Customer Reviews

London International Chess Congress, 1899

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First published in 1900. London 1899 was without a doubt one of the very strongest tournaments ever held on British soil. Almost every great master of the day was present including the past and reigning world champions. It proved to be the swan song of the old champion Steinitz but for Lasker it was a glittering success which propelled him way beyond the other grandmasters of the time. London 1899 goes down in history as one of the great Lasker victories along with St Petersburg 1896, St Petersburg 1914 and New York 1924. The 1896 and 1924 events are both republished in the Hardinge Simpole series.

The annotator of the games from London 1899 was an interesting character. Leopold Hoffer was a Hungarian chess enthusiast who made his home in London. At first a protege of the great Steinitz, Hoffer's talents lay in the journalistic rather then playing area, and he succeeded Steinitz as chess editor of The Field and later set up his own magazine Chess Monthly. However, a falling out with his erstwhile mentor led to one of the most bitter disputes of 19th century chess. With Hoffer and the champion Steinitz each hurling scatalogical, scurrilous and scabrous insults at the other with the force of Jovian thunderbolts, this fracas would doubtless have led to the libel courts in modern times.