A Queen Sacrifice… a Brilliancy or Just Routine?

    Wilhelm Steinitz (May 14, 1836 – August 12, 1900) was a Bohemian-Austrian,and later American player whose theoretical teachings revolutionized chess and were the foundations modern chess. 

    From 1886 to 1894, he was the first World Champion as well as a highly influential writer and theoretician. Some regarded him as the man who destroyed brilliancy tactical chess. 

    Steinitz himself played some really brilliant games. Early in his career he was a disciple of attacking chess with its careless, flashy, but frequently unsound attacks. 

    Eventually he came to the conclusion that patient defense with the idea of refuting unsound attacks. He demonstrated that you could not just toss away Pawns, or even pieces for a helter-skelter attack. 

    The time of the following game was played at the beginning of the Age of Steinitz. Engines may not think black’s attack was especially brilliant and at move 19 they glibly proclaim 19...dxe3 is the best move, but in the days of old it was considered a brilliancy. It’s not clear in what event this game was played, only that it was in Dresden in 1880. 

    White was Carl Friedrich Schmid (1840-1897). Born in Mitau, Russian Empire which is today Jelgava, Latvia. William Wayte (1829-1898) is better known, but not well remembered. 

    Wayte was born in Calne, England and passed away in London. He was a Church of England cleric and a British master. He was one of a group of ministers who played a prominent role in English chess in the late 1800s. 

    Chessmetrics estimates his highest ever rating to have been 2573 om 18078, and his best ever world rank to have been #9. It’s a little surprising, but Janes Mason was #1 at 2703. 

`In 1850, he became a Craven Scholar. John Craven, 1st Baron Craven of Ryton (1610-1648) was noted for benevolence and his will contained numerous charitable bequests. The most significant was the bequest of his manor of Cancerne, Sussex, for the endowment of four poor scholars, two at Oxford and two at Cambridge. The Craven scholarships still exist. In 1862, he rook the position of Select Preacher at the University of Cambridge. In 1876, Wayte became a professor of Greek at University College on London and while there he edited several Greek works. 

    As mentioned, Wayte was one of a group of ministers who played a prominent role in early Victorian Era English chess. Others included George MacDonnell, John Owen, Charles Ranken, Edmund Thorold and Arthur Skipworth. 

    Wayte played with success in a number of tournaments in Britain between 1861 and 1893. He also wrote for the British Chess Magazine.