World Chess Championship 1890–1891

The third World Chess Championship was held in New York City from 9 December 1890 to 22 January 1891. Holder Wilhelm Steinitz (known as William Steinitz since his naturalisation as an American citizen) narrowly defeated his Hungarian challenger, Isidor Gunsberg.

Despite coming in 3rd place in the American Chess Congress's tournament held in 1889, the tied first-place finishers Mikhail Chigorin and Max Weiss refused to challenge the title. Steinitz accepted Gunsberg's challenge in 1890, and they played in New York. Though Steinitz won their second game, by game 5 Gunsberg had taken the lead. Gunsberg managed to be just one game behind Steinitz after winning Games 12 and 16, but Steinitz strengthened his lead by winning game 18, and then drew Game 19 to win 10.5 to 8.5 points. Gunsberg favoured the Evans Gambit with the white pieces, and held his own, ended up winning 4 games against Steinitz, who would continue to hold the title of World Champion until his 1894 match against Emanuel Lasker.

Gunsberg is agreed to have reached the peak of his chess career in the years leading up to the World Championship, following which his wife Jane died of tuberculosis, and though he continued to give lectures and write about chess, his skill level sharply dropped off.