Romantic chess was the style of
chess prevalent until the 1880s. It was characterized by swashbuckling attacks, clever combinations, brash
piece sacrifices and dynamic games. Winning was secondary to winning with style. These games were focused more on artistic expression, rather than technical mastery or long-term planning. The Romantic era of play was followed by the Scientific, Hypermodern, and New Dynamism eras. It was considered unsporting to decline a
gambit (the sacrifice of a pawn or piece to obtain an attack). It is no coincidence that the most popular openings played by the Romantics were the
King's Gambit Accepted and the
Evans Gambit Accepted. Some of the major players of the
Romantic era were
Adolf Anderssen,
Paul Morphy and
Henry Blackburne. A famous game of this time is the
Immortal Game between Anderssen and
Lionel Kieseritzky. The Romantic style was effectively ended on the highest level by
Wilhelm Steinitz, who, with his more positional approach, crushed all of his contemporaries. This domination ushered in a new age of chess known as the "
Modern", or Classical school.