It is true that, after 23.Qc3 Rxe4 24.f3?! Rxe3 (after 24-Qxh5 25.Rxh5 Rxe3 Black might be better, but has a long way to go still) 25.fxg4 Rxc3 26.bxc3 (exposing White's bishop) Re8, Black has a superior endgame.

Here are Staunton's annotations (a strange brew of the baroque, the querulous, the obtuse and the insightful, all bathed in bias) + Shredder (in brackets). This was an eventful game!

After 12...Qd7

From this point Black commenced an attack, which, properly followed up, must, I think, have given him the game.

<Shredder and any 1600 agree that White's position is better. But the remainder of the game illustrates Tarrasch's joke, <Chess is a terrible game. If you have no center, your opponent has a freer position. If you do have a center, then you really have something to worry about! >>

13.Kg2 Nh5 14.Ne2 Ne7 15.Ng3 Nxg3

<Staunton had played essentially the same attack in the previous game of the mini-match, Staunton vs Anderssen, 1851. There, though, he was able to get in ...Nf4. Here he has just wasted time and handed Anderssen an open h-file.>

16.hxg3 d5 17.Ba2 Rad8 18.Rad1 <the immediate Rh1 followed by e4-e5 is more efficient> 18...c6 19.Rh1 Ng6 20.Rh5 dxe4 21.dxe4<?> Qg4

This move Mr. Anderssen appears to have overlooked when he played the K.R. to his 5th.

<As <Boomie> pointed out, it is Mr. Anderssen's 21st move, and not his 20th, that is at fault. See my earlier post for a possible continuation after 21.Qxe4.>

22.Rdh1 Rxd4

The position is extremely critical for both parties. If Black, instead of continuing the offensive, had played P. to K.R's 3rd, his adversary might have completely baffled all his designs by moving P. to K. B's 3rd, &c.

23.Qc3

Undoubtedly his best move.

23...Rxe4

Black might also have played as follows, securing two pawns for the loss of the exchange:--

23...Q. takes K.P. (ch.) 24.P. to K.B's 3rd. Q. to her 6th. 25.B. takes R. Q. takes B. 26.Q. takes Q. B. takes Q. &c.

Or,

23...Q takes K. P. (ch.) 24.P. to K. B's 3rd. Q. to her 6th. 25.B. takes R. Q to K's 7th (ch.) 26.K to R's 3rd., or (A.) <see below> 26...B. takes B. 27.Q. takes B. Q. takes K. B. P.

And Black must regain a Rook, and then will have a winning game.

<White can save his rooks with 28.Qd1, whereupon Black has 27...Nf4+ 29.Kh4 and then either ...Qxh5+ with a murky ending or ...Ng6+ with perpetual check.>

(A.) 26.K. to Kt's sq.

(He might also interpose the Bishop, but that seems less advantageous for him.) <Indeed.>

26...Q. to her 8th (ch.) 27.K. moves. Q. takes B. 28.Q. takes Q. B. takes Q. And I prefer Black's game.

24.Rxh7

Threatening a death-blow next move.

<Shredder finds a beautiful combination after 24.f3 Nf4+! 25.Bxf4 Re2+ 26.Kf1

click for larger view

26...Rfe8!! 27.Bxf7+! (27.fxg4 Rf2+ 28.Kg1 Rxb2+ 29.Qe3 Bxe3+ 30.Bxe3 Rxe3 31.Bc4 b5! 32.Rxh7 Kf8! 33. R1h2 Rxg3+ 34. Kf1 Rxh2 35. Rxh2 bxc4 ) 27...Kxf7 28.Qc4+ Qe6 29.Qxe6+ R8xe6 30.R1h2 Re1+ 31.Kg2 R6e2+ 32.Kh3 Rxh2+ 33.Kxh2 Re2+ 34.Kh3 h6 and Black has a winning ending.>

24...Bd4 25.Bxd4

<Anderssen could have tried 25.Qc2 Bxe3 26.fxe3 Rfe8 27.Bb1 Qd7 (27...Rxe3? 28.Rh8+ Nxh8 29.Rxh8+ Kxh8 30.Qh7#) 28.Qc3! R4e5! 29.Bxg6 hxg6 30.Rh8+, but after 30...Kf7 Black is still better.>

I give a diagram of this situation, because it affords another example how Black, through physical exhaustion, threw away his games.

click for larger view

Suppose now, instead of at once taking the Bishop, he had played, as he afterwards pointed out he should have done:--

25...Kt. to K.B's 5th (ch.) 26.K to Kt.'s sq. or (A.) <see below> 26...Q. to her 8th (ch.) (Checking with the Kt. at K's 7th would cost Black the game. <True, despite the royal fork.>) 27.K to R's 2nd. Q. takes B. 28.Q. takes Q. R. takes Q. 29.R. to K. R's 4th. Kt. to K's 7th.

And Black has five Pawns to four, and a Knight against a Bishop. <Note that Staunton thinks a knight is better than a bishop in an ending. This was apparently the conventional wisdom at the time.>

(A.) 26.K to R's 2nd. K takes R. 27.P. takes Kt. K.R. to K. R's sq.<??>

And wins. <Believe it or not, after Staunton's move, 28.Bxf7, threatening mate via Qg3!, wins for White. But 27...Rxf4 threatening ...Rf3 would be decisive for Black.>

25...Rxd4 26.R1h4

White avails himself admirably of the advantage his opponent's remissness afforded him.

26...Qxd4

He had no other resource. His error at the 25th move, slight and unimportant as it looked at first sight, cost him the game.

<Incidentally, Shredder finds that neither side plays the Q+B v. 2R ending very accurately. Staunton's last three moves in the game are all lemons.