1851, due to the efforts of the English Champion Staunton, an
international tournament was held in London to determine the
championship of Europe. It was won by the German master
Anderssen, who maintained his leading place for the following
fifteen years, until he was beaten by the youthful Morphy. The
latter, at twenty years of age, was the first American master to
visit Europe and defeated in brilliant style all European masters
whom he met.

Morphy withdrew from the game after his return to America and did
not try to match himself with the Bohemian Steinitz, who in the
meantime had beaten Anderssen, too, and who had come to America.
Steinitz assumed the title of the World's Champion and defended
it successfully against all competitors until 1894, when he was
beaten by Emanuel Lasker, who is still World's Champion, having
never lost a match.

The next aspirant for the World's Championship is the young
Cuban, Jose Raoul Capablanca, who has proved to be superior to
all masters except Lasker. He entered the arena of international
tournaments at the age of twenty-two in San Sebastian, Spain, in
1911, and won the first prize in spite of the competition of
nearly all of Europe's masters. In the last international
tournament, which was held in Petrograd in 1914, he finished
second, Emanuel Lasker winning first prize.

The present ranking of the professional Chess masters is about
the following:

1. Emanuel Lasker, Berlin, World's Champion.