British-American Cable Match of 1910

     Beginning in January 1910, Emanuel Lasker and Carl Schlechter played a 10-game match that was held in Berlin and Vienna. Schlechter won the 5th game and had 8 draws. Then came the fateful last game; Schlechter needed only a draw to win the match. During that last game, he was winning, but eventually lost the game in 71 moves and with it the match. 

     Although no evidence has ever been found to prove this was a world championship match the public considered as such. The American Chess Bulletin stated that the two players agreed to play a series of games, but the result would not affect Lasker's title. However, after the match the New York Times reported that Lasker had retained his title. Also, the February 13, 1910 edition of The Brooklyn Daily Eagle stated that, "The remarkable achievement of Dr. Emanuel Lasker in winning the tenth game of the chess championship with Carl Schlechter of Vienna, at Berlin, last week, thereby tying his rival's score at the eleventh hour and saving his title, is the talk of chess circles at present." 

     Later the same year, on December 8th, Lasker defeated David Janowski in the world championship match in Berlin by a score of +8 -0 =3. After that match Lasker did not play serious chess for another three-and-a-half years. 

     In March of 1910, Great Britain defeated the United States in the 12th cable match; it was their second win in a row. In this match the British had two strong, upcoming players...F.D. Yates and George Thomas. 

     Henry Atkins' win over John F. Barry was considered the best game of the match and possibly the best game Atkins ever played. A few months later, in August, Atkins won the British Championship in Oxford. 

     When I auto-annotated this game with Fritz 17 using Stockfish 14.1 and Komodo 14 it was interesting to note the program's assigned Weighted Error Value to moves of both players. I am not sure what, exactly, the Weighted Error Value is, but it seems that if a player's moves exactly match the engine his score would be a perfect 0.0. The WEV's were: 

 

     Two things are obvious: there is a clear difference in the evaluations of the two engines and Atkins play was amazingly precise. No wonder it has been considered the best game of his career!

[Event "12th Anglo-American Cable Match"] [Site "London ENG / New York USA"] [Date "1910.03.11"] [Round "?"] [White "Henry Atkins"] [Black "John F. Barry"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C14"] [Annotator "Stockfish 14.1"] [PlyCount "59"] [EventDate "1910.03.11"] {[%evp 12,59,68,35,77,82,97,66,76,28,65,54,170,119,174,110,209,210,201,194,257, 277,273,265,258,272,296,245,341,337,408,389,382,381,402,347,646,646,713,682, 700,689,794,785,884,883,900,846,1153,1126] French Defense} 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bg5 Be7 5. e5 Nfd7 6. Bxe7 Qxe7 7. Nb5 {This was a new move, but it wastes time. The old move was 7.Qd2 and 8.O-O-O. These days the only move white plays is 7.f4} Kd8 {This move received harsh criticism from Emanuel Lasker who stated there is no need whatsoever to abandon the right to castle and the move make developing his Rs very difficult. Also, because his K remains in the center nlack cannot open lines in the center. Much better was 7. ..Nb6 as played by Alapin.} 8. c3 f6 9. exf6 {This has Lasker's stamp of approval because "White must attemot to get the obstructions out of the center. "} (9. f4 {is considered slightly better by Stockfish.} a6 10. Na3 fxe5 11. fxe5 Qh4+ 12. Ke2 c5 13. Nf3) 9... gxf6 {This is the best way to recapture.} 10. Qd2 c6 11. Na3 Nf8 (11... e5 {was better. After} 12. O-O-O Kc7 13. Nc2 Nb6 14. Nf3 {White's advantage is minimal.}) 12. Nf3 Bd7 13. g3 {This defends against the N maneuver ...Ng5-f4 and also against ...Rg8 and potential threats down the g-file.} Be8 {Black has no time for this slow maneuvering. He must try 13...e5.} 14. Bg2 Nbd7 15. c4 dxc4 16. Nxc4 Nb6 17. Nxb6 axb6 18. O-O Ng6 19. Rfe1 Bd7 20. Qc3 Re8 21. Nd2 {[%cal Bf3d2,Bd2b3,Bb3c5][%mdl 32] Once the N lands on c5 the game will be over.} Qf8 22. a4 {[%cal Ba2a4,Ba4a5][%mdl 32] Intending a5 smoking out black's King.} Ne7 23. a5 {Clearing c5 for the N.} b5 {Naturally, black wants to keep the Q-side closed.} 24. Nb3 {White is winning.} Nd5 25. Bxd5 exd5 26. Rxe8+ Bxe8 27. Nc5 {Black can safely resign at any time.} Qf7 28. Re1 Kc7 29. Qe3 Bd7 30. Qf4+ {Barry resigned. A nice, clean game by Atkins. Lasker stated that starting with 8.c3 every move of Atkins' was beyond criticism. That's a fair statement even when analyzing with Stockfish!} (30. Qf4+ Kc8 31. Qd6 {The is no defense against 32.Re7}) 1-0