He graduated from the public gymnasium (high school) in Breslau and then attended university, where he studied mathematics and philosophy.

Nevertheless, by 1846 he was able to put up a good fight against another Pleiades member, Tassilo von Heydebrand und der Lasa, who may have been the world's strongest player at the time.

[8] The 1851 International Tournament was a knock-out event in which pairs of competitors played short matches, and Anderssen won it by beating Lionel Kieseritzky, József Szén, Staunton, and Marmaduke Wyvill – by margins of at least two games in every case.

[13] When Anderssen and Szén found they were to play each other, they agreed that, if either won the tournament, the other would receive one-third of the prize; this does not appear to have been considered in any way unethical.

[15] Then in late 1858, he was beaten 8–3 by the American champion Paul Morphy in a famous match held in Paris, France (two wins, two draws, seven losses).

Morphy had recently scored equally convincing wins in matches against other top-class players: Johann Löwenthal, the Rev.

[17] Morphy returned to the United States in 1859 and soon afterwards announced his retirement from serious chess, however, making Anderssen once again the strongest active player.

[18] Anderssen played the curious opening move 1.a3 in three games of his match against Morphy, and broke even with it (one loss, one draw, one win).

[20] Shortly after the 1851 London International Tournament, Anderssen played his two most famous games, both casual encounters which he won by combinations that involved several sacrifices.

In the first, as White against Lionel Kieseritzky in London on 21 June 1851, just after the International Tournament (1851) and now called the "Immortal Game", he sacrificed a bishop, both rooks and finally his queen.

[21] In the second, played in Berlin in 1852 as White against Jean Dufresne and now called the "Evergreen Game", the total sacrifice was more modest, but still exceeded a queen and a minor piece.

[27][28] Morphy had retired from chess at this time, so Anderssen was again generally regarded as the world's leading active player.

[29] In 1864, he drew another match (3 wins, 3 losses, and 2 draws) against Berthold Suhle,[25] who was a strong player and respected chess writer.

[31] Although Steinitz is now known for inventing the positional approach to chess and demonstrating its superiority, the 1866 match was played in the attack-at-all-costs style of the 1850s and 1860s.

At the same time, Anderssen, after losing the match to Morphy in 1858 and to Steinitz in 1866, re-dedicated himself to chess, particularly studying both endgames and positional play.

[15][34] One of his first places was ahead of Steinitz, Gustav Neumann, Joseph Henry Blackburne, Louis Paulsen and several other very strong players at the Baden-Baden 1870 chess tournament.

[15] His only recorded tournament failures were a one-game-per-round knock-out event in 1857 and sixth place at Paris 1878 when his health was failing and he had only about a year to live.

He started composing in the last years of the "Old School", whose compositions were fairly similar to realistic over-the-board positions and featured spectacular "key" moves, multiple sacrifices and few variations.

[6] He was one of the most skillful composers of his time, and his work forms an early stage of the "Transition Period", between the mid-1840s and the early 1860s, when many of the basic problem ideas were discovered, the requirement for game-like positions was abandoned and the introduction of composing competitions (the first of which was in 1854) forced judges to decide on what features were the most desirable in a problem.

Without fear or favour he straightforwardly gave his opinion, and his sincere disinterestedness became so patent....that his word alone was usually sufficient to quell disputes...for he had often given his decision in favour of a rival..."[4] On the other hand, Reuben Fine, a 20th-century player, wrote, "There is a curious contrast between his over-the-board brilliance and his uninspired safety-first attitude in everyday affairs.