Chess in the 70s and 80s

That's 1870s and 1880s. Last year on my main blog, I posted The No.2 Yahoo (May 2022; 'Yahoos are mainstream news stories about chess'). That footnote quoted between the parentheses is not completely accurate. Yahoos also include mainstream chess news sources. The Big Kahuna is Chess.com, but other sources also vie for the spotlight. The post explained,

For the first time that I can remember, a news source other than Chess.com tallied at least ten stories, with ChessBase accounting for exactly ten. At the beginning of the year, I calculated that ChessBase was the no.2 news source for the year 2021, so their visibility in May was not an accident.

During the last few years, ChessBase.com has run a number of feature articles on the two main rivals for the first World Chess Championship. I have some familiarity with the subject, thanks to a number of pages that I created in days of yore:-

• 1866-76 Wilhelm Steinitz Matches (m-w.com, as are the other pages in this list) • see 'London, VIII-IX, 1872'
• 1883 London Tournament
• 1886 Steinitz - Zukertort Title Match
• 1886 Steinitz - Zukertort Title Match : Background

The first wave of articles from Chessbase.com were penned by Stephan Oliver Platz:-

• 2018-01-31: The final years of Zukertort (chessbase.com; ditto for this list and the following lists) • 'In 1886 Johann Hermann Zukertort played the first official match for the World Championship and lost to Steinitz. But at that time Zukertort already suffered from severe health issues which two years later led to his early death. Stephan-Oliver Platz takes a look at the health of Zukertort in the final years of the chess legend.'
• 2019-05-26: Romantic Steinitz • 'As is well known, Wilhelm Steinitz justified positional chess theory and thus ended the Romantic era. It is less well-known that Steinitz himself was previously a great chess romantic.'
• 2020-04-07: An "interview" with Wilhelm Steinitz • 'The first official World Chess Champion William Steinitz (1836-1900) is regarded as a pioneer of modern chess strategy. His theories pushed back the gambit style that had prevailed until then and led to a much more cautious approach. How did Steinitz get his insights and what principles did he teach? Read an imagined interview with the legendary chess thinker, drawn from his own writings. [...] William Steinitz's answers are excerpts from his book "The Modern Chess Instructor", New York and London 1889.'

Last year Eugene Manlapao returned with an article on the same period:-

• 2022-04-27; London 1883: Prelude to the First World Championship Match (26 April - 23 June) • 'London, with its rich chess tradition, has been the scene of many great tournaments. One of these, the London International Tournament of 1883, happened at an important point in history. It is remembered mainly as the event that led to the first World Chess Championship, which, in turn, formalized the title of World Champion. Johannes Zukertort won the tournament ahead of Wilhelm Steinitz, and in 1886, three years after London, they played the first official World Championship match against each other.'

During the past two months, the period resurfaced in a pair of articles based on a new book from Willy Hendriks:-

• 2022-12-13: Willy Hendriks' "The Ink War" - The Mystery of Zukertort's Breakdown • '"The Ink War: Romanticism versus Modernity in Chess", the new book by Dutch author Willy Hendriks, is definitely one of the most exciting and interesting chess books of 2022. Hendriks first of all looks at the bitter rivalry between William Steinitz and Johannes Zukertort, who in 1886 played the first official World Championship match. But Hendriks also analyses how chess understanding developed and takes a critical look at chess history and the way chess history is written. Thoroughly researched, well-written, entertaining, witty, and thought-provoking. [...] This article is an adaptation of a chapter of Willy Hendriks’s book "The Ink War, Romanticism versus Modernity in Chess" (New In Chess 2022).'
• 2023-01-24: "Does chess history have to be rewritten?" - An interview with Willy Hendriks (by Johannes Fischer) • 'Dutch author and International Master Willy Hendriks just published "The Ink War: Romanticism vs Modernity in chess". The book analyses the rivalry between Wilhelm Steinitz and Johannes Zukertort, who in 1886 played the first official World Championship match. But Hendriks also looks at chess history and challenges a number of accepted views about chess improvement and the development of chess knowledge. In an interview with Johannes Fischer, Hendriks talks about Steinitz, Zukertort, chess history, the pleasures of studying the classics, and why studying the openings helps you to improve in chess.'

For more about the book from its publisher, see The Ink War (newinchess.com; sample pages). There is some overlap and some contradiction across the six articles linked above, but I've run out of time for this post. Mayber later...