Zukertort v Blackburne, London 1883: the queen that couldn't be taken

Johannes Zukertort won the London 1883 tournament with 22 points from 26, three ahead of Wilhelm Steinitz. It was the biggest tournament success of his career, and it set up his match against Steinitz for the world championship in 1886. He played this game against Joseph Henry Blackburne on 5 May. Steinitz called it "one of the most brilliant games on record".

White to move. Zukertort's next move is one of the most famous in chess.

The whole game

Zukertort v Blackburne, London 1883. Step through all 33 moves; Black resigned.

For twenty moves both players build up quietly, with their bishops on b2 and b7. Then White's e- and f-pawns roll forward, the lines open towards Black's king, and Zukertort finishes with a queen offer that Black can't accept.

What Stockfish makes of it

We had Stockfish check every move.

22...Nxf6: the turning point

Black to move after 22.exf6. Recapturing with the queen keeps Black in the game.

Up to here White is better, but only by about a pawn and a half. Recapturing with the knight lets White's f-pawn advance: after 23.f5! Stockfish rates White more than four pawns better. 22...Qxf6 keeps the knight on e8 guarding g7 and leaves Black only about one and a half pawns worse. 23.f5 was White's only strong move: the next best leaves White about one pawn better.

28.Qb4!!: the queen that can't be taken

28.Qb4!! R8c5 29.Rf8+ Kxh7 30.Qxe4+ Kg7: the game.

Zukertort put his queen where Black's queen could take it. If it does, 29.Bxe5+ comes with check and the attack is decisive:

If 28...Qxb4 29.Bxe5+ Kxh7 30.Rh3+, and Stockfish finds mate in five more moves.

Stockfish confirms it: 28.Qb4 wins by force against every reply, and it is the only move that does. The next best, 28.d6, leaves White between two and three pawns better, a big advantage but not a forced win. Black was lost by now whatever he played, and 28...R8c5 let the end come quickly: 29.Rf8+! offers a rook, which Blackburne declined with 29...Kxh7. Two moves later he had to take it.

31.Bxe5+: the right idea, and a faster mate missed

Stockfish's mate in seven: 31.Rg8+! Kxg8 32.Qg6+ Qg7 33.Qe8+ Qf8 34.Rg3+ Kh7 35.Qg6+ Kh8 36.Bxe5+ Qf6 37.Bxf6#.

Zukertort played 31.Bxe5+, and annotators praised it, some with two exclamation marks. It wins, and Stockfish finds a forced mate after it. But 31.Rg8+! mates in seven. Edgard Tchélébi pointed this out in the British Chess Magazine in March 1957: a person found it, decades before computers. The chess historian Edward Winter tells the story, and notes how many later books still leave it out.

After 31.Bxe5+ Kxf8 32.Bg7+ Kg8 33.Qxe7, Blackburne resigned.

How we checked

The moves are from Edward Winter's article on the game, which also gives the date and the 31.Rg8+ story. Some databases print 21...f6 22.exf6 instead of 21...f5 22.exf6 (taking en passant); both reach the same position. We replayed every move with python-chess: all are legal.
The engine: Stockfish 16.1 checked every move at depth 22, and the key moments again at depth 26 to 30. "A pawn better" is Stockfish's measure of the position, not a count of material.
The tournament and Steinitz's words are from Wikipedia's article on Johannes Zukertort.

Try it. Real positions, set at your level, every answer checked against the board. No account needed to start.

Start training