Blackburne Beats the Champion

The game, move by move

The Four Knights

1. 1. e4 King’s pawn
2. 1… e5 The same claim
3. 2. Nf3 The knight out
4. 2… Nc6 And Black’s
5. 3. Nc3 The Four Knights, almost
6. 3… g6 g6 — the fianchetto Steinitz puts the bishop on the long diagonal. Blackburne spends the next eight moves working out how to trade it off.
7. 4. d4 The centre
8. 4… exd4 Taken
9. 5. Nxd4 Recaptured
10. 5… Bg7 The bishop on g7
11. 6. Be3 Developing
12. 6… Nf6 And Black’s knight
13. 7. Be2 The bishop to e2
14. 7… O-O Black castles

The dark squares traded

1. 8. O-O And White
2. 8… Ne7 The knight re-routes
3. 9. Bf3 The bishop to f3
4. 9… d6 d6, propping up
5. 10. Qd2 The queen to d2 Behind the bishop, preparing Bh6 — which is the trade the last six moves have been for.
6. 10… Nd7 The knight to d7
7. 11. Bh6 Bh6 — the offer The bishops come off and Black’s king is left on a dark square with no dark-squared bishop.
8. 11… Ne5 The knight to e5
9. 12. Bxg7 Traded
10. 12… Kxg7 The king takes back And has to stand on g7 for the next thirteen moves, because the rook needs f8 and the knight has gone the other way.
11. 13. Be2 The bishop steps back
12. 13… f6 f6, holding e5
13. 14. f4 f4, hitting the knight
14. 14… Nf7 The knight to f7

The pawns break

1. 15. Rad1 The rook to d1
2. 15… c6 c6, solid
3. 16. Bc4 The bishop to c4
4. 16… Bd7 Developing at last
5. 17. Bxf7 The bishop takes the knight A bishop for a knight, to pull the rook onto f7 where the pawn can hit it.
6. 17… Rxf7 Recaptured
7. 18. f5 f5 — the pawn goes past It takes e6 and g6 away from Black’s pieces and buries the rook on f7.
8. 18… Nc8 The knight retreats to c8
9. 19. e5 e5, the second break
10. 19… fxe5 Taken
11. 20. Ne6+ The knight to e6, with check Offered on a square where taking it costs Black the bishop and gives White a pawn on e6 that cuts the position in half.
12. 20… Bxe6 Taken
13. 21. fxe6 Recaptured — a pawn on e6 It is passed, protected by nothing and needs no protection: every black piece is behind it.
14. 21… Re7 The rook to e7

Two rooks and a queen on h

1. 22. Qg5 The queen to g5
2. 22… Qe8 The queen defends
3. 23. Rd3 The rook lifts to d3 On its way to h3, which is the only file left.
4. 23… Rxe6 The pawn on e6, taken
5. 24. Rh3 The rook swings to h3 Queen on g5, rook on h3, and the pawn on h7 is defended by a king and nothing else.
6. 24… Qe7 The queen comes back to e7
7. 25. Qh6+ Check, from h6
8. 25… Kg8 Kg8 — the only square
9. 26. Rf8+ The rook, on f8 Given to the queen, and she has to take it: nothing else can, and the check has to be answered.
10. 26… Qxf8 Taken — and h7 is loose The queen has been holding both f8 and, through e7, the squares around her king. Standing on f8, she holds neither.
11. 27. Qxh7# Checkmate The queen takes the pawn on h7, defended by the rook that came to h3 four moves ago. She covers h8, g7 and f7; the rook covers h7; and f8 is Black’s own queen, sitting on the square she was made to take on.