Romantic chess

Paul Morphy, American chess player known for his Romantic style of play.

Romantic chessis a style ofchesspopular in the 18th century until its decline in the 1880s. This style of chess emphasizes quick, tactical maneuvers rather than long-term strategic planning. Romantic players consider winning to be secondary to winning with style.The Romantic era of play was followed by the Scientific,Hypermodern,and New Dynamism eras.Games during this era generally consisted of1.e4openings such as theKing's GambitandGiuoco Piano.Queen-side pawn openings were not popular and seldom played. The Romantic era is generally considered to have ended with the1873 Vienna tournamentwhereWilhelm Steinitzpopularizedpositional playand theclosed game.This domination ushered in a new age of chess known as the "Modern",or Classical school, which would last until the 1930s whenhypermodernismbegan to become popular.

The Romantic era is generally considered to have reached its peak withAlexander McDonnellandLouis-Charles Mahé de La Bourdonnais,the two dominant chess players of the 1830s.The 1840s were dominated byHoward Staunton,and other leading players of the era includedAdolf Anderssen,Daniel Harrwitz,Henry Bird,Louis Paulsen,Paul MorphyandJoseph Henry Blackburne.

TheImmortal Game,played by Anderssen andLionel Kieseritzkyon 21 June 1851 in London—where Anderssen made boldsacrificesto secure victory, giving up bothrooksand a bishop, then hisqueen,and thencheckmatinghis opponent with his three remainingminor pieces—is considered a supreme example of Romantic chess.

Despite the Romantic era's reputation for dashing tactical play and combinations, positional play and closed games were not at all unknown during this time; they featured prominently at theLondon tournament of 1851,widely considered the first true chess tournament. Paul Morphy often complained about "dull chess" and criticized theSicilian Defenseand queen's pawn openings for leading to this sort of game. Morphy included a stipulation in his matches that at least half the games had to begin with a1.e4 e5 opening.

During the 1930s,Nazi Germanyco-opted chess as a political tool and to that end circulated propaganda alleging that the age of Romantic chess, dominated by dashingAryanplayers such as Morphy and Anderssen, had been derailed by "cowardly, stingy" positional chess exemplified by Jewish players like Steinitz,Emanuel Lasker,and others.

TheRomantic erain the arts was roughly analogous to the chess world. The arts were focused on emotional expression more than technical mastery. This would come to an end towards the end of the 19th century as evolution in the arts (Impressionist musicandSymbolist poetry) coincided with Steinitz' emergence as the new stylistic force in the chess world. Some notable chess masters have argued that chess is an art form in addition to a science.

See also

• History of chess
• Immortal Game,a match representative of Romantic chess
• Romanticism
• School of chess