Tarrasch based upon victory in three successive
International Chess Tournaments, Breslan 1889, Manchester 1890,
and Dresden in 1892, in the two first named not losing a single
game, and in the last, one only, feats never accomplished by
Steinitz.
Zukertort was undoubtedly a far more ready, and we have long
thought a finer player than Steinitz, but skill was so nicely
balanced between them that a very slight variation or acceleration
in rate would have been in Zukertort's favour. At 25 moves
an hour or at any faster rate it would have been odds on Zukertort,
at 15 moves an hour or less it would have been safer to back
Steinitz. Staunton, Kolisch, and Paulsen seem to have been the
slowest of the players, 10 moves an hour would suit them better
than 15, a 10 or 12 hour game with them was not uncommon.
Bird is the fastest, and his best games have averaged 40 moves an
hour or two or three hours for a game, a reasonable rate for
recreationary chess.
In the last century one-and-a-half or two hours was considered
a fair duration for a good game, 30 moves an hour would give
three hours for a game of 45 moves or four for a game of 60
moves, and such could be finished at the usual sitting without
adjournment.
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