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.
[Event "6th American Congress, New York"]
[Site ""]
[Date "1889.05.17"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Joseph H. Blackburne"]
[Black "Nicholas MacLeod"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C21"]
[Annotator "Stockfish 15"]
[PlyCount "110"]
[EventDate "1889.03.25"]
{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.
Bc4 cxb2 5. Bxb2 Nf6 6. Nf3 {The alternative 6.e5 is virtually unexplored, but
it appears to be innocuous as black has several good replies.} Bb4+ 7. Nbd2 (7.
Kf1 {is unsatisfactory.} O-O 8. e5 d5 9. exf6 dxc4 10. Nc3 Qxd1+ 11. Rxd1 {
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. O-O {Blackburne fails to take advantage of the opportunity black's
last move presented him.} (8. Qb3 Bxd2+ 9. Nxd2 O-O 10. O-O {Black's position
is solid and white has few attacking prospects.}) (8. Bxf7+ {[%mdl 512] is
necessary to keep the advantage.} Kxf7 9. Qb3+ d5 10. Ne5+ {The position of
black's K is precarious.}) 8... Bg4 {[%mdl 8192] A poor move after which white
gets much the superior position.} (8... Nc6 {defending the B keeps the
pressure on.} 9. Qb3 O-O {White has little in the way of attacking chances
plus black is a P up.}) 9. Qb3 d5 (9... Bxd2 {is strongly met by} 10. Bxf7+ Kf8
11. Nxd2) 10. exd5 Bxd2 {White now has what ampounts to a winning attack.} (
10... Bd6 {was called for, but white is still considerably better after} 11.
Bxf6 gxf6 (11... Qxf6 12. Rfe1+ Kf8 13. Qxb7) 12. Rfe1+ Kf8 13. Nd4) 11. Ba3
Bxf3 12. gxf3 Ng8 {Better was 12...Ne4} (12... Ne4) 13. Rfe1+ {[%mdl 512] The
loss of the exchange is immaterial as black has no pieces in play.} Bxe1 14.
Rxe1+ Ne7 15. Bb5+ Nd7 {[%mdl 32] 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. Kh1 {This unfortunate move allows black to equalize!}
(16. Rxe7+ {looks too good to pass up, but after} Qxe7 17. Bxe7 Kxe7 18. Qb4+
Kd8 19. d6 a6 20. dxc7+ Kxc7 {black has good chances of surviving.}) (16. Qc3 {
is virtually impossible to meet in any satisfactory way.} a6 (16... O-O 17.
Bxe7 {is decisive.}) 17. Qxg7 axb5 (17... Rf8 18. Qf6 Rg8+ 19. Kh1 Kf8 20.
Bxe7+ Qxe7 21. Qxe7+ Kg7 22. Bxd7 h5 23. Bf5 Kh6 24. Qxf7 Raf8 25. Qe6+ Kg5 26.
Rg1+ Kh4 27. Qe7+ Rf6 28. Qxf6+ Rg5 29. Qxg5#) 18. Bxe7 Qxe7 19. Qxh8+ Nf8 20.
Rxe7+ {wins}) 16... O-O {Black has miraculously survived and now the position
offers equal chances.} {Blackburne has completely collapsed. After this
MacLeod has a decisive advantage!} 17. Rxe7 {[%mdl 8192]} (17. Bxe7 {keeps
thing even.} Qc8 18. Bxf8 Kxf8 {and the position is dea equal.}) 17... Nb6 18.
Re5 Qf6 19. Qe3 Rfc8 {[%mdl 32]} 20. Bb2 {White's only real hope is that his
weaker opponent will eventually blunder in the face of white's apparent
threats.} Nxd5 {Nice!} 21. Qe4 (21. Re8+ Rxe8 22. Bxf6 Rxe3 23. fxe3 gxf6 {
and black is a whole R up.}) 21... Qg6 22. Qd4 Rd8 23. Bd3 (23. Re8+ Rxe8 24.
Bxe8 Rxe8 25. Qxd5 Re1#) 23... Nf4 {A slight inaccuracy. Either 23...c5 or 23..
.Qf6 would have been a wee bit better.} 24. Qxf4 (24. Bxg6 {was better, but
still insufficient to salvage the game.} Rxd4 25. Bxf7+ Kxf7 26. Bxd4 {and
black must apend time to demonstrate that he can win the ending.}) 24... Rxd3
25. Rg5 Rxf3 {[%mdl 512] Hoping to trade Qs with a simple win.} 26. Qe5 {
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. Qd5+ Qf7
28. Rxg7+ Kxg7 29. Qxf3 {[%mdl 4096] MacLeod's play for the remainder of the
game can neither be criticized nor improved upon!} Re8 30. h4 Qg6 31. Kh2 Re1
32. Qc3 Qg1+ 33. Kh3 {Now a K hunt begins.} Qh1+ 34. Kg3 Rg1+ 35. Kf4 Qxh4+ 36.
Ke3 Qh3+ 37. f3 Qe6+ 38. Kd3 Qd5+ 39. Ke3 Qe5+ {Once the Qs disappear even a
near beginner should be able to win this game. Blackburne's disdain for his
opponent is insulting!} 40. Qxe5 Re1+ 41. Kf4 Rxe5 42. Bxe5 fxe5+ 43. Kxe5 {
Impertinence!} Kf7 44. a4 b6 45. Kd5 h5 46. Kc6 h4 47. Kxc7 {K3P-KPP} h3 48.
Kb7 h2 49. Kxa7 h1=Q 50. Kxb6 Qxf3 51. a5 Qa8 52. a6 Ke7 53. Ka5 Kd6 54. Kb6
Qb8+ 55. Ka5 Kc5 {Blackburne finally did the manly thing and resigned.} 0-1
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