Berthold Englisch vs Wilhelm Steinitz (1883)

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Berthold Englisch vs Wilhelm Steinitz
London (1883), London ENG, rd 14, Jun-06
Spanish Game: Fianchetto Defense (C60) · 0-1

White to move.

ANALYSIS [x]

0-1

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FEN COPIED

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Nov-01-04		Gowe: Very nice played by Steinitz. If 15 Bxb2 16.Rb1 winning b7. But when Steinitz moved 15Rad8 threatening if 16.Rb1 Bf5! and if 16.Rd1 Bxb2 17.Rb1 Bc3 attacking the knight on d2 and 18.Nf3 b6 with black winning a pawn and with a better position. So c3 is the only posible move for white making a weak square at d3 and making uncomfortable white's bishop. Because if the bishop goes by the black squares the pawns have to go in white squares.

Nov-01-04		Gowe: with 25. f5 white's knight is totally out of the game. because it doesn't have a strong point of support and e4 would be a good one.

Feb-10-05		Honza Cervenka: Chessgames.com, this is an incorrect copy of Englisch vs Steinitz, 1863 (which has wrong year, 1883 is correct) with 14.Nf3 instead of 14.Nb3.

Nov-19-06		BlueMooner: My copy of 'Modern Chess Strategy' has Englisch playing 14 Nb3. And anyway wouldn't 14 Nf3 enable Black to play 14...Bxf3 forcing white to answer 15 gxf3 which then loses the pawn to 15...Qxf3. Whereas if White had played 14 Nf3 14...Bxf3 15 Qxd5 Bxd5 and White is a piece down. Either way 14 Nf3 is a mistake so I am fairly sure that both www.chessgames.com, Ludek Pachman plus my analysis...?! are indeed correct.

Nov-25-13		elisseus: the blacks with both bishops had very strong position, however the whites had a solid position. Steinitz plays near the perfection, first restrict the power of the bishop and the knight. A strategic lesson, from Steinitz.

Nov-25-13		JimNorCal: Really? Is this a lesson in endgame play by Steinitz or a feeble defense by Englisch?

Nov-25-13		john barleycorn: the game S Rosenthal vs Steinitz, 1873 "is perhaps the oldest game in which we find the practical application of the method of the combined bishops" (Reti, Masters of the chessboard) and there the weak moves 9.f4 and 23.f5 made it comparatively easy for Steinitz. In the game here, which is also in Reti's book, no weak moves or feeble defense on the white side are mentioned.

Mar-07-15		Fromper: My 2012 Russell Enterprises reprint of Reti's "Masters of the Chessboard" left out a pair of moves at the end of this game, which left me confused as to why white resigned. The moves 42. ... f3 43. Ke3 are missing from that reprint. I'm noticing a lot of typos in that book, but it's still a great book, despite that.

Mar-22-15		Mating Net: I found the decision to forego 15...Bxb2 to be quite instructive. Black does not want to give his opponent the slightest hint of counter play which he would have had in abundance after 16.Rb1 and 17.Rxb7. Black plays the domination game instead with ruthless precision.

Mar-10-17		cwcarlson: 32.Re5 Kf6 33.Ke1 was better.

May-22-17		Jimmy720: Here's my analysis. Constructive criticism is welcome. 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 g6 4. d4 (I'm not sure how I feel about openign the DSB's diagonal like this. Perhaps a more restrained setup with c3 and d3 was called for.) exd4 5. Nxd4 Bg7 6. Be3 Nf6 7. Nc3 O-O 8. O-O Ne7 ( Preparing d5) 9. Qd2 d5 10. exd5 Nexd5 11. Nxd5 Qxd5 (Space is now equal) 12. Be2 (12. a3 (Be2 prevents lines such as) Ng4 13. Be2 Nxe3 14. fxe3 Re8) 12... Ng4 (Grabbing the bishop pair) 13. Bxg4 Bxg4 14. Nb3 Qxd2 15. Nxd2 Rad8 ( 15... Bxb2 16. Rab1 Bg7 17. Rxb7 (Gives White activity) 16. c3 Rfe8 17. Nb3 b6 (restricting the knight) 18. h3 Be6 19. Rfd1 c5 (continuing the plan and blunting White's DSB) 20. Bg5 f6 21. Bf4 Kf7 (Preparing for an endgame) 22. f3 g5 23. Rxd8 Rxd8 24. Be3 h6 25. Re1 f5 26. f4 Bf6 27. g3 a5 (Black prepares to kick the knight away) 28. Nc1 a4 29. a3 Bc4 (the knight is dominated) 30. Kf2 gxf4 31. Bxf4 Bg5 32. Bxg5 hxg5 33. Ke3 Kf6 34. h4 gxh4 35. gxh4 Re8+ 36. Kf2 Rxe1 37. Kxe1 Ke5 38. Ne2 Bxe2 39. Kxe2 Kf4 40. c4 Kg4 41. Ke3 f4+ 42. Ke4 f3 43. Ke3 Kg3 0-1

Mar-14-23		Adenosina: A classic (and model) game for understanding the power of the bishop pair.

Apr-09-23		GrahamClayton: If Englisch doesn't exchange bishops, Steinitz will do so and then eventually open up the kingside for infiltration of his king, eg 32. Kf3 Bxf4 33. Kxf4 Kf6 34. Ke3 Kg5 35. Rh1 h5 36. Rg1 b5 37. Re1 Rd7 38. Rg1 h4 39. gxh4+ Kxh4.

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