There was also a "London Provincial Tournament" for British players who were not strong enough to be invited to play in the International Tournament.
In addition to the tournament, Staunton and other players wanted to meet to standardize rules, notation and set time limits. This last was a major problem because some players were notorious for just out-sitting their opponents. Staunton also suggested publishing an opening book with the moves in the form of a table.
Before the tournament a couple of columnists proposed that the winner should be regarded as the World Champion, but there was never any indication that crowning a world champion was an official objective.
The tournament was a knock-out event with sixteen of Europe's best players. Unfortunately many of the invitees were unable to play. Some of the better players absent were Pierre Saint-Amant, Tassilo von Heydebrand und der Lasa, Alexander Petrov and Carl Jaenisch.
Saint-Amant was in far away California. He had been sent there by the French government as a diplomat following the state's independence from Mexico during the California Gold Rush.
Also missing was Thomas Buckle who was considered to be second only to Staunton among British players. A number of other British players were missing as a result of a dispute with the London Chess Club, most notably Daniel Harrwitz and George Walker.
Adolf Anderssen was reluctant to accept his invitation because of the travel expenses, but Staunton offered to pay Anderssen's travel expenses out of his own pocket if necessary, should Anderssen fail to win any prize money. Anderssen accepted Staunton's offer.
The first round pairings were made by lot and the eight losers in the first round, which consisted of a best-of-three games with draws not counting, were eliminated. Subsequent rounds were best-of-seven, and losers played consolation matches.
Immediately after the tournament Staunton challenged Anderssen to a twenty-one-game match for a 100 pound stake. Anderssen agreed to the match, but could not play right away as he had been away from his job as a school teacher for over two months. In addition Staunton was having physical problems. As a result, the match was never played.
His win resulted in Anderssen being recognized as Europe's best player and Staunton was bitter; he blamed his failure to win the strain of organizing the event and a weak heart. Staunton also condemned chess as a profession even though the bulk of his income was derived from chess.
It should be mentioned that the famous Anderssen vs Kieseritzky, the famous Immortal Game, was an offhand game played at the venue, but it was not played in the tournament.
In one of the lesser known games from the event Elijah Williams (1809-1854) defeats Marmaduke Wyvill (1815-1896) in a pretty game.
At London, Williams defeated Lowenthal and Staunton before losing to Wyvill. Wyvill, a Member of Parliament, finished 2nd in the tournament.
Elijah Williams–Marmaduke WyvillB21London3.106.1851Stockfish 15.1
Sicilian Defense 1.e4 c5 2.f4 Originally known as the McDonnell Attack
which comes from the McDonnell vs. de La Bourdonnais match played in London in
1834, today it's known as the Grand Prix Attack. The usual way of reaching it
today is to first play 2.Nc3. e6 3.f3 g6 4.e5 4.d4 g7 Better was
either 4...d5 or 4...cxd4 5.c3 cxd4 6.xd4 e7 7.e3 xd4 8.xd4 0-0 9.0-0-0 f5 10.e5 bc6 11.d2 a5 12.b1 a6 13.c4 b5 14.b3 h8 15.f2 b8 16.d6 c7 17.hd1 a5 18.a4 b4 19.b5 Black resigned. Bisguier,A (2237)
-Merlin,A Parsipanny 2009 4...h6 5.b3 c6 6.b5 e7 7.c3 a6 A
tactical oversight. Correct was 7...Bg7, but white's position is preferable
thanks to his spatial advantage. 8.e4 White is better. There is no really
satisfactory way for black to meet this move. g7 9.d6+ f8 10.e2 hf5 11.e4 This is better than trading Ns. As it is, at some point black's N will
have to vacate f5 with a loss of time and in the meantime, white's N remains
well placed. b6 Black underestimates the strength of white's next move or
else he would have played 11...h5 trying to maintain the N on f5. 11...h5 12.xc5 OK, so black givens up a P, but he gains some measure of freedom. d6 13.e4 b5 and black is getting developed and white can only claim to be
slightly better. 12.d3 Too passive...the position calls for aggressive
play. 12.g4 drives the N away and after d4 13.xd4 b7 14.f3 cxd4 15.a3 g8 16.h4 d5 17.d6 white has a very nice position. There's no clear
forced win, but black's carmped position would require careful defense. 12...d5 Driving the N back and gaining control of the important square
d6. 13.f2 13.exd6 d5 14.e5 fe3 and it's now black's Ns that dominate.
15.xe3 xe3 16.d2 xg2+ and the N can safely get back by ...Nh4-f5 13...d4 A sudden turn of events has left white cramped. 14.g4 Safer would
have been 14.O-O then just trying to hang on, but instead Williams chooses to
play aggressively and it pays off. h6 The N is misplaced here and white
seizes the initiative. 14...e3 Wyvill may have avoided this thinking the
P on e3 would he vulnerable. 15.xe3 dxe3 16.e4 However, after d5
white can't defend the f-Pawn. 17.c1 xf4 18.g1 18.xe3 g2+ 18...d5 with a vastly superior position. 15.g5 d5 16.fe4 f6 This only weakens
his Ks position. The ugly retreat 16...Ng8 was best. 17.exf6 xf6 18.0-0 g7 19.xf6 xf6 20.f3 In spite of everything, black's position, while
inferior, is still defensible. However, his next move placing the B on an
undefended square is illadvised. Moving the R from potential attack with 20...
Ra7 would have been a wee bit better. b7 21.e1 ae8 22.d2 hf8 23.h4 h8 24.ae1 g8 It's hard to see how, but this move turns out to be the
losing move. 24...f7 is tougher, but even then black has no way to
equalize! One possibility is 25.h3 xf4 Winning the P does not help. 25...g8 26.g3 a8 27.h4 h6 28.e4 and black is facing insurmountable
difficulties. 26.xf4 xf4 27.xf7 xf7 28.c6 e7 29.xe8 with a
decisive advantage. 25.g3 h6 26.e4 d8 27.f5 Cracking open the Ks
position. exf5 28.gxf5 g5 29.xg5 hxg5 30.xg5 h3 Well
played! It hardly saves the game, but it was worth a shot. 31.f6+ A problem-like finish. 31.xh3 xg5+ 32.g3 xg3+ 33.hxg3 f8 34.g4 White ahs a R+2Ps vs 2Ns and should win with little difficulty, but at least
black has some hope however forlorn it might be. 31...xf6 32.g6# 
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