Notorious 1872 Wyllie-Martins Match

[Richard Pask]

Much is made of the 1863 WCM, but as Jim Loy showed when he kindly posted the games on this forum, it wasn't quite as repetitive as we have been led to believe.

Far worse was the freestyle part of the 1872 match! 36 games were restricted and 36 games freestyle.

Looking solely at the freestyle games we find the following:

11-15 23-19; 9-14 22-17; 7-11 25-22; 11-16 26-23; 5-9 17-13; 3-7 22-17; 8-11 31-26; 4-8 29-25; 1-5 25-22; 16-20 23-18 (Block Whilter) … 17 identical draws!

11-15 23-19; 9-14 27-23; 8-11 22-18; 15-22 25-9; 5-14 29-25; 11-15 25-22; 7-11 22-18; 15-22 26-17 … 17 identical draws!

11-15 23-19; 8-11 22-17; 9-13 17-14; 10-17 21-14; 15-18 … Wyllie won with White.

11-15 23-18; 8-11 27-23; 10-14 22-17; 15-22 17-10; 6-15 26-17; 11-16 23-18! (Anticipating Tinsley-Banks 1952) … drawn with Wyllie Black.

And that's the entire freestyle match.