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Alexander McDonnell vs Louis Charles Mahe De La Bourdonnais
La Bourdonnais - McDonnell 1st Casual Match (1834), London ENG, rd 5
Sicilian Defense: McDonnell Attack (B21)  ·  1-0

ANALYSIS [x]

FEN COPIED

Annotations by Stockfish (Computer).      [35437 more games annotated by Stockfish]

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Kibitzer's Corner
Apr-21-04  mjk: See Morphy's annotation to move 2.f4
Apr-21-04  Phoenix: Rofl, I love it!!
Aug-22-07  sneaky pete: Walker (1836) gives the final moves
44. Q. takes Q.P. 44. Q. to K.B. third
45. Q. to Q.R. seventh and wins.

44... Q to KB3 is an impossible move, apparently a clerical error where 44... Q to QB3 is meant. This is Bachmann's reading as well: 44... Qc6 45.Qa7 .. 1-0.

Feb-20-08  sombreronegro: I think white had a winning line that would have been better with 38 Rf8+. If 39 ... R X f8 then 40 Q x f8+ Q X f8 41 B X f8 and the pawn queens.
Feb-20-08
Premium Chessgames Member
  beatgiant: <sombreronegro>:
Doesn't 38. Rf8+ Rxf8 39. Qxf8+ Qxf8 40. Bxf8 <Bd7> stop the pawn from queening?
Aug-18-08  micahtuhy: <sneaky pete>

Thank you for your post, for a long time I was searching for this very game on chessgames.com and didn't find it because I was looking for a 45 move game until I checked to see this game was the same with a slightly different end.

<chessgames.com> is there any way to check which variation is accurate, the database that came with Fritz gives teh Walker finish.

Aug-19-08  Calli: In Chess Studies: One Thousand Games (1850?), Walker gives or corrects to "QQB3". I wonder what Morphy's source was.

Mar-01-09  just a kid: Geez.Could you get more detailed with the analysis on move 2 morphy...
May-26-09  JIRKA KADLEC: 13.Kh1?! (13.b3 ) 14...Nf5 (14...a4) 15.g4!? ( 15.b3; 15.Qe1= ) 16...Be8! (16...a4 ) 17...Bg6 (17...Qd7) 18.Ng5! 19...Qd7 ( 19...Qb6! ) 20.h4! b4 ( 20...h6 ) 22...a4?! ( 22...Be4= ) 24.h6! 27...Rxf1? (27...Rfc8 ) 28...a3 ( 28...Na5 ) 29.Rf6! Na5? ( 29...Rc8 ) 30.Bd1! / 31.Qf2?? ( 31.Qg5 ) 34...Nc5? ( 34...Bg6; 34...Nf4 ) 35.dxc5! 36.c6! 37.c7! 38.Qc1?! ( 38.Bf8! ) 44.Qxd4?! ( 44.Rf7! )
Feb-02-10  TheChessVids: Man, theory on the Sicilian has developed so much since Morphy!
May-03-10  ariel el luchador: Morphy dice que la jugada 2)P4AR ES MALA tal vez tenga razón en el sentido que esta jugada es más fuerte en otra etapa de la partida,la teoría evolucionó mucho pero no entiendo que una jugada que desarrolla nada sea tildada de buena.
Feb-02-12  Knight13: And, of course, Morphy misses in his detailed analysis that 2. Nc3 followed by f4 is perfectly good.
Nov-25-15
Premium Chessgames Member
  offramp: I envision Morphy at The New York Ledger office as being <EXACTLY> like Bartleby.
Jan-12-16  ColdSong: McDonnell played nicely this game,stifling La Bourdonnais with a very modern constrictor style for 1834.
Apr-17-17  hudapri: If only modern annotations were like this.
Sep-27-17
Premium Chessgames Member
  cwcarlson: 38.♗f8!
Aug-03-19  lame duck: After 34.♗c2 :


click for larger view

34... ♘c5 - this move looks strong and subtle, but in a more detailed consideration it occurs not to be so good. Jacov Neishtadt in his excellent book "Uncrowned kings of chess" (available only in Russian edition) suggests that 34...♘f4 would be stronger defence. But later he concludes that after 35. ♗xe4 dxe4 36. ♕xc4 white should have win.

Computer quickly finds that winning for white here is doubtful, because after 36... e3 37. ♕a6 e2 black has strong counterplay: after 38. ♔f2 ♘d5 the best which white can do is to agree with the lost of exchange: 39. ♔xe2 ♘xf6 40. ♗xf6 ♕e8 and to sign a draw.

From this viewpoint the move 34... ♘e5 turns out to be a decisive mistake: after this black does not have any defence, and white wins almost forcefully.

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