Wilhelm Steinitz
Wilhelm (or William) Steinitz was the first official World Chess Champion in 1886, when he beat Zukertort. He had probably been the best chess player in the world for a long time before then! Andersson was reckoned to be the best player before then, and Steinitz beat Andersson in a match in 1866. So he may been Champion for 28 years.
Steinitz was a brilliant attacking player who really loved the King’s Gambit and other wild openings, and that was how he played for a long while.
But then he started to think more about why do you win, when you attack?
Is it because you attack better (maybe) or you are very clever (of course!)…?
Or is it that some attacks work because there is something in the position to start with that means it will work? We know about a lead in development, that is important in some games, but perhaps also the centre is important, or how good your pieces are…
So Steinitz began to play in a different style — slowly building up a better position, before starting an attack. He thought you should only attack if you had an advantage, so, get an advantage first, and then your attack will work.
But just to show the old man at his best, here is a famous attack from 1895.
He used to run a chess magazine where he explained his new approach, and it was said that he “taught us all to play chess”.