Wilhelm Steinitz is noted as one of the world's best chess players. This should come as no surprise, especially since the Steinitz Gambit is a chess move that is still used today, over 100 years after his death.
Steinitz was born on May 17, 1836 to a Jewish family in a ghetto in Prague. He was born as the youngest child to a hardware retailer with 12 older siblings. He started playing chess at the age of 12. At this time, no one could have guessed that he was going to amaze the world with his chess strategies. It was not until 1861 when when he tried his hand at chess in a championship that he won in Vienna, where he had recently moved to work as a journalist. The very next year, in 1862, Steinitz competed in London, representing Austria in an international chess tournament. He came in sixth place. Wishing to prove his excellence in the game of chess, he challenged Dubois, the fifth place finisher, to a match. Steinitz won five games, lost three, and tied in one game.
Not long after his match against Dubois, Steinitz realized that he had the potential to be a chess player that would go down in history. He moved to London and become a professional chess player. In 1863 Steinitz gained recognition as one of the world's leading chess players. This occurred after he won a match against Blackburne. Blackburne was considered an English grandmaster and a "top ten" chess player for many decades. Steinitz won seven games, lost one, and tied in two games in his match with Blackburne. This success was quickly followed by successful wins against Mongredien, Green, Deacon, and Robey.
In 1866 Steinitz faced his ultimate chess challenge: a match against Adolf Adersson. Andersson was revered as a German legend and the best chess player on the planet. Steinitz won with eight wins and six losses. This was the moment that the world truly started to believe that Steinitz was the best chess player in the world.
Steinitz continued to play chess and write about it until his death in 1900. He married a woman named Caroline in the 1860s and had a daughter with her named Flora. Caroline in 1892 and Flora died at 21 years old in 1888. A few years later he married his second wife and had two more children with her.
