Louis Paulsen

...though German born, [he was born in Blumberg, Germany on January 15th, 1833. His father, Dr. Carl Paulsen, taught him to play chess at 5 years old] was an unknown to European players in 1857 but had a good reputation in the Midwest U.S. as both a regular and blindfold chess player.

He had immigrated to Dubuque, Iowa in 1854 at age 21, along with one of his brothers, Ernest. In 1858, he established the Dubuque Chess Club, one of the oldest US chess clubs and one that's still in existence.

From the 1860's on, having moved to England (becoming a British citizen) in 1861, [He returned to Germany in 1860. In 1861 he visited England and came in first in the Bristol tournament ahead of Horwitz, Boden and Kolisch] he played in world class tournaments, some quite successfully. He was a strong match player.

 Paulsen was a great theoretician who had several openings named after him, but more telling is that many people believe that Steinitz based his theories on positional play upon the ideas evident in Paulsen's games.

He died from diabetes in Germany, July 19th, 1891.

According to G. A. McDonnell, "Steinitz used to say that he would dread a match with him more than with any other man."

Amalie Paulsen

...was born in Nassengrund, Germany in 1831. She was Louis' sister. There were two other siblings, Wilfield and Ernest. She married Carl Lellmann and moved to New York.

 The Book of The First American Chess Congress (pp.85-86) tells us:

"In the evening [of October 20, 1857] an event occurred, which was watched with much interest by the members of the congress. Mr. Paulsen's sister, the wife of a physician practicing in New York, played two games of chess, first with Mr. Perrin and afterwards with Judge Meek, losing the former and winning the latter. This lady is believed to be the strongest amateur of her sex in the country, and would certainly be ranked as a first-rate in any club."

Amalie Paulsen died in 1869.

A game between Amalie Paulsen and her brother, Wilfried.

[Event "Nassengrund"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "1858.??.??"]
[White "Paulsen, Wilfried"]
[Black "Paulsen, Amalie"]
[Result "0-1"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 f5 4. dxe5 fxe4 5. Ng5 d5 6. e6 Nh6 7. f3 Bc5 8.
fxe4 O-O 9. exd5 Rf5 10. Nc3 Bb4 11. Bc4 Qf6 12. Ne4 Qh4+ 13. Ng3 Re5+ 14.
Be2 Nf5 15. Rf1 Nxg3 16. Rf4 Nxe2+ 17. Rxh4 Nxc3+ 18. Kf1 Nxd1 19. Rxb4
Bxe6 20. dxe6 Rxe6 21. Rd4 Ne3+ 22. Bxe3 Rxe3 23. Rd8+ Kf7 24. Rad1 Re8 25.
R1d3 Nc6 26. R8d7+ Re7
0-1

a game between Louis Paulsen and Simon Winawer

[Event "Vienna it"]
[Site "AUT"]
[Date "1882.05.10"]
[Round "25"]
[Result "1-0"]
[White "Louis Paulsen"]
[Black "Szymon A Winawer"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 exd4 4. Nxd4 Qh4 5. Nb5 Bb4+ 6. c3 Bc5 7. Qe2 Bb6 8.
Be3 Qd8 9. Bxb6 axb6 10. g3 d6 11. Bg2 Nge7 12. Nd2 O-O 13. Nf3 Bg4 14. h3 Bxf3
15. Bxf3 f5 16. exf5 Rxf5 17. Be4 Rf6 18. O-O Qd7 19. Bg2 Raf8 20. Rad1 Kh8 21.
Kh2 Re6 22. Qd2 Ne5 23. Nd4 Rh6 24. f4 Nc4 25. Qe2 d5 26. Rfe1 Re8 27. Nf3 Nd6
28. Ne5 Qf5 29. Ng4 Rh5 30. Rxd5 Qxd5 31. Bxd5 Rxd5 32. Ne3 Ra5 33. Nc4 Ng8 34.
Qxe8 Nxe8 35. Nxa5 Nd6 36. Nb3 g6 37. Nd4 h6 38. Ne6 c5 39. Rd1 Nc4 40. b3 Ne3
41. Rd3 Nf5 42. Rd7 Nf6 43. Rxb7 Ne4 44. g4 Ne3 45. Rxb6 Nxc3 46. Nxc5 Nxa2 47.
Rxg6 Kh7 48. f5 Nb4 49. Ne4 Nbd5 50. Nf6+ Nxf6 51. Rxf6 Nf1+ 52. Kg1 Nd2 53. b4
Nf3+ 54. Kg2 Nd4 55. Rd6 Nc2 56. b5 Ne3+ 57. Kf3 Nc4 58. Re6 h5 59. b6 hxg4+
60. hxg4 Na5 61. g5 Kg8 62. Re7 Kf8 63. f6 Nc6 64. Rc7 1-0