World Chess Championship 1886
The first official World Chess Championship match — Wilhelm Steinitz defeats Johannes Zukertort across three American cities to become the inaugural world champion.
- Year
- 1886
- Format
- First to 10 wins (draws not counted)
- Venue
- Various venues across three cities
- Prize fund
- $4,000 (≈ $130,000 in 2026)
- Cycle
- classical
The 1886 match between Wilhelm Steinitz and Johannes Zukertort, played across three American cities from 11 January to 29 March 1886, is universally recognised as the first official World Chess Championship. Both players had stronger claims to the world’s-best title than any of their contemporaries, and they agreed to a match formally calling itself a championship — the first such match in chess history.
The Match
Played as first-to-ten wins with draws not counting toward the total. The match opened in New York with Zukertort winning the first round and racing to a 4–1 lead after five games. The middle stretch in St. Louis turned the tide: Steinitz won three games to level. The closing leg in New Orleans was decisive — Steinitz won six of the last nine decided games. Final score: 12.5 to 7.5 in twenty games.
The Legacy
Steinitz’s victory established him as the world’s first official world champion and also vindicated the positional school of chess he had been advocating for two decades — that defence and accumulation of small advantages, not romantic attack, was the foundation of best play. Every subsequent world champion has descended from his title line.