In those days some of the game’s moves and competition rules had not been universally agreed upon, For example, Bledow believed that a player should be allowed to have multiple Queens when promoting Pawns. He also argued in favour of the touch-move rule.
In 1848, about two years after Bledow’s death, a letter he had wtitten to Tassilo von der Lasa proposing that an international tournament should be organized was published. His idea was that the winner would be recognized as the world champion. In 1851, the surviving members of the Berlin Pleiades nominated Adolf Anderssen to represent Germany at the London 1851 tournament. As winner of the tournament Anderssen was widely recognized as the world's strongest player.
It’s difficult to say exactly how strong Bledow was, but in the mid-1800s he defeated some of the best players around in match play, including the 27-year old Adolf Anderssen by either 5-0 or 4.5-0.5, depending on the source. According to Chessnetrics there is no rating for Bledow and Anderssen’d estimated rating in 1848, three years after the match) was only in the mif-2400s, considerably below his 2600+ rating in the early 1850s.
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| Dr. Ludwig Blewow |
As for his playing style, Bledow was described as preferring closed positions and not a "heroic" player. His surviving games support that claim, but the following game featuring a Queen sacrifice on move 8 is a pleasing exception.
His opponent was Paul Rudolph von Bilgur (1815-1840, 24 years old) a German master and theoretician. von Bilguer, who was a lieutenant in the Prussian army, resigned his commission and devoted his time to chess.
He was considered to be the most brilliant of the 'Pleiades' players.
He is best known today as the co-author of the Handbuch des Schachspiels. He died at age 24, probably of tuberculosis, before finishing the Handbuch, but the work was completed by his friend Tassilo und der Lasa, who gave primary credit to Bilguer. The book was a reference book, particularly om openings.
While this game is far from perfectly played, Bledow;s Queen sacrifice will leave you gasping.
[Event "Berlin"]
[Site ""]
[Date "1838.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Ludwig Bledow"]
[Black "Paul von Bilguer"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C23"]
[Annotator "Stockfish 17.1"]
[PlyCount "65"]
[EventDate "1838.??.??"]
{[%evp 9,65,84,243,183,149,85,375,404,410,354,354,352,396,378,359,374,373,379,
407,380,360,164,146,159,341,178,172,140,139,138,132,-1,55,16,0,-4,31,31,59,29,
36,27,31,31,132,0,0,0,3,0,7,7,573,564,29995,29996,29996,29997] C23: Bishop's
Opening} 1. e4 e5 2. Bc4 {This is one of the oldest openings to be analyzed
and it was popularized by Philidor in the mid-170s, but it fell out of favor
after improvements for black were introduced in the mid-1800s. In his book
White to Play and Win Weaver Adams claimed thr the Bishop's Opening was a win
for white by force. Of course he cpuldn,t prove it. In the 1960s Bent Larsen
and a few others usded it with success.} f5 {The ancient Calabrese
Countergambit, the idea of whicj is to gain control of the center. White had a
numner f reasonable responses: 3.Nf3 (most popular, but it leads to wild play),
3.exf4 (requires some preparation to find the optimal moves) and 3.d3 (solid).}
3. d3 (3. Nf3 fxe4 4. Nxe5 d5 5. Qh5+ g6 6. Nxg6 hxg6 7. Qxh8 Kf7 {In this
crazy position the chances are equal.}) (3. exf5 Nf6 4. Nc3 d5 5. Nxd5 Nc6 (
5... Bxf5 {runs into trouble after} 6. Qf3 Bxc2 7. Nxf6+ gxf6 8. Qxb7) 6. Ne3 {
with a solid position.}) 3... Nf6 4. Nf3 fxe4 {My database has 21 games that
reached this position and black played 4...Nc6 in 17 of them and 4...c6 on 4,
but von Bilgoer’s is is the best choice!} 5. dxe4 Nxe4 $2 {This logical
looking move quickly lands black i trouble as white immediately launches an
attack on f7.} (5... Bb4+ 6. c3 Bc5 7. O-O d6 {and white is only very slightly
betted.}) 6. Qd5 {Black is forced into an awkward defense of f7.} Nd6 (6... Qf6
{is even worse.} 7. Qxe5+ Qxe5 8. Nxe5 Nc6 9. Nf7 Rg8 10. Ng5 Nxg5 11. Bxg8) 7.
Nxe5 c6 {[%mdl 8192] ...and loses! He needed to defense f7 by 7...Qf6. but who
could have foreseen white's next incredible move?} 8. Qf7+ {An amazing riposte!
} Nxf7 9. Bxf7+ Ke7 {Watcj white's pieces swarm around black;s K.} 10. Bg5+ Kd6
11. Bxd8 {White has regained the Q, but there is more to it than that.} Kxe5
12. f4+ Kf5 (12... Kxf4 13. O-O+ {addings a R to the attack.} Ke5 {Attempting
toi flee to safety.} 14. Nd2 Kd6 15. Rf5 c5 16. Bd5 c4 17. Ne4#) 13. Bg5 Bb4+
14. c3 Rf8 15. Bb3 {This inexact move offer black some survival chances.} (15.
Bh5 {is more exact.} g6 16. Bg4+ {crushing.} Kxg4 17. cxb4 d5 18. Nd2 c5 19.
Kf2 Nc6 20. h3+ Kh5 21. Rhg1 {Black;s K is trapped.}) 15... h6 16. Bc2+ Kg4 {
Moving into the hornet's nest. 16...Ke6 offered some hope of suviving.} (16...
Ke6 $16 {is a better defense.} 17. f5+ Kf7 18. cxb4 hxg5 {Black has sutvived
the attack, but now faces an uphill struggle in the ending.}) 17. Bd1+ (17. h3+
{forcing the K further into white's position was more precise.} Kg3 18. Nd2
hxg5 19. cxb4 Rxf4 20. Ne4+ Rxe4+ 21. Bxe4 Kf4 22. Bc2 d5 23. O-O+ {White is
winning.}) 17... Kf5 18. g4+ Kg6 19. Bc2+ Kf7 20. Bh4 {White wants to preserve
his B, but 20.cxb4 was stronger because after 20...hxg5 and 21.fxg5 the open
f-file file favors white. Amazingly, black has manages to extricate himself
from the web of white's pieces, but he still lags behind i n development and
white's pieces have plenty of scope.} Be7 {The game has now entered a whole
new phase where black has survuved and the position now offers equa chances.}
21. Bg3 d5 22. f5 Nd7 23. Nd2 Bf6 24. Nf3 Re8+ 25. Kf2 Nc5 26. Rhe1 {[%mdl
2048]} Bd7 (26... Ne4+ 27. Bxe4 Rxe4 28. Rxe4 dxe4 29. Ne5+ Bxe5 30. Bxe5 {
is equal.}) 27. b4 {More exact would have been 27.Ne5+} Ne4+ 28. Rxe4 $1 {
[%mdl 512] This is a bit surprising. It does not win, but it renews the attack.
} dxe4 29. Bb3+ Kf8 30. Bd6+ Be7 {[%mdl 8192] This loses by force. Black
needed to return the exchange.} (30... Re7 31. Nd4 Rae8 32. Ne6+ Bxe6 33. fxe6
Bxc3 34. Rf1 Bf6 35. Ke3 {There is no way for white to utilize the pin on the
R and as a result the position offers equal chances.}) 31. Ne5 {Very powerful.
Black simply cannot meey the threat of Nxd7#} g5 32. f6 e3+ {A spite check.} (
32... Bxd6 33. Nxd7#) 33. Kg1 {Black resigned. It,s mate in 3.} (33. Kg1 Be6
34. Bxe6 Rec8 (34... Rad8 35. Ng6#) 35. Bxe7+ Ke8 36. Bf7#) 1-0
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