Down to the fifth game it appears plain enough, from the above
examination, that the Edinburgh Club had maintained, at the very
least, an equal position to their antagonists. The first game had
been drawn, with no advantage at any stage of it, in favour of
either party. The second had been won by Edinburgh, but was subject
to the observation that, at one point, London might have won had
they played as well as they _afterwards_ discovered they might
have done. The third game was drawn: but the advantage throughout
had been in favour of Edinburgh, though not sufficiently so for
winning; and, as was the case with London in the previous game,
Edinburgh failed to perceive that by moving differently at a certain
point, they would have been victorious. The fourth game was lost by
Edinburgh, partly through an accidental and what may be called a
mechanical blunder, and partly through another piece of carelessness
of a similar character. After a contest thus maintained down to the
commencement of the fifth game, it is beyond all question that the
palm of superiority, in point of play, must rest with the victor
in that game. And it was a game worthy to determine that question
as well as the match. The Edinburgh Club had again returned upon
their antagonists their own opening. In order to secure scope for
the action of their pieces, they showed considerable intrepidity
in disregarding the ordinary rules against doubled and isolated
pawns; and so admirably had they analysed the game, that for a
great many moves they knew that victory was certain, though all the
while the London Club, according to the confession of some of their
own members, were blind to the fate that was awaiting them; and
believed, on the contrary, that the game was in their own hands.
This fifth game will long be remembered by chess players as one
of the most remarkable in the annals of chess; and appears to us
conclusive, so far as regards the internal evidence derived from the
games themselves, that the superiority, in point of play, lay with
the Edinburgh Club, and that their winning the match was not a mere
accident.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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