Dr Karl Brenzinger vs Francis Eugene Brenzinger (1859)

Dr Karl Brenzinger vs Francis Eugene Brenzinger
Correspondence Game 1859 · Two Knights (C58) · 0-1

[Event "Correspondence Game"]
[Site "Fourth Match Game"]
[Date "1859.??.??"]
[EventDate "?"]
[Round "?"]
[Result "0-1"]
[White "Dr Karl Brenzinger"]
[Black "F E Brenzinger"]
[ECO "C58"]
[WhiteElo "?"]
[BlackElo "?"]
[PlyCount "100"]

1.e4 {This game was played from 1859 through 1875. Notes by
William Steinitz, from The Field, 24 April 1875.} e5 2.Nf3 Nc6
3.Bc4 Nf6 4.Ng5 d5 5.exd5 Na5 6.Qe2 Nxc4 {An unusual
continuation, and no better for its originality. Black can now
recover the pawn, with at least an even game. Mr Zukertort
recommends here 6 Bb5+, as even sounder than Morphy'Âs
favorite move, 6 d3.}7.Qxc4 Bd6 { Black'Âs refusal to recover
the pawn cannot be regarded as safe, though it leads to lively
and interesting complications. We believe his surest plan to
have been to capture the d-pawn with the queen, followed by
...Bd6, in case the queen took the c-pawn, and, if White
exchanged queens at once, his knight would have been out of
play.}8.d3 O-O 9.Nc3 h6 10.Nge4 Kh8 11.O-O Nh5 12.d4 f5
13.Nxd6 cxd6 14.dxe5 dxe5 15.Qe2 Qe8 16.Nb5 f4 {A very fine
conception, which frustrates White'Âs contemplated attack.}
17.f3 Ng3 {Best. Black'Âs answer to 17 Nc7 would have been
...Qg6, threatening the destructive assault of ...f3, and the
game might have gone thus: 17 Nc7 Qg6 18 Qxe5 Bh3 19 g3 Rae8
20 Nxe8 Rxe8 21 Qc3 Qe4 22 f3 Qe2 and wins.} 18.hxg3 fxg3
19.f4 Bd7 { The only move. 19 Be3 would have been of no use,
e.g.: 19 Be3 Qh5 20 Rfe1 Bg4 21 queen moves Qh2+ 22 Kf1 Bxf3
and must win.} 20.Nd6 Qe7 {This manoeuvre was by no means a
bad recourse, and was evidently adopted with the intention of
returning the piece gained for the troublesome pawn at g3, and
afterwards relying upon the numerical superiority of
pawns. But it strikes us that the success of this plan, though
it secured a draw, was made very doubtful, as far as winning
was concerned, by the circumstance of the bishops being of
opposite colour; while another modus operandi might, in our
opinion, also have provided for Black an escape from the
dilemma, and, at the same time, retained for him a much better
chance of ultimate victory. Of course, Nc7 would have still
been bad, on account of Black'Âs reply, ...Qg6, and also to
win the knight by ...Qb6+; but, supposing White retreated the
knight to c3, we see no stronger continuation for Black than
the following: 20 Nc3 Qg6 21 f5 Bxf5 [has he anything better?]
22 Qe3, followed by Ne2, and we believe that Black has not
sufficient for the piece sacrificed.} 21.Ne4 Qh4 22.Nxg3 Qxg3
23.Rf3 Bg4 24.Rxg3 Bxe2 {25 fxe5 appears more plausible;
though against the best play it would have scarcely effected
more than a draw; for instance: 25...Rf1+ 26 Kh2 Bc4 27 d6 Be6
28 b3 Rc8 29 c4 b5, etc.} 25.Re3 Bc4 26.d6 Rxf4 27.Re1 Rd4
28.b3 Bb5 29.c4 Bc6 30.c5 Rg4 31.Re2 Rf8 32.Be3 Kg8 33.a4 Rb4
34.Rb2 Kf7 35.Bd2 Rg4 36.Bc3 Ke6 37.b4 Rf3 38.Bxe5 Kxe5 {Had
White protected the bishop by Rc2, the game might have
proceeded thus: 38 Rc2 Be4 39 Rd2 Rxc3 40 d7 Rxg2+ 41 Rxg2
Kxd7, etc.} 39.b5 Be4 40.Rd2 Rfg3 41.Raa2 Bxg2 42.d7 Bc6+ {Our
American contemporary here justly remarks that White could
have easily drawn the game by now exchanging all the pieces,
followed by a5, but that Dr Brenzinger probably, and not
without reason, played to win.} 43.Kh2 Bxd7 44.Rxd7 Rg6
45.Re2+ Kf6 46.Rde7 Rg2+ {A gross blunder, which makes the
termination quite unworthy of the longest-lasting game on
record. Our American contemporary ascribes this sudden
collapse to a feeling of impatience on the part of Dr
Brenzinger, caused by his opponent having taken seven months
before answering the last move.} 47.Rxg2 Rxg2+ 48.Kxg2 Kxe7
49.Kf3 h5 50.a5 Kd7 0-1

To move:

Last move:

Annotations by Wilhelm Steinitz. [129 more games annotated by Steinitz]

explore this opening	find similar games	1 more F E Brenzinger/K Brenzinger game
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Jun-11-11		Graham1973: The match in question was one of the longest running correspondence games on record. It ran from 1859 to March of 1875.

Dec-13-11		whiteshark: A postal game that went on for 16 years. Apparently white blunders on move 46 due to impatience <after waiting 7 months> for Black’s 45th move! "Although the magazines specified that White and Black lived in Pforzheim and New York respectively, Irving Chernev (on page 129 of his book Wonders and Curiosities of Chess) stated that the game was ‘between a Mr Brenzinger of New York and his brother in England’. In C.N. 3438 John Hilbert provided Steinitz’s notes to the game, from The Field, 24 April 1875." http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail...

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