Wilhelm Cohn vs James Mason (1899)

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Wilhelm Cohn vs James Mason
London (1899), London ENG, rd 8, Jun-09
Italian Game: Giuoco Pianissimo. Canal Variation (C50) · 1-0

White to move.

ANALYSIS [x]

1-0

rnbqkbnr/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/RNBQKBNR w KQkq - 0 1

FEN COPIED

explore this opening	find similar games	2 more W Cohn/Mason games
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Dec-22-16		KEG: A fine performance by Cohn in a Bishop versus Knight ending. After a long struggle, Cohn and Mason reached a Bishop and five pawns against Knight and five pawns ending that--contrary to the Tournament Book's claim--was basically even and should have been drawn. Cohn had a passed King's pawn, but Mason had it effectively blocked and Cohn seemingly had no way to make progress. But after fighting for hours, Mason erred by retreating his Knight (48...Nf8) instead of continuing to block Cohn's King-side pawns with 48...Ng5. Cohn immediately took advantage of this slip with his 49. g5 advance. Mason might still have held the game with 49...hxg check, but instead moved his Knight away from the very sector it needed to defend with 49...Nd7. That was all Cohn needed, and he never gave Mason a chance after that. Cohn's 50. g6 tied Mason up in knots. Mason made the best of this bad situation by sacrificing his c-pawn with 50...c5 (he couldn't afford to move his King, and 50...Nf8 would have allowed the killing 51. Bc5 followed by 52. Bd6), but Cohn simply took the pawn and began an assault on Mason's Queen's side with his King. Mason panicked after Cohn's 53. Kd3, and his 53...a5 allowed Cohn a clear road to victory on the Queen's wing which Cohn quickly exploited to the hilt. Mason only made matters worse for himself with 54...Ne7 (instead of 54...Nd8) and 55...Nf5 (the Knight belonged on the other wing with 55...Nc6), but Cohn would doubtless have triumphed in any event by this stage. Seeing that he was busted on the Queen's side, Mason went pawn hunting on the King-side with 56...Ng3 and 57...Nxh5, but once Cohn got in 57. c6 the game was over. After 57...Nxh5, Cohn could have finished Mason off simply with 58. Kxa5 and a march of his c-pawn. But, to steal an old phrase, that would have been a butcher's method, not an artist's. So Cohn cooked up a pretty winning Bishop sacrifice with 58. Be3 and 59. Bxh6. Mason obviously couldn't accept this sacrifice, but Cohn--still determined to win beautifully--unleashed a second Bishop sacrifice with 60. Bxg7. Mason accepted this second sacrifice with 60...NxB, but then Cohn played 61. Kxa5 and his pawns marched to victory. A pleasing conclusion to a well-played ending by Cohn.

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