 e5 2.f4 exf4 3.♘f3 g5 4.♗c4 g4 5.O-O How great is this? White offers a N hoping to exploit black's weakness on the f-file. Modern fellows like Carlsen, Caruana, Ding, Nepomniachtchi, Vachier-Lagrave, etc. are not likely to play this way. Of course, they can't because even the modest evaluation of Komodo 10 gives black 3/4 of a P advantage which in today's top level GM play is like handing him a free point. 5...gxf3 If Black postpones taking the N with 5...d5 then white obtains a strong attack beginning either 6.exd5 or 6.Bxd5 6.♕xf3 This is one of the most ancient forms of the King's Gambit. Without going into its history, it stems from the early Italian rule where the K could go directly to h1 instead of g1 which made for a much stronger attack than in modern chess. Black is a piece up, but, lacking any development, must walk a tightrope. Clearly f7 is going to be the focal point of white's attack. 6...♕f6 The thematic starting position in the Muzio. Black's last move is very definitely best since it not only barricades the f-file but also impedes the formation of a white P-center with d4.
15.♘xd5
6...♗h6 is an interesting idea that was tried in Nakamura,H (2741)-Andreikin,D (2683)/World Blitz Champ/Moscow 2010 7.d4 ♕h4 8.♘c3 ♘c6 9.♘d5 ♔d8 10.c3 d6 with equal chances.
7.e5 White sacrifices another P to open up more lines for attack. Conservative moves like 7.c3, 7.Nc3 and 7.d3 re also possible. 7...♕xe5 Offering white the opportunity to play the double Muzio if he wants to make yet another piece sacrifice. 8.d3 In their 1982 book Estrin and Glazkov, based on old analyses by Chigorin, came to the conclusion that this gives equal chances although the modern tendency is to prefer black as do the engines.
8.♗xf7+ According to GM Raymond Keene this is the best version of the Muzio, but that seems doubtful! 8...♔xf7 9.d4 Sacrificing another P to open lines. 9...♕xd4+ 10.♗e3 The old move was 10...Qf6 which leaves black with a modest advantage. 10...♕g7 This is the engine preferred move and it was played in Grabics,M (2295)-Andras,I/Hungary 1994 which continued 11.♗xf4 ♘f6 12.♗e5 ♗e7 13.♘c3 d6 14.♗xf6 ♗xf6 15.♘d5 Now with 15...Nd7 black has the advantage. In the game he erred and allowed white to equalize and further errors lead to black losing rather quickly.
8...♗h6 9.♘c3
9.♗d2 ♘e7 10.♗c3 ♕c5+ 11.♔h1 ♖g8 12.♘d2 d5 13.♕h5 ♖g6 14.♖ae1 ♔f8 15.♘b3 ♕d6 16.♗e5 ♕d8 17.♗xf4 ♗xf4 18.♖xf4 dxc4 19.♘d4 ♕d5 20.♕e2 ♘bc6 21.dxc4 ♕d6 22.♕f2 f5 23.♕e3 ♕f6 Sokolov,A (2382)-Sahidi,S (2380)/Prague CZE 2019/0-1
9...♘e7 10.♗d2 c6 A weak move that throws away most of his advantage.
10...♘bc6 11.♖ae1 ♕f5 12.♘d5 ♔d8 13.♕e2 ♕e6 14.♕f3 ♕f5 15.♕e2 ♕e6 16.♕h5 ♕g6 17.♕e2 Black is considerably better but Minic,D-Sokolov,V/ Zagreb 1961 agreed to a draw.
11.♖ae1 ♕c5+ 12.♔h1 d5 13.♕h5 White threatens to win material: Qh5xh6 13...♕d6 14.♗xd5
14.♘e4 would have given white a slight advantage after 14...dxe4 15.♗xf7+ ♔d8 16.dxe4 ♕f6 17.♖d1
14...cxd5 After this the position can be considered quite even.
14...O-O was better as after 15.♗e6!15...♗g7
15...♗xe6 16.♘e4 ♗g4 (16...♕d4 17.♗c3) 17.♕xg4+ ♕g6 18.♘f6+ ♔g7 19.♗c3
16.♗xf4 Here black's best move is to give up the Q. 16...♕xe6 17.♖xe6 ♗xe6 18.♘e4 ♘d7 19.♗d6 ♖ae8 with a most interesting position. 15.♖xe7+ is interesting, but black can hold his own after 15...♕xe7 16.♖e1 ♕xe1+ 17.♗xe1 ♗g7 18.♘xd5 O-O 19.♘c7 ♗d7 20.♘xa8 ♘a6 with unclear complications.
15...♘bc6 16.♗c3 ♗d7 17.♖xe7+ This flashy move is unsound and results in black having the better position. (17.♘f6+ ♔d8 18.♕xh6 ♘d5 keeps things even.) 17...♘xe7 18.♖e1 ♗f8 19.♗b4 Here black could have equalized by giving up his Q. 19...♕g6 After this black loses quickly, but only if white finds the right move!
19...♕xb4 20.♘xb4 O-O-O 21.♕xf7 ♘g6 and black would, theoretically at least, have good winning chances.
20.♕e5 Which he does not! Now black wins with 20...f3!!
20.♖xe7+ Would have won easily. 20...♗xe7 21.♕e5 ♗e6 22.♘xe7 ♕g4 23.♕xh8+
20...♗c6 Anderssen has totally collapsed and loses immediately.
20...f3 21.gxf3 ♕f5 and white's attack has fizzled out. For example... 22.♘f6+ ♔d8 23.♗xe7+ ♗xe7 24.♕xe7+ ♔c7 and white is a R down.
21.♗xe7 (21.♕xh8 is atrocious. 21...O-O-O 22.♘xf4 ♕g4 winning.) 21...♗xd5 (21...♕e6 22.♘c7+ ♔xe7 23.♘xe6 fxe6 24.♕xh8 wins) 22.♗f6+ ♗e6 (22...♔d7 isn't much better. 23.♕xd5+ ♔c7 24.♗xh8) 23.♕b5#Powered by Aquarium
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