Talk:Liverpool versus Calcutta, 1880

First game outcome

The image of the final position of the first game, File:Liverpool Calcutta Chess Match Game A, 1880.png, is rather curious. After taking a look and failing to see why White would resign, I plugged it into an analysis board that tells me White is winning (+2.5). (Notice it is White's move as she is in check.) Chessgames reports that the game goes differently, ending in a draw in a slightly different position (look at the position after move 34 and apply 35.Be4 Rxe4 36.Nxe4). Chessgames agrees that the match was 1.5–0.5, but after a draw and a win for a Liverpool (not the other way around). So did The Chess Monthly get it wrong? — Bilorv (talk) 21:42, 24 October 2021 (UTC)

Thanks. Perhaps the caption can then be changed to "image of a game, reported by Ches Monthly", to keep it ambiguous.Anderson1970 (talk) 23:42, 24 October 2021 (UTC)

That would only lead to more reader confusion. I think we need to get to the bottom of this one way or another. It's fairly easy (albeit takes a few minutes) to create a diagram of a chess position, like the ones at Immortal Game#Annotated game, so I can do that for chessgames' version of events if we think that is the genuine one. Otherwise we should leave The Chess Monthly's. Or possibly show both and note the contradiction without saying which is correct.

However, we should have some other source than chessgames if we are to do this, as it is user-generated content and therefore not a reliable source (though it is generally very accurate). They must've got their version of the game from one of the 20 or so sources they cite at the end of the page. — Bilorv (talk) 10:17, 25 October 2021 (UTC)