Romantic chess

The Romantic era is generally considered to have ended with the 1873 Vienna tournament where Wilhelm Steinitz popularized positional play and the closed game.

The Romantic era is generally considered to have reached its peak with Alexander McDonnell and Louis-Charles Mahé de La Bourdonnais, the two dominant chess players of the 1830s.

The Immortal Game, played by Anderssen and Lionel Kieseritzky on 21 June 1851 in London—where Anderssen made bold sacrifices to secure victory, giving up both rooks and a bishop, then his queen, and then checkmating his opponent with his three remaining minor pieces—is considered a supreme example of Romantic chess.

Paul Morphy frequently complained about "dull chess" and criticized the Sicilian Defense and queen's pawn openings for leading to this sort of game.

This would cease towards the end of the 19th century as evolution in the arts (Impressionist music and Symbolist poetry) coincided with Steinitz' emergence as the new stylistic force in the chess world.