Pawn and Two: This was game four from the final series of matches at the London 1851 tournament. Williams lost this game, but eventually he won the match, and 3rd place in the tournament, with a match victory over Staunton, by a score of +4 -3 =1.In the tournament book, Staunton noted in his loss to Anderssen, <"....he had succumbed to an acknowledged master of the art">, while in his later loss to Williams, he stated, <"....he lost by the odd game to Mr. Williams, a player to whom, in ordinary play and under other circumstances, he has been in the habit of giving, with success, the odds of the Pawn and two moves!">
After the tournament, a series of matches were arranged. Staunton challenged Anderssen, but Anderssen was unable to remain in England. It was hoped that this contest could take place in Germany at a later date.
One of the after tournament matches that did occur was between Staunton and Williams. Victory in this match would go to the player to first win seven games. Staunton stated that Williams requested modification to the normal match terms, and therefore he granted Williams, a start of three games, before the beginning of the match.
The terms then for this match made for an exciting contest. How would you have bet on the outcome?
Staunton won the first, third and fifth games, Williams won games two and four, and games six and seven were drawn. Williams therefore, was leading the match by a score of 5 to 3.
Staunton won the next three games, and the match odds then were clearly in his favor.
However, Williams was not finished, he won game eleven, and after a draw, he also won the next game, and the match by a score of +7 -6 =3!
The last game of the match lasted 79 moves! It would have been great to have watched this match, especially so the concluding games, and to have listened in on the post-mortem discussions.
Kibitzing
