The tournament was held from April 26 to June 23, 1883 in London.
14 participants played a double round-robin. The venue was the Victoria Hall in the Criterion.
Johannes Zukertort (40) won the tournament with a score of 22/26, three points ahead of Wilhelm Steinitz (47).
The prices were £250, 150, 120, 90, 70, 50, 25.
Zukertort led with an impressive score of 22/23 and was the tournament winner with three rounds to go. He lost the last three games.
Because of his victory, Zukertort claimed himself as “champion of the world”. To clarify this, the first official world championship match finally took place in 1886 between Steinitz and Zukertort, which Steinitz won +10 =5 -5.
If one game ended in a draw, a second game was played with reversed colors. If the second game also ended in a draw, a third game - again with reversed colors - was played. Only a third draw was scored.
Generally, the main rounds were played Mon-Tue, Thu-Fri with replay rounds on Wed, Sat. Sundays were rest days. The games were played from 12 noon to 5 p.m. and from 7 p.m. to 11 p.m.
At the tournament a double-sided chess clock, invented by Thomas Bright Wilson, was used for recording the time for the first time. The time control was 15 moves in one hour.
Skipworth withdrew from the tournament after round 15. His remaining games were counted as losses.
An adjourned game of Mason and Winawer was inadvertently continued with an incorrect knight position on d7 (instead of e7), giving Winawer the opportunity for the strong move Nd7-c5.
The last game between Rosenthal and Blackburne was not repeated. The result of the game would have had no effect on the final tournament result.
In gratitude for his patronage of the tournament, the tournament book was dedicated to Prince Leopold, Duke of Albania.
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