Battle of 19th Century Chess Legends
Johannes Zukertort
This game from the London 1883 tournament is very famous, and for good reason. You won’t forget it once you’ve seen it!
Johannes Zukertort (1842-1888) was born in present-day Poland. One of the leading players of early tournament chess, he challenged Wilhelm Steinitz in the first official World Championship match in 1886, which he lost (5 wins, 5 draws, and 10 losses).
In contrast to Zukertort, Joseph Henry Blackburne (1841-1924) enjoyed a much longer chess career. “The Black Death” competed in top tournaments (and matches) from London 1862 through St. Petersburg 1914 !
2r4k/pb2q2P/1p6/3Pp3/4p3/1P2R3/PBrQ2PP/5RK1 w - - 3 28
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The Black king is clearly in distress, but how should White continue?
Deflected Again!
[Event "London"]
[Site "London"]
[Date "1883.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Zukertort, Johannes Hermann"]
[Black "Blackburne, Joseph Henry"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "A13"]
[Annotator "Harding,Andre"]
[PlyCount "65"]
[EventDate "1883.??.??"]
[EventType "game"]
[EventCountry "ENG"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "1999.07.01"]
1. c4 e6 2. e3 Nf6 3. Nf3 b6 4. Be2 Bb7 5. O-O d5 6. d4 Bd6 7. Nc3 O-O 8. b3 Nbd7 9. Bb2 {
White’s setup is one players still use, even today. Black’s setup looks normal too, but his next move is not very good…} Qe7 $6 10. Nb5 $1 {Blackburne either overlooked this, or thought it wasn’t bad. Losing this bishop for the queen knight won’t do the black king any favors.}
Ne4 11. Nxd6 cxd6 {Black’s Ne4 is very well placed. What to do?} 12. Nd2 $1 {Give your opponent one of two choices: exchange off their great piece, or move it to a worse post.} Ndf6 (12... Nxd2 13. Qxd2 Nf6 14. f3 {gives the same position.}) 13. f3 Nxd2 14. Qxd2 dxc4 15. Bxc4 d5 {This closes both queen bishops for the time being, but white can soon open the position for his two bishops.} 16. Bd3 Rfc8 (16... Rac8 {looks better. Black won’t have time for queenside play.}) 17. Rae1 Rc7 18. e4 Rac8 {Black’s rooks look nice on the c-file, but there are no ENTRY POINTS in white’s position: white’s pieces and pawns control all the squares on the c-file from c1-c5!} 19. e5 Ne8 (19... Nh5 $2 20. g4 {is a common pitfall. The knight has no safe squares and is lost!}) 20. f4 {Of course…and all white’s pieces support this advance.} g6 21. Re3 {
White threatens Re3-h3, f4-f5, and Qd2-h6.} f5 {Trying to keep lines closed,
but it doesn’t help.} 22. exf6 Nxf6 (22... Qxf6 23. g4 $1 {Black’s pieces are
too passive to punish white for moving the pawns in front of his king.}) 23. f5
$1 {This kind of move should be played instantly. Open lines towards the enemy
king!} Ne4 24. Bxe4 dxe4 25. fxg6 Rc2 (25... hxg6 26. Rg3 Qh7 27. d5 $1 Rc2 (
27... Bxd5 28. Qd4 Rg7 29. Rh3) 28. Qd4 $1 R8c7 29. Rxg6+ $1 Qxg6 30. Qh8#) 26.
gxh7+ Kh8 27. d5+ e5 {Black’s queen holds his position together. So make her
move away…} 28. Qb4 $3 R8c5 (28... Qxb4 {leads to mate:} 29. Bxe5+ Kxh7 30.
Rh3+ $1 Kg6 (30... Kg8 31. Rh8#) 31. Rg3+ $1 {Trapping the black king on the
edge of the board. The bishop and two rooks will create a mating net.} Kh7 (
31... Kh6 32. Rf6+ Kh7 33. Rf7+ Kh6 34. Bf4+ Kh5 35. Rh7#) (31... Kh5 32. Rf5+
Kh6 (32... Kh4 33. Bf6#) 33. Rf6+ Kh7 34. Rf7+ Kh6 35. Bf4+ Kh5 36. Rh7#) 32.
Rf7+ Kh6 33. Bf4+ Kh5 34. Rh7#) 29. Rf8+ $3 Kxh7 {There is nothing better.} (
29... Qxf8 30. Bxe5+ Kxh7 31. Qxe4+ {Now white’s queen, rook, and bishop are
too strong.} Kg8 (31... Kh6 32. Rh3+ Kg5 33. Rg3+ Kh5 34. Qg6+ Kh4 35. Rg4#)
32. Qg6+ Qg7 33. Qxg7#) 30. Qxe4+ Kg7 31. Bxe5+ Kxf8 32. Bg7+ Kg8 (32... Qxg7
33. Qe8#) (32... Kxg7 33. Qxe7+) (32... Ke8 33. Qxe7#) 33. Qxe7 {Black
resigned, as white is up too much material and will give mate soon.} 1-0
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