| KEG: This game was played in the penultimate round of Paris 1900. Players are understandably tired at the end of a long and arduous tournament, especially where, at Paris, draws all had to be re-played once. As a result, Mortimer wound up playing 18 games (instead of just 16) and Burn 19. This fact may explain the ragged play here. Another factor may have been Burn's belief that all he had to do was wait for Mortimer to blunder. 1. d4 d5
2. c4 e6
3. Nc3 Nf6
4. Nf3 Be7
5. Bf4 a6
Mortimer here plays a la Janowski. 5...0-0 is normal. 6. cxd5
Rosenthal in the Tournament Book said that "Correct was 6. c6," but this is unnecessary and too committal. The text is better. Perhaps best of all would be the natural 6. e3. 6... Nxd5
7. Bg3
Burn 7. NxN (which was probably best), perhaps thinking the text would give Mortimer more room to err. 7... f5?!
Creating a hole on e5 for Burn to exploit as well as a weak pawn on e6. Best was the simple 7...0-0. 8. e3
Careful and steady seemed to be Burn's plan for this game against a much weaker opponent. He thus shuns 8. e4?! or any other effort to try to punish Mortimer for his temerity in playing 7...f5?! 8... 0-0
9. Bd3
9. Be2 was better (the Bishop winds up retreating there four moves later). Another idea to squeeze Mortimer was 9. Rc1. 9... c5!
A good way to attack Burn's center control, and apparently (from his next move) not anticipated by Burn. 10. Be5
Waste of time. Burn should have continued with his build-up with either 10. 0-0 or (if he truly feared an isolated d-pawn) 10. dxc5. 10... Nc6
11. 0-0 NxB
Sufficient for equality, but--in light of Burn's poor 10th move--Mortimer might have tried for more with 11...b5. 12. dxN?
It is hard to understand why Burn voluntarily weakened his pawn structure and abandoned his efforts to control the center. 12. NxN was best. Among other things, putting his own pawn on e5 makes it difficult for Burn to attack Mortimer's weak pawn at e6. The position was now:
click for larger viewWhile the White pawn on e5 does somewhat constrict Black, on balance Burn has clearly gotten the worst of the opening. 12... Nb4
13. Be2 QxQ
Mortimer had no reason to fear the resulting endgame, but he might have tried the more ambitious 13...Qc7, since the presence of Queens on the board favors Black here. 14. RfxQ
This left:
click for larger viewBoth sides have strenghts and weaknesses in their positions. Chances are about even. 14... g5?!
While Burn is trying to avoid complications, Mortimer (perhaps thinking this was his best chance against a stronger opponent) plays to mix things up on both sides of the board. While there is nothing terribly wrong with the text, 14...Rb8 might have been a better way to prepare a pawn advance (on the Queen-side), especially given that Mortimer in fact played b5 two moves later. 15. Nd2 Nc6
Once again, Rb8 would have been better here.
16. f4?!
Trying to fortify his e5 pawn which is now attacked by Black's c6 Knight, but 16. Nc4 was a better and less committal way to do this. 16... b5
Yet again, the preparatory 16...Rb8 was better. Another good choice was 16...gxf4. 17. Nb3
More strange play by Burn. While the text is not a serious mistake, it is hard to see why Burn did not play the stronger 17. Bf3. 17... Rd8
At the risk of sounding like a broken record, Rb8 was again better for Black here. 18. RxR
18. Bf3 was better, but Burn apparently reckoned that he could win an even endgame against the weaker Mortimer and decided to avoid middle-game risks. 18... NxR
18...BxR? would have failed against 19. Bf3!
The position was now:
click for larger viewChances are still about even, but from here Mortimer began to falter badly and had a lost game withing a few moves, as I will discuss in my next post on this game. | 
Kibitzing
