Description
Antique Jaques Anderssen Small Club Size Chessmen, 4-0″ King.
Offered here is a rare set of Jaques Anderssen Small Club Size Chessmen. The Pieces are turned and carved from Boxwood and Ebony. The King stands 4-0″ tall with a 1-7/8″ diameter base. This is the rarest of the Jaques Anderssen style chessmen. It is the very first instance of Jaques’ offering their new Staunton chessmen in the “Small Club” size. Prior to that, their sets were first offered only in the Tournament (3-3/8″ King) and Full Club (4-3/8″ King) sizes, followed a bit later by the Library size (2-7/8″ King). The the base of the White King is stamped “Jaques London”. The chess pieces are nicely weighted and rest atop green English baize base pads. The King side Rooks and Knights are marked with the King’s crown mark on their summits.
The Jaques Anderssen Small Club size chessmen were first put into production around 1858. The Bishops are very attractive with wide vertical miters. The Chess pieces are in excellent condition and are housed in their original, baize-lined Mahogany hinge-top box with its original green manufacturer’s ;label. . These chess pieces play and display best on a chessboard with 2-1/2″ squares. For a complete selection of our finest new and antique chessboards and chess clocks, click here. For more on the background of the John Jaques company, click here. For a history of the Staunton Chessmen, click here.
Karl Ernst Adolf Anderssen was born on July 6, 1818 in Breslau, Germany (now Wroclaw, Poland). He is considered to have been the world’s leading chess player for much of the 1850s and 1860s. Anderssen learned to play chess from his father at the age of nine. Anderssen worked as a professor of mathematics at a local college. Although he loved chess it was only considered a pastime, not his profession.
Anderssen was very successful in European tournaments from 1851 to 1878, taking first prize in over half of the events in which he played. Anderssen ranks as one of the top five players from 1851 to shortly before his death in 1879. Anderssen’s finest performance was the famous London Tournament of 1851. This is recognized as the first major tournament of the Modern Era. Anderssen triumphed in a knockout tournament boasting the 16 best players in the world. Although Wilhelm Steinitz is recognized as the first official world champion, the organizers of the 1851 London International tournament considered the winner of this premiere tournament to be the World’s Chess Champion.
That title was short-lived when Anderssen was quite soundly defeated by Paul Morphy in their 1858 march. However, Morphy abruptly retired from chess and Anderssen was again considered the World’s leading player. It is interesting to note that Anderssen achieved most of his successes when he was past 50 years of age.
Anderssen is famous even today for his brilliant sacrificial attacking play, particularly in the “Immortal Game” (1851) and the “Evergreen Game” (1852). Steinitz rated Anderssen as one of the two greatest attacking players of his time. An unassuming man, Anderssen was one of the most likable of chess masters and became an “elder statesman” of the game.
Anderssen died on March 13, 1879, in his hometown. The Deutsche Schachzeitung noted his death in 1879 with a nineteen-page obituary. His cause of death was a heart attack. Anderssen’s grave is now at the Osobowicki Cemetery.
