3 May 1880—25 June 1880

Game	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	Wins
Rosenthal	½	½	0	½	½	½	½	0	½	1	½	0	0	0	0	½	½	½	0	1
Zukertort	½	½	1	½	½	½	½	1	½	0	½	1	1	1	1	½	½	½	1	7

Format: The winner of the first seven games to be declared the victor, draws not counting.
Time Control: 30 moves in 2 hours and then 15 moves every 1 hour.
Purse: £200 (£100 a side).

Match Between Messrs Rosenthal And Zukertort.
M. Rosenthal, the French champion, has addressed a courteous letter to the winner of the Paris tournament, which is published in La Revue des Jeux, des Arts, et du Sport, and which conveys an open challenge for a chess match, reserving only three conditions, namely: That play shall not take place more than three times a week; the time limit shall be thirty moves in two hours; and the contest shall not be fought during the hot summer months. In every other respect, viz., the amount of the stakes, the place of meeting, the number of games, and other particulars, Herr Zukertort is at liberty to fix his own terms. Considering that the French champion came out below the six prize winners of the Paris congress, his proposition on such fair conditions can only be regarded as a chivalrous offer, and we have reason to believe that the challenge will be accepted, and the match will come off without greater delay than will be necessary for preparations and the settlement of the preliminaries.

Chess Intelligence.
[...] Herr Zukertort has accepted Herr Rosenthal’s challenge, and has fixed the stakes at a minimum of £100 a side. He proposes the modification of the time limit, to the effect that thirty moves should be played in the first two hours, and afterwards fifteen moves per hour. The victor will be the winner of the first seven games, and each game is to be played out at a sitting.

The Match Between Messrs Rosenthal And Zukertort
We learn, with great pleasure, that all the main preliminaries of this contest are at last satisfactorily settled, and the match is expected to commence shortly. Herr Rosenthal has already deposited his stakes of £100 with the treasurer of the Cercle des Echecs de Paris, M. Le Grande, and we understand that Herr Zukertort’s stakes will be ready by to-day, to be handed over to the hon. sec. of the St. George’s Chess Club, Mr. J. I. Minchin. Herr Rosenthal has engaged to arrive in London a fortnight after his receiving official notification of Herr Zukertort’s stakes having been deposited. The only important addition to the terms of the match as already published is that the contest shall be adjourned till October next whenever the temperature should reach 25° Centigrade (77° Fahrenheit) on three successive days.

The Match Between Messrs Rosenthal And Zukertort.
All the formalities in reference to the stakes of this match have already been fulfilled, and M. Rosenthal is expected to arrive in London next week, whereupon the day for commencement of the contest and other minor details will be speedily settled. M. Rosenthal is sure to meet with a warm reception; for whatever may be the opinions about the relative prospects of the two players, all lovers of the game can only admire the spirit and pluck which inspired M. Rosenthal’s challenge. The French representative may have little faith in tournaments as tests of skill, for a priori it seems unlikely that the first winner of a great chess congress should have to yield in the personal encounter to the seventh man. He may also have been stimulated by the success of Herr Englisch, who last year won the chief prize in the German Chess Congress, though the year before he was bracketed with M. Rosenthal for seventh and eighth places in the Paris Congress. At any rate, he backs his opinion for a handsome sum, such as has not been played for in this country in any public contest since the match between Steinitz and Anderssen in 1866; and, taking into consideration the fairness of his conditions, the straightforward manner in which the challenge was conveyed, and the dispatch and energy shown by the French champion in the conduct of the negotiations, M. Rosenthal will be fairly entitled to the fullest respect of his adversary and Herr Zukertort’s supporters, whatever the result of the following contest may be.

The Match Between Messrs Rosenthal And Zukertort.
M. Rosenthal arrived yesterday (Friday). We understand from the French champion that he will be ready to play on Monday week at the latest; but at the time of our going to press he has had no conference with Herr Zukertort. It is possible, however, that the match may commence in the latter part of next week.

The Match Between Messrs Rosenthal And Zukertort.
The two parties to the forthcoming most interesting contest were engaged last week in finally settling terms and in other necessary preparations. The main particulars of the regulations were agreed upon with difficulty, and are in effect as follows: The match is to be played every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, commencing on Monday next. Play will begin at two o’clock p.m., and proceed till half-past six, when an adjournment for two hours is to take place, after which the sitting will continue until the finish of the game, but no more than one game will be played on any day. The time limit, which will be regulated by stop watches, is thirty moves for the first two hours, and fifteen moves for every following hour. The Rev. W. Wayte will act as umpire for Herr Zukertort, and Mr Lindsay has accepted the same office for M. Rosenthal. The two umpires, who according to the conditions had to select a referee, have conferred that honour upon Mr Steinitz. All rights in reference to the proprietorship of the games in England have been reserved in the original conditions by Herr Zukertort, who has, however, made over to our journal the right of first publication.

M. Rosenthal met with the most cordial reception in metropolitan chess circles, and there can be no doubt that he will be treated with the courtesy and consideration due to a stranger who is fighting an honourable battle which will unite the interest of chess players all over the world. M. Camille Morel, who acted as secretary of the Paris International Chess Congress of 1878, and other members of the Paris Cercle des Echecs, are expected to come over from France for the purpose of witnessing the contest.

The Match Between Messrs Rosenthal And Zukertort.
In challenging the winner of the Paris tournament, M. Rosenthal virtually put tournament skill on its trial versus match play. That there is a difference between the two tests has long been recognised in theory and verified in practice. Anderssen was more successful in the majority of short encounters of a general melée than in longer single-handed contests; and immediately after the first Paris tournament of 1867 the fourth winner, Neumann, beat the second prize-holder, Winawer, without losing a single game, the latter only succeeding in drawing a few. While, however, many objections have been raised against the rules of previous tournaments, and more especially against the first Paris Congress, which was made a sort of handicap, owing to the ill-considered regulation that the drawn games should count fully against both parties, the Paris Congress of 1878 is generally admitted to have been conducted on fairer principles than any former general contest. We may therefore say, without in the least wishing to prejudice M. Rosenthal’s prospects, that his attempt to dislodge Herr Zukertort from the position the latter attained in the last Paris tournament can only be described as a bold one. Yet the denial of the superiority acquired by Herr Zukertort on that occasion comes from a quarter which, apart from technical considerations, appears fully entitled to enter the protest. M. Rosenthal and his French supporters were the chief promoters of the Paris tournament, which they brought to a successful issue at great expenditure of time and money. The case of the French champion, and the remembrance of his pluck and spirit, will therefore engage a good deal of sympathy; and the terms of the contest, which hold out the prospect of fair remuneration, as well as honour to the winner, will create a wide interest in the match amongst lovers of the game of all nationalities.

The First Game.—Played on Monday, the 3rd inst. The two players arrived before two o’clock-the time appointed for commencing the game—in order to discuss some further details. We have all along commended M. Rosenthal’s chivalry in the conduct of the negotiations, and we are glad to put on record an instance of reciprocation of this spirit of courtesy on the part of his antagonist. M. Rosenthal proposed that both parties should dispense with the assistance of bystanders in taking down the game or regulating the stop watches which mark the time limit, and Herr Zukertort at once agreed. This was a very courteous concession, for the winner of the Paris tournament would have found plenty of enthusiasts willing to relieve him of the troublesome duty of scoring the game, while M. Rosenthal, who employs the French notation, would have been very much limited in the choice of his assistants. In the absence of Mr Lindsay, M. Rosenthal’s umpire, the Rev. W. Wayte, Herr Zukertort’s representative, drew for the first move with Mr Salter, and this considerable advantage fell in favour of Herr Zukertort. Amidst breathless silence the first few moves were made by both players at a moderately quick rate of time, and the game assumed the aspect of the well-known Double Ruy Lopez, which often occured in the Paris tournament, M. Rosenthal having, however, designedly omitted the usual advance of P to Q R 3, in order to drive back the B to Q R 4, the tug of war began on the 7th move, when Zukertort instituted a new form of attack by P to Q 4, of which Mr Blackburne is the inventor. Rosenthal took a long time to consider his reply, and at last entered on a line of defence which appeared the simplest. On the 9th move it was Zukertort’s turn to deliberate for a long while on an important line of action, and he at last decided on a course of general exchanges, which, at least in his own opinion, led to a clear drawn game; for when, after making his 12th move, Rosenthal proposed a draw, Zukertort impetuously knocked down his king in agreement with the offer, play having lasted altogether about fifty minutes. This clearly breaking up of the game caused some natural disappointment, and the general impression was that the French champion had slightly the best of the result, and that the spell of Zukertort’s two successive victories against his present opponent in the Paris tournament was somewhat shaken. We believe that Zukertort had slightly the superior position; at any rate, he could run no risk, and the prospective moral effect of a third continuous victory would have made it worth while to go on longer. But both combatants pleaded indisposition for a continued hard struggle, which of course is a valid excuse; and Herr Zukertort, like some other great masters, does not easily work himself into form at the beginning of a great contest, for it will be remembered that his score in the first two rounds of the Paris Congress was the worst of the ultimate winners. The game, though it is very valuable for analysis and students of the opening, is the shortest match game on record, in point of number of moves, with the exception of one between Blackburne and Fleissig in the tenth match of the Vienna Congress, which was resigned by the latter on the eighth move under the misapprehension that he was bound to lose a clear rook, while it was afterwards proved that he could have relieved himself from difficulty with the lose of the exchange for a P only, with a fair game.

This first encounter resembles a reconnoitring fight before a great battle, or a feeler between two wrestlers who wish to ascertain each other’s strength. We publish it below with our comments; and in reference to the notes we intend to give throughout the match, we may be allowed to remark that we shall endeavour, to the utmost of our power, to do full justice to the two players and to the nature of the positions arising in the games; but we are much restricted in our examinations by considerations of space and by the time fixed for our going to press. We must therefore confine ourselves to the points which appear to us the most striking, and must leave the more detailed analysis to the periodicals exclusively devoted to chess. We have no doubt, however, that Herr Zukertort’s splendid analytical powers will fully satisfy the technical requirements of the match in the pages of the Chess Monthly, of which journal the winner of the Paris tournament is the chief editor.