| The twelfth game, played at the St. George’s
on
Monday, the 25th inst. At the request of Mr Blackburne, who felt
indisposed on Saturday last, the match stood adjourned to the above
date.
The game under notice turned out a poor performance on the part of both
players. The opening was the same as in the tenth game, with the
alteration that Zukertort this time protected the Kt against the
advancing
K P by pinning the latter with Q to K 2, whereupon White was naturally
bound to defend also by Q to K 2, whereupon White was naturally bound to
defend also by Q to K 2, both sides having thus their K B blocked up by
the Q. Black’s Kt then entered at Q 4, and, on being attacked
by
the Q B P, Zukertort pinned with the Q B and castled on the Q
side.
At this stage on the 10th move, Blackburne had the choice of two good
moves,
viz., Q to Kt 2 or B to Kt 2, which would have given him a fair game,
but
he committed a regular blunder, which allowed the opponent to form an
attack
against the advanced K P; but instead of pressing it by P to Q 3, which
must have ultimately gained the P, Zukertort advanced this P two
squares,
which gave Blackburne time to develope his Q side, and ultimately to
castle
on that wing, albeit his Q R P could then be taken by the Kt, with
ch.
We believe that this would have been Black’s best course after all,
for
White had then hardly sufficient attack worth fearing against the
apparently
exposed K, and it would have taken him some time to recover the P,
while,
the way Zukertort played, he ought to have lost a clear P on the
twentieth
move by B to K 4. |
| Blackburne adopted instead the weaker advance of
P to B 5, which by best play would have only left him with a slight
advantage,
chiefly on account of the confined position of the adverse Q B.
But
there would have been still much room for a long and difficult struggle
if Zukertort had not on the next moved relieved his opponent from all
further
trouble by a gross blunder, whereby he left a clear piece to be captured
at Q Kt 4, which he could not retake, on account of a mate being
threatened
by Q to R 8. Black thereupon immediately resigned. Duration
three hours. |
|
The Field, London,
1881.07.30
|
|
|
Blackburne,JH — Zukertort,JH
|
(12)
|
| C45/13 |
Scotch: Schmidt (Mieses)
|
|
| 1881.07.25 |
GBR London (St. George’s Chess
Club)
|
|
Annotations by Wilhelm
Steinitz
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 exd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nxc6 bxc6 6.e5
Qe7 7.Qe2 Nd5 8.c4 Ba6 9.b3 0-0-0
| Zukertort considers this defense, which has not been sufficiently
tested
in practice, sound. |
| By this trap he only endangers himself. He probably intended
to induce the answer 10...Nb4, whereupon he would attack with the
a-pawn;
and if Black answered 11...d5, he would check with the queen at
f5.
Either 10.Bb2 or 10.Qb2 would have given him a good game. But it
may be observed that 10.Ba3 might, at Black’s option, only lead to
an exchange
of queens; for the queen might capture, followed by 11...Bb4+, whereupon
White’s queen would be bound to interpose at once, or a piece would be
lost by 12...Nc3+. |
| The queen could not retreat to e3, or a pawn would be lost at once
by the answer 11...Ng4. |
| 12...d6 must have ultimately gained a pawn for Black; for White
could
not capture the knight on account of the reply 13...Qd8, followed, if
the
bishop interposed, by 14...Qxf6, winning the rook. |
| Bold. We should have preferred 17.Bxb4, followed by 18.Kf2 if
17...Bxb4+; for he threatened afterwards 19.a3, driving back the bishop,
which was bound to guard against the entrance of the knight at c5. |
| He comes out with the inferior game from this sally. We see no
danger in capturing the a-pawn, and, on the contrary, if White
afterwards
attempted an attack on the a-file, he would most likely find it
premature,
and involve himself in difficulties which we believe would have been to
Black’s advantage, e.g.: 17...Nxa2+ 18.Kb2 Nb4 19.c5 (if 19.Bxb4
first,
Black ultimately defends the bishop by ...a5) 19...Bxf1 20.Qxf1 Nd5
21.Qa6+
Kb8 22.Ra1 Re6, and he will soon break the force of the attack by
...Qc8. |
| Better than 19.Rxd4, in which case Black would have obtained a fair
attack by opposing rooks at d8. |
| He obtains a good game by this, but raises unnecessary
complications.
20.Be4, threatening to win the c-pawn and the exchange, would have left
him with a plain superiority, for the game would mostly have proceeded
thus: 20.Be4 Bb7 21.Qd3 (threatening 22.Bf5) 21...Kb8 22.Qxd4, with a
pawn
ahead and an excellent game. |
| An extraordinary blunder to make in a match game. Of course
20...Bxd3
was the only move. White, we believe, would by best play have
still
retained some superiority of position, but it was by no means an easy
matter
to make much of it. The game might then have proceeded thus:
20...Bxd3
21.Qxd3 Rd8 22.Qc4 a5, followed by 23...Qd5, etc. |
|
The Field, London,
1881.07.30
|
|
Chess
is a scientific game and its literature ought to be placed on the basis
of the strictest truthfulness, which is the foundation of all scientific
research.