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Legends |
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by G Srikanth |
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"What
can be said to be permanent in this fleeting world, if not our remembrance of the deeds of
great men?" - Ludwig Bauer |
Paul Morphy (1837 - 84) |
Game
Viewer | Games |
Paul Morphy was born on 22nd June 1837
in New Orleans. He learnt chess from his father at the age of 10. As a
result of his wealthy background, Morphy had a sound education and he
graduated in 1854. His chief attraction then was mathematics and law.
Of course he was growing as a sound player too these years. His name
became well known in the chess fraternity only after his triumph in
the American Chess Congress of 1857, where he defeated Louis Paulsen.
From then on he had a string of success against fellow Americans and
its impact was such that he was considered invincible by them and they
even challenged the world to produce his equal.
Morphy then set of on an European tour to establish
his prowess there especially to prove against Howard Staunton. He
arrived in London in June 1858 and first played against Lowenthal and
won with a comfortable margin of +9 3 =2. Morphy then played a
match with Harrwitz as Staunton was avoiding to play him. He won that
match by a score of +5-2=1. He then played a match with Anderssen by
which time it was apparent that Staunton was consciously avoiding
Morphy. Morphy won the match scoring +7-2=2. He also gave some
exhibitions and was waiting to play Staunton. Barring a couple of
consultation games in which his team lost both, Staunton never played
a serious match. Adding to this Staunton ridiculed him as an
adventurer without financial backing. Morphy internally got crushed at
this and he returned immediately to America and endeavoured to
practice law but found no recognition in that field. He totally broke
down when a lady turned down his proposal stating that she would not
marry a "mere chess player". By this time he became a
psychotic and suffered from delusion syndrome. Morphy died in New
Orleans in July, 1884 at the age of 47.
Morphy understanding of the principles of
development and his strategy in general was far superior to his
contemporaries. He was referred to as a "flashing meteor"
who signaled the advent of a new era!
We present few of his games which were typical of
his style. Though the opposition play was very poor, the execution was
perfect.
Morphy, P Duke of Braunsweig and Count
Isouard
Paris, 1858
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1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 Bg4 4.dxe5 Bxf3 5.Qxf3 dxe5
6.Bc4 Those were the days when theory was not well developed. But
Morphy had a very superior sense for development, and his oponents
could not cope up with his strategy. Here black should have atleast
played 6...Qd7; or 6....Qf6. 6...Nf6 7.Qb3 Qe7 With the idea of
exchanging queens after 8.Qb7 Qb4 etc. 8.Nc3! c6 9.Bg5 b5? |
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9...b6 was better.
Now Morphy unleashes a powerful combination! 10.Nxb5 cxb5
11.Bxb5+ Nbd7 12.000 Rd8 13.Rxd7 Rxd7 14.Rd1 Qe6 15.Bxd7+
Nxd7 16.Qb8+! Nxb8 17.Rd8# 10
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Paulsen,L - Morphy,P
New York, 1857 |
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6
3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Bb5 Bc5 5.00 00 6.Nxe5 Re8 7.Nxc6 dxc6 8.Bc4?! 8.Be2 8...b5 9.Be2 Nxe4 10.Nxe4
Rxe4 11.Bf3?! Better was 11.c3 intending d4; Bd3. 11...Re6
12.c3? [Better was 12.d3 ] 12...Qd3 13.b4 Bb6 14.a4 bxa4
15.Qxa4 Bd7 16.Ra2 As a result of bad opening play, white is
confined to total passivity. 16...Rae8 17.Qa6 |
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Qxf3! Rips open whites kingside. 18.gxf3 Rg6+ 19.Kh1 Bh3
20.Rd1 Bg2+ 21.Kg1 Bxf3+ 22.Kf1 Bg2+ 23.Kg1 Bh3+ 24.Kh1 Bxf2 25.Qf1
Bxf1 26.Rxf1 Re2 27.Ra1 Rh6 28.d4 Be3 01
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Schulten - Morphy,P
New York, 1857 |
13.Kf1 White landed in this position after a very bad
opening. 13...Rxe2 14.Nxe2 Nd4 15.Qb1 Bxe2+ 16.Kf2 Ng4+ 17.Kg1
Nf3+! 18.gxf3 Qd4+ 19.Kg2 Qf2+ 20.Kh3 Qxf3+ 21.Kh4 Nh6 22.Qg1 Nf5+
23.Kg5 Qh5# 01
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Morphy,P - Anderssen,A
Match, Paris, 1858
1.e4 d5 2.exd5 Qxd5 3.Nc3 Qa5 4.d4 e5 5.dxe5 Qxe5+
6.Be2 Bb4 7.Nf3 Bxc3+ 8.bxc3 Qxc3+ 9.Bd2 Qc5 10.Rb1 Nc6 11.00 Nf6
12.Bf4 00!? |
12....Qe7 is bit shaky after 13.Re1! If 12....Nb4;
13.Qe1 Nc2 14.Bb5 Kf8; 15.Qd2 Bf5; 16.Rfc1 Nd5; 17.Ba4 Nf4; 18.Bc2
Bc2; 19.Rc2 Qd6; 20.Qd6 cd6, 21.Rb7 With a clear advantage for white 13.Bxc7
Nd4 14.Qxd4 Qxc7 15.Bd3 Bg4 16.Ng5 Rfd8? A very bad move, black
Should have played here..16.... intending Bg6 17.Qb4 Bc8 18.Rfe1 a5 |
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19.Qe7! Now Black loses a pawn 19...Qxe7
20.Rxe7 Nd5 21.Bxh7+ Kh8 22.Rxf7 Nc3 23.Re1 Nxa2 24.Rf4 Ra6 25.Bd3 10
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Lichtenheein - Morphy,P
New York, 1857 |
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 exd4 4.Bc4 Nf6 5.e5 d5 6.Bb5
Ne4 7.Nxd4 Bd7 8.Nxc6 bxc6 9.Bd3 Bc5 As a result of indifferent
opening play, white lags behind in development. 10.Bxe4 Qh4! 11.Qe2
dxe4 12.Be3? |
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He should have castled here. After the text he gets crushed 12...Bg4
13.Qc4 Bxe3 14.g3 If here, 14.Qc6 Bd7; 15.Qa8 Ke7; 16.g3 Bf2!;
17.Kf2 e3; 18.Ke1 Qb4; 19.c3 Qb2; 20.Qh8 Bg4!! and mate cannot be
avoided. 14...Qd8 15.fxe3 Qd1+ 16.Kf2 Qf3+ 17.Kg1 Bh3 Mate
cannot be avoided. 18.Qxc6+ Kf8 19.Qxa8+ Ke7 01 |
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- G Srikanth |
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