The third game, played on Tuesday,
was
opened by Steinitz with the Allgaier Kieseritzky Gambit, which the
theorists
thought completely demolished by Paulsens defence. It was at
once
surmised that Steinitz would not have adopted this attack unless he had
some novelty in store. And so it was; for he sacrificed another
pawn
on the twelfth move by bringing the Q Kt to B 3, which led to the
exchange
of queens, and the recovery of the lost pawn, with, as Steinitz thinks,
an even position. His opponent and Mr Zukertort opine, however,
that
Black has the best of the game, and future analysis and practice must
decide
between the conflicting views. The ending was carefully played on
both sides, and seemed to lead to a drawn position. But on the
25th
move Blackburne, by a fine coup, which took the opponent by
surprise,
won a P; and two moves later on he might have won the exchange, but
missed
his opportunity, owing to being pressed for time. Steinitz, who
had
managed to keep time in hand, adopted the usual policy under the
circumstances,
namely, to make the game as difficult as possible for the opponent who
was pushed for time - even at the expense of correctness, and at some
risk.
By this means he succeeded in pretty nearly equalising the game, though
he was still a P behind at the time of the adjournment on the 31st
move.
After the adjournment only three moves had been made on each side, when
Blackburne made an oversight which cost him two pawns, and gave his
opponent
an easy victory in the end game.
The Field, London,
1876.02.26
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Steinitz,W Blackburne,JH
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(3)
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C39/03 |
Kings Gambit Accepted: Kieseritzky
(Berlin)
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1876.02.22 |
GBR London (West-End Chess
Club)
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Annotations by Blackburne &
Steinitz
1.e4 e5 2.f4 exf4 3.Nf3 g5 4.h4 g4 5.Ne5 Nf6 6.Bc4 d5
7.exd5 Bg7 8.d4 0-0 9.Bxf4 Nxd5 10.Bxd5 Qxd5 11.0-0 c5 12.Nc3
** |
Obvious as this move seems, it has
not received any analytical attention, and we believe that this is the
first occasion of it having been introduced into practice in an
important
match game. White must recover the pawn he now offers, and the
position
afterwards is about even; but Blackburne and Zukertort are of the
opinion
that the retention of the two bishops gives the second player the
superior
game, though his pawns on the queenside are separated. |
12...Qxd4+ 13.Qxd4 cxd4 14.Nd5 Nc6 15.Nxc6 bxc6 16.Ne7+
Kh8 17.Nxc6 Bb7 18.Ne5 Rac8 19.Rf2 Be4 [?:??-1:00]
20.Rd1 [1:00-?:??] 20...f5 21.Nd3
** |
White could not well venture upon
taking the d-pawn, for it would have involved the loss of the exchange,
e.g.:
21.Rxd4 Rce8 22.Ra4 Bxe5 23.Rxe4 fxe4 24.Bxe5+ Kg8, and ought to
win. |
21...Rfe8 22.Re2 Kg8 23.Ne1 Kf7 24.Bg3 Re6
** |
The initiation of a finely
conceived
scheme, altogether overlooked by the adversary. |
25.Bf2 Bxc2
** |
White ought on the previous move to
have played 25.Kf1, which would have frustrated this neat design.
As it stands, if White take the bishop with the rook, Black would answer
26...Rxe1+, etc. |
26.Rxe6 Bxd1 27.Rd6 Ke7
** |
Fortunately for Steinitz, his
opponent
was at this point short of time, or else the latter could not have
failed
to see that he could win the exchange by 27...Be5, threatening
28...g3.
White had then no better reply than 28.Rxd4, and he would have had very
hard work afterwards to draw the game, even if he found time to
strengthen
his position by pawn to g3. |
28.Ra6 Rc7 29.Kf1 Rd7 [?:??-2:00]
30.Ra3 [2:00-?:??] 30...Ke6 31.Nd3 Bf8 32.Ra5
** |
Preventing the
adversarys
king from crossing, and better than checking at a6, which would only
have
had the effect of drawing the king up to the support of his passed
d-pawn;
for Black could have safely answered 32...Kd5, followed by 33...Ke4 if
the knight checked at f4, and White would then have found it of no avail
to protect the knight by 34.Bg3, threatening mate with the rook, since
Black could provide an escape by 34...d3, which also cleared the road to
his own victory. |
32...Bc2 33.Ke2 Kf6
** |
Black played this with the
anticipation
that White would answer 34.Kd2, whereupon he would capture the knight,
followed by 35...Kg6, which would have given him a good
game. |
34.Ra6+
** |
White failed here to take the
promptest
advantage of the opponents
error. He
might have taken the a-pawn with the rook at once, but still the move
adopted,
drove the king back, forced the gain of a pawn, and secured at least a
draw. |
34...Kg7
** |
A grave error, for it loses two
pawns
at once. He ought to have 34...Ke7; but even in that case his game
was not comfortable, and he must have lost the a-pawn by the answer of
35.Nc5, without being able to make any impression with his passed
d-pawn,
which could easily be stopped. |
35.Rxa7 Rxa7 36.Bxd4+ Kf7 37.Bxa7 Bd6 38.Be3 Ke6 39.Kd2
Bxd3 40.Kxd3 Kd5 41.a4 f4 42.Bf2 g3 43.Bg1 Bb4 44.Ke2 Ba5 45.Kf3 Kc4
46.Kxf4
Bc7+ 47.Kg5 Bd8+ 48.Kg4 Bc7 49.Be3 Be5 50.a5 Kb5 51.b4 Bd6 52.Bc5 Be5
53.Kf5
Bc3 54.h5 Ka6 [?:??-3:00] 55.Ke6 (...), 1-0.
** |
And after some more moves Black
resigned.
Duration 7 hours. |
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The Field, London,
1876.02.26
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