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Paul Morphy vs Theodore Lichtenhein
"Morphy Addiction" (game of the day Jul-21-2015)
Blindfold game (1857) (blindfold), New Orleans, Nov-19
King's Gambit: Accepted. Modern Defense (C36)  ·  1-0

ANALYSIS [x]

FEN COPIED

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Kibitzer's Corner
< Earlier Kibitzing  · PAGE 1 OF 2 ·  Later Kibitzing>
Dec-12-02  bishop: Who cares about Pawns or Pieces, give me some open lines!
Dec-12-02  mdorothy: Definatly true. That motif seems to come up quite often in Morphy's games.
Aug-24-03  ksadler: Another one of my favourite Morphy king-hunts!
Aug-24-03  ramdaz: It is not a check mate. But will lead to one
Aug-24-03  Jonber: Looks like mate to me, <ramadaz>.
Aug-24-03  refutor: 9.O-O has to be losing at best, suicidal at worst. not surprising that no one has picked up the white side of this line since morphy played it
Aug-24-03  Jonber: 9.O-O looks fairly OK to me, though I would probably play 9.Qe2+ first:

9.Qe2+ Be6 10.0–0 gxh2+ 11.Kh1

Not that I would ever back myself into the same King’s Gambit corner as Morphy does with such ease. I’ve long suspected Morphy chose suspect lines like the above against inferior opponents because he knew it would look flashy when he beat them. (Pure speculation on my part, off course.)

Aug-24-03  refutor: well i thought the ladies shoes told him to do it ;)
Aug-24-03  Jonber: Lol, touché! :)
Apr-21-04  Abecedarian: Let's get this straight. I'll castle to my kingside on the theory that I can use an opponant's pawn on my 2nd rank as my sole defence. Oh now I get it, only when I see a fifteen-move king hunt in advance.... Should we call this an "instructive" game or what!
Jun-04-04  acirce: What happens on 17...Bxg5? Does White win? I mean he can win Black's Q but at the cost of lots of material.
Jun-05-04
Premium Chessgames Member
  tpstar: <acirce> Good point - 17 ... Bxg5 18. Rad1 Bd2 19. Rf2 Bxc3 20. Rxd4+ Bxd4 21. Rd2 picks off the Bd4 (21 ... c5 22. c3 and not 22. Qe4+? Kc7 23. Qxa8? Bb7+) but leaves Black with RBN vs. Q, although the game is much less fun without the Queen around, huh? Surely Black thought he was winning handily anyway, after that gaudy opening. Also, defensive technique back then may have been, um, uh, underemphasized. But after 17. Nc3 Bd7 I'm surprised Morphy missed the picture perfect cross-pin 18. Qxg7! winning on the spot.
Oct-07-04  Whitehat1963: Another entertaining game from Morphy in the opening of the day.
Aug-10-05  refutor: "i can use an opponent's pawn on my 2nd rank as my sole defense"

it's the same idea as 1.e4 e5 2.f4 exf 3.Nf3 Be7 4.Bc4 Bh4+ 5.g3 fxg3 6.O-O gxh2+ 7.Kh1 the three pawns gambit which morphy also played

Aug-10-05  Calli: <I'm surprised Morphy missed the picture perfect cross-pin 18. Qxg7!>

Well, he never "saw" it. Morphy played this one blindfold. Also the site should be "New York".

Mar-19-06  schnarre: Ouch! a pawn mate adds insult to injury!
Oct-15-06
Premium Chessgames Member
  tpstar: After 16. Bg5+ Bf6:


click for larger view

17. Nc3! is a key move, preventing Queen checks on e4 or d5 (17. Qxg7?! Qd5+ 18. Kxh2 Qxg5) while the QR covers the back rank (17. Rxf6? Qg1#).

Apr-02-07  MasterSavely: i always love checkmating instead of taking the queen. also the pawn mate insults the opponent...saying.. (you are so bad i could mate you with my weakest piece) not true... a popular insult around here.
Jul-26-07  unixfanatic: 11. ... Bxe5 and I'm not sure White has compensation. Despite the intimidating appearance, after 11. ... Bxe5 12. Bxf7+ Ke7 and there doesn't seem to be any concrete way for White to get ahead. 12. Qh5 also doesn't seem to win. Does someone have a refutation to this?
May-25-08  heuristic: better lines than the game :

11.Nc3 Ne7 12.d4 Bf5 13.Qe2

11...Bxe5 12.Bxf7+ Ke7 13.Re1 Kxf7

13.Bxh6 Qxd4 14.Bxf7+ Kd8 15.Bf4

13...Bxd4 14.Bxf7+ Kd7 15.Bxh6 gxh6

17...Bxg5 18.Rad1 Bd2 19.Rf2 Bxc3

18.Qxg7 Bxg5 19.Qxd4 Re8 20.Ne4

18...Kc8 19.Qxg7 Re8 20.Bf4 Qf2

19.Qxg7 Re8 20.Rxc6+ Nx6 21.Nb5+

19...Kc8 20.Qxg7 Re8 21.Rd1 Qc4

21.Rad1 Rd8 22.Ne4 Qb6 23.R6d3

22.Rd3 Qxd3 23.Nc5+ Kc8 24.Nxd3

Jul-10-08  HannibalSchlecter: Go Morphy! Go Morphy! When I see Morphy's games each move contains so much energy that it seems that with each turn he is getting to play two moves in a row.
May-14-09  WhiteRook48: Lichtenhein knows how to lose in style
Dec-25-09  notyetagm: Every Morphy game is a <TACTICAL TOUR DE FORCE>.
Mar-25-11  Llawdogg: 26 Bd2+! is an amazing deflection sacrifice. Morphy pulls the black queen into position for his knight to fork the opposing king and queen. However, he never collects the queen because he has checkmate coming instead.

And this was a blindfold simultaneous exhibition against the third best player in the country. Amazing!

Mar-25-11  joupajou: Many of these old games resemble the good ole Brazilian football: it's not just a goal, but a beautiful goal that matters.

26.Bd2+ is like a heel pass to a guy that's in a far better scoring position.

Beautiful.

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