The second international Vienna 1882 chess tournament was one of the longest and strongest chess tournaments ever played. According to the unofficial

Chessmetrics Chessmetrics is a system for rating chess players devised by Jeff Sonas. It is intended as an improvement over the Elo rating system. Implementation Chessmetrics is a weighted average of past performance. The score considers a player's win percen ...

ratings, the tournament was (as of March 2005) the strongest tournament in history, on the basis that nine of the ten top players in the world participated, including all of the top eight. The Vienna Chess Society was formed in October 1857, and this tournament played from 10 May to 24 June 1882 was held on the occasion of its 25th anniversary. The main sponsors were Ignác Kolisch and the club's president

Albert Salomon von Rothschild Albert Salomon Anselm Freiherr von Rothschild (29 October 1844 – 11 February 1911) was a banker in Austria-Hungary and a member of the Rothschild banking family of Austria. Businesses that he owned included Creditanstalt and the Norther ...

, who together donated 7500 francs to be split over the top six.

Franz Joseph I of Austria Franz Joseph I or Francis Joseph I (german: Franz Joseph Karl, hu, Ferenc József Károly, 18 August 1830 – 21 November 1916) was Emperor of Austria, King of Hungary, and the other states of the Habsburg monarchy from 2 December 1848 until ...

was the patron of the event, who also donated a special prize of 2000 Austrian Gulden (''Kaiserpreis''). The time control was 15 moves per hour, with a 2-hour break after 4 hours. Games not completed after eight hours of play were adjourned to be finished on the rest day.ChessBase.com - Chess News - International Chess Tournament Vienna 1882
/ref> The tournament was played as a double

round-robin tournament A round-robin tournament (or all-go-away-tournament) is a competition in which each contestant meets every other participant, usually in turn.''Webster's Third New International Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged'' (1971, G. & C. Me ...

and suffered a number of withdrawals in the second tour. Noa withdrew after the first round of the second tour, Fleissig, Bird, Schwarz and Wittek also lost games by default. The event was won by

Wilhelm Steinitz William Steinitz (born Wilhelm Steinitz; May 14, 1836 – August 12, 1900) was an Austrian and, later, American chess player. From 1886 to 1894, he was the first official World Chess Champion. He was also a highly influential writer and c ...

and

Szymon Winawer Szymon Abramowicz Winawer (March 6, 1838 – November 29, 1919) was a Polish-Jewish chess player who won the German Chess Championship in 1883. Tournament and match results At the Paris 1867 tournament held at the Café de la Régence, his first ...

, who decided to share the first prize after they each won a play-off game. The special prize was awarded to Zukertort for the best performance against the top three. On May 12, Steinitz

drew Drew may refer to: __NOTOC__ Places ;In the United States * Drew, Georgia, an unincorporated community * Drew, Mississippi, a city * Drew, Missouri, an unincorporated community * Drew, Oregon, an unincorporated community * Drew County, Arkansas ...

a game with Mackenzie, thus ending the longest winning streak in chess history. Steinitz at the time had won 25 consecutive games, the last draw he conceded was nine years earlier, on August 3 in the Vienna 1873 tournament. After this Steinitz would lose three consecutive games to Zukertort, Hruby, and Ware.Rook House – Greatest Events – Vienna 1882
/ref>

Standings

References

Further reading