Polishing Off A Time Waster

     In the following game, while black fiddles around aimlessly shifting his pieces white builds up a strong position almost at will and finishes up with some nice sacrifices leading to mate. 
     It's not well known that before he became internationally famous Harry N. Pillsbury was active in correspondence chess. Somewhere around 1890 he played a 5-game correspondence match with Charles Cochrane, the outcome of which are not known, but the results encouraged Pilsbury to seek out John Barry of Boston and challenge him to a match in 1893. Pillsbury lost the first four games, but then finished up with 5 wins and a draw. 
     In 1892, Wilhelm Steinitz played a match (OTB) against Pillsbury in which Steinitz gave odds of Pawn and move. Pillsbury won 2-1 and as a result, believed he was strong enough for some serious competition so he left Boston and headed for New York City. 
     The winner of this game and Pillsbury's opponent in that correspondence match, Charles Cochrane, later served as president of the New York League. The NYL was a correspondence chess organization that was formed in 1909. Members had to live within 100 miles of City Hall in New York City.
     Cochrane's opponent, Philip Driver, was employed by the Pennylvania railroad and was an early over the board state champion. He was also responsible for organizing the State's correspondence championship.