Isidor Arthur Gunsberg (also spelled ''Günzberg'', ; 1 November 1854 – 2 May 1930) was a Hungarian

chess Chess is a board game for two players. It is an abstract strategy game that involves Perfect information, no hidden information and no elements of game of chance, chance. It is played on a square chessboard, board consisting of 64 squares arran ...

player, best known for narrowly losing the 1891 World Chess Championship match to

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

Biography

Gunsberg began his career as the player operating the remote-controlled chess automaton

Mephisto Mephisto or Mephistopheles is one of the chief demons of German literary tradition. Mephisto or Mephistopheles may also refer to: Film and television * ''Méphisto'', a 1931 French film * Mephisto (1981 film), ''Mephisto'' (1981 film), a Germa ...

, but later became a

professional. He moved to

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-west coast of continental Europe, consisting of the countries England, Scotland, and Wales. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the List of European ...

in 1876, later becoming a naturalized

British citizen The primary law governing nationality in the United Kingdom is the British Nationality Act 1981, which came into force on 1 January 1983. Regulations apply to the British Islands, which include the UK itself (England, Wales, Scotland, and Nor ...

on 12 May 1908. In the late 1880s and early 1890s Gunsberg was one of the top players in the world. He decisively won a national tournament in London in July 1885, and a few weeks later won the 4th German Chess Congress in

Hamburg Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 7th-lar ...

. In match play, he defeated

Joseph Blackburne Joseph Henry Blackburne (10 December 1841 – 1 September 1924) was a British chess player. Nicknamed "The Black Death", he dominated the British scene during the latter part of the 19th century. Blackburne learned the game at the relatively late ...

and Henry Bird in 1886. In 1887, he shared first with

Amos Burn Amos Burn (31 December 1848 – 25 November 1925) was an English chess player, one of the world's leading players at the end of the 19th century, and a chess writer. Burn was born on New Year's Eve, 1848, in Hull.Richard Forster, ''Amos Burn: ...

in the London tournament. In 1890 he drew a match with

Mikhail Chigorin Mikhail Ivanovich Chigorin (also ''Tchigorin''; ; – ) was a Russian chess player. He played two World Championship matches against Wilhelm Steinitz, losing both times. The last great player of the Romantic chess style, he also served as a ma ...

, a former and future challenger for the

world chess championship The World Chess Championship is played to determine the world champion in chess. The current world champion is Gukesh Dommaraju, who defeated the previous champion Ding Liren in the World Chess Championship 2024, 2024 World Chess Championship. ...

. Later that year, Gunsberg himself challenged

for the world title. The match took place in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

and Gunsberg lost with four wins, six losses, and nine draws. In 1916 he sued the '' Evening News'' for libel when they said that his chess column contained " blunders". He won the suit after the High Court accepted a submission that in chess matters, eight oversights did not make a "blunder".

Chess strength

Arpad Elo Arpad Emmerich Elo ( August 25, 1903 – November 5, 1992) was a Hungarian-American physics professor who created the Elo rating system for two-player games such as chess. Born in Egyházaskesző, Kingdom of Hungary, he moved to the Uni ...

calculates that Gunsberg's best 5-year average

Elo rating The Elo rating system is a method for calculating the relative skill levels of players in zero-sum games such as chess or esports. It is named after its creator Arpad Elo, a Hungarian-American chess master and physics professor. The Elo system wa ...

was 2560. According to

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

, Gunsberg's best single performance was his 1887 match against Blackburne, where he scored 8 of 13 possible points (62%). Also, Gunsberg's performance in the world championship match against Steinitz indicated he was a part of the world elite in the late 1880s and early 1890s. However, in the year he qualified for the match against Steinitz, 1889, Gunsberg played in three different international tournaments: Amsterdam, the German Chess Congress, and the US Chess Congress. At Amsterdam, he finished in 5th place out of 9 competitors with an exact 50% score, 4/8, behind Burn, a young

Emanuel Lasker Emanuel Lasker (; December 24, 1868 – January 11, 1941) was a German chess player, mathematician, and philosopher. He was the second World Chess Champion, holding the title for 27 years, from 1894 to 1921, the longest reign of any officially ...

Mason Mason may refer to: Occupations * Mason, brick mason, or bricklayer, a worker who lays bricks to assist in brickwork, or who lays any combination of stones, bricks, cinder blocks, or similar pieces * Stone mason, a craftsman in the stone-cutti ...

, and Van Vliet. At the German Chess Congress, he finished tied for 4th–7th places out of 18 competitors, with a +3 score, 10/17, behind Tarrasch, Burn, and Mieses. Finally, at the US Chess Congress, his best result, and the reason he was allowed to challenge Steinitz, he finished in lone 3rd place out of 20 competitors, with a +19 score, 28½/38, behind

Weiss Weiss or Weiß may refer to: People * Weiss (surname), including spelling Weiß * Weiss Ferdl (1883-1949), German actor Places * Mount Weiss, Jasper National Park, Alberta, Canada * Weiss Lake, Alabama * Weiß (Sieg), a river in North Rhine-Wes ...

and Chigorin. Later on, Gunsberg's position among the foremost

chess master A chess title is a title regulated by a chess governing body and bestowed upon players based on their performance and rank. Such titles are usually granted for life. The international chess governing body FIDE grants several titles, the most pres ...

s would slip. In the famous

Hastings 1895 chess tournament The Hastings 1895 chess tournament was a round-robin tournament of chess conducted at the Brassey Institute in Hastings, England from 5 August to 2 September 1895. Hastings 1895 was arguably the strongest tournament in history at the time it occ ...

, Gunsberg finished with a −3 score of 9/21, good for a share of 15th–16th place out of 22 competitors.1895 Hastings results
/ref>

Notes

References

* *

External links

"Isidor Gunsberg" by Edward Winter
* *

**CN 3824, July 2005

**CN 5113, August 2007

**CN 5136, September 2007

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gunsberg, Isidor 1854 births 1930 deaths 19th-century chess players 20th-century Hungarian chess players 20th-century Hungarian sportsmen Hungarian Jews Emigrants from Austria-Hungary to the United Kingdom British chess players Jewish chess players Chess players from Budapest Chess players from Austria-Hungary Hungarian chess players

Biography

Chess strength

See also

Notes

References

External links