动荡年代的国际象棋（1）

——第一批卓越棋手的涌现

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times,” nothing but the first sentence of the novel A Tale of Two Cities can better describe the chess development before the First World War. The 19th century witnessed the prosperity of Europe and the emergence of a number of talented chess players, but some burgeoning European nations had the ambition to break the balance of the dominant powers. War was inevitable. Such crisis brought endless challenges to the players.

“那是最美好的时代，那是最糟糕的时代”，没有什么能比小说《双城记》中的第一句话更好地形容一战前国际象棋的发展了。19世纪见证了欧洲的繁荣，见证了一批才华横溢的棋手的涌现；然而一些新兴的欧洲国家有着打破欧洲主导力量平衡的野心。战争不可避免。如此的危机带给了棋手们无尽的挑战。

Chess tournament in the 19th century

19世纪的国际象棋比赛

In 1836, our first World Chess Champion, Wilhelm Steinitz, was born in Austro-Hungary, one of the most powerful empiresin Europe at that time, and one of the Central Powers during the First World War. As a Jew, Steinitz was lucky to be born in the right place at the right time. For a long time after the Black Death, Jewish people were discriminated and persecuted because the Europeans thought that it was the Jewish people who spread the plague to Europe. This situation did not change until in the 19th century, when the traditional aristocracy declined and the bourgeoisie emerged. The Jewish people, one of the major groups of the bourgeoisie and one of the wealthiest minority groups, gave away money to prominent people in exchange for connections and protection. Another good thing was that the Jewish people were tolerated in Austro-Hungary compared to other European countries. And although Steinitz’s family was not the richest, his wealth was enough to sustain his life and support him to learn chess.

1836年，我们的第一任世界冠军威廉·斯坦尼茨，出生在当时欧洲最强盛的帝国之一的奥匈帝国，也是一战中的轴心国之一。身为一个犹太人，斯坦尼茨幸运地出生在了对的地点、对的时间。在黑死病之后的很长一段时间内，犹太人遭到了欧洲人的歧视甚至迫害，因为当时的欧洲人认为，是犹太人把瘟疫传到了欧洲。这种情况直到19世纪才发生了改变。那时，传统贵族逐渐没落，中产阶级开始兴起。作为中产阶级最大的群体和最富有的少数民族，犹太人用他们的财富向当时社会的显贵人士换取关系和保护。另外，相比于其他欧洲国家，奥匈帝国更加包容犹太人。虽然当时斯坦尼茨的家庭不是最富有的，但是他的财富足够维持他的生活，支持他学棋了。

Wilhelm Steinitz

威廉•斯坦尼茨

Steinitz dreamed of becoming an engineer when he was young, and he went to Vienna’s polytechnic to study mathematics at the age of 21. But then just after two years at university, he became obsessive about chess. He soon decided to give up his career as an engineer and became a professional chess player, devoting his whole life to chess. At that time, chess players were not valued and there were hardly any tournaments per year, which provided Steinitz less chance of defeating prominent players and winning honors. But he persisted and finally became one of the top players.

在斯坦尼茨年轻的时候，他梦想着成为一名工程师，在他21岁那年他去了维也纳综合技术学院学习数学。但是上了两年大学之后，他开始迷恋国际象棋。他很快决定放弃工程师的事业而成为一位专业棋手，把他的一生献给国际象棋。那个时候，棋手很不受重视，而且每年也很少有比赛，这使他很难有机会去打败高手并获得名次。但是他坚持不懈，最终跻身顶级棋手行列。

In 1866 Steinitz won the tournament against Adolf Anderssen, the famous Prussian chess player, but Steinitz was not happy. Steinitz lost his first two games in this match, and finally won the match with great difficulties. On the other hand, Paul Morphy, the talented American player, defeated Anderssen with great ease. Morphy might have become a world champion, but suddenly he disappeared from the chess world and was never willing to talk about chess. No one knew what happened. There were many rumors about Morphy, and Morphy remained a myth in the chess world.

1866年，斯坦尼茨赢得了与著名普鲁士棋手阿道夫·安德森的对抗赛。但是斯坦尼茨并不高兴。斯坦尼茨一上来就输了两盘，最后十分艰难地赢下了对抗赛。然而，美国天才棋手保罗·摩菲当年很轻松地打败了安德森。摩菲本来可以成为世界冠军，但是他突然从棋界消失了，而且对国际象棋一言不谈。没有人知道发生了什么。关于摩菲有很多传闻，摩菲的去向也成了棋界的一个谜。

Anderssen played against Morphy

安德森对战摩菲

After the match against Anderssen, Steinitz began to study the games of all the prominent chess players of the 19th century. He was not satisfied to be the best player in Europe, but he kept the ambition to become world champion. In 1886 Steinitz moved to the United States and had a match against the Prussian player Zukertort. He declared that this match would determine who would be the 1st world champion. The match was not easy for Steinitz. He only got 1 point in the first five games. But he was tenacious and finally defeated Zukertort.

在与安德森的对抗赛之后，斯坦尼茨开始研究19世纪所有一流棋手的对局。他并不满足于成为欧洲最优秀的棋手，而是有着成为世界冠军的野心。1886年，斯坦尼茨移居美国，并且与普鲁士棋手楚凯尔托进行了一场对抗赛。斯坦尼茨声称这次对抗赛将决定谁是第一任世界冠军。对抗赛对于斯坦尼茨来说并不顺利。他在前5盘棋中只得了1分。但是他凭借着坚忍不拔的意志，最终反败为胜。

1st World Chess Championship

第一届世界冠军对抗赛

Steinitz’s victory not only brought him the honour of world champion but also proved that his approaches to chess were applicable: accumulating small advantages and strengthening the position before attacking. He also introduced the ideas of the weak square, the pawn chain and the advantage of two bishops, which were completely new and unacceptable in his era. As the first positional player, Steinitz made great contributions to the development of scientific chess theories.

斯坦尼兹的胜利不仅给他带来了世界冠军的荣誉，也证明了他的理论的适用性：进攻之前积累微小优势，加强局面。他也第一次提出了弱格、兵链和双象优势的概念，这在当时是很难理解的全新概念。作为第一位局面型棋手，斯坦尼茨对科学的国际象棋理论的发展做出了巨大的贡献。

[To be continued…]

（未完待续…）

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