Tassilo von der Lasa

Chessmetrics Ranking: World Number One in 1851 – 1852

Tournament Career: without major successes

Matches: von der Lasa vs Löwenthal 6:1

  von der Lasa vs Anderssen 10:5

  von der Lasa vs Staunton 7:6

What earned him this status:

The name von der Lasa was a terror to many chess masters in the mid-nineteenth century. This player did not participate in many tournaments, but in matches, he was able to defeat players like Anderssen, Löwenthal, Staunton, and others. Even in informal games against renowned opponents, he performed very well. From the end of 1851 to the end of 1852, he was considered the best in the world according to retrospectively calculated rankings.

He was regarded as the best in the world at the time when the first international chess tournament was held in London in 1851. Von der Lasa did not participate in the tournament, and his compatriot and frequent opponent Anderssen won. It is worth mentioning that von der Lasa had a positive score against his famous compatriot throughout his career, which only proves his prominent position in the chess scene of that time. 

Why he isn’t ranked higher:

Von der Lasa excelled in matches and was very involved in organizing tournaments. Besides, he often and gladly wrote about chess and published books; he was a great chess historian and theorist. However, what he completely lacks are tournament successes. He did not participate in many tournaments throughout his life, even though he could have.

Best Game:

Howard Staunton vs Tassilo von der Lasa

Brussels 1853