William Steinitz 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 chess theoretician.
Wilhelm Steinitz
Steinitz in 1866
Steinitz's rival and bitter enemy Johannes Zukertort lost matches to him in 1872 and 1886. The second match made Steinitz the undisputed world champion.
Emanuel Lasker (right) playing Steinitz for the World Chess Championship, New York 1894
Chess is a board game for two players, each controlling a set of chess pieces. It is sometimes called international chess or Western chess to distinguish it from related games such as xiangqi and shogi. The recorded history of chess goes back at least to the emergence of a similar game, chaturanga, in seventh-century India. The rules of chess as they are known today emerged in Europe at the end of the 15th century, with standardization and universal acceptance by the end of the 19th century. Today, chess is one of the world's most popular games, and is played by millions of people worldwide.
Part of a Staunton chess setLeft to right: white king, black rook, black queen, white pawn, black knight, white bishop
Setup at the start of a chess game
A digital chess clock
Public chess tables in the Jardin du Luxembourg, Paris