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Paul Morphy vs John William Schulten
Casual game (1857), New York, NY USA
Italian Game: Italian Variation (C50)  ·  1-0

ANALYSIS [x]

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Kibitzer's Corner
< Earlier Kibitzing  · PAGE 2 OF 2 ·  Later Kibitzing>
Dec-16-02  bishop: mdorothy, When Morphy plays a blindfoldgame he is the only one that plays without looking, not his opponent.
Dec-21-02  mdorothy: Ok, that makes it that much more incredible, and I guess it does make sense, considering how good he was.
Mar-24-04  HailM0rphy: He really makes it look that easy..and blindfolded..you cant tell me he isnt smarter then einstein
Nov-28-04  ArmyBuddy: Einstein couldn't play a lick of chess. He knew the rules. He just got beat too easily. You don't need to be a genius to play chess. You need a good memory and the will to win. That's all Bobby Fischer had and he is a high school dropout.
Aug-24-05  Jgamazo: Instead of 5. ... exd4? he should of played 5. ... fxe4! followed by Nf6, Bd6, 0-0, and d5.

The worst move was 6. ... d6?? this opens a direct line to the king. He could have tried Ne7, but the pieces are uncoordinated and the position is cramped.

Aug-24-05  RookFile: There may be some 'annotating by result' going on here. If black plays 9... Nd8, he has a defendable
position, with white enjoying his usual slight advantage. No quick victories anywhere in sight for white after this move.
Aug-24-05  paul dorion: <Jgamazo> 5...fxe4 looks suicidal after 6 Bxg8 exf3
7 Qxf3 Rxg8
8 dxc5 White is a pawn up and black stll has to defend h7 (Qh5+)
Aug-24-05  RookFile: I don't quite agree, paul. I think
black would be overjoyed to see white
take that pawn. Let's say he plays
8... d5, and instead of 9. cxd6 Qxd6
10. Qh5+ Qg6 11. Qxg6 white plays
instead 9. Qh5+ g6 10. Qxh7 and black
plays ...Be6. If white isn't careful,
black can castle queenside, and we find that the only thing Qxh7 does is commit sui-mate down the h file.

More principled is 6. Nxe5 with a clear advantage for white.

Aug-24-05  Boomie: 5...fxe4 is suicidal because it does not address black's backward development.

5...fxe4 6. ♘xe5 ♘xe5 7. dxe5 d5

(7...♕e7 8. ♗f4 (2.31/13))

8. ♕xd5 ♕xd5 9. ♗xd5 ♗d4 10. ♗xe4 ♗xe5
11. ♖e1 (2.27/13)

In fact 4...f5 is also a losing move. But Morphy missed the best line. Instead of 6.e5, an interference move, ♘g5 is more forcing.

6. ♘g5 ♘e5 7. exf5 ♔f8 8. ♗xg8 ♔xg8 9. ♖e1 d6 10. c3 h6 11. cxd4 hxg5 12. dxe5 ♗xf5 13. ♕d5+ ♔h7 14. exd6 ♗xb1 15. ♕xc5 cxd6 16. ♕d5 (1.80/13) with an easy win.

Aug-24-05  RookFile: Yes, and i thought 6. exf5 was also good. But, we can cut Morphy some slack, the guy was playing blindfold. However, it is a valid point to say,
just because Morphy won the game, doesn't mean every move of his is good, and every move by the losing side is black. Taking the position before move 9, for example, if black plays 9... Nd8, he has a perfectly reasonable game, with a long fight ahead.
Aug-25-05  Jgamazo: To <paul dorion> I was thinking about Bird vs Morphy, 1858 where the position was similar. But Morphy was black.
Aug-25-05  paul dorion: <Jgamazo> The Bc4 makes all the difference. Also , in the Bird-Morphy game White missed 6 Ne5 and 8f3 both leading to advantage according to ECO.
Aug-25-05  paul dorion: <rookfile> On taking the h7 pawn. Your comment gives the answer. To stop Qh5+ black has to play d5 opening up the game further to White's delight. Don't forget: Treaths are often stronger than their execution. After the queen exchange on g6 black is lost: Bg5 stops o-o-o and white will pick black weak pawns easely.
Jan-10-06  morpstau: Why did Schulton even bother to play the ChessGod? This game is a fresh example of how to punish rediculous moves such as f5??! I mean out of the 15 games between these two, did john henry schulton even win a bloody game? Its just pathetic to watch a waste of Paul Morphys time. He could have been watching and listening to opera!
Apr-10-06  McCool: That last move should be a puzzle one day.
Dec-09-07  krippp: <ArmyBuddy: Einstein couldn't play a lick of chess. He knew the rules. He just got beat too easily. You don't need to be a genius to play chess. You need a good memory and the will to win. That's all Bobby Fischer had and he is a high school dropout.>

I hope that's just a shoddy attempt at sarcasm, because otherwise it's one of the dumbest things I've ever heard.

Though, as you seem to have been inactive for years and probably won't be reading this, I won't bother to go on/explain any further. Just wanted to "break the silence" concerning your comment.

Mar-29-08  giovanygc: Even blind, Morphy didn't forget the natural weakness of f7 square.
Jun-19-12  LoveThatJoker: Guess-the-Move Final Score:

Morphy vs J Schulten, 1857.
YOU ARE PLAYING THE ROLE OF MORPHY.
Your score: 10 (par = 12)

LTJ

Jul-22-14  Ke2: Worst move is probably just 4...f5. I just checked the opening explorer and surprisingly this is the only instance of 4...f5.
Dec-21-20  paulmorphy1969: There is no record that this game was played blindly. In the book of macon shibut it is not even mentioned in the link below where the game was published. Played at the New York Club. Appears in the New York Clipper of 27 Nov 1858 http://www.chessarch.com/excavation...
Dec-22-20
Premium Chessgames Member
  MissScarlett: It is to be hoped that Morphy will eventually get the <McFarland> treatment. Locating contemporary sources for as many Morphy games as possible would certainly be a challenging project. Maybe an aspiring group of <cg.com> members could make some headway.
Feb-10-21  paulmorphy1969: MissScarlett i have been doing research for a year i intend to write the most updated book on Morphy it will be a long and demanding job i hope to finish it, i managed to find 2 unreleased games and find many NN names of the opponents
Feb-10-21
Premium Chessgames Member
  MissScarlett: Is this book going to be in Italian only? Is it primarily intended to be a complete games collection?
Dec-02-21
Premium Chessgames Member
  MissScarlett: I've added <12...Qf6>, per the <New York Clipper>, November 27th 1858, p.252. This addition suggests it was not the source used by Lawson in his <Unknown Games of Paul Morphy>, the <BCM>, August 1978.
Jun-22-24  generror: Playing <4...f5> against Morphy? Man, Schulten really asked for it XD
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