click for larger view

36...hxg5 looks tempting but white seems to have enough of counter-play, for example 37.Rf2 Be5 38.Nd4 g4 39.Rff1 g3 40.h6 Rbc8 41.Rh5 Bxd4 42.exd4 Rxc3 43.Rg5+ Kh8 44.Bg6 Be6 45.Re1 R3c6 46.Rxg3 etc.

click for larger view

I'm not a Softy, but I'll pretend:

1. Fritz 8 would kill Steinitz in a match.

2. Today's programs make Fritz 8 look like Neanderthal man.

3. Quite a few human GMs, including super-strong ones, would probably also balk at castling queenside. Steinitz, a provocative player, might have been right by accident.

While we’re waiting for <Calli>, I checked Huebner’s book on the match (https://www.amazon.de/Weltmeistersc...) and Shredder 13.

The engine disapproves of 14.0-0-0, dropping the evaluation from somewhere around equal to somewhere around -0.7 after churning for 15 minutes. Shredder’s main line runs: 14….b5 15.Kb1 Qb6 16.Rhg1 b4 17.Na4 Nxa4 18.Bxa4 Qa6 19.Bc2 c5 20.Qd3 Qxd3 21.Rxd3 Be6. The continuation and the evaluation both seem reasonable to me; Black has the bishop pair and a menacing pawn formation on the queenside.

Chigorin wrote that <after this move [14.0-0-0] the players begin attacks on the enemy king; the attack on the black King seems more dangerous to me.>

To this, Huebner comments, <The course of the game does not bear out this judgment; the second [Nachziehenden — Whiteshark/someone, help?] pawn storm comes first.>

After 14….a7-a5 15.h2-h4 Huebner quotes Steinitz: <Both players advance their pawns against the opponent's king after castling on opposite sides, and so endgame weaknesses are created in both camps. White could have played more strongly with the preparatory move 15.Qf4, threatening 16.e4.>

Huebner again disagrees, saying the queen is not well placed after 15.Qf4 and Black has an excellent game after 15….a4 or 15….Qb6. Best for White, Huebner thinks, is 15.Kb1, though Black is still better. Shredder agrees with Huebner.

Instead after 17....a5-a4 Shredder's evaluation is about -1.3. Hard to disagree that Black is much better after that move.