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Editor: Dr Tim Harding |
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Editor: Dr Tim Harding |
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© Dr Tim Harding
Last modified:
13 October 2026
Round 3 was played on Wednesday the 7th of August.
In this round there are three games with problematic scores.
The score of this game in ChessBase’s Mega Database is as follows: 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.Nc3 Bc5 6.Nxe5 Nxe5 7.d4 Bb4 8.dxe5 Nxe4 9.Qd4 Nxc3 10.bxc3 c5 11.Qe3 Qa5 12.cxb4 Qxb4+ 13.Bd2 Qxa4 14.Qxc5 Qe4+ 15.Be3 b6 16.Qa3 Qxe5 17.0–0 Qe7 18.Qxe7+ Kxe7 19.Bxb6 f6 ½–½
The diagram shows the position after White's 16th move.
From Black’s 16th move to the end, the versions in the tournament books are different. ChessBase, as it tends to do most of the time, follows Schallopp and Pickard gives the same, but, as John Saunders says in Britbase, this version is quite implausible. Black’s move 17...Qe7 is a colossal blunder after which White could win on the spot by 18 Rae1 or 18 Rfe1.
Conclusion: Britbase, as well as Crouch and Haines (page 78), are right to follow Cheshire (page 53, notes by Blackburne) which gave the finish as 16…Bb7 17 f3 Qxe5 18 0-0 Qe7 19 Qxe7+ Kxe7 20 Bxb6 f6 ½–½.
The score of this game in ChessBase’s Mega Database is as follows: 1.d4 d5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.c4 dxc4 4.e3 e6 5.Bxc4 c5 6.0–0 cxd4 7.Nxd4 Nc6 8.Nxc6 Qxd1 9.Rxd1 bxc6 10.b3 Be7 11.Bb2 0–0 12.Nd2 Bb7 13.Be2 c5 14.Nc4 Rad8 15.Na5 Ba8 16.Bb5 Nd5 17.Bc6 Rd6 18.Bxa8 Rxa8 19.e4 Nb6 20.Rxd6 Bxd6 21.Rd1 Bf8 22.Kf1 f6 23.Ke2 Kf7 24.Rd3 Rc8 25.Rh3 c4 26.bxc4 Bb4 27.Bc3 Bxa5 28.Bxa5 Rxc4 29.Bxb6 axb6 30.Rb3 Rxe4+ 31.Kf3 Ra4 32.Rxb6 Rxa2 33.Rb7+ Kg6 34.g3 f5 35.Rb6 Kf6 36.h4 h6 37.Rc6 Ra3+ 38.Kg2 g5 39.hxg5+ hxg5 40.Rc5 f4 41.g4 Rd3 42.Ra5 Rd5 43.Ra6 Ke5 44.Ra1 Rc5 45.Rd1 Ke4 46.Re1+ Kd5 47.Rh1 Rb5 48.Rh6 Rb6 49.Rh5 e5 50.Rxg5 Ke4 51.Rf5 Rb3 52.Rf8 ½–½
The chess magazines do not seem to have found this game interesting enough to be worthy of inclusion. Hoffer had a short comment in The Field saying that Tarrasch lost a pawn trying to force a win but Mieses was not able to take advantage after the adjournment.
There are discrepancies from moves 48-50 but both versions have plausible finishes for the drawn endgame that had arisen by that point. The diagram shows the position after White's 48th move. Where did the black rook move now?
ChessBase follows Schallopp again (pages 90-91) but the score in Cheshire (pages 57-58) ended "48…R to Kt8 49 R to Kt6 P to K4 50 RxP K to K5 51 R to B5 R to Kt6 52 R to B8 Drawn game.” The annotator, Mason, made no comments after move 25. The Crouch and Haines edition and Britbase both prefer the official Cheshire version.
Conclusion: Although 48…Rb1 does look a rather odd move, there is no clear evidence to prefer Schallopp’s version and we do not know where he found it. So we think the preferable finish should be as in Cheshire, 48…Rb1 49 Rg6 e5 50 Rxg5 Ke4 51 Rf5 Rb3 52 Rf8 ˝–˝.
In general, Blackburne did well in tournament games against his great rival though disastrously in matches. On this occasion, however, the former world champion got the better of him. The conclusion of this game is definitely incomplete and it will be impossible (though hardly too important) to determine what were the final moves. Blackburne played on long after he should have resigned and even Steinitz appears not to have recorded the final death throes.
The score of this game in ChessBase’s Mega Database is as follows: 1.e4 e5 2.f4 exf4 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.Nc3 Nc6 5.d4 Bb4 6.Qd3 0–0 7.Nge2 d5 8.exd5 Nxd5 9.0–0 Bxc3 10.bxc3 Nce7 11.Nxf4 Bf5 12.Qf3 c6 13.Ba3 Nxf4 14.Qxf4 Be6 15.Bb3 Qd7 16.Qf3 a5 17.Qe2 Rfe8 18.Bxe6 fxe6 19.Rf3 Rf8 20.Rxf8+ Rxf8 21.Re1 Rf6 22.Qe5 Nd5 23.Qg3 h6 24.Bd6 b5 25.Be5 Rf5 26.h4 a4 27.Re4 h5 28.Qe1 Qf7 29.Bd6 Rf6 30.Be5 Rg6 31.Re2 Qf3 32.Rf2 Qxc3 33.Qxc3 Nxc3 34.a3 Rg4 35.g3 Re4 36.Kf1 Nb1 37.Bd6 Rxd4 38.Rf8+ Kh7 39.Be5 Nd2+ 40.Ke2 Re4+ 41.Kxd2 Rxe5 42.Rb8 Rd5+ 43.Ke3 Kg6 44.c4 bxc4 45.Rb4 Rd3+ 46.Kf4 Rxa3 47.Rxc4 e5+ 48.Kxe5 Rxg3 49.Rxc6+ Kh7 50.Ra6 Rg4 51.Kf5 g6+ 52.Kf6 Rf4+ 53.Ke5 Rxh4 saying “and the game ended soon.” (0–1).
Others stopped much earlier. The Cheshire book (pages 47-48, with notes by Gunsberg) said "White resigns" after Black’s 39th move. Schallopp (pp.82-83) had no more moves than Cheshire but he was aware that he had an incomplete score, saying White resigned on move 62 after a long endgame. ChessBase's Mega Database 2017 also ended at this point, although my Blackburne biography had already published the game up to move 53, but later editions of Mega have added the missing moves.
Britbase currently stops at move 49 but says there were more moves. Its editor John Saunders said he would wait for our investigations to conclude before updating his database, so he should be able to do that later this year. Britbase currently follows Antony Guest in The Morning Post which continued to Black's 49th move, saying "and Black wins", but he explained that even after being reduced to Rook against Rook and three pawns, "Blackburne nevertheless persisted for several moves in the endeavour to obtain a draw." The Scotsman and some other provincial papers (perhaps on the basis of a wire feed from the Press Association) reported that Blackburne resigned on the 60th move.
The extended score to move 53 has been available for a long time, thanks to Ludwig Bachmann who probably obtained a copy from Steinitz himself. (It is known they met in Augsburg in August 1896 and played some casual games.) The extended score which appears in Bachmann’s collection Schachmeister Steinitz volume IV (game #784 on pages 59-61) said White resigned after move 53. Bachmann had first published this version of the game in his Geistreiche Schachpartien V (Ansbach 1896, #39 page 34) which presumably appeared only after Schallopp’s tournament book. Hooper and Pickard''s collections of Steinitz games both followed Bachmann and so have the extra moves.
Even this was surely not the end of the game. The Scotsman said White resigned after the 60th move while some newspapers said there was a great crowd of spectators around the board, and the game did not end until 8.30 p.m. The final moves were perhaps played in a flurry and appear not to have been preserved by anybody. According to the rules of the tournament, Steinitz should have submitted a complete score.
Conclusion: The game score in all the tournament books is truncated although it is not entirely clear why the full score was not preserved. ChessBase does have all the known moves.
Thursdays were reserved for playing off adjourned games so there was no play on the 8th of August. Rounds 4 and 5 completed the first week of the tournament but there will be no article about them because we found no problem games.
Therefore this series will continue next week with Round 6.