One of the leading masters of 19th-century chess. He had a long and important chess career. Also known as the unofficial world champion. His excellent games are fondly remembered even today.
(1818-1879) German chess player.
Anderssen was born in 1818 in Breslau, the Prussian province of Silesia. He spent most of his life in his native city, never married, and lived with his widowed mother and unmarried sister, who helped him financially.
When Anderssen was only nine years old, his father taught him to play chess, and he learned chess strategy from William Lewis' book "50 Matches Between Labordonnais and McDonnell (1835)". Anderssen was not a chess prodigy; He developed slowly and deliberately.
He taught mathematics and won the first prize in the first international 1851 London chess tournament. In the years after this success, Anderssen established himself in the chess world as a great attacking and combination player.
In 1858, he lost 3-8 in his match with the famous US chess player Paul Morphy. In 1866, he was defeated 6-8 in the match he played with the world's first chess champion Steinitz. Anderssen won the 1867 London and 1870 Baden-Baden tournaments.
Anderssen's "evergreen" games with Dufresne and the "immortal" games with Kizcritski are known as the biggest combination games in the chess world.