The Chessplayer Who Analyzed Custer's Debacle

     George Armstrong Custer: Extremely Important and Unpublished Archive from an Officer who Marched with His 1876 Expedition to the Little Big Horn. 

     That was the title of a paper written by an Ordnance officer for the Seventh Calvary who marched on Custer's 1876 expedition to the Little Big Horn. 

     On May 17, 1876, Brigadier General Alfred H. Terry headed west from Fort Abraham Lincoln in charge of the Dakota Column, the bulk of which was made up of Custer’s 7th Cavalry. 

     On June 22nd General Terry sent Custer and the 7th Cavalry in pursuit of Sitting Bull’s trail, which led into the Little Bighorn Valley. Terry’s plan was for Custer to attack the Lakota and Cheyenne from the south, forcing them toward a smaller force that he intended to deploy farther upstream on the Little Bighorn River. 

     By the morning of June 25th, Custer’s scouts had discovered the location of Sitting Bull’s village. Custer intended to move his troops to a position that would allow his force to attack the village at dawn the next day. When some stray Indian warriors sighted a few 7th Cavalrymen, Custer assumed that they would rush to warn their village, causing the residents to scatter. Therefore, Custer chose to attack immediately and at noon on June 25th, in an attempt to prevent Sitting Bull’s followers from escaping, he split his regiment into three battalions. 

     He sent three companies under the command of Major Marcus Reno to charge straight into the village, dispatched three companies under Captain Frederick Benteen to the south to cut off the flight of any Indians in that direction and took five companies under his personal command to attack the village from the north. That tactic proved to be disastrous and those five companies under Custer's command were wiped out. 

     I have visited the Little Big Horn Battlefield National Monument and read the biography of Custer as well as books on the battle and it is my opinion that Custer was a real dirtbag and the Indians (aka Native Americans as the like to be called these days) were fully justified in taking revenge on him. It's unfortunate that all the men in the five companies that Custer lead were killed because they were following an egotistical idiot. He only became a "hero" after the battle because of the efforts of his wife. 

     The Ordnance officer who authored the above mentioned paper had remained with General Terry's column and was one of the first to arrive at the site of Custer's Last Stand at the Little Big Horn the day following the battle and assisted in identifying bodies on the field. Read Ten Myths of the Little Bighorn on Historynet HERE  

     The officer was German-born Captain Otho Ernest Michaelis (August 3, 1843 - May 1, 1890). Details of his German birth are unknown and nothing is known of his parents or when they arrived in the United States. 

     What is known is that Michaelis was valedictorian of the Free Academy of New York, class of 1862. Following his graduation, be joined the Army and in the Summer of 1863, he was part of the Gettysburg campaign. He served as General Georhe Thomas' chief of ordnance. Michaelis was the first non-West Point graduate to enter the Ordnance Corps. 

     After the Little Big Horn he served in several Federal arsenals across the US. Michaelis had many interests. Among many other things, he was interested in ordnance, electricity, meteorology and...chess. In fact, he was one of the most prominent amateur players in the country. 

     In 1868, he got married and they had nine children, three of whom died while he was serving at Kennebec Arsenal in Maine. One son died of tuberculosis at the age of 18, an infant daughter died the day she was born. Two months later and another daughter, age 12, died after she fell through the ice on a pond. Michaelis tried to save her but after becoming unconscious, he had to be rescued himself and he spent over two weeks in hospital. He died of a spinal infection (spinal meningitis?) the following year and is buried at Forest Grove Cemetery in Augusta. He was only 46 years old. 

     Michaelis won a Rook-odds game against Paul Morphy in New York in 1860. won the Michigan State Chess Association title in 1869 and in Philadelphia, in 1882 and 1884, he won the Philadelphia Chess Club’s championship. He also won off-hand games against Steinitz. 

     In the following game he defeats Judge Harsen D. Smith (March 17, 1845 - August 8, 1910,65 years old). Born in Albion, New York, he was admitted to the bar in 1862 and practiced for a time in Rochester, New York. In 1870 he moved to Cassopolis, Michigan where he was appointed prosecuting attorney in 1876. He held that position for four years. In 1898, he was appointed to the position of circuit judge, a position he held for only a year. Smith served as president of the Western Chess Association in 1910. He passed away at his home at 6 o'clock the morning of August 8, 1910 after having suffered a stroke the previous day.

Harsen D. Smith - Otho Michaelis

Result: 0-1

Site: State Championship, Jackson, Michigan

Date: 1869.01.22

Ruy Lopez: Steinitz Defence

[...] 1.e4 e5 2.♘f3 ♘c6 3.♗b5 ♘f6 4.O-O d6 In this, the Old Steinitz Defense, black omits playing ...a6 first. The possibility of breaking the pin with ...b5 and maintaining a hold on the center gives black more options than in the Old Steinitz in which white can practically force black to give up the stronghold at e5. 5.♘c3 ♗g4 While frequently seen in the games of lower rated players this move is of doubtful value. Better is 8...Be7 6.h3 ♗h5

6...♗xf3 would leave black with a bad B. 7.♕xf3 a6 8.♗xc6 bxc6 9.♘e2 c5 10.c3 ♗e7 11.d4 with an excellent position.

7.d3

7.♘d5 ♘xe4 8.♗e2 ♘e7 9.d3 ♘xd5 10.dxe4 ♘f6 11.♗g5 ♗e7 and all white has managed to do is lose a P. Ngo,T (2541)-Luu,H (2569)/Hanoi 2012.

7...h6 8.♕e2 It was also possible to play 8.g4 anf then maneuver the N to f5. 8...a6 9.♗xc6 bxc6 10.♕e3 Not really bad, but why block the B? (10.g4 ♗g6 11.d4 is a plausible line.) 10...♗xf3 Better was 10...Be7 but Michaelis has an idea in mind which turns out to be faulty. 11.♕xf3 Black could still play 11...Be7 and then castle and not be too badly off. 11...d5 After this black should be in serious trouble. 12.♖e1 Not bad, but nowhere near as good as 12.Qg3!

12.♕g3 Attacking the e-Pawn and if the B moves, the g-Pawn. 12...♕d6 is a natural defense of the e-Pawn but after 13.exd5 cxd5 14.♖e1 O-O-O 15.♖xe5 black is left with a miserable position.

(12.♕g3 ♕e7 is no better. 13.exd5 cxd5 14.♖e1 O-O-O 15.♖xe5) 12...d4 13.♘e2 Here white has only a nominal advantage. Black's best defense would now be 13... Nd7 making room for ...Qf6 which aids in the development of his K-side. 13...♗e7 Tactically faulty. 14.♘g3 Missing his best move.

14.♕g3 Attacking two Ps is obviously much better. 14...♕d6 This is is best chance. 15.♕xg7 ♖g8 16.♕xh6 ♔d7 17.♘g3 ♖g6 18.♕d2 ♖ag8 with the faint hope of a K-side attack.

14...♘h7 This allows white to seize the initiative.

14...♘d7 Once again this offers the best defense. 15.♘f5 ♗f8 16.♕g3 g6 and black has a solid position.

15.♘f5 ♗f6 16.c3 c5

16...dxc3 is no better. 17.d4 gives white a winning attack. For example 17...exd4 18.e5 O-O (18...♗g5 19.♘xg7 ♔f8 20.♘e6) 19.exf6 ♕xf6 20.bxc3 and white is winning.

17.♗d2 a5 18.a4 White's passive play is ruining his position. (18.cxd4 cxd4 19.♖ac1 keeps up the pressure on black's position.) 18...♘g5 19.♕e2 Another passive move. Better was 19.Qg3 19...♘e6 20.cxd4 cxd4 Black has manages to equalize. 21.b4 Eliminating his backward P and hoping to use the passed a-Pawn. 21...♗g5 (21...axb4 22.♗xb4 c5 with equal chances.) 22.♖eb1 There was no reason not to take on a5. 22...g6 23.♘g3 h5 It was more advisable to trade down to an ending. (23...♗xd2 24.♕xd2 ♕g5 25.♕xg5 hxg5 26.b5 ♔d7 with equal chances.) 24.♖b2 White's motivation for avoiding b4xa5 is not clear. 24...h4 25.♘f1 ♗xd2 26.♕xd2 ♘f4 27.f3 To repeat...there is absolutely no reason to avoid taking on a5. 27...♖h5 Now instead of playing, you guessed it, 28.bxd5 white continues to dawdle and soon lands in a mess. 28.♖d1 This loses quickly.

28.bxa5 ♕d6 29.♘h2 ♖g5 30.♘g4 f5 31.exf5 gxf5 32.♖e1 e4 with complications where both sides have chances.

28...♖g5 Black pounces on white's K. 29.♔h1

29.♕e1 is only slightly better. 29...♕d7 and the threats against h3 are going to be more than white can handle.

29...♖xg2 30.♕c1

30.♕xf4 As miserable as this move is, it's his best hope. After 30...exf4 31.♔xg2 ♕e7 32.bxa5 ♖xa5 33.♖a2 at least he can hold out a bit.

30...♕g5 31.♘h2

31.♕c6 ♔f8 32.♕xa8 ♔g7 33.♕c8 (33.♘d2 ♖h2 mates next move.) 33...♖xb2 34.♕g4 ♕xg4 35.fxg4 axb4 is hopelessly lost for white.

31...♕g3 32.♕c6 ♔f8 Facing mate in 4, white resigned. (32...♔f8 33.♕xa8 ♔g7 34.♕g8 ♔xg8 35.♘g4 ♕xh3 36.♘h2 ♕xh2#)

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Barmen 1869

     In March of 1869 Ulysses S. Grant was sworn in as the 18th President. Elizabeth Cady Stanton was the first woman to testify before the United States Congress. She was a leader of the women's rights movement demanding that women be given the right to vote; she was also active in other social reform activities, especially abolitionism. 

     The Transcontinental Railroad was completed at Promontory, Utah and the Cincinnati Red Stockings opened the baseball season as the first professional team. On December 7th outlaw Jesse James committed his first confirmed bank robbery in Gallatin, Missouri. 

     In world news in 1869, Scotland's oldest professional football (aka soccer) team, Kilmarnock F.C., was founded and in France Hippolyte Mege-Mouries filed a patent for margarine. In Egypt, the Suez Canal was opened. Leo Tolstoy's novel War and Peace was published Russia. 

     In US chess not much was happening. Down in New Orleans Paul Morphy mauled Charles Maurian 7-2 in match play. Major Otho E. Michaelis of the United States Army Ordnance Corps won the Michigan State Chess Association title in Detroit. Michaelis had once won a Rook odds game against Paul Morphy. 

     In December the Brooklyn Chess CLub Championship concluded and was won by the virtually unknown Francis Eugene Brenzinger. He was followed by Eugene Delmar. There were 13 players and Brenzinger's score was an impressive +27 -5 =0. If you are interested in more information on Brenzinger, and I know you are, check out Batgirl's great article on him HERE.  

     Over in Germany in August the 8th West German Chess Congress was held in Barmen. It was a 6-player, single-round event with draws not counting and they had to be replayed. 

 

     The Anderssen-Zukertort game in the last post was played in this tournament, but since it was played back in the days of Romantic chess a lot of interesting games were played such as this one beween Schallop and Von Minckwitz. 

     Emil Schallopp (August 1, 1843 - April 9, 1919) was both a player and author. Professionally he became head of the shorthand department of the Reichstag. He wrote many books, including one on the Steinitz–Zukertort 1886 World Championship match. He is best known today as an author, particularly of the seventh edition (1891) of the Handbuch des Schachspiels. 

     Schallopp played in many international tournaments, especially in the 1880s, although he never won an important event. He placed fourth at Wiesbaden 1880, after J.H. Blackburne, Berthold Englisch, and Adolf Schwarz, and ahead of James Mason, Simon Winawer, Louis Paulsen, and nine others. He placed second at Nottingham 1886 behind Amos Burn, and received the best game prize for his win over Zukertort. 

     Johannes Minckwitz (April 11, 1843 - May 20, 1901) was also a layer and author. His father was a German classical scholar and author. His best achievement was 2nd place, behind Adolf Anderssen, at Barmen 1869. From 1865–1876 and again from 1879–1886, he was an editor of the Deutsche Schachzeitung and author of three chess books: ABC's of Chess, Humor in Chess Games and The Small Chess King.

Emil Schallopp - Johannes Von Minckwitz

Result: 1-0

Site: ?

Date: 1869

Dutch Defense: Staunton Gambit

[...] 1.d4 f5 With the Dutch black hopes to obtain a K-side attack, but the move also weakens his own Ks position. It has never been a main line against 1.d4 and is rarely seen today. Its most notable advocate was Botvinnik. 2.e4 In the Staunton Gambit white sacrifices a P for quick development and hopes to launch an attack against black's King. It was once a feared weapon, but today about 25 percent of the games are drawn and the rest are evenly split between white and black. 2...fxe4 Best. 2...d6 transposes into the Balogh Defense. 3.♘c3 ♘f6 4.♗g5 Even today this move first played by Howard Staunton against Bernhard Horwitz in London, 1846 remains the main line.

4.f3 In the style of the Blackmar-Diemer Gambit this move gives white good compensation after 4...exf3 so black usually plays 4...d5 5.fxe4 dxe4 and here white usually plays 6.Bg5, but 6.Bc4 yields better results.

4.g4 Not for the faint of heart, the Bayonet Attack fails to provide white with enough compensation. 4...h6 5.f3 d5 and black stands better.

4...c6

4...♘c6 is the main line. 5.d5 ♘e5 6.♕d4 ♘f7 7.♗xf6 exf6 8.♘xe4 Black's position may look disgusting, but...surprise...statistically he wins about half of the games.

5.♗xf6 exf6 6.♘xe4 d5 7.♘g3 ♗d6 8.♗d3 O-O 9.♘1e2

9.♕h5 doesn't lead to much after 9...♕e8 10.♕xe8 ♖xe8 11.♘1e2 g6 12.h4 Ghonimy,S (2254)-Afifi,A (2321)/Cairo 2000 and black was slightly better.

9...f5 Best.

9...♕b6 10.♕c1 ♘a6 11.c3 ♗g4 12.♕c2 h6 13.f3 ♗d7 14.O-O-O and white is better. Terzic,I (2213)-Kozarcanin,S (2081)/ Sarajevo 2013.

10.f4 ♗e6 11.c3 ♕h4 This Q maneuver is often seen in the Dutch, but Baird's 11...Nd7 is also good.

11...♘d7 12.♕c2 g6 13.O-O ♘f6 14.c4 ♘g4 as in Pillsbury-Baird,J/New York 1893

12.O-O Black is slightly better here because white's hopes for a K-side attack are non-existent. 12...♘d7 13.♕c2 g6 14.♖f3 ♘f6 A natural move planning to put the N on e4. Who could guess that it's a tactical error? Black keeps a slight advantage after 14... Rae8. 15.♘xf5 ♗xf5 16.♗xf5 ♕h6 (16...gxf5 is met by 17.♖h3 winning the Q.) 17.♖h3 In spite of his slip at move 14 the consequences are only that white is now back on an equal footing. 17...♕g7 And now all white has to do is retreat his B to d3 and he has fully equalized. Instead, he over plays his hand. 18.♗e6 This looks inviting, but now black will end up better. 18...♔h8 19.f5 I like the way Fritz' auto-annotation described black's next move, "Simply marching past the door to victory." 19...gxf5 simply marches past the door to victory

19...♘e4 was correct. 20.♖f1 (20.fxg6 ♕xg6 21.♗d7 ♖ad8 and the B is lost.) 20...♘g5 21.♖e3 ♕h6 22.h3 ♖f6 23.♕d3 ♖af8 and black has a very strong attack.

20.♗xf5 ♖f7 21.♘g3 There is nothing wrong with this, but 21.Rf1 was even better. 21...♖e8 A losing blunder.

21...♕g5 was the only defense. 22.♖f1

22.♗g6 This is not so good now. 22...♕e3 23.♔h1 ♘g4 24.♗xf7 ♘f2 25.♕xf2 ♕xf2 26.♖f1 is unclear.

22...♖af8 23.♕c1 and white is slightly better.

22.♗g6 It was perhaps a bit premature, but black resigned.

22.♗g6 ♘e4 23.♗xf7

23.♘xe4 Not this! 23...♕xg6 24.♘xd6 ♕xc2 25.♘xf7 ♔g7 with equal chances.

23...♕xf7 24.♖f1 ♕g6 25.♘xe4 dxe4 26.♕f2 and white has a winning ending.

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Adolf Anderssen

     Although they get scant attention today, before Morphy there were some pretty good players. In those days, in fact from the late 15th century all the way until the 1880s, Romantic chess was what they played. They mostly played the King's Gambit and Giuoco Piano and the emphasis was on tactics, sound or unsound, rather than strategy. A lot of their games won't stand up to scrutiny by we armchair GMs armed with Stockfish, but the games are still fun to play over.

     Their style of play pretty much came to an end with the 1873 Vienna tournament where Wilhelm Steinitz popularized positional play and the closed game and thus began the Modern, or Classical, school which would last until the 1930s when Hypermodernism became popular. 

     The Romantic era is generally considered to have begun with Alexander McDonnell and Louis-Charles de La Bourdonnais, then Howard Staunton and other leading players of that era including Adolf Anderssen, Daniel Harrwitz, Henry Bird, Louis Paulsen and, of course, Paul Morphy. 

     That's not to say positional play was unknown. Morphy often complained about dull chess and criticized the Sicilian and d4 openings for leading to dull games. In fact, Morphy included a stipulation in his matches that at least half the games had to begin with 1.e4 e5. 

     During the 1930s, the Nazis claimed Romantic chess, which was dominated by Aryan players had been derailed by the "cowardly, stingy" positional chess exemplified by Jewish players. See Anti-Semitism in Chess HERE  

     One of the great players of the Romantic era was Karl Ernst Adolf Anderssen (July 6, 1818 – March 13, 1879) who shares my birthday (the same month/day, not year!). 

     Anderssen, the world's leading player from 1851 to 1858, won the great international tournaments of 1851 and 1862, but lost matches to Paul Morphy in 1858 and to Wilhelm Steinitz in 1866. Anderssen won over half the events he entered and achieved most of his successes when he was over the age of 50. 

     He is most famous today for his Immortal Game against Lionel Kieseritzky in London, 1851 and his Evergreen Game game against against Jean Dufresne in 1852 which was likely an informal game. 

     Anderssen was born in Breslau (now called Wrocław, Poland), in the Prussian Province of Silesia and lived there for most of his life, sharing a house with and supporting his widowed mother and his unmarried sister. Anderssen never married. 

     He graduated from high school in Breslau and then studied mathematics and philosophy. After graduating from the university in 1847, he took a position at the Friedrichs-Gymnasium as an instructor and later as Professor of Mathematics.

     When Anderssen was nine years old, his father taught him how to play chess and as a boy he learned the strategy from William Lewis' book Fifty Games between Labourdonnais and McDonnell. 

     Anderssen first came to the attention of the chess world when he published Aufgabe für Schachspieler (Task for chess players), a collection of 60 chess problems, in 1842. He continued to publish problems for many years which eventually brought him to the attention of the "Berlin Pleiades" group, which included some of the strongest players of the time. 

     Anderssen's development as a player was relatively slow because he could spare neither the time nor the money to play many matches against strong players, but by 1846 he was holding his own against players from the Pleiades. In 1846, he became the editor of the magazine Schachzeitung der Berliner Schachgesellschaft (later called Deutsche Schachzeitung) when its founder Ludwig Bledow, one of the "Berlin Pleiades", died. Anderssen held this post until 1865. 

     In 1848 Anderssen drew a match with Daniel Harrwitz and on that basis he was invited to a knock out tournament to be held in London in 1851, but he was reluctant to accept the invitation, as he was deterred by the travel costs. However, Anderssen was good enough that Howard Staunton, the principal organizer, offered to pay Anderssen's travel expenses, should he fail to win. He won, defeating Kieseritzky, Szen, Staunton and Wyvill and so was established as the world's leading player. 

     In 1866 Anderssen lost a close match against the 30-year-old Wilhelm Steinitz losing eight and winning six with no draws. After winning this match Steinitz was recognized as the world's leading player. 

     Anderssen wasn't done though. From 1851 to early 1878, he compiled a successful tournament record in: five first places, two second places, two third places and a sixth place in the final year of his life when his health was failing. 

     Arpad Elo retroactively calculated Anderssen's rating to be over 2600 and Chessmetrics ranks Anderssen as one of the top two players for most of the period from 1859 to 1873 with a peak rating of 2744 in 1870 and lists him as number one in the world 7 different months between December 1861 and the August 1870. 

     Steinitz rated Anderssen as one of the two greatest attacking players of his time and wrote, "We all may learn from Morphy and Anderssen how to conduct a K-side attack, and perhaps I myself may not have learnt enough." 

     Anderssen himself didn't believe in attacking mindlessly. He wrote, Move that one of your pieces, which is in the worst plight, unless you can satisfy yourself that you can derive immediate advantage by an attack." However, according to Reuben Fine, Anderssen's development was haphazard and he totally failed to understand why Morphy won. 

     Anderssen died of a heart attack on March 13, 1879, in his hometown. Bombing raids during World War II damaged his grave in Breslau. After the war, the city became part of Poland and is now known under its Polish name Wrocław. In 1957, the Polish Chess Federation decided to re-bury Anderssen in a new grave at the Osobowicki Cemetery. 

     The following game was played in Berlin, 1869. Of this game, Al Horowitz wrote in Golden Treasury of Chess, "You have probably heard that Anderssen was a mighty man with the Evans Gambit, but it is impossible to realize what glorious feats he performed with it, until you have played over such games as this one. Incidentally Zukertort, the great Anderssen's brilliant pupil, knew how to take fitting revenge, as you will see in later games in this volume. These two immortals produced games worthy of their reputation. A glorious battle." Raymond Keene wrote, "Anderssen had phenomenal tactical vision and his play serves as a great example of chess as art."

Adolf Anderssen - Johannes Zukertort

Result: 1-0

Site: Barmen

Date: 1869

Evans Gambit

[...] 1.e4 e5 2.♘f3 ♘c6 3.♗c4 ♗c5 4.b4 The idea behind the P-sacrifice is to divert the black B and follow up with c3 and d4 opening the center and the a2-g8 diagonal with an attack on f7. 4...♗xb4 No self-respecting Romantic would ever have dreamed of declining the gambit with 4...Bb6 although statistically black fares better. 5.c3 ♗a5 6.d4 exd4 7.O-O Inviting Zukertort to take another P, but it would be at the cost of bringing another white piece into play. 7...♗b6

7...dxc3 8.♕b3 ♕e7 9.♘xc3 ♗xc3 10.♕xc3 ♕f6 11.e5 ♕g6 12.♘g5 ♘h6 13.f4 O-O 14.♗d3 and black's position is very difficult.

7...d3 was played by Dufresne against Anderssen in 1852 at Berlin in what became known as the Evergreen Game. The idea is to return the P to hinder white's development, but the move is almost never seen today. 8.♕b3 ♕f6 9.e5 ♕g6 10.♖e1 Theoretically the game is equal here, but black's game is quite difficult and Dufresne didn't last long. 10...♘ge7 11.♗a3 b5 12.♕xb5 ♖b8 13.♕a4 ♗b6 14.♘bd2 ♗b7 15.♘e4 ♕f5 16.♗xd3 ♕h5 17.♘f6 gxf6 18.exf6 ♖g8 19.♖ad1 ♕xf3 20.♖xe7 ♘xe7 21.♕xd7 ♔xd7 22.♗f5 ♔e8 23.♗d7 ♔f8 24.♗xe7# 1-0 Anderssen,A-Dufresne,J/Berlin 1852. The Evergreen Game.

7...♘ge7 This is the move you'll likely see today. Black has a solid position and has gotten good results with it especially if white over presses his attack with 8.Ng5 8.♘g5 d5 9.exd5 ♘e5 10.♗b3 O-O White should now play 11.cxd4, but often tries to continue the attack with 11.♘xh7 ♔xh7 12.♕h5 ♔g8 13.♕xe5 ♘f5 and black is better.

8.cxd4 d6 Black has a cramped position 9.d5 ♘a5 The N is out of play here. Against Morphy at London 1859, Lowenthal played the better 9...Ne5 which is still the preferred move today.

9...♘e5 10.♘xe5 dxe5 11.♗b2 ♕e7 12.♗b5 ♗d7 13.♗xd7 and here instead of accepting an inferior posiion with 13...Qxd7 Lowenthal preferred suicide with 13...Kxd7

10.♗b2 ♘e7 Offering the g-Pawn as bait. 11.♗d3 (11.♗xg7 ♖g8 12.♗f6 ♘xc4 wins a piece.) 11...O-O 12.♘c3

12.♕d2 c5 13.♘a3 ♘g6 14.♘c2 ♗c7 15.♘e3 f6 16.♘e1 ♖b8 17.f4 b5 Warakomski,T (2499)-Bonte,A (2307)/Baia Sprie ROM 2010. Black stands quite well here. In fact he eventually worked up an overwhelming attack before blundering badly and losing!

12...♘g6 13.♘e2 c5 A poor move blocking his B. Better was ...Bg4 and ...c6 attacking white's center. 14.♕d2 f6 Prevents intrusion on e5 15.♔h1 ♗c7 16.♖ac1 ♖b8 17.♘g3 b5 18.♘f5 b4 Black has a cramped position, but nevertheless, his position is solid and his prospects on the Q-side are at least as good as white's on the K-side.

18...♘c4 Was an even more promising alternative for black. 19.♗xc4 ♗a5⩱20.♗c3 ♗xc3 21.♕xc3 bxc4 22.♘e3 and black is slightly better.

19.♖g1 ♗b6 It would have behooved black to eliminate the well place N with 19...Bxf5 and then play ...Ne5. 20.g4 ♘e5 21.♗xe5 dxe5 22.♖g3 The immediate 22...g5 was somewhat better. 22...♖f7

22...♔h8 23.g5 c4 24.♗xc4 ♗xf5 25.exf5 ♖c8 26.gxf6 ♕xf6 with equal chances.

23.g5 ♗xf5 It would have been better to have played 23...c4 first, but Zukertort had the losing move planned. (23...c4 24.♗xc4 ♘xc4 25.♖xc4 ♗xf5 26.exf5 ♖d7±) 24.exf5 ♕xd5 He has made an oversight, but his position was already very bad after his last move.

24...c4 isn't sufficient as after 25.g6 ♖c7 26.gxh7 ♔xh7 27.♗c2 black's K is in peril.

25.gxf6

25.♗c4 isn't bad, but the position is no move than equal after 25...♕xd2 26.♗xf7 ♔xf7 27.♘xd2

25...♖d8 (25...♖xf6 is not possible because of 26.♗c4 winning the Q) 26.♖cg1 ♔h8 27.fxg7 ♔g8 28.♕h6 ♕d6 White to move and mate in five.

28...♖f6 is also hopeless. 29.♕xf6 b3 30.♕h6 ♕d6 31.♕xh7 ♔xh7 32.g8=♕ ♖xg8 33.f6 ♖g6 34.♗xg6 ♔h8 35.♖h3 ♔g8 36.♗e8 ♔f8 37.♖h8#

29.♕xh7 Zukertort resigned. (29.♕xh7 ♔xh7 30.f6 ♔g8 31.♗h7 ♔xh7 32.♖h3 ♔g8 33.♖h8#)

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