The 1870 chess tournament in Baden-Baden

Baden-Baden

Baden-Baden is a spa town in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is located on the western foothills of the Black Forest, on the banks of the Oos River, in the region of Karlsruhe...

 can be regarded as the first strong tournament. In comparison with London 1851 chess tournament

London 1851 chess tournament

right|thumb|[[Adolf Anderssen]] won both the London International Tournament and the rival London Club Tournament.London 1851 was the first international chess tournament. The tournament was conceived and organised by English player Howard Staunton, and marked the first time that the best chess...

, London 1862 and Paris 1867, three main changes were made: a) first chess clocks used (20 moves had to be made per hour), b) draws

Draw (chess)

In chess, a draw is when a game ends in a tie. It is one of the possible outcomes of a game, along with a win for White and a win for Black . Usually, in tournaments a draw is worth a half point to each player, while a win is worth one point to the victor and none to the loser.For the most part,...

 counted as half points, c) only top international players were invited. Ten chess masters participated in the double round-robin tournament

Round-robin tournament

A round-robin tournament is a competition "in which each contestant meets all other contestants in turn".-Terminology:...

: Adolf Anderssen

Adolf Anderssen

Karl Ernst Adolf Anderssen was a German chess master. He is considered to have been the world's leading chess player in the 1850s and 1860s...

, Wilhelm Steinitz

Wilhelm Steinitz

Wilhelm Steinitz was an Austrian and then American chess player and the first undisputed world chess champion from 1886 to 1894. From the 1870s onwards, commentators have debated whether Steinitz was effectively the champion earlier...

, Gustav Neumann

Gustav Neumann

Gustav Richard Ludwig Neumann was a German chess master.Neumann was born in Gleiwitz in the Prussian Province of Silesia. In matches he lost to Louis Paulsen at Leipzig 1864, and defeated Celso Golmayo Zúpide , and Simon Winawer at Paris 1867...

, Joseph Henry Blackburne

Joseph Henry Blackburne

Joseph Henry Blackburne , nicknamed "The Black Death", dominated British chess during the latter part of the 19th century. He learned the game at the relatively late age of 18 but quickly became a strong player and went on to develop a professional chess career that spanned over 50 years...

, Louis Paulsen

Louis Paulsen

Louis Paulsen was a German chess player.In 1860s and 1870s, he was among the top five players in the world. He was a younger brother of Wilfried Paulsen....

, Cecil De Vere, Samuel Rosenthal

Samuel Rosenthal

Samuel Rosenthal was a Jewish chess master. Chess historian Edward Winter wrote, "He dedicated his life to chess-playing, touring, writing, teaching and analysing...

, Szymon Winawer

Szymon Winawer

Szymon Abramowicz Winawer , born in Warsaw, Poland, was a leading chess player who won the German Chess Championship in 1883...

, Johannes von Minckwitz and Adolf Stern

Adolf Stern (chess player)

Adolf Stern was a German chess master.Born into a merchant Jewish family, he was the second child of Jacob Stern and Babette Caroline...

. The tournament lasted from 18 July until 4 August 1870.

Ignatz von Kolisch held the function of secretary in the organising committee. Prince Mihail Sturdza

Mihail Sturdza

Mihail Sturdza was a prince of Moldavia from 1834 to 1849. A man of liberal education, he established the Mihaileana Academy, a kind of university, in Iaşi. He brought scholars from foreign countries to act as teachers, and gave a very powerful stimulus to the educational development of the...

 of Moldavia was president, and Russian writer Ivan Turgenev

Ivan Turgenev

Ivan Sergeyevich Turgenev was a Russian novelist, short story writer, and playwright. His first major publication, a short story collection entitled A Sportsman's Sketches, is a milestone of Russian Realism, and his novel Fathers and Sons is regarded as one of the major works of 19th-century...

 was vice-president. The committee of appeal consisted of Hungarian Baron Maythény and Baron von Kolisch.

In that time, France

Second French Empire

The Second French Empire or French Empire was the Imperial Bonapartist regime of Napoleon III from 1852 to 1870, between the Second Republic and the Third Republic, in France.-Rule of Napoleon III:...

 declared war on Prussia

Kingdom of Prussia

The Kingdom of Prussia was a German kingdom from 1701 to 1918. Until the defeat of Germany in World War I, it comprised almost two-thirds of the area of the German Empire...

 on 19 July 1870. The southern German states, including the Grand Duchy of Baden

Baden

Baden is a historical state on the east bank of the Rhine in the southwest of Germany, now the western part of the Baden-Württemberg of Germany....

, took the side of Prussia and its North German allies

North German Confederation

The North German Confederation 1866–71, was a federation of 22 independent states of northern Germany. It was formed by a constitution accepted by the member states in 1867 and controlled military and foreign policy. It included the new Reichstag, a parliament elected by universal manhood...

. The Franco-Prussian War

Franco-Prussian War

The Franco-Prussian War or Franco-German War, often referred to in France as the 1870 War was a conflict between the Second French Empire and the Kingdom of Prussia. Prussia was aided by the North German Confederation, of which it was a member, and the South German states of Baden, Württemberg and...

 came close to Baden-Baden. An international incident nearly occurred. More serious was Stern’s mobilisation, as a Bavarian reservist, after four rounds. Like Johannes Zukertort

Johannes Zukertort

Johannes Hermann Zukertort was a leading chess master of German-Polish-Jewish origin. He was one of the leading world players for most of the 1870s and 1880s, and lost to Wilhelm Steinitz in the World Chess Championship 1886, which is generally seen as the first World Chess Championship match, he...

, he fought in the war. The finish of Baden-Baden 1870 marked the end of the beginning of hostilities. The thunder of the artillery could be heard at a distance of 30 km in Baden-Baden. Adolf Stern sent a card from the fields near Sedan on 4 September: "Emperor Napoleon

Napoleon III of France

Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte was the President of the French Second Republic and as Napoleon III, the ruler of the Second French Empire. He was the nephew and heir of Napoleon I, christened as Charles Louis Napoléon Bonaparte...

 has been mated".

The results at Baden-Baden 1870 were as follows:

#	Player	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total
1	/   Prussian Silesia	xx	11	00	1½	11	1½	10	10	11
11
2	/  Bohemia	00	xx	11	0½	11	11	11	½1	½0	½1	10½
3	/   Prussian Silesia	11	00	xx	1½	01	01	11	0½	11
10
4	/  Kingdom of England	0½	1½	0½	xx	10	11	1½	½½	11
10
5	/ Lippe Principality of Lippe Lippe was a historical state in Germany. It was located between the Weser River and the southeast part of the Teutoburg forest.-History:...	00	00	10	01	xx	10	1½	1½	½1
7½
6	/  Kingdom of Scotland	0½	00	10	00	01	xx	01	11	01
6½
7	/  Poland	01	00	00	0½	0½	10	xx	1½	11
6½
8	/  Poland	01	½0	1½	½½	0½	00	0½	xx	00
5
9	/  Kingdom of Saxony	00	½1	00	00	½0	10	00	11	xx	10	5
10	/  Rhineland-Palatinate
½0
01	xx

Anderssen won 3000 francs, Steinitz - 600 francs, Neumann and Blackburne - 200 francs (each).

Literature

• Stefan Haas: Das Schachturnier Baden-Baden 1870. Der unbekannte Schachmeister Adolf Stern. Rattmann, Ludwigshafen 2006. ISBN 3-88086-190-0