World Chess Championship 1890–1891
chess match between Wilheilm Steinitz and Isidor Gunsberg
The third World Chess Championship was held in New York City from 9 December 1890 to 22 January 1891. Holder Wilhelm Steinitz (known as William Steinitz since his naturalisation as an American citizen) narrowly defeated his Hungarian challenger, Isidor Gunsberg.
Despite coming in 3rd place in the American Chess Congress's tournament held in 1889, the tied first-place finishers Mikhail Chigorin and Max Weiss refused to challenge the title. Steinitz accepted Gunsberg's challenge in 1890, and they played in New York. Though Steinitz won their second game, by game 5 Gunsberg had taken the lead. Gunsberg managed to be just one game behind Steinitz after winning Games 12 and 16, but Steinitz strengthened his lead by winning game 18, and then drew Game 19 to win 10½ to 8½ points. Gunsberg favoured the Evans Gambit with the white pieces, and held his own, ended up winning 4 games against Steinitz, who would continue to hold the title of World Champion until his 1894 match against Emanuel Lasker.
Gunsberg is agreed to have reached the peak of his chess career in the years leading up to the World Championship, following which his wife Jane died of tuberculosis, and though he continued to give lectures and write about chess, his skill level sharply dropped off.
Background
In 1887 the American Chess Congress started work on drawing up regulations for the future conduct of world championship contests. Steinitz actively supported this endeavor, as he thought he was becoming too old to remain world champion – he wrote in his own magazine "I know I am not fit to be the champion, and I am not likely to bear that title for ever."
The American Chess Congress's final proposal was that the winner of a tournament to be held in New York in 1889 should be regarded as world champion for the time being, but must be prepared to face a challenge from the second or third placed competitor within a month.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “World Chess Championship 1890–1891” as chess match between Wilheilm Steinitz and Isidor Gunsberg. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the general reference register because the source frames it as chess match between Wilheilm Steinitz and Isidor Gunsberg. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 19, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1807294. Authority coordinates are 40.700, -74.000. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1890, 1891, 1889 and 1894.
Overview language is designed for orientation and should not be treated as a substitute for the evidence cited beneath it. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.
- Subject orientation
- Search vocabulary
- Locating named sources
The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “World Chess Championship 1890–1891”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow World Chess Championship 1890–1891 primary sources, World Chess Championship 1890–1891 archive and World research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “World Chess Championship 1890–1891”?
- What terminology or title could unlock a more precise catalogue search?
- Which cited source is closest to the event, object or claim?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “World Chess Championship 1890–1891” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.