The second game, played on Saturday, the 19th of February, commenced, by mutual consent, at three o’clock, it having been agreed by both players to alter the rule respecting the hour for the beginning of the match games, to the effect that the games played on Tuesdays and Saturdays should commence at three o’clock p.m., and the one due on Thursday at two p.m. A large number of visitors, including Lord Walden, Mr. Cochrane, and Mr. Strode, attended to witness the contest, which on that day was accompanied by unusually stirring incidents. Mr. Blackburne opened with the variation of the Scotch Gambit which had been adopted by the Viennese in one of the games of the memorable match by telegraph and correspondence between London and Vienna. The defence then adopted by the London council wins a P for the second player, whose king has, however, to abandon the privilege of castling in consequence, and to remain confined for a long while in an extremely perilous-looking position, while his pieces on the Q side are also shut up, and cannot be brought into play for some time. Though it has been demonstrated by the success of the London council that the P was worth all the trouble of a protracted defence in a correspondence game, where several days could be taken for the consideration of one move, and though the theoretical soundness of this defence has been advocated in The Field and by other authorities, this line of play is shunned by many practitioners as too difficult, especially in match games over the board, wherein a time limit is adopted, which must of necessity be much shorter than the time allowance for correspondence games. Mr. Steinitz, who nevertheless adopted the same defence, wasted a great deal of time in the opening, hesitating in order to endeavour to vary the recognised line of play, as is his wont to do in match games; but he ultimately followed move by move the precepts of the so-called Vienna game, and the first deviation from that established form of play came from the leader of the attack. On the 9th move Mr. Blackburne introduced the alteration of 9. Q takes B, instead of Kt takes B, as played by Vienna. The game became more especially exciting when the second player exhausted his first hour on the 13th move, and, having an exceedingly difficult game to fight, was therefore still more likely to get into trouble with the time allowance in the second hour, when, according to the stipulations, he might have to forfeit, unless he succeeded in raising the average speed of his moves, which seemed doubtful, as his position was very critical. He, however, managed to keep afloat up to the 20th move, when he ventured upon a sortie, attacking the opponent’s K Kt with his Q Kt P, which some experts in the room considered questionable; and so it would appear, unless our notes to Black’s 20th and 22nd move and White’s 24th move should prove a redeeming feature of this defence. Blackburne, without stopping to defend the Kt, began a vehement attack in his usual vigorous and brilliant style, and probably, if he had consistently followed it up, might have obtained a winning position on the 24th move. He no doubt conceived at the time some of the beautiful variations which we give on that move below, for he showed them to the bystanders immediately after the game was finished. Most likely he would have succeeded in actual play in effecting a surprise with one of those variations which for a long time were held unanswerable, until Herr Zukertort found the objections pointed out in our notes. On Mr. Blackburne’s 29th move the alarum bell of his clock rang, to show that he could only rely upon the stipulated five minutes grace for his next two moves, and thus it happened that he did not elect the much stronger 29. Q R takes B, which would have soon won a P. The adjournment for an hour took place on Black’s 30th move, and after resuming play Steinitz made two more moves, and then offered a draw. For reasons stated below and, probably also being annoyed at having let his opponent slip, Mr. Blackburne rejected the offer, though the positions were quite equal. But in trying to win Blackburne had to deploy one of his rooks, and subjected his queen to the attack of the two combined hostile rooks. When his opponent took up the offensive, Blackburne had an extremely difficult game to defend, and was also getting short of time. A feeble move on his part, made under those circumstances, enabled Steinitz to win a P and exchange both rooks, after which it came to an extremely difficult ending game as both parties had still their queens on the board. By cautious advance Steinitz managed, however, to secure an easily winning position on the 58th move. (Scotch Gambit.)

1. 9.Qxd2 (a) In the match between London and Vienna, the latter retook the B with the Kt. The course here adopted does not seem to afford greater facilities for the defence, and has, perhaps, the advantage for match games, that it has not received such an exhaustive analysis as the line of play pursued in the above-mentioned game.
2. 9…Nf6 (b) It shows a strange lapse of memory on the part of Mr. Steinitz that he should have neglected here the much stronger P to Q R 3, followed soon by P to Q Kt 4, which he afterwards adopted successfully in two other games of this match, where he had to play the defence in the same opening. The present situation was suppositiously provided for, and the latter line of play recommended by Messrs. Potter and Steinitz in their analysis of the match between London and Vienna, and published in The Field of April 18th, 1874.
3. 12…Qd4 (c) P to Q Kt 4, blocking out the opponent’s K Kt, was tempting, but would have been thoroughly unsound, e.g., 12... P to Q Kt 4 13. B to B 3; 13... Q to Q B 4 (best) 14. P to Q Kt 4; 14... Q to Kt 3 (best) 15. Q to K Kt 5; 15... K R to Kt sq. 16. Kt to Q 5 and wins.
4. 13…Rg8 [1st hour]
5. 14…h6 (d) An important move, not alone to prevent the hostile Q from establishing herself at any of the strong posts on the K side, but also to enable Black to bring his own Q into greater security by constantly offering the exchange of Queens.
6. 17.Qc4 [1st hour]
7. 18.Qb4 (e) White would have gained nothing by attacking the Kt and the Q, by P to K B 4, though the Kt might have been temporarily put out of play. For instance, 18. P to K B 4; 18... Kt takes Q 19. P takes Q; 19... Kt takes Kt 20. P takes Kt; 20... Kt takes P 21. B to Q 3; 21... Kt takes R 22. B to R 7; 22... P takes P and Black is out of danger.
8. 18…Nc6 (f) Black’s last two moves were made under the pressure of time limit, and under the impression that he could advance the P to Kt 4 if the opponent retreated the Q to Kt 3; but it appears that after White’s next answer, this expedient could not be adopted, e.g., 19. Q to Kt 3; 19... P to Q Kt 4 20. B to B 3; 20... B to Kt 2 21. Q takes B P; 21... Kt to K 4 22. R takes Kt; 22... Q takes R 23. B takes B; 23... R to Q Kt sq. 24. B to B 6, &c.
9. 20…b5 (g) This move is weak, and gives the opponent an excellent opportunity for displaying his power of brilliant resource. In our notes in The Field Q to Q B 4 instead was given as the correct play. The latter move may have been better than the one in the text, but on closer examination we find that it could not have been followed up by offering the exchange of Queens at Q Kt 5, for which object the move has evidently been recommended, for instance: 20... Q to Q B 4 21. Q Kt to R 4; 21... Q to Kt 5 22. B takes Kt; 22... Q takes Q 23. R P takes Q; 23... Kt P takes B 24. K Kt to Q R 5 recovering the P with the superior game.
10. 21…Bb7 (h) Had Black captured the knight, the adversary would have recovered the piece at once by Q to Q R 3, attacking the R, followed by B takes Kt.
11. 22…Rb8 (i) Probably K to B sq. would have been the much safer line of play. The move in the text subjects Black to a most vehement attack, from which he ought hardly to have escaped. Kt takes Kt would, however, have made it still more easy for the opponent, e.g.: 22... Kt takes Kt 23. R takes Kt; 23... Q to B 3 24. R from K sq. to Q sq.; 24... Kt to Kt sq. 25. Kt to R 5; 25... B takes R 26. Q takes B, and, whether Black reply R to R 2 or P to B 3, White would win by the answer of Q to Q B 5.
12. 24.Ne5 (j) Mr. Blackburne, who had conducted the attack in an excellent manner, was here very hard pressed for time—so much that he had ultimately, on the 29th move, to take advantage of the five minutes’ grace accorded by the conditions. Under such pressure he was unable to work out the details of the bolder course of offering the sacrifice of the exchange by R to K 5, which he, as he informs us, at first intended. We present a diagram of the position: Position of the game before White’s 24th move. R to K 5 might have led to one of the following fine variations: 24. R to K 5; 24... Kt takes R or (a) 25. Q to K 7, ch; 25... K moves 26. Kt to Kt 6, ch; 26... P takes Kt 27. Kt takes P, ch; 27... K moves 28. Q to Q 6, ch; 28... K to Q sq. 29. Q takes R, ch; 29... B to B sq. 30. B to Kt 7, (better than Q takes B, ch, which would only draw the game), and wins. Or (a), 24... Q to R 5 25. Kt takes Kt; 25... Q takes Kt at B 3, or (b) 26. K R to Q 5; 26... P takes Kt 27. R takes P, ch; 27... K to K sq. (if K to B sq., 28. B to Kt 4 follows) 28. R takes Q B P, and ought to win. Or (b), 25. P takes Kt; 25... R to K 4 26. Q to R 6 if the Q move to K Kt 4, White would reply R to K Kt 4, &c.; 26... B to Kt 4, and wins. Herr Zukertort has, however, called our attention to an escape which Black could provide by giving up a piece in the following manner: 24. R to K 5; 24... P to Kt 5 25. R takes Q; 25... P takes Q 26. Kt takes Kt; 26... P takes R 27. Kt takes R; 27... P takes P 28. Kt takes P; 28... Kt to K 4 and White’s Kt at Kt 8 will remain imprisoned.
13. 29.Rexd5 (k) No doubt it would have much improved White’s position if he had here re-taken with the other R, and reserved the K R to occupy the square at K 7. [2nd hour]
14. 30.R5d3 (l) Mr. Hoffer points out that White might have here played with much greater advantage, Q to K 6, ch, followed by sacrificing the R. For instance: 30. Q to K 6, ch; 30... K to Kt 2 31. R takes Q P; 31... P takes R. 32. R takes P and Black has nothing better than to sacrifice the Q for the other R, since White is threatening either Q to Q 5, ch, or R to Q 7, ch, according to Black’s reply. No doubt the Q with two pawns to the good would have had much the best of the fight against the two rooks, but since the superiority of pawns was divided on two wings Black had some chance of drawing the game.
15. 30…Qe8 (m) At this stage the game was adjourned, and was resumed after an hour’s interval.
16. 31…Rf8 [2nd hour]
17. 32…Rf6 (n) Here Mr. Steinitz proposed a draw, and Mr. Blackburne admits that the offer was a fair one, as the position and forces were quite even; but Mr. Blackburne, in refusing the offer, relied chiefly upon the circumstance that his opponent had exhausted about seventeen minutes of his third hour over the last two moves, and he trusted to the chance of inveigling Black into such complications as would necessitate his consuming more time than the limit would allow, or cause him to make some ill-considered move of which advantage could be taken.
18. 34.Rde1 (o) Q to R 7 would have been of no use, for Black would have replied Q to Kt 3, and, if then White checked with the R, the Black K would move to Q 2, and White could not then take the R with the Q, on account of the impending mate, commencing with Q takes K B P, ch, followed by the sacrifice of the Q at B 8.
19. 35…Qd7 (p) Black might also with safety here have played R to K sq., but the move in the text gave him more aggressive chances.
20. 41.Qh4 (q) White could not well sacrifice the Q for two rooks by playing R takes R, for Black would win at least two pawns on the Q side, by Q to Q 4, after capturing the Q and the opponent’s re-taking the R with the P. Q to B 2 was, however, better than the move in the text. [3rd hour]
21. 43.Qe4 (r) Again Q to B 2 was preferable, but Mr. Blackburne had here to fight against the difficulty of making all his moves up to the 45th within the five minutes’ grace allowed to him, he having already exhausted his limit on the 41st move.
22. 51.Qd2 (s) In answer to P to Q Kt 4, Black would have advanced the P to Q R 4, and upon the opponent taking it, he had time to recover it by K to R 3.
23. 52…b4 [3rd hour]
24. 58.Kb1 (t) He had nothing else; had he advanced the P to B 5, Black would have replied Q to B 8, ch, followed accordingly either by the exchange of queens, or the immediate advance of the Q R P.
25. 58…Qb3+ (u) Now White’s K and Q are altogether confined, and Black can bring his K round so as to exchange queens, and to capture the K B P at the proper moment, as was actually done.
26. 62…c5 [4th hour]
27. 67…Kxf4 Resigns. [Duration eight hours.]