Cohn did not handle the White side particularly well. His 7. Be2 was probably better than Bird's 7. h3, but his 8. Bg5 was a waste of time (8. Nd4 would have been better).

Blackburne's 9...Re8 was not as good as 8...Qe7, and he should almost certainly have messed up Cohn's pawn structure immediately with 13...BxN. Cohn's 14. Rad1 was not best. The Tournament Book's 14. Rfe1 would have provided defense for the Queen and avoided the combination Blackburne played a few moves later. 14. Nc4 seems better still.

Given another chance, Blackburne played 14...BxN wrecking Cohn's pawn structure. Cohn was still better as a result of his strong Bishop, control of the center, and--of course--his extra pawn. But Cohn fell apart after Blackburne's clever 15...Nd5 (exploiting the lack of a White Rook on e1).

Cohn should surely have bitten the bullet with 16. exN, maintaining some advantage. His 16. Nb1 was very bad, and Blackburne quickly took advantage, trading off Cohn's strong Bishop and then staking out his own claim to the center with 17...f5.

Cohn should have played 18. Rfe1. His 18. Qf2 was also very bad, and his 20. Nd2 was even worse (20. RxR was essential).

Blackburne's powerful 20...Ng4 and 22...Ne3 gave him a strategically won game.

Blackburne temporarily faltered with 23...Rf8 (simply 23...Qxc3 regaining his lost pawn was best), and his 24...Qxc3 (instead of 24...Rde8) allowed Cohn back in the game. Had Cohn played 28. Qxa7, he would probably have been fine.

But Cohn opted to enter a lost Knight endgame with 28. Qd4? After the trade of Queens Cohn's move allowed, Blackburne won a pawn, and had the game in hand after 30...Nxe4. He was up a pawn and had the better pawn structure:

click for larger view

click for larger view

Although material is even, this position is plainly a win for Black. Cohn's only chance (given that he was effectively a piece down and his Knight was ultimately subject to capture by Backburne's King) was to try to attack on the King's side while using his a-pawn to generate some options on the other wing.

Cohn did indeed play 33. a4 and 34. a5, but when Blackburne's King raced to win the White Knight, Cohn lethargically played 37. Kd3 instead of trying to shake matters up with 37. Kf4 while Blackburne's King and Knight were occupied on the other side of the board. This should not have saved the game in the long run, but Cohn's 37. Kd3 was hopeless.

After Cohn's 40. g4, the game certainly seemed to be over:

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Blackburne could here have won Cohn's Knight beginning with 40...b6!

But Blackburne marched his King back to the center. After 42...Ke5?, the position was as follows:

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Blackburne's last move was an error, and Cohn suddenly had a way to free his Knight: 43. a6!, for if 43...bxa6 Cohn could have played 44. Nc6+

Incredibly, Cohn missed this resource (and played the useless 43. h3). Even more incredibly, and after Blackburne seemed to be back on the winning track with 43...Kd5, the players worked there way back to a similar position after Blackburne played 45...Ke5?

Yet again, Cohn could have played 46. a6 and yet again Cohn missed this opportunity.

Even with 43. a6 or 46 a6, Cohn would still have had work to do to hold the ending, but the game would have been savable with best play.

After Cohn's 46. Kf3?, Blackburne finally got back on track with 46...Kd5, and this time found 48...b6!