In 1887 the American Chess Congress started work on drawing up regulations for the future conduct of world championship contests.

[1] The American Chess Congress's final proposal was that the winner of a tournament to be held in New York in 1889 should be regarded as world champion for the time being, but must be prepared to face a challenge from the second or third placed competitor within a month.

[1][2] Steinitz wrote that he would not play in the tournament and would not challenge the winner unless the second and third placed competitors failed to do so.

[3] The tournament was duly played, but the outcome was not quite as planned: Mikhail Chigorin and Max Weiss tied for first place; their play-off resulted in four draws, and Weiss then wanted to get back to his work for the Rothschild Bank, conceding the title to Chigorin.

The American Chess Congress's experiment was not repeated, and Steinitz's last three matches were private arrangements between the players.