Wikimedia Commons has media related to: 1864

Year 1864 (MDCCCLXIV) was a leap year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian Calendar and a leap year starting on Wednesday of the 12-day slower Julian calendar.

Events[link]

January–March[link]

February 17: submarine Hunley

• January 16 – Denmark rejects a Prussian-Austrian ultimatum to repeal the Danish Constitution, which says that Schleswig-Holstein is part of Denmark.^[1][2]
• January 21 – Māori Wars: The Tauranga Campaign starts.
• February 1 – Danish-Prussian War (Second war of Schleswig): 57,000 Austrian and Prussian troops cross the Eider River into Denmark.
• February 17 – American Civil War: The tiny Confederate submarine Hunley torpedoes the USS Housatonic, becoming the first submarine to sink an enemy ship (the sub and her crew of 8 are also lost).
• February 25 – American Civil War: The first Northern prisoners arrive at the Confederate prison at Andersonville, Georgia (the 500 prisoners had left Richmond, Virginia seven days before).
• March 1 – Alejandro Mon Menéndez takes office as Prime Minister of Spain.
• March 9 – American Civil War: Abraham Lincoln appoints Ulysses S. Grant commander in chief of all Union armies.
• March 10 – American Civil War: The Red River Campaign begins as Union troops reach Alexandria, Louisiana.
• March 11 – A reservoir near Sheffield, England bursts; 250 die.

April–June[link]

• April 18 – Danish-Prussian War (Second War of Schleswig) – Battle of Dybbøl: The Prussian army fielding 10,000 men defeats the Danish defending army of 9,200 at Dybbøl Mill, after an artillery bombardment from April 7 to April 18.
• April 22 – The U.S. Congress passes the Coinage Act of 1864 which mandates that the inscription "In God We Trust" be placed on all coins minted as United States currency.

• May 2 – Treaty of London: The United Kingdom voluntarily cedes control of the United States of the Ionian Islands to the Kingdom of Greece.
• May 5 – American Civil War: The Battle of the Wilderness begins in Spotsylvania County, Virginia.
• May 7 – Clipper Ship City of Adelaide launched in Sunderland, United Kingdom. The ship has become the world's oldest surviving clipper ship of only two that survive - Cutty Sark is the other.
• May 7 – American Civil War: The Army of the Potomac, under General Ulysses S. Grant, breaks off from the Battle of the Wilderness and moves southwards.
• May 9 – The American general John Sedgwick is shot dead during the Battle of Spotsylvania, shortly after he uttered the famous last words: "They couldn't hit an elephant from this distance!"
• May 9 – Danish-Prussian War (Second War of Schleswig) – Battle of Heligoland: the navy of Denmark and the allied navies of Austria and Prussia fought near the island of Heligoland with a tactical victory for Denmark. It was the last significant naval battle fought by squadrons of wooden ships and also the last one involving Denmark.

Battle of Heligoland in 1864 by Josef Carl Barthold Puettner

• May 11 – American Civil War – Battle of Yellow Tavern: Confederate General JEB Stuart is mortally wounded at Yellow Tavern, Virginia.
• May 12 – American Civil War – Battle of Spotsylvania Court House: The "Bloody Angle" – thousands of Union and Confederate soldiers die.
• May 13 – American Civil War – Battle of Resaca: The battle begins with Union General Sherman fighting toward Atlanta.
• May 15 – American Civil War – Battle of New Market: Cadets from the Virginia Military Institute fight alongside the Confederate Army to force Union General Franz Sigel out of the Shenandoah Valley.
• May 18 – Civil War gold hoax: The New York World and the New York Journal of Commerce publish a fake proclamation that President Abraham Lincoln has issued a draft of 400,000 more soldiers.
• May 20 – Australian Bushranger Ben Hall and his gang escape from a shootout with police after attempting to rob the Bang Bang Hotel in Koorawatha, New South Wales.
• May 20 – American Civil War – Battle of Ware Bottom Church: In the Virginia Bermuda Hundred Campaign, 10,000 troops fight in this Confederate victory.
• May 20 Death of John Clare Northampton peasant poet 1793 - 1864
• May 21 – The Russian Empire commits the Circassian Genocide. More than 1.5 Million Circassians are murdered and surviving Circassians were driven from their homeland to the Ottoman Empire, ending the Russian-Circassian War.
• May 28 – Montana is organized as a United States territory out of parts of Washington Territory and Dakota Territory, and is signed into law by President Abraham Lincoln.

May 13: Battle of Resaca.

• June 5 – American Civil War – Battle of Piedmont: Union forces under General David Hunter defeat a Confederate army at Piedmont, West Virginia, taking nearly 1,000 prisoners.
• June 9 – American Civil War – Battle of Petersburg: Union forces under General Grant and troops led by Confederate General Robert E. Lee battle for the last time.
• June 10
  • American Civil War: Battle of Noonday Creek near Kennesaw, Georgia.
  • American Civil War – Battle of Brice's Crossroads: Confederate troops under Nathan Bedford Forrest defeat a much larger Union force led by General Samuel D. Sturgis in Mississippi.
• June 12 – American Civil War – Battle of Cold Harbor: General Ulysses S. Grant pulls his troops from their positions at Cold Harbor, Virginia and moves south.
• June 15 – Arlington National Cemetery is established when 200 acres (0.81 km²) of the grounds of Robert E. Lee's home Arlington House are officially set-aside as a military cemetery by U.S. Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton.
• June 21 – Māori Wars: The Tauranga Campaign ends.
• June 27
  • American Civil War: Battle of Kennesaw Mountain near Kennesaw, Georgia.
  • On this date, the first condom was made by the International Condom Company (ICC).

July–September[link]

American Civil War in 1864

• July 18 – President Lincoln issues a true proclamation of conscription of 500,000 men for the U.S. Civil War.
• July 20 – American Civil War – Battle of Peachtree Creek: Near Atlanta, Georgia, Confederate forces led by General John Bell Hood unsuccessfully attack Union troops under General William T. Sherman.
• July 22 – American Civil War – Battle of Atlanta: Outside of Atlanta, Georgia, Confederate General Hood leads an unsuccessful attack on Union troops under General Sherman on Bald Hill.
• July 24 – American Civil War – The Second Battle of Kernstown: Confederate General Jubal Early defeats Union troops led by General George Crook in an effort to keep the Yankees out of the Shenandoah Valley.
• July 28 – American Civil War – Battle of Ezra Church: Confederate troops led by General Hood make a third unsuccessful attempt to drive Union forces under General Sherman from Atlanta, Georgia.
• July 29 – American Civil War: Confederate spy Belle Boyd is arrested by Union troops and detained at the Old Capitol Prison in Washington, DC.
• July 30 – American Civil War – Battle of the Crater: Union forces attempt to break Confederate lines by exploding a large bomb under their trenches.

August 5: Battle of Mobile Bay.

• August 1 – The Elgin Watch Company is founded in Elgin, Illinois.
• August 5 – American Civil War – Battle of Mobile Bay: At Mobile Bay near Mobile, Alabama, Admiral David Farragut leads a Union flotilla through Confederate defenses and seals one of the last major Southern ports.
• August 13 – The first fish and chips shop opens in London.
• August 18 – American Civil War – Battle of Globe Tavern: Forces under Union General Ulysses S. Grant try to cut a vital Confederate supply-line into Petersburg, Virginia, by attacking the Wilmington and Weldon Railroad, forcing the Confederates to use wagons.
• August 22 – First Geneva Convention: The International Red Cross is founded.
• August 31 – American Civil War: Union forces led by General William T. Sherman launch an assault on Atlanta, Georgia.

Aug. 22: Red Cross

• September 1 – American Civil War: Confederate General Hood evacuates Atlanta after a 4-month siege mounted by Union General Sherman.
• September 2 – American Civil War: Union forces under General Sherman enter Atlanta a day after the Confederate defenders fled the city.
• September 7 – American Civil War: Atlanta, Georgia is evacuated on orders of Union General William Tecumseh Sherman.
• September 8 – Delegates from the Canadian colonies meet at the Charlottetown Conference to discuss the Canadian Confederation.
• September 28 – The International Workingmen's Association was founded in London.

October–December[link]

• October 2 – American Civil War – Battle of Saltville: Union forces attack Saltville, Virginia but are defeated by Confederate troops.
• October 5 – A cyclone kills 70,000 in Calcutta, India.
• October 9 – American Civil War – Battle of Tom's Brook: Union cavalrymen in the Shenandoah Valley defeat Confederate forces at Tom's Brook, Virginia.
• October 28 – American Civil War – Second Battle of Fair Oaks: Union forces under General Ulysses S. Grant withdraw from Fair Oaks, Virginia, after failing to breach the Confederate defenses around Richmond, Virginia.
• October 30
  • The Second war of Schleswig is concluded. Denmark renounces all claim to Schleswig, Holstein and Lauenburg, which come under Prussian and Austrian administration.
  • Helena, Montana is founded after four prospectors (the so-called Four Georgians) discover gold at Last Chance Gulch; it is their last and agreed final attempt at weeks of trying to find gold in the northern Rockies.
• October 31 – Nevada is admitted as the 36th U.S. state.
• November 4 – American Civil War – Battle of Johnsonville: At Johnsonville, Tennessee, troops under the command of Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest bombard a Union supply base with artillery and destroy millions of dollars in material.
• November 7 – The capital of Idaho Territory is moved from Lewiston to Boise; North Idaho declares the move illegal and proposes secession.
• November 8 – U.S. presidential election, 1864: Abraham Lincoln is reelected in an overwhelming victory over George B. McClellan.
• November 15 – American Civil War – Sherman's March to the Sea begins: Union General Sherman burns Atlanta and starts to move south, causing extensive devastation to crops and mills and living off the land.
• November 20 – The Judicial reform of Alexander II is launched in Imperial Russia.
• November 22 – American Civil War – Sherman's March to the Sea: Confederate General John Bell Hood invades Tennessee in an unsuccessful attempt to draw Union General Sherman from Georgia.
• November 25 – American Civil War: A group of Confederate operatives calling themselves the Confederate Army of Manhattan starts fires in more than 20 locations in an unsuccessful attempt to burn down New York City.
• November 29 – Indian Wars – Sand Creek Massacre: Colorado volunteers led by Colonel John Chivington massacre at least 400 Cheyenne and Arapahoe noncombatants at Sand Creek, Colorado (where they had been given permission to camp). Many of the dead are subsequently mutilated.

Nov.15: Sherman's March to the Sea.

• November 30 – American Civil War – Second Battle of Franklin: The Army of Tennessee led by General Hood mounts a dramatically unsuccessful frontal assault on Union positions around Franklin, Tennessee (Hood loses 6 generals and almost a third of his troops).
• December 4 – American Civil War – Sherman's March to the Sea: At Waynesboro, Georgia, forces under Union General Judson Kilpatrick prevent troops led by Confederate General Joseph Wheeler from interfering with Union General Sherman's campaign of destroying a wide swath of the South on his march to Savannah, GA (Union forces suffer more than 3 times the casualties as the Confederates, however).
• December 8
  • James Clerk Maxwell presents his paper A Dynamical Theory of the Electromagnetic Field to the Royal Society in London, treating light as an electromagnetic wave.^[3]
  • Syllabus errorum: Pope Pius IX condemns theological liberalism as an error and claims for the supremacy of Roman Catholic Church authority over the civil society. He also condemns rationalism and socialism.
• December 15–December 16 – American Civil War – Battle of Nashville: Union forces decisively defeat the Confederate Army of Tennessee.

Date unknown[link]

• Imperial forces assault the Taiping capital of Nanking in the last great battle of the civil war.
• Brazil invades Uruguay in support of Venancio Flores. Paraguay attacks Brazil and loses terribly.
• John Wisden publishes the first edition of Wisden Cricketer's Almanack. It goes on to become the major annual cricket publication.
• Asa Shinn Mercer travels from Seattle to the U.S. East Coast and recruits 11 Mercer Girls, potential wives for men on the West Coast.
• The Korean government executes the founder of the Tonghak movement.
• The Dutch conquer southern Sumatra.
• The first Quanjude roast duck restaurant opened in Beijing Qianmen Street.

Births[link]

January–June[link]

• January 1
  • Alfred Stieglitz, American photographer (d. 1946)
  • Qi Baishi, Chinese painter (d. 1957)
• January 8 – Prince Albert Victor, Duke of Clarence (d. 1892)
• January 13 – Wilhelm Wien, German physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1928)
• January 24 – Marguerite Durand, French actress, journalist, and feminist leader (d. 1936)
• January 26 – József Pusztai slovene writer, poet, journalist in Hungary (d. 1934)
• February 7 – Arthur Collins, American singer who recorded many early songs (d. 1933)
• March 4 – David W. Taylor, U.S. Navy architect (d. 1940)
• March 12 – William Halse Rivers Rivers, English doctor (d. 1922)
• March 13 – Alexej von Jawlensky, Russian expressionist painter (d. 1941)
• March 14 – Casey Jones, American railway engineer (d. 1900)
• March 15 – Johan Halvorsen, Norwegian composer (d. 1935)
• March 17 – Joseph Baptista, Indian Home Rule Movement founder (d. 1930)
• March 19
  • Charles Marion Russell, American artist (d. 1926)
  • Mahatma Hansraj, Indian educationist, and Arya Samaj leader ( d. 1938)
• April 21 – Max Weber, German sociologist (d. 1920)
• May 4 – Marie Booth, the third daughter of William and Catherine Booth (d. 1937)
• May 10 – Léon Gaumont, French film pioneer (d. 1946)
• May 15 – Vilhelm Hammershøi, Danish painter (d. 1916)
• June 2 – Wilhelm Souchon, German admiral (d. 1946)
• June 3 – Ransom E. Olds, automotive pioneer (d. 1950)
• June 11 – Richard Strauss, German composer (d. 1949)
• June 13 – Dwight B. Waldo, American educator and historian (d. 1939)
• June 25 – Walther Nernst, German chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1941)

July–December[link]

• July 11 – Petar Danov, Bulgarian spiritual teacher (d. 1944)
• July 12 – George Washington Carver, American botanist (d. 1943)
• July 13 – John Jacob Astor IV, American businessman and inventor (d. 1912)
• July 15 – Marie Tempest, English stage & film actress (d. 1942)
• July 20 – Erik Axel Karlfeldt, Swedish writer, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1931)
• July 23 – Apolinario Mabini, Filipino political theoretician and Prime Minister (d. 1903)
• August 9 – Roman Dmowski, Polish politician (d. 1939)
• September 14 – Robert Cecil, 1st Viscount Cecil of Chelwood, English politician and diplomat, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (d. 1958)
• October 10 – T. Frank Appleby, United States Congressman from New Jersey (d. 1924)
• October 25 – Alexander Gretchaninov, Russian composer (d. 1956)
• October 31 – Cosmo Lang, Archbishop of Canterbury (d. 1945)
• November 11 – Alfred Hermann Fried, Austrian writer and pacifist, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (d. 1921)
• November 13 – Bishop James Cannon Jr., American religious and temperance movement leader (d. 1944)
• November 16 – Stephane Javelle, French astronomer (d. 1917)
• November 23 – Henry Bourne Joy, American business leader (d. 1936)
• November 24 – Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, French painter (d. 1901)
• November 26 – Edward Higgins, 3rd General of The Salvation Army (d. 1947)
• December 6 – William S. Hart, American film actor (d. 1946)
• December 12 – Paul Elmer More, American critic and essayist (d. 1937)
• December 23 – Princess Zorka of Montenegro (d. 1890)
• December 25 – Thomas Cahill, American soccer coach (d. 1951)

Deaths[link]

January–June[link]

• January 13 – Stephen Foster, American composer (b. 1826)
• February 7 – Vuk Stefanović Karadžić, Serbian linguist and major reformer of the Serbian language (b. 1787)
• February 25 – Anna Harrison, First Lady of the United States, (b.1775)
• March 10 – King Maximilian II of Bavaria, King of Bavaria, (b. 1811)
• March 28 – Princess Louise Charlotte of Denmark (b. 1789)
• April 4 – Joseph Pitty Couthouy, American naval officer (b. 1808)
• April 14 – Charles Lot Church, Nova Scotia politician (b. 1777)
• May 2 – Giacomo Meyerbeer, German composer (b. 1791)
• May 9 – John Sedgwick, Union general, American Civil War (b. 1813)
• May 12 – J.E.B. Stuart, Confederate cavalry general, American Civil War (b. 1833)
• May 19 – Nathaniel Hawthorne, American author (b. 1804)
• June 1 – Hong Xiuquan, Chinese rebel (b. 1813)
• June 13 – Henryk Dembiński, Polish engineer (b. 1791)
• June 14 – Patrick Kelly, US Army officer (in battle) (b. ca. 1822)
• June 15 – William E. Jones, Confederate general (in battle) (b. 1824)

July–December[link]

• July – Dimitris Plapoutas, Greek military leader (b. 1786)
• August 3 – Jakob Walter, stonemason and common draftee (b. 1788)
• August 4 – David Hansemann, Prussian politician (b. 1790)
• August 19 – Truong Dinh, Vietnamese leader (suicide) (b. 1820)
• September 3 – Emil Oskar Nobel, younger brother of Alfred Nobel (killed in an explosion) (b. 1843)
• October 1 – Juan Jose Flores, former President of Ecuador (b. 1800)
• October 12 – Roger Taney, United States Supreme Court Justice (b. 1777)
• November 6 – Tuanku Imam Bonjol, Indonesian religious and military leader (b. 1772)
• November 30 – John Adams, Confederate Army officer (in battle) (b. 1825)
• December 1 – William L. Dayton – United States Minister to France (b. 1807)
• December 8 – George Boole, English mathematician and philosopher (b. 1815)
• December 21 – Archduke Louis of Austria (b. 1784)
• December 23 – James Bronterre O'Brien, Chartist (b. 1805)
• December 24 – Mary Baker (née Willcocks) aka Princess Caraboo (b. 1791)

References[link]

Oktobar 1864 (Serbian Cyrillic: Октобар 1864; trans. October 1864) was a Serbian and former Yugoslav rock band.

Biography[link]

1984 – 1992[link]

Oktobar 1864 was formed in 1984 in Zemun by Goran Tomanović and have changed several line-ups before they won the Best demo Band Award at the MESAM festival in 1986. Goran Tomanović the first band members over the newspaper ads. The band had its first big performance in 1985 when they performed in Taš club in Belgrade, and that is when Tanja Jovićević, the band's lead singer, joined the group.^[1] After this, the band started the work on their debut, self titled, album. The album was recorded in November and December 1986 in O Studio in Belgrade and produced by Saša Habić. It was released for the Jugodisk label. The line-up for this album was: Tanja Jovićević (vocals), Goran Tomanović (guitar), Željko Mitrović (bass guitar), Ivan Zečević (drums), Dean Krmpotić (keyboards), Marko Lalić (saxophone), Branko Baćović (trumpet) and Nebojša Mrvaljević (trombone). Guests on the album were Jovan Maljoković on saxophone, Saša Habić and Bojan Zulfikarpašić on keyboards, and former S Vremena Na Vreme members Ljuba Ninković and Asim Sarvan on backing vocals. This album featured hits "Nađi me" ("Find Me", a cover of the Four Tops' "Reach Out I'll Be There") and "Carte blanche". Minor hits were "Muzika noći" ("Music of the Night") and "Grad" ("The City").

The second album Igra bojama (Play with Colors) was recorded in February and March 1988 in O Studio in the new line-up, with Dejan Abadić (keyboards) and Vuk Dinić (trombone). The guests on the album were Rex Ilusivii on emulator, Dragan Kozarčic on trumpet, Josip Kovač Jr. on saxophone, Theodor Yanni on guitar, Sanja Čičanović and Milan Mladenović on backing vocals. The album was produced by Rex Ilusivii and Theodor Yanni and released through PGP-RTB. The major hit on the album was "Sam" ("Alone") and other notable songs were "Pratiš trag" ("You're Following the Trace") and "Senke 2" ("Shadows 2").

During 1989 Ljubinko Tomanović (bass guitar) and Slobodan Andrić (saxophone) joined the band. During the same year, Tanja Jovićević was voted the Best Singer of the Year by the readers of Pop rock magazine.^[2] The band played concerts with Ekatarina Velika and recorded the soundtrack for the film Početni udarac. In early 1990, Oktobar 1864 started to work on their third album Crni ples (Black Dance) in Pink Studio in Zemun. It was recorded in March 1990 in the studio of RTV Titograd. The band was accompanied by Deže Molnar on tenor and alto saxophone and keyboards, Dragan Kozarčić on trumpet, Anton Horvat on baritone saxophone, Milan Mladenović on backing vocals, Blagoje Nedeljković on drums (in "Denis") and Ted Yanni on guitar (guitar solo in "Crni ples"). The album was produced by the band and Theodor Yanni and released by PGP-RTB. This album featured hits "Crni ples" and "Denis". Minor hits were "E7/9" and "Osećam za tebe" ("I Feel for You"). In 1990, Oktobar 1864 also recorded the soundtrack for the documentary film Izlazak u Javnost (Coming out), about the comic strip artist Emir Mesić from Zagreb. During the same year, the TV station SA 3 from Sarajevo recorded the documentary film Oktobar 1864 about the band.

Despite the fact they were praised by both fans and crtitics, due to the outbreak of the Yugoslav Wars, the band members decided to end their activity. The group disbanded in 1992 and the farewell concert was held in Belgrade's SKC in January 1992.^[3]

Post breakup[link]

After the split up, Tanja Jovićević pursued solo career as a jazz singer. Goran Tomanović formed the alternative rock band Braća Left with Ljubinko Tomanović. Željko Mitrović founded Pink television and City Records label.

In 1997, City Records released the compilation album Najbolje with 12 songs. The editor for the album was Goran Tomanović.

Legacy[link]

In 2011, the song "Crni ples" was polled, by the listeners of Radio 202, one of 60 greatest songs released by PGP-RTB/PGP-RTS.^[4]

Discography[link]

Studio albums[link]

• Oktobar 1864 (1987)
• Igra bojama (1988)
• Crni ples (1990)

Compilation albums[link]

• Najbolje (1997)

References[link]

• EX YU ROCK enciklopedija 1960-2006, Janjatović Petar; ISBN 978-86-905317-1-4

External links[link]

• Oktobar1864 on Myspace.com
• Oktobar 1864 Videos

Adolf Anderssen
Full name	Karl Ernst Adolf Anderssen
Country	Kingdom of Prussia German Empire
Born	(1818-07-06)July 6, 1818 Breslau, now Wrocław Poland
Died	March 13, 1879(1879-03-13) (aged 60)

Karl Ernst Adolf Anderssen (July 6, 1818 – March 13, 1879) was a German chess master. He is considered to have been the world's leading chess player in the 1850s and 1860s. He was "dethroned" temporarily in 1858 by Paul Morphy.

After his defeat by Steinitz in 1866, Anderssen became the most successful tournament player in Europe, winning over half the events he entered—including the Baden-Baden 1870 chess tournament, considered comparable in the strength of its contestants to recent "super GM tournaments". Remarkably, Anderssen achieved most of these successes when he was over the age of 50.

Anderssen is famous even today for his brilliant sacrificial attacking play, particularly in the "Immortal Game" (1851) and the "Evergreen Game" (1852). He was a very important figure in the development of chess problems, driving forward the transition from the "Old School" of problem composition to the elegance and complexity of modern compositions.

He was also one of the most likeable of chess masters and became an "elder statesman" of the game, to whom others turned for advice or arbitration.

Background and early life[link]

Anderssen was born in Breslau (now called Wrocław), 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. He never married. Anderssen 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.^[1]

When Anderssen was nine years old, his father taught him how to play chess.^[2] 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).^[3]

Chess career[link]

First steps[link]

A problem from Anderssen's 1842 collection

	a	b	c	d	e	f	g	h
8									8
7									7
6									6
5									5
4									4
3									3
2									2
1									1
	a	b	c	d	e	f	g	h

White to mate in four moves

Solution: 1. Bh5 Kxh5 2. Kg7 h6 3. Kf6 Kh4 4. Kg6#

This example uses algebraic notation.

Anderssen first came to the attention of the chess world when he published Aufgabe für Schachspieler (literally "Task for chess player"), a collection of 60 chess problems, in 1842.^[1][2] He continued to publish problems for many years, both in magazines and as a second collection in 1852.^[4][5] These brought him to the attention of the "Berlin Pleiades" group, which included some of the strongest players of the time, and he played matches against some of them.^[6] Anderssen's development as a player was relatively slow, largely because he could spare neither the time nor the money to play many matches against strong players. Nevertheless by 1846 he was able to put up a good fight against another Pleiades member, Tassilo von Heydebrand und der Lasa, who may have been the world's strongest player at the time.^[7] In 1846, he became the editor of the magazine Schachzeitung der Berliner Schachgesellschaft (later called Deutsche Schachzeitung) when its founder Ludwig Bledow, one of the "Berlin Pleiades", died. Anderssen held this post until 1865.^[8]

London 1851[link]

Howard Staunton was the principal organizer of the 1851 London International Tournament, and offered to pay Anderssen's travel expenses out of his own pocket.

In 1848 Anderssen drew a match with the professional player Daniel Harrwitz.^[9] On the basis of this match and his general chess reputation, he was invited to represent German chess at the first international chess tournament, to be held in London in 1851. Anderssen was reluctant to accept the invitation, as he was deterred by the travel costs. However the tournament's principal organizer, Howard Staunton, offered to pay Anderssen's travel expenses out of his own pocket if necessary, should Anderssen fail to win a tournament prize. Anderssen accepted this generous offer.^[3]

Anderssen's preparations for the 1851 London International Tournament produced a surge in his playing strength: he played over 100 games in early 1851 against strong opponents including Carl Mayet, Ernst Falkbeer, Max Lange and Jean Dufresne.^[7] The 1851 International Tournament was a knock-out event in which pairs of competitors played short matches, and Anderssen won it by beating Lionel Kieseritzky, József Szén, Staunton, and Marmaduke Wyvill – by margins of at least two games in every case.^[10] His prize was two-thirds of the total prize fund of £500, i.e. about £335;^[11] that is equivalent to about £240,000 ($370,200) in 2006's money.^[12] When Anderssen and Szén found they were to play each other, they agreed that, if either won the tournament, the other would receive one-third of the prize; this does not appear to have been considered in any way unethical.^[11]

Although most chess books regard Wilhelm Steinitz as the first true world champion,^[2] one of the organizers of the 1851 London International tournament had said the contest was for "the baton of the World’s Chess Champion".^[13] In fact Anderssen was not described as "the world champion", but the tournament established Anderssen as the world's leading chess player, at the time it had same meaning.^[2] The London Chess Club, which had fallen out with Staunton and his colleagues, organized a tournament that was played a month later and included several players who had competed in the International Tournament. The result was the same – Anderssen won.^[14]

Morphy match, 1858[link]

Paul Morphy crushed all opposition in 1858

Opportunities for tournament play remained rare, and Anderssen was reluctant to travel far because of the expense.^[2] In his one recorded tournament between 1851 and 1862, a one-game-per-round knock-out tournament at Manchester in 1857, he was eliminated in the second round.^[14] Then in late 1858 he was beaten 8–3 by the American champion Paul Morphy in a famous match held in Paris, France (two wins, two draws, seven losses).^[15] Although Anderssen knew as well as anyone how to attack, Morphy understood much better when to attack and how to prepare an attack. Morphy had recently scored equally convincing wins in matches against other top-class players: Johann Löwenthal, the Rev. John Owen and Daniel Harrwitz.^[2] However Morphy returned to the USA in 1859 and soon afterwards announced his retirement from serious chess. Hence Anderssen was once again the strongest active player.^[16]

Anderssen played the curious opening move 1. a3 in three games of his match against Morphy, and broke even with it (one loss, one draw, one win).^[17] This opening move, now referred to as "Anderssen's Opening", has never been popular in serious competition.^[18]

Other games 1851–62[link]

Shortly after the 1851 London International tournament, Anderssen played his two most famous games, both casual encounters which he won by combinations that involved several sacrifices. In the first, as Black, but moving first, against Lionel Kieseritzky in London just after the International tournament (1851) and now called the "Immortal Game", he sacrificed a bishop, both rooks and finally his queen.^[19] In the second, played in Berlin in 1852 as white against Jean Dufresne and now called the "Evergreen Game", the total sacrifice was more modest, but still exceeded a queen and a minor piece.^[20]

After the match with Morphy, Anderssen played two matches against Ignác Kolisch, a "top five" player who later became a wealthy banker and patron of chess;^[21][22] Anderssen drew their match in 1860 and narrowly won in 1861 (5/9; won four, drew two, lost three; Kolisch was ahead at the half-way stage).^[23]

London 1862[link]

Anderssen won the London 1862 chess tournament, the first international round-robin tournament (in which each participant plays a game against each of the others) with a score of twelve wins out of thirteen games. He lost only one game, to the Rev. John Owen^[24] and finished two points ahead of Louis Paulsen, who had the best playing record in the early 1860s.^[25][26] Morphy had retired from chess at this time, so Anderssen was again generally regarded as the world's leading active player.^[16]

Anderssen's only known competitive chess between 1862 and 1866 was a drawn match (three wins, three losses, and two draws) in 1864 against Berthold Suhle,^[23] who was a strong player and respected chess writer.^[27]

Steinitz match, 1866[link]

Wilhelm Steinitz in 1866

In 1866 Anderssen lost a close match with 30-year-old Wilhelm Steinitz (six wins, eight losses, and no draws; Steinitz won the last two games).^[28] Although Steinitz is now known for inventing the positional approach to chess and demonstrating its superiority, the 1866 match was played in the attack-at-all-costs style of the 1850s and 1860s.^[29] This is generally seen as the point at which Steinitz succeeded Anderssen as the world's leading active player. Although ideas of a contest for the world championship had been floating around since the 1840s,^[13] the 1866 Anderssen–Steinitz match was not defined as being for the world championship, and many were opposed to the claim of such a title while Morphy was retired from chess and still alive. Furthermore, Anderssen remained dominant both in top tournaments & in personal matches against Zukertort until 1871.^[30]

1866–79[link]

By this time tournaments were becoming more frequent, and the round-robin format was adopted. At the same time, Anderssen, after losing the match to Morphy in 1858 and to Steinitz in 1866, re-dedicated himself to chess, particularly studying both endgames and positional play. The result was that Anderssen, in his early fifties, was playing the finest chess of his career. As a result, Anderssen compiled a very successful tournament record in the late stages of his career: five first places, two second places, two third places; and a sixth place in the final year of his life, when his health was failing.^[14][31] One of his first places was ahead of Steinitz, Gustav Neumann, Joseph Henry Blackburne, Louis Paulsen and several other very strong players at the Baden-Baden 1870 chess tournament. This is regarded as one of the top 20 strongest tournaments ever despite the proliferation of "super tournaments" since 1990.^[32][33] One of Anderssen's third places was at the strong Vienna 1873 tournament, when he was 55. About half of Anderssen's tournament successes came at championships of the different regional German Chess Federations; but these were open to all nationalities, and most of them had a few "top ten" or even "top five" competitors.^[14] Anderssen usually beat Zukertort in matches but his dominance came to an end came 1871.

The Leipzig 1877 tournament, in which Anderssen came second behind Louis Paulsen, was organized to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Anderssen's learning the chess moves. The initiative sprang from the Central German Chess Federation. It is the only tournament ever organized to commemorate a competitor.^[1]

Still at Leipzig, Anderssen lost a match against tournament winner Louis Paulsen (three wins, one draw, and five losses). Matches were Anderssen's relative weakness; his only match win in this period was in 1868, against the 26-year-old Johann Zukertort (eight wins, one draw, and three losses).^[28]

Assessment[link]

Playing strength and style[link]

Adolf Anderssen in later life

Anderssen was very successful in European tournaments from 1851 to early 1878, taking first prize in over half of the events in which he played.^[14] His only recorded tournament failures were a one-game-per-round knock-out event in 1857 and sixth place at Paris 1878 when his health was failing and he had only about a year to live.^[14][31] His match record was much weaker: out of the 12 that he played, he won only two, drew four and lost six. But to be fair: one loss was against Paul Morphy, who annihilated other leading players at least as thoroughly;^[2] Anderssen gave Wilhelm Steinitz as hard a fight as anyone did until Emanuel Lasker beat Steinitz in 1894;^[34] Daniel Harrwitz (drawn match, 1848) was the weakest of his other opponents.^[35]

Arpad Elo, inventor of the Elo rating system, retroactively calculated ratings through history, and estimated that Anderssen was the first player with a rating over 2600.^[36] Chessmetrics ranks Anderssen as one of the top five players for most of the period from 1851 to shortly before his death in 1879.^[37]

Steinitz, who spoke his mind without fear or favor,^[38] rated Anderssen as one of the two greatest attacking players of his time: "We all may learn from Morphy and Anderssen how to conduct a king’s-side attack, and perhaps I myself may not have learnt enough."^[39] Although Anderssen is regarded as a member of the "heroic" attacking school,^[6] he was not in favor of mindless aggression, for example he said: "Move that one of your pieces, which is in the worst plight, unless you can satisfy yourself that you can derive immediate advantage by an attack",^[40] a principle more recently labelled "Makogonov's rule".^[41] Nevertheless his approach to development was haphazard and he totally failed to understand why Morphy won.^[2]

Anderssen's home town was so proud of him that in 1865 Breslau University awarded him an honorary doctorate.^[2]

Influence on chess[link]

The "heroic" attacking school of play to which Anderssen belonged was eclipsed by Steinitz' positional approach – by 1894 it was generally acknowledged that the only way to beat Steinitz was to apply Steinitz' principles.^[42]

Anderssen has had a more enduring influence on chess problem composition. He started composing in the last years of the "Old School", whose compositions were fairly similar to realistic over-the-board positions and featured spectacular "key" moves, multiple sacrifices and few variations.^[5] He was one of the most skilful composers of his time, and his work forms an early stage of the "Transition Period", between the mid-1840s and the early 1860s, when many of the basic problem ideas were discovered, the requirement for game-like positions was abandoned and the introduction of composing competitions (the first of which was in 1854) forced judges to decide on what features were the most desirable in a problem.^[4]

Outside the field of chess problems Anderssen was not a prolific author. However he edited the magazine Schachzeitung der Berliner Schachgesellschaft (later called Deutsche Schachzeitung) from 1846 to 1865, and was co-editor with Gustav Neumann of Neue Berliner Schachzeitung from 1864 to 1867.^[8]

Personality[link]

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..."^[3] On the other hand Reuben Fine wrote, "There is a curious contrast between his over-the-board brilliance and his uninspired safety-first attitude in everyday affairs."^[2]

Death[link]

Adolf Anderssen died on March 13, 1879 in his hometown. The Deutsche Schachzeitung noted his death in 1879 with a nineteen-page obituary.^[1] 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 Osobowicki Cemetery.^[43][44]

Notable games[link]

This section uses algebraic notation to describe chess moves.

• Adolf Anderssen vs Lionel Kieseritsky, 1851, King's Gambit: Accepted. Bishop's Gambit Bryan Countergambit (C33), 1–0 The "Immortal Game". Anderssen sacrifices his queen and both rooks in order to win
• Adolf Anderssen vs Jean Dufresne, Berlin 1852, Italian Game: Evans Gambit. Pierce Defense (C52), 1–0 The "Evergreen Game". Another short game full of sacrifices and ending with a nice two-bishops checkmate
• Adolf Anderssen vs Paul Morphy, Match, Paris 1858, Anderssen Opening. 1–0 Anderssen beats Morphy after opening 1. a3
• Adolf Anderssen vs Johannes Zukertort, Barmen 1869, Italian Game: Evans Gambit. Paulsen Variation (C51), 1–0 Black resigned before allowing Anderssen to finish the combination: 29. Qxh7+ Kxh7 30. f6+ Kg8 31. Bh7+ Kxh7 32. g8Q+ Rxg8 33. Rh3#

Tournament results[link]

Sources:^{[1][10][14][25][31][45][46]}

Match results[link]

Sources:^{[1][6][9][23][45][46][28][47][48]}