The Greatest Chess Performance in History

This is a nice read in that just plain English will be used and no technical jargon from chess nor math will be used. Thus, even someone not familiar with chess notation or what a rating system is can read this and be able afterwards to discuss something of substance with a chess player or ratings system expert.

Having said the above, let’s go!

If you ask Google who is the greatest chess player ever or what was the greatest chess performance ever, you will get a variety of answers. I have seen over the years of doing this Karpov’s 1994 Linares tournament, Caruana’s 2014 Sinquefield Cup, or Fischer’s 1963–4 US Championship. Sometimes, I will see Fischer’s demolition of Tiamanov and Larsen in 1972. I might get Kasparov’s Tilburg 1989 performance. These are all good performances — don’t get me wrong. But, they are cited as the best. To me, this means the most dominant — the winner came to let everyone else know who the boss was. And, that performance is never mentioned as the best. If you really dig into the internet, you will find it discussed, but it isn’t showcased as the best — only that is was great. So, I am here to announce this awesome performance of Wilhelm Steinitz with some background to show he deserves it.

The #1 performance thus far in my research into chess history happened back in 1876. Wilhelm Steinitz (pictured above) and Joseph Henry Blackburne (pictured below) both participated in the greatest match ever played.