Johannes Hermann Zukertort

1842-1888

On Saturday, 25 January 1873 Zukertort played 12 members of Glasgow Chess Club in a 'blindfold' simultaneous exhibition at the Faculty Hall.

Play commenced at 2 p.m. At 5 p.m. the players adjourned to the club rooms for dinner, which lasted 1½ hours. Play then resumed and continued to 10 p.m.

Mr Zukertort had black on boards 1-6 and white on boards 7-12.

 

Board	Player	Result
1	Mr Steegman	Lost
2	Mr Fairlie	Unfinished
3	Mr Eekhout	Lost
4	Mr A.K. Murray	Lost
5	Mr Ross	Drawn
6	Mr Fyfe	Won
7	Mr Kennedy	Lost
8	Mr Grant	Drawn
9	Mr Birch	Drawn
10	Mr Scott	Lost
11	Sheriff Spens	Drawn
12	Mr McTarget	Drawn

Result: +5, =5, -1 and one unfinished.

John Fyfe - Zukertort
Glasgow, 25 January 1873 (blindfold simultaneous)

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. Bc4 Ne7 4. c3 Nbc6 5. a4 d5 6. exd5 exd5 7. Bb5 g6 8. d4 cxd4 9. Qxd4 Rg8 10. Qh4 Nf5 11. Qxd8+ Kxd8 12. Bxc6 bxc6 13. Ne5 Bg7 14. Nxc6+ Kc7 15. Nb4 Re8+ 16. Kd1 Be6 17. Bf4+ Kb7 18. Nd2 d4 19. c4 Rac8 20. b3 a5 21. Nd3 h6 22. h4 Ne7 23. Ne4 Nf5 24. g4 Bxc4 25. Nec5+ 1-0

Zukertort - Sheriff Spens
Glasgow, 25 January 1873 (blindfold simultaneous)

1. e4 e5 2. f4 d5 3. exd5 e4 4. Bb5+ Bd7 5. Bc4 Bc5 6. Ne2 b5 7. Bb3 Bg4 8. d4 exd3 9. Qxd3 c6 10. Be3 Qe7 11. Bxc5 Qxc5 12. Nbc3 Ne7 13. Ne4 Qb6 14. Nd6+ Kf8 15. Nxf7 Kxf7 16. d6+ Nd5 17. Bxd5+ cxd5 18. Qxd5+ Be6 19. Qxa8 Re8 20. O-O-O Nc6 21. Qxe8+ Kxe8 22. Rhe1 g6 23. f5 Bxf5 24. Nd4+ Kd8 25. Nxf5 gxf5 26. d7 Ne7 27. Rxe7 Kxe7 28. d8=Q+ Qxd8 29. Rxd8 and Zukertort won the game, says the Illustrated London News, 22 February 1873, p187. The Glasgow Herald said the game was drawn, which was likely an error. 1-0

Zukertort - McTarget
Glasgow, 25 January 1873 (blindfold simultaneous)

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. b4 Bxb4 5. c3 Ba5 6. d4 exd4 7. O-O d6 8. cxd4 Nf6 9. e5 dxe5 10. d5 e4 11. Qa4 exf3 12. dxc6 b5 13. Qxb5 fxg2 14. Kxg2 Bh3+ 15. Kxh3 Qc8+ Drawn by perpetual check. 1/2-1/2 

Present at this display was James Mavor (1854-1925), who had recently resumed his interest in chess and joined Glasgow CC. He wrote in My Windows on the Street of the World (Vol. 1, 1923):-

Zukertort came to Glasgow to play a series of simultaneous blindfold games, and I was asked to call out the moves for him...It was a very marvellous performance. One of the players challenged one of Zukertort's moves. The player had in defiance of all rules been moving pieces about on his board. Zukertort was not in the least disturbed by the challenge. He repeated the game from the beginning, and then gave the position as it should be. It is needless to say that he was indisputably right and the seeing player wrong.  

Zukertort had other engagements at the Glasgow CC, including a simultaneous display and regular games with club members.

John Jenkins - Zukertort
Glasgow, 1873 (simultaneous)
Evans Gambit

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. b4 Bxb4 5. c3 Ba5 6. d4 exd4 7. Qb3 Qf6 8. O-O dxc3 9. Bg5 Qg6 10. Nxc3 Bxc3 11. Qxc3 Nge7 12. e5 O-O 13. Qd2 h6 14. Bd3 Qh5 15. Be3 Nxe5 16. Nxe5 Qxe5 17. Rae1 Qd6 18. Bf4 Qc5 19. Re5 Qa3 20. Ra5 1-0

Zukertort - John Jenkins
Glasgow, 1873, Casual game

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. Ng5 d5 5. exd5 Na5 6. Bb5+ c6 7. dxc6 bxc6 8.Be2 h6 9. Nf3 Bd6 10. O-O O-O 11. Nc3 Nd5 12. Ne4 f5 13. Nxd6 Qxd6 14. d4 e4 15. Ne5 f4 16. c4 f3 17. cxd5 fxe2 18. Qxe2 cxd5 19. Qb5 Nb7 20. Bd2 Qe6 21. Bb4 Rf6 22. Rac1 Nd8 23. Rfe1 Ba6 24. Qd7 Qxd7 25. Nxd7 Rc6 26. Nc5 Rac8 27. Ba5 Rxc5? 28. Rxc5 1-0

 

Sources
Glasgow Herald, Monday, 27 January 1873, p6.
Huddersfield College Magazine, Vol. 2, pp12-13.
Illustrated London News (various issues).

Alan McGowan
Archivist/Historian, Chess Scotland  

added 10/5/2020