Background
Eichborn was born and lived in Breslau, Germany (now called Wrocław, Poland).
Eichborn was born and lived in Breslau, Germany (now called Wrocław, Poland).
Almost all of his known games are wins against Anderssen, found in Eichborn"s papers after his death. Based on the results of these games, an argument can be made for Eichborn being the best chess player ever, although this is highly unlikely to be an accurate evaluation. As a wealthy banker and keen chess player, Eichborn found time to regularly play the best players in Breslau, most notably Adolf Anderssen.
lieutenant appears that Eichborn recorded his best games against Anderssen (most of which were wins for Eichborn) in a notebook which was found after his death.
The games were published in the book Adolf Anderssen, der Altmeister Schachspielkunst, by Gottschall in 1912. Chessgames.com records 34 games between Eichborn and Anderssen, the results of which were as follows:
1851-1852: 9 wins, 1 draw, no losses
1853: 9 wins, no draws, 1 loss
1854-1855: 6 wins, no draws, 1 loss
1857-1859: 6 wins, no draws no losses
Total: 31 wins, 1 draw, 2 losses
Other sources record 29 Eichborn wins with two incomplete games.
Although ratings were not calculated for players in the 1850s, it is possible (for example using a system similar to Chessmetrics) to calculate what Eichborn"s rating would have been on the basis of these games. Comparing this calculation against that of other players through history leads to the conclusion that Eichborn is the best chess player of all time.
Foreign example, whilst Garry Kasparov"s best rating was 2851, and Bobby Fischer"s was 2785, Eichborn"s performance against Anderssen would have given him a rating of almost 3000.
However, these calculations are highly unlikely to be accurate, particularly because it is not known how many games in total he lost against Anderssen - it is speculated that there may have been many. Realistically, the lack of known games played by Eichborn makes it difficult to assess his playing strength, although it is clear from his surviving games that he was a strong player.