Even though MacLeod finished last in the 6eth American Congress in 1889 where he lost 30 (!) games, he did score 6 wins and 3 draws.
The Sixth American Congressnmmain event would be a double round robin tournament of twenty players. A world championship match would then follow based on the results.
Steinitz and Mikhail Chigorin had played their first world championship match in Havana from January 20th until February 24th 1889. The tournament in New York started a month after the match and Steinitz, who was scheduled to play, withdrew.
Play began at 1pm and continued until 5pm with a break for dinner and then resumed at 7pm with games adjourned at 11pm. Adjourned games were completed on rest days. A time limit of 15 moves per hour was set.
Draws counted as half a point in the first cycle of nineteen rounds, but had to be replayed once during the second cycle, with the second result standing. That ex[lains MacLeod’s playing 39 games.
He defeated Joseph Blackburne, Eugene Delmar, Dionisio Martinez and John Baide once each and George Gossip twice. His draws were against Blackburne, Delamr and Jean Taubenhaus.
In the absence of a rating system in those days it’s impossible to say how good MacLeod really was, but Chess metrics estimates his best ever rating to have been 2396 in 1892. The site estimates his best ever world rank to have been #70 in 1890. MacLeod’s opponent in the previous game, John Baird, was #69.
Here is MacLeod’s surprising win over Blackburne who was likely expecting an easy win against his much less skilled opponent. Blackburne did, indeed, succeed in getting a winning, or rather, crushing position, but then some lackadaisical play lead to a lost position in which he played on...and on...and on before finally giving up one move before mate.
Joseph H. Blackburne–Nicholas MacLeod0–1C216th American Congress, New York17.05.1889Stockfish 15
C21: Danish Gambit 1.e4 e5 2.d4 exd4 3.c3 The Danish Gambit. White
sacrifices a P or two for the sake of rapid development and the attack.
However, with care, black can safely accept the offered Ps. The gambit was
popularized in the Paris 1867 tournament and it remained popular with
attacking players, of which Blackburne was one, but as more defensive lines
for black were discovered and improved, it lost favor in the 1920s. dxc3
Results with this are at least as good as declining the gambit with 3...d5 4.c4 cxb2 5.xb2 f6 6.f3 The alternative 6.e5 is virtually unexplored, but
it appears to be innocuous as black has several good replies. b4+ 7.bd2 7.f1 is unsatisfactory. 0-0 8.e5 d5 9.exf6 dxc4 10.c3 xd1+ 11.xd1
All the exchanges have left white with a lost ending. Iljin,T (2299)
-Klyashtorny,V (2403) chess.com INT 2022 7...d6 This is a bit too passive.
either 7...O-O or the aggressive, counterattacking 7...d5 would have been
better. 8.0-0 Blackburne fails to take advantage of the opportunity black's
last move presented him. 8.b3 xd2+ 9.xd2 0-0 10.0-0 Black's position
is solid and white has few attacking prospects. 8.xf7+ is
necessary to keep the advantage. xf7 9.b3+ d5 10.e5+ The position of
black's K is precarious. 8...g4 A poor move after which white
gets much the superior position. 8...c6 defending the B keeps the
pressure on. 9.b3 0-0 White has little in the way of attacking chances
plus black is a P up. 9.b3 d5 9...xd2 is strongly met by 10.xf7+ f8 11.xd2 10.exd5 xd2 White now has what ampounts to a winning attack. 10...d6 was called for, but white is still considerably better after 11.xf6 gxf6 11...xf6 12.fe1+ f8 13.xb7 12.fe1+ f8 13.d4 11.a3 xf3 12.gxf3 g8 Better was 12...Ne4 12...e4 13.fe1+ The
loss of the exchange is immaterial as black has no pieces in play. xe1 14.xe1+ e7 15.b5+ d7 With the pins on black's Ns there must be a
tactical shot available. There is, but Blackburne misses it and makes what
amounts to a "pass." 16.h1 This unfortunate move allows black to equalize! 16.xe7+ looks too good to pass up, but after xe7 17.xe7 xe7 18.b4+ d8 19.d6 a6 20.dxc7+ xc7 black has good chances of surviving. 16.c3
is virtually impossible to meet in any satisfactory way. a6 16...0-0 17.xe7 is decisive. 17.xg7 axb5 17...f8 18.f6 g8+ 19.h1 f8 20.xe7+ xe7 21.xe7+ g7 22.xd7 h5 23.f5 h6 24.xf7 af8 25.e6+ g5 26.g1+ h4 27.e7+ f6 28.xf6+ g5 29.xg5# 18.xe7 xe7 19.xh8+ f8 20.xe7+ wins 16...0-0 Black has miraculously survived and now the position
offers equal chances. Blackburne has completely collapsed. After this
MacLeod has a decisive advantage! 17.xe7 17.xe7 keeps
thing even. c8 18.xf8 xf8 and the position is dea equal. 17...b6 18.e5 f6 19.e3 fc8 20.b2 White's only real hope is that his
weaker opponent will eventually blunder in the face of white's apparent
threats. xd5 Nice! 21.e4 21.e8+ xe8 22.xf6 xe3 23.fxe3 gxf6
and black is a whole R up. 21...g6 22.d4 d8 23.d3 23.e8+ xe8 24.xe8 xe8 25.xd5 e1# 23...f4 A slight inaccuracy. Either 23...c5 or 23..
.Qf6 would have been a wee bit better. 24.xf4 24.xg6 was better, but
still insufficient to salvage the game. xd4 25.xf7+ xf7 26.xd4 and
black must apend time to demonstrate that he can win the ending. 24...xd3 25.g5 xf3 Hoping to trade Qs with a simple win. 26.e5
Of course if white is to have any hope at all he must keep the Qs on. f6
This eliminates all threats to f7. The rest is a matter of technique
Blackburne obviously intended to make MacLeod prove he has it. 27.d5+ f7 28.xg7+ xg7 29.xf3 MacLeod's play for the remainder of the
game can neither be criticized nor improved upon! e8 30.h4 g6 31.h2 e1 32.c3 g1+ 33.h3 Now a K hunt begins. h1+ 34.g3 g1+ 35.f4 xh4+ 36.e3 h3+ 37.f3 e6+ 38.d3 d5+ 39.e3 e5+ Once the Qs disappear even a
near beginner should be able to win this game. Blackburne's disdain for his
opponent is insulting! 40.xe5 e1+ 41.f4 xe5 42.xe5 fxe5+ 43.xe5
Impertinence! f7 44.a4 b6 45.d5 h5 46.c6 h4 47.xc7 K3P-KPP h3 48.b7 h2 49.xa7 h1 50.xb6 xf3 51.a5 a8 52.a6 e7 53.a5 d6 54.b6 b8+ 55.a5 c5 Blackburne finally did the manly thing and resigned. 0–1
No comments:
Post a Comment