Adolf Anderssen was a German master and the leading player in the world from 1851 to 1858 and again from 1860 to 1866 (both before and after Paul Morphy). He is best known for his tactical genius as well as his "Immortal Game" and "Evergreen Game" masterpieces.

Background and early life

Anderssen was born in Breslau (now called Wrocław, Poland), in the Prussian Province of Silesia, in 1818. He lived there for most of his life, sharing a house with and supporting his widowed mother and his unmarried sister. Anderssen never married. He graduated from the public gymnasium (high school) in Breslau and then attended university, where he studied mathematics and philosophy. After graduating in 1847 at the age of 29, he took a position at the Friedrichs-Gymnasium as an instructor and later as Professor of Mathematics. Anderssen lived a quiet, stable, responsible, respectable middle-class life. His career was teaching mathematics, while his hobby and passion was playing chess.

When Anderssen was nine years old, his father taught him how to play chess. Anderssen said that as a boy, he learned the strategy of the game from a copy of William Lewis' book Fifty Games between Labourdonnais and McDonnell (1835)

Early Days To Chess-Problem Composer

Anderssen learned how to play chess at the age of nine from his father, but it would not become a large part of his life until much later. Instead of pursuing chess alone Anderssen studied philosophy and mathematics at school and eventually became a mathematics professor. He began composing chess problems while attending a university, and in 1842 he published a collection of 60 compositions.

Anderssen's chess compositions got the attention of the Berlin chess scene, and he started playing in matches. In 1848 he drew a match with the chess professional Daniel Harrwitz. Because of his performance in this match and his growing reputation, Anderssen was asked to represent Germany in 1851 in the first international chess tournament to be held in London.

Personality

Steinitz wrote: "Anderssen was honest and honourable to the core. Without fear or favour he straightforwardly gave his opinion, and his sincere disinterestedness became so patent....that his word alone was usually sufficient to quell disputes...for he had often given his decision in favour of a rival..."On the other hand, Reuben Fine, a 20th-century player, wrote, "There is a curious contrast between his over-the-board brilliance and his uninspired safety-first attitude in everyday affairs."

Death

Anderssen died on March 13, 1879, in his home town. The Deutsche Schachzeitung noted his death in 1879 with a nineteen-page obituary. His cause of death was a heart attack. Bombing raids during World War II damaged his grave in Breslau. After the war, the city became part of Poland and is now known under its Polish name Wrocław. In 1957, the Polish Chess Federation decided to re-bury Anderssen in a new grave at the Osobowice Cemetery.