02 November 2008

Mikhail Ivanovich Chigorin (1850-1908)

Chigorin's record of principal tournaments and matches, extracted from the Oxford Companion to Chess (p.77):-

1878 Match vs. Schiffers (+7-3=0)
1878 Match vs. Schiffers (+6-7=1)
1879 Match vs. Schiffers (+7-4=2)
1880 Match vs. Schiffers (+7-1=3)
1880 Match vs. Alapin (+7-3=0)
1881 Berlin, 3rd-4th w/ Winawer after Blackburne & Zukertort
1883 London, 4th after Zukertort, Steinitz, & Blackburne
1886-7 Telegraph match St.Petersburg - London (+2-0=0)
1889 WCC match vs. Steinitz (+6-10=1)
1889 New York, 1st-2nd w/ Weiss
1890 Match vs. Gunsberg (+9-9=5)
1890-1 Telegraph match vs. Steinitz (+2-0=0)
1892 WCC match vs. Steinitz (+8-10=5)
1893 Match vs. Tarrasch (+9-9=4)
1895 Match vs. Schiffers (+7-3=3)
1895 Hastings, 2nd after Pillsbury (+14-3=4)
1896 Budapest, 1st-2nd w/ Charousek (+7-2=3; playoff +3-1=0)
1897 Match vs. Schiffers (+7-1=6)
1898 Cologne, 2nd-4th w/ Charousek & Cohn after Burn
1901 Monte Carlo, 3rd-4th w/ Scheve after Janowski & Schlechter
1906 Lodz (4 players), 2nd after Rubinstein (+5-3=1)
1907 Carlsbad, 'failed badly'

1899 1st All-Russia tnmt, 1st
1900-1 2nd All-Russia tnmt, 1st
1903 3rd All-Russia tnmt, 1st
1906 Match vs. Salwe (winner of 4th All-Russia tnmt; +7-5=3)

In Predecessors IV, Kasparov used the term 'candidate' loosely when referring to two of Chigorin's non-title matches. He called the 1890 Match vs. Gunsberg a 'final candidates match' (p.75), and of the 1893 Match vs. Tarrasch wrote, '[Tarrasch] challenged the recent 'number one' candidate Chigorin to a match' (p.88). While I'm on the subject of candidate events, chess historian Jan van Reek writes,

[1889 New York, the 6th American Chess Congress] can be regarded as the first candidates' tournament. The winner had the obligation to start a match against Steinitz within a month. "Both masters [Chigorin & Weiss] expressed the desire not to be compelled to play a championship match". The Committee decided to cancel the event. [...] The third prize winner Gunsberg was interested in a match against Steinitz in New York. First Gunsberg drew a match against Chigorin in Havana at the beginning of 1890 (11½-11½). Then his challenge was accepted by Steinitz. (see New York 1889 and 1924)

During the early years of the World Championship, there were so many unofficial candidate events that it would be worth documenting them on my page World Chess Championship : Pre-FIDE Events. Watch that space...

No comments: