The opening was the same sort of Scotch Gambit as in the second game of the match, with the alteration of P to K 5 on the sixth move... which line of play seemed to give Blackburne the best of the development, while his opponent laboured under the disadvantage of a doubled P on the Q side.

Blackburne, however, lost time in placing his R at Q sq on the 11th move; and again on the 15th move he blocked his B uselessly with his Q, instead of retreating to B sq.

His pieces on the Q side became so much hampered, that his opponent might have obtained the superior game on the 18th move by attacking the Q B P at R 4 with the Q as soon as White’s Q Kt was developed; instead of which, Zukertort advanced the K R P for an attack on the K side, and this far-advanced P ultimately proved a source of weakness.

The manœuvring on both sides presented most interesting phases, and virtually lasted up to the 31st move, when Blackburne, by the entrance of his Kt at K Kt 5, obtained two bishops against B and Kt, at the same time preparing a strong attack with his pawns on the K Kt and K B file, which compelled Zukertort to leave his advanced R P undefended.

Blackburne ought not to have hesitated to capture it, though it apparently exposed his K side; for there was in reality no danger, and the adverse Kt would have been imprisoned, unless Black gave up another P.

However, his game was still good enough, and he could afford to place his two rooks in a very awkward position; but, to the surprise of connoisseurs, he relieved Black on the 36th move from his greatest weakness on the Q side, the doubled P on the Q B file, for no other reason than to give a useless check.

This involved besides subsequent loss of time by retreating the B; but he retained still sufficient superiority to be able to sacrifice the exchange for a P on the 42nd move.

At this point the fight became most exciting, and both parties had an extremely difficult game to conduct.

On the 45th move Blackburne offered the exchange of rooks too soon, while he could have gained a most important move by finessing with the K to Kt sq.

Zukertort then released himself from the more immediate danger by exchanging pawns, which left the opponent with two dangerous passed pawns in the centre, and then, by a beautiful attack on the Q with the B, he forced the exchange of Queens.

But we have devoted great care and attention to the study of this position, and, though we may cause some disappointment, it is our duty as faithful analysts to pronounce, contrary to the opinion of both players, that the process to which Black resorted ought not to have succeeded in averting defeat. We produce below [*] some analytical proof as far as our space will permit, following chiefly the line of play proposed afterwards by the two opponents. The rest must be a matter for position judgment, and for our part we believe that the white pawns should have won against the exchange.

As it was, the parties kept bishops of opposite colours. Blackburne’s superiority of two pawns being divided on the two wings, and, though he tried various dodges, he could not dislodge the adverse K and B from the commanding positions which stopped the progress of both pawns.

The game then declared drawn.