Karl Ernst Adolf Anderssen was a German chess master. He won the great international tournaments of 1851 and 1862, but lost matches to Paul Morphy in 1858, and to Wilhelm Steinitz in 1866. Accordingly, he is generally regarded as having been the world's leading chess player from 1851 to 1858, and leading active player from 1862 to 1866, although the title of World Chess Champion did not yet exist.
Howard Staunton was the principal organizer of the 1851 London International Tournament, and offered to pay Anderssen's travel expenses, should he fail to win.
Paul Morphy defeated all opposition in 1858.
Wilhelm Steinitz in 1866
Anderssen (far left below) depicted with other leading players
Paul Charles Morphy was an American chess player. During his brief career in the late 1850s Morphy was acknowledged as the world's greatest chess master.
Morphy in Philadelphia, 1859
Morphy in 1857, studio of Mathew Brady
Morphy vs. Löwenthal, 1858
Engraving of Paul Morphy by Winslow Homer appearing in Ballou's Pictorial (1859)