Atkins was a British master best known for his unparalleled record of winning the British Championship nine times in eleven attempts (every year from 1905 to 1911, and again in 1924 and 1925).
The following game was his only loss and it was to tailender Ignatz von Popiel (1853-1941) who, according to Chess metrics wasn’t as good, but his highest ever rating of 2559 in 1899 and his appearance at #29 in the world twice between 1899 and 1904 is commendable. The game was played in the German Chess Association hr;d at Hanover.
How did the players really perform? Analysis with Fritz and the Stockfish engine is revealing. The Weighted Error Value measures the average quality of the moves, representing how many centipawns a player lost per move compared to the engine’s top choice. A score of 0.00 is perfect and 0.00-o.20 is nearly flawless. Between 0.21-0.50 is pretty solid while over 0.51 indicated significant mistakes. In this game the WEV for von Popiel was a "Precise" 0.26 while Atkins' was 0.59.
[Event "Hanover"]
[Site "]
[Date "1902.07.23"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Ignatz von Popiel"]
[Black "Henry Atkins"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B45"]
[Annotator "Stockfish 18/Reckless"]
[PlyCount "73"]
[EventDate "1902.07.21"]
{B45: Sicilian Four Knights} 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. Nc3 Nc6 4. d4 cxd4 5. Nxd4
Nf6 {The Four Knights Variation is safe and can lead to lively piece play.} 6.
Be3 {White jas played just about every reasonable move there is here (16 in my
opening book), but 6.Nxc6 is the modern way.} Bb4 7. Bd3 d5 8. exd5 Nxd5 9.
Nxc6 bxc6 10. Bd2 Be7 (10... Rb8 {has seldom been played, but it has been very
successful.} 11. O-O O-O 12. Re1 Nxc3 13. bxc3 Bd6 14. Qh5 g6 15. Qh6 Re8 16.
Bg5 Bf8 {Holmsten,A (2205)-Rublevsky,S (2535) Helsinki op 1992 was soon drawn.}
) 11. O-O O-O 12. Rb1 f5 $146 {A risky move to say the least.} (12... Qc7 {
is a solid move that was played in Marjanovic,D (2032)-Kaphle,S (2152) World
Youth Ch U14 (b) Antalya TUR 2009} 13. Ne2 e5 14. c4 Nb4 15. Bxb4 Bxb4 {
Black has an active position.}) 13. f4 (13. Nxd5 cxd5 14. Re1 {is quite
interesting. Will black's P-center prove weak or strong? Shootouts using
Stockfish resulted in 5 long, hard fought draws.}) 13... Bc5+ 14. Kh1 Rf6 {
With the clear intention of whipping up a K-side attack. 14...Be6 was a safer
alternative.} 15. Rf3 (15. Na4 Bd6 16. c4 Nb6 17. c5 Nxa4 18. cxd6 Qxd6 19.
Qxa4 Qxd3 20. Bc3 {For the moment black has an extra P, but white has plenty
of compensation in the form of piece activity.}) 15... Rh6 {This more a
gesture than a real attack.} 16. Qe2 {The 16.Na4 idea still works.} Bd7 17.
Rbf1 Be8 18. Rg3 Qd7 19. Bc4 Bf7 20. Nd1 Re8 {Putting pressure on the f-Pawn
with 20...Bd6 was a good option.} 21. Nf2 Bxf2 22. Rxf2 Nf6 (22... e5 {is a
clever idea, but after} 23. fxe5 Rh4 24. Qd3 Re4 25. h3 g6 (25... R8xe5 26. Bc3
{is winning for white.}) 26. Bf4 {Black can't det the P back ad white stands
quite well.}) 23. Rf1 {[%mdl 128]} Ne4 24. Rd3 Qc7 25. Be1 {The maneuvering by
both sides for the last several moves has not accomplished much and now after
25...e5 the chances would be equal. Instead, Atkins embarks in a risky plan
that leaves his K-side badly weakened.} g5 26. Bg3 g4 27. Re3 {An excellent
move preparing to eliminate the N after which black's position collapses.} Qe7
(27... Nxg3+ 28. Rxg3 Rg6 29. Re3 h5 {This line offers black a better chance
of defending his position, but his e-Pawn is clearly a problem for him.}) 28.
Rxe4 fxe4 29. Qxe4 {Black is weak on the dark squares} Qd7 30. Be1 {The plan
is to reposition the B to an active diagonal.} Bg6 {[%mdl 8192] Evidently
played to prevent 41.f5, but it doesn't. Instead it costs black the game.} (
30... Rf6 {had to be played. Then after} 31. Bh4 Rf5 32. Bd3 Bg6 33. Qe2 Qg7
34. Bxf5 exf5 35. Qc4+ Bf7 {the chances are equal.}) 31. f5 {von Popiel
finishes off his opponent with great verve.} Qd6 {White has a couple of ways
of meeting this feeble threat of mate, but he picks the best one} 32. g3 Bf7
33. Qxg4+ Kf8 34. fxe6 Rexe6 35. Bxe6 {It doesn't matter which way b;acl
recaptures.} Rxe6 (35... Qxe6 36. Bb4+ Ke8 37. Re1) 36. Bb4 {[%mdl 64]} c5 37.
Bxc5 {[%mdl 576] Black resigned...something he could have done a few moves
sooner.} 1-0
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