Gustavus Charles Reichhelm vs James Mason (1874)

Gustavus Charles Reichhelm vs James Mason
Philadelphia m1 1874 · Spanish Game: Berlin Defense (C65) · 1-0

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explore this opening	find similar games	1 more G Reichhelm/J Mason game
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Jul-05-10		Judah: The position after White's 56th move would make a pretty little endgame study: Black to play and draw. click for larger view At first glance, it appears that Black is stuck: sooner or later he will run out of moves and be forced to leave the defense of the c-pawn, after which White will capture the pawn and soon queen his own. Mason missed the elegant drawing resource 56...a6! Once this move is played, ...Ka5 can be played with impunity--White cannot take the pawn or play Kc6 without putting Black into stalemate.

Jul-05-10		Phony Benoni: <Judah> Well spotted! One little point is that after 57.Kd5 Ka5 58.Kc6 does not stalemate Black--but's it still a draw after 58...Kb4.

Jul-05-10		Judah: Ah, good catch, <Phony Benoni>. (I must have been spacing out and imagining that b4 was guarded by Black's own pawn!) In fact, 58...Kb4 is even better than a draw for Black--it's a win (Black can play a5 before capturing the b-pawn, leaving him enough time to both queen and stop White from queening), so it seems like after ...a6 and ...Ka5, White has nothing better than the stalemate with KxP.

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Black's 56th
from Annotated by Tablebase by Judah