Johannes Hermann Zukertort (; 7 September 1842 – 20 June 1888) was a Polish-born British-German
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 ...
. He was one of the leading world players for most of the 1870s and 1880s, but lost 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 ...
in the
World Chess Championship 1886
The World Chess Championship 1886 was the first official World Chess Championship match contested by Wilhelm Steinitz and Johannes Zukertort. The match took place in the United States from 11 January to 29 March, the first five games being played ...
, which is generally regarded as the first
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. ...
match. He was also defeated by Steinitz in 1872 in an unofficial championship.
Zukertort filled his relatively short life with a wide range of other achievements as a soldier, musician, linguist, journalist and political activist.
Early life and non-chess achievements
Zukertort was born on 7 September 1842 in
Lublin
Lublin is List of cities and towns in Poland, the ninth-largest city in Poland and the second-largest city of historical Lesser Poland. It is the capital and the centre of Lublin Voivodeship with a population of 336,339 (December 2021). Lublin i ...
,
Congress Poland
Congress Poland or Congress Kingdom of Poland, formally known as the Kingdom of Poland, was a polity created in 1815 by the Congress of Vienna as a semi-autonomous Polish state, a successor to Napoleon's Duchy of Warsaw. It was established w ...
,
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...
as Jan Hermann Cukiertort. He said that his mother was the Baroness Krzyżanowska (Krzyzanovska). His parents were Polish Jews who converted to
Protestant Christianity and missionized for the London Society for Promoting Christianity Amongst the Jews. Because the Christian Protestant mission among the Jewish population in Russian-occupied Poland was considered illegal and heretical, the Zukertort family emigrated to
Prussia
Prussia (; ; Old Prussian: ''Prūsija'') was a Germans, German state centred on the North European Plain that originated from the 1525 secularization of the Prussia (region), Prussian part of the State of the Teutonic Order. For centuries, ...
. 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 Prussian army he saw service in 1866 during the
Austro-Prussian war
The Austro-Prussian War (German: ''Preußisch-Österreichischer Krieg''), also known by many other names,Seven Weeks' War, German Civil War, Second War of Unification, Brothers War or Fraternal War, known in Germany as ("German War"), ''Deutsc ...
, and again during the
Franco-Prussian war
The Franco-Prussian War or Franco-German War, often referred to in France as the War of 1870, was a conflict between the Second French Empire and the North German Confederation led by the Kingdom of Prussia. Lasting from 19 July 1870 to 28 Janua ...
of 1870–1871.
Zukertort is widely suspected to have embellished his biography. In an account of his life for the ''
Eastern Daily Press
The ''Eastern Daily Press'' (''EDP'') is a regional newspaper covering Norfolk, northern parts of Suffolk
Suffolk ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and East Anglia. It is bordered by Norfolk to the north, the North Sea to ...
'' in 1872 many claims were made on his behalf: Aristocratic descent, fluency in nine languages (fourteen, according to other sources), and proficiency in swordsmanship,
dominoes
Dominoes is a family of tile-based games played with gaming pieces. Each domino is a rectangular tile, usually with a line dividing its face into two square ''ends''. Each end is marked with a number of spots (also called ''Pip (counting), pips ...
, and
whist; it was also stated that he had played 6,000 games of chess with
Adolf Anderssen
Karl Ernst Adolf Anderssen (6 July 1818 – 13 March 1879)"Anderssen, Adolf" in ''Encyclopædia Britannica, The New Encyclopædia Britannica''. Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 15th edn., 1992, Vol. 1, p. 385. was a German chess master. ...
, fought in numerous battles, and was awarded the
Order of the Red Eagle, the Iron Cross of the
German Army
The German Army (, 'army') is the land component of the armed forces of Federal Republic of Germany, Germany. The present-day German Army was founded in 1955 as part of the newly formed West German together with the German Navy, ''Marine'' (G ...
, and seven other medals. He also found time to get an
M.D. at
Breslau in 1865, and work on the staff of the ''
Allgemeine Zeitung'' –
Otto von Bismarck
Otto, Prince of Bismarck, Count of Bismarck-Schönhausen, Duke of Lauenburg (; born ''Otto Eduard Leopold von Bismarck''; 1 April 1815 – 30 July 1898) was a German statesman and diplomat who oversaw the unification of Germany and served as ...
's private organ – in addition to writing two chess books and working as the editor of a chess magazine for several years. ''
The Oxford Companion to Chess
''The Oxford Companion to Chess'' is a reference book on the game of chess written by David Vincent Hooper and Kenneth Whyld. The book is written in an encyclopedia format. The book belongs to the Oxford Companions series.
Details
The first ed ...
'' comments, "There is some truth in the last sentence: He was co-author of the books
ndco-editor of the chess magazine."
Chess career
Style of play
In an age where the majority of players played exclusively
1.e4, Zukertort was an occasional early experimenter with openings such as
1. Nf3 (The Zukertort Opening) and
1. c4
In his prime Zukertort also excelled at
blindfold chess
Blindfold chess, also known as ''sans voir'', is a form of chess play wherein the players do not see the positions of the pieces and do not touch them. This forces players to maintain a mental model of the positions of the pieces. Moves are commun ...
. In 1876, he played sixteen games simultaneously while blindfolded, winning eleven, drawing four, and losing only one.
Learning chess
Zukertort learned to play chess in
Breslau when he was about age 19. Entering a tournament in that city, and receiving the
odds
In probability theory, odds provide a measure of the probability of a particular outcome. Odds are commonly used in gambling and statistics. For example for an event that is 40% probable, one could say that the odds are or
When gambling, o ...
of the queen, he lost every game, whereupon he took up the study of Bilguer's ''Handbuch'', with the result that in 1862 he won games from the leading German chess player
Adolf Anderssen
Karl Ernst Adolf Anderssen (6 July 1818 – 13 March 1879)"Anderssen, Adolf" in ''Encyclopædia Britannica, The New Encyclopædia Britannica''. Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 15th edn., 1992, Vol. 1, p. 385. was a German chess master. ...
at the odds of a knight. Zukertort studied with Anderssen and within a very few years he became one of the strongest players in Germany.
Among many other notable matches that Zukertort played with Anderssen, he defeated him in 1866, lost in 1868 by a score of eight wins, three losses, one
draw, and finally defeated him convincingly (5–2; no draws) in a match in 1871.
In 1867 he moved to
Berlin
Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...
and in 1872 to London. In that year, he played
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 ...
in London, losing 9–3 (7 losses, 1 win, 4 draws).
Late 1870s–early 1880s
Although Zukertort lost both his matches against Steinitz, he proved that he was superior to other opponents throughout the late 1870s and early 1880s.
During this period top-class tournaments were rare
and Zukertort's best performances were mostly in matches, notably against Anderssen in 1871 and
Joseph Henry Blackburne in 1881 (6 wins, 2 losses, 5 draws).
Nonetheless Zukertort was one of the most successful tournament players of his time: third place behind Steinitz and Blackburne at London, 1872; first place at
Cologne
Cologne ( ; ; ) is the largest city of the States of Germany, German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with nearly 1.1 million inhabitants in the city pr ...
, and second at
Leipzig
Leipzig (, ; ; Upper Saxon: ; ) is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Saxony. The city has a population of 628,718 inhabitants as of 2023. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, eighth-largest city in Ge ...
in 1877; tied for first with
Simon Winawer at the
Paris 1878 chess tournament and beat Winawer in the playoff; second at
Berlin
Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...
in 1881, behind Blackburne; tied for fourth at
Vienna
Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...
in 1882; first at London in 1883, 3 points ahead of Steinitz. The 1878 win in Paris led to some suggestion that Zukertort was the world's leading player, although Steinitz did not compete.
Zukertort's win in the
London 1883 chess tournament was his most significant success: He won his games against most of the world's leading players, scoring 22/26, and he finished 3 points ahead of Steinitz, who was second with 19/26.
[Mark Weeks' Chess Pages: ] This tournament established that Steinitz and Zukertort were clearly the best two players in the world, and led to 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. ...
match between these two.
The
1886 World Chess Championship match lasted from 11 January to 29 March 1886. After building up a 4–1 lead Zukertort wilted, lost four of the last five games, and lost the match by 12½–7½.
Decline and death
After his 1886 defeat, Zukertort's health suffered and he was a greatly weakened player for the remaining two years of his life. Diagnoses of his ailments include
rheumatism
Rheumatism or rheumatic disorders are conditions causing chronic, often intermittent pain affecting the joints or connective tissue. Rheumatism does not designate any specific disorder, but covers at least 200 different conditions, including a ...
,
coronary heart disease
Coronary artery disease (CAD), also called coronary heart disease (CHD), or ischemic heart disease (IHD), is a type of cardiovascular disease, heart disease involving Ischemia, the reduction of blood flow to the cardiac muscle due to a build-up ...
,
kidney
In humans, the kidneys are two reddish-brown bean-shaped blood-filtering organ (anatomy), organs that are a multilobar, multipapillary form of mammalian kidneys, usually without signs of external lobulation. They are located on the left and rig ...
problems, and
arteriosclerosis
Arteriosclerosis, literally meaning "hardening of the arteries", is an umbrella term for a vascular disorder characterized by abnormal thickening, hardening, and loss of elasticity of the walls of arteries; this process gradually restricts th ...
. His results after the 1886 match declined steeply: Seventh at London, and third at
Nottingham
Nottingham ( , East Midlands English, locally ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located south-east of Sheffield and nor ...
in 1886; fifteenth at Frankfurt, and fourth at London in 1887; lost a match in 1887 against Blackburne (1 win, 5 losses, and 8 draws); and seventh at London in 1888.
Poor health and lack of physical stamina appeared to be one of Zukertort's two long-term weaknesses: Some commentators attributed to illness the severity of his defeat in the 1872 match against Steinitz;
aside from the tournaments mentioned above, in the 1883 London tournament he won 22 of his first 23 games – enough to give him an uncatchable lead – but lost his last 3 games.
His other weakness was that, while no one had greater attacking flair, Zukertort never approached Steinitz' understanding of positional play, and Steinitz often outmaneuvered him fairly simply.
Zukertort died on 20 June 1888, in London, from a
cerebral haemorrhage after playing a game in a tournament at
Simpson's Divan, which he was leading at the time. He is buried in
Brompton Cemetery
Brompton Cemetery (originally the West of London and Westminster Cemetery) is since 1852 the first (and only) London cemetery to be Crown Estate, Crown property, managed by The Royal Parks, in West Brompton in the Royal Borough of Kensington a ...
, London.
Notable games
Zukertort vs. NN, Leipzig, 1877, Vienna Game: Vienna Gambit (C26), 1–0White sacrifices the queen and hunts the black king to death. In the final position, 17.Bf4 mate is unavoidable.
Mikhail Chigorin vs. Zukertort, Tnmt, London 1883, Spanish Game: Berlin Defense. Rio de Janeiro Variation (C67), 0–1Two strong central pawns against the white king.
Zukertort vs. Joseph Henry Blackburne, London, 1883Zukertort sacrifices his
queen
Queen most commonly refers to:
* Queen regnant, a female monarch of a kingdom
* Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king
* Queen (band), a British rock band
Queen or QUEEN may also refer to:
Monarchy
* Queen dowager, the widow of a king
* Q ...
but Blackburne cannot accept, Zukertort sacrifices a
rook which Blackburne declines, soon Zukertort forces Blackburne to take the rook and resign three moves later.
Steinitz described this as "one of the most brilliant games on record".
Turf, Field and Farm (New York)
25 May 1883
See also
* Tennison Gambit, also known as the Zukertort Gambit.
* List of Jewish chess players
References
*
Further reading
*
*
*
*
*
*
External links
*
"J.H. Zukertort's Alleged Accomplishments"
by Edward Winter
"Remembering Johannes Zukertort (07-ix-1842 20-vi-1888)"
from British Chess News
{{DEFAULTSORT:Zukertort, Johannes
1842 births
1888 deaths
19th-century chess players
19th-century Polish chess players
19th-century German people
19th-century British people
Polish chess players
German chess players
British chess players
Jewish chess players
Polish people of Jewish descent
German people of Polish-Jewish descent
British people of Polish-Jewish descent
People from Lublin Governorate
Chess players from Lublin
Allgemeine Zeitung people
Burials at Brompton Cemetery