Wilhelm Steinitz played across four decades, from the swashbuckling romantic era into the dawn of modern chess — and he was brilliant in both worlds. His best games show a player who could attack as fiercely as anyone, but who backed his attacks with the deep positional understanding he pioneered. Here are the ones that still get taught, and why they’ve lasted well over a century.
A quick note on how we present these: we describe each game in prose from verified sources rather than reprinting a full move list, so you’re never getting a garbled transcript. Where you want to play through the moves yourself, we point you to reliable databases and the game pages we’ve cited at the foot of this page.
The “magic rook” — Steinitz vs. von Bardeleben, Hastings 1895
This is Steinitz’s showpiece, and one of the most famous combinations in all of chess. At the great Hastings 1895 tournament — one of the strongest events of the 19th century — a 59-year-old Steinitz, well past his championship peak, produced a brilliancy that would have made his younger, attacking self proud.
The game was an Italian Game (a Giuoco Piano). Out of a classical opening, Steinitz built up pressure and then planted a rook deep in Black’s position on the seventh rank — where, astonishingly, it sat undefended for several moves. For a stretch of the game, Curt von Bardeleben could have captured the rook with his queen or his king, yet every capture ran into a decisive tactic. That untouchable, endlessly poisoned rook is why the game is nicknamed the “magic rook.”
The finish is the stuff of legend. Rather than resign or play on into a hopeless position, von Bardeleben simply got up and left the playing hall, never to return — letting his clock run out. Left alone at the board, Steinitz reportedly demonstrated to the spectators a forced checkmate roughly ten moves deep, chasing the black king across the board to its doom. Steinitz considered it one of the finest games he ever played, and it won a brilliancy prize at the tournament. It’s a perfect answer to anyone who thinks the “father of positional chess” couldn’t attack.
The crown — Steinitz vs. Zukertort, World Championship 1886
Some of Steinitz’s most important games are best appreciated as a match, not a single brilliancy. In 1886 he faced Johannes Zukertort in a contest both players explicitly agreed was “for the World Championship” — the first of its kind. It was played across three American cities: New York, St. Louis, and New Orleans.
The story of the match is a story of two philosophies colliding. Zukertort was a dazzling attacker in the older romantic mold; Steinitz was the new scientific positional player. Zukertort jumped out to an early lead, and it looked like the old style might prevail. But as the match wore on, Steinitz’s deeper, more durable approach ground his rival down. He stormed back to win 12½–7½ (ten wins to five, with five draws), and chess had its first official World Champion. The match is the single clearest piece of evidence for Steinitz’s revolution: over a long contest, sound positional chess beat brilliant improvisation.
The breakthrough — Steinitz vs. Anderssen, 1866
Rewind twenty years to find the match that first put Steinitz on top of the chess world. In 1866 he took on Adolf Anderssen — creator of the “Immortal Game” and the reigning symbol of romantic attacking chess — in a match in London. It was a brutal, decisive affair with no draws at all: Steinitz won eight games to six.
What makes it historically delicious is the timing. Steinitz beat the great attacker while still playing as an attacker himself — the positional revolution was still a few years away. But the victory established him as the strongest player alive and gave him the platform from which he’d go on to remake the entire game. Beating Anderssen was, in a sense, the last great triumph of the old Steinitz before the new one was born.
Why these games still matter
Put together, Steinitz’s best games tell the story of chess growing up. The Anderssen match shows he could out-fight the best attacker of the romantic age. The Zukertort match shows his scientific method winning where it counts — over the long haul, for the world title. And the von Bardeleben brilliancy proves that positional understanding and dazzling attack aren’t opposites: the deepest positional players can produce the sharpest combinations, precisely because they know when the attack is justified.
The board below shows the Italian Game starting position that launched the “magic rook” masterpiece — a reminder that even Steinitz’s most spectacular wins grew out of classical, principled openings.
Want to understand the thinking behind these wins? Our playing style page unpacks his positional method, and his openings page covers the classical lines — like the Italian and the Ruy Lopez — that set them up.
FAQ
What is Wilhelm Steinitz’s most famous game? His “magic rook” win over Curt von Bardeleben at Hastings 1895 — an Italian Game in which Steinitz’s undefended rook on the seventh rank could not be safely captured, and which ended with von Bardeleben walking out rather than facing a forced mate.
Did von Bardeleben really leave without resigning? Yes. Faced with a lost position, he left the playing hall and let his time run out. Steinitz then demonstrated the forced checkmate to onlookers — a famously unusual way for a great game to end.
How important was the 1886 Zukertort match? Enormously — it was the first match contested explicitly for the World Championship, and Steinitz’s 12½–7½ win made him the first official World Chess Champion.
Where can I play through Steinitz’s games move by move? Well-annotated versions live in the major online databases and on Chess.com, Wikipedia, and ChessBase’s game pages, which we’ve cited below.
Keep exploring
Back to Wilhelm Steinitz’s profile · his playing style · his openings · his strength & legacy · fun facts · or browse all chess players.
Written and fact-checked by the Chess Lab Academy Editorial Team · Facts verified against Wikipedia, ChessBase, and Chess.com, as of July 2026 · Last verified 2026-07-10 · How we verify content.