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Paul Morphy vs George William Lyttelton
"Chicken Lyttelton" (game of the day Apr-12-2007)
Morphy Blindfold simul, 8b Birmingham (1858) (blindfold), Birmingham ENG, Aug-27
King's Gambit: Accepted. Kieseritsky Gambit Kolisch Defense (C39)  ·  1-0

ANALYSIS [x]

FEN COPIED

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Given 206 times; par: 15 [what's this?]

Annotations by Johann Jacob Loewenthal.      [28 more games annotated by Loewenthal]

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Kibitzer's Corner
< Earlier Kibitzing  · PAGE 2 OF 2 ·  Later Kibitzing>
Sep-15-04  clocked: <InspiredByMorphy> 1)8...Qg5 9.Nc3 Bg3 10.Bb5+? (why? I hope this was not inspired by my comments above. The point was to play Bb5 after Nc6. The natural move is 10.Qf3) c6 11.Bf1 "guard the g-pawn" from what? Ng4 (all the way from g8? really?)

2)16.Be2 no, what does that have to do with winning a pawn? 16.Nd5 16.e5 Nh5?? 17.exd6 cxd6 18.Re1 wins

Sep-16-04  InspiredByMorphy: <clocked> Im done talking to you. Forgive my innacuracies.
Sep-16-04  clocked: <InspiredByMorphy> I saw your comment on the other page. I hope you don't think your opinions are not valued or that I am attacking you. It might be that black DOES have the better game in this variation. I just like taking the contrary side to get closer to the truth. I was a little surprised that you, being a Morphy fan, would take the negative view of his play. Also, did you notice that this was a Blindsim game?
Sep-16-04  SBC: Just for the record...

George William Lyttelton was the president of the B.C.A. in 1858. (He was also the brother-in-law of William Ewart Gladstone as well as an education reformer and an under-secretary to the colonies).

This is his only game vs Morphy, but as noted, it was a blindfold simul at the 1858 Birmingham Meeting (which Lowenthal won despite the fact that he had just lost his match to Morphy!) and it consisted of 8 boards. The other opponents were Rev. Salmon, Thomas Avery, JS Kipping, John Phodes, Dr. Freeman, Dr. Carr and WR Wills - all strong amateurs, but not the best of the players available. Falkbeer, Lowenthal, Staunton, St. Amant all declined the offer to play.

Sep-17-04  InspiredByMorphy: <clocked> Thank you for smacking some sense into me, and restoring my faith in the kieseritsky gambit (4.h4) . After thinking about it for a day I realized a few things. 1.) I consider your answer to 8. ...Qg5 9.Nc3 Nf6 10.Qf3 Bg3 11.Bd2 Bg4 with 12.Qxg3 to be nearly a refutation of 11. ...Bg4 now. My reasoning being that it loses a pawn, takes a lot of pressure off whites kingside, and takes the queens off the board which makes it harder for black to do much. 2.) The Steinitz game you mentioned is a fine example of what white can play against blacks line of defense after 8. ...Qg5 . 3.) My statement of <I dont understand why Morphy would play such a disadvantageous line> is ignorant, because Morphy plays the best moves that I can see until move 8, and there is no evidence that if black pursued the 8. ...Qg5 line that Morphy wouldnt have played just as well as Steinitz. In fact, I believe he would have. I think I made the statement with influence of Sergeants analysis in Morphys games of chess with my own predisposition against the Kieseritsky gambit. Being that my favorite and most commonly played opening is the Kings gambit, Ive had a bias for 4.Bc4 . I now realize that this bias has kept me from learning the kieseritskys possibilities. 4.) After wondering how seriously Morphy took 4.h4 compared to 4.Bc4 I looked in the book Morphys games of chess, and looked in the database to confirm the results. They were that Morphy played the Kieseritsky gambit 5 times (all wins) compared to 4.Bc4 12 times (on a side note he played 4.h4 g4 5.Ng5 once and The bishops gambit -1.e4 e5 2.f4 exf4 3.Bc4- three times). After looking into this and the fact that he played the kieseritsky gambit against Anderssen (after this match with Lyttleton), Ive concluded that he must have strongly believed in it. Im starting too as well. Thanks for helping me see things in a different light.
Dec-01-05  Chopin: <bishop> <Lyttelton forgets that the main aim of the opening is to develop the pieces> That's putting it mildly. Morphy just schooled him.
Apr-12-07  Tactic101: Typical Morphy. He plays risky openings that most wouldn't dare to try. I would never consider allowing black to prevent my king castling. But Morphy apparently knew what he was doing. And his opponent didn't know what he was doing. The position at move 11 (black to move) looks pretty equal. White has a nice pawn center and his minor pieces out, along with lines of attack, but black doesn't stand too badly. White's king is exposed and black has the g file to attack. Maybe Nc6 and Bd7 and then 0-0-0 would be good. But instead he goes pawn hunting, opening the e-file for white's rook and allowing the other bishop to give check with tempo. And then the rest is history.
Apr-12-07  Atking: <Thanks for helping me see things in a different light.> ! Welcome ! We are all here to learn from the other. I hope. For my part I want to understand your <8. ...Qg5 9.Qf3 Nc6 10.d5 Nb4 11.Qb3 Qg3 looks better for black.> 11.Qc3 with eventually RxBh4... I really like White here. 10. ...Nd4 11.Qd3 BxNf2+ 12.KxBf2 Qg3+ 13.Kg1 QxQd3 14.BxQd3 f5!? may balanced the chance still I'm not sure. To say 15.Nc3 as 15. ...f3 16.Be3 (The rook h8). Indeed you are well <inspired(by Morphy)> the game played here is a good one (again) from the american genius. PS: I like too 4.Bc4 but (as you noted in your lats post) Kieseritsky line is not without interest as after 4. ...g4 the pawn structure is an handicap nearly of the value of the pawn (up). On that subject what do you think about Salvio line ? 4.Bc4 g4 5.Ne5 Qh4+ 6.Kf1 (one must compare this position with 3.Bc4!? 's one) 6. ...Nc6(!) "The refutation" Is at bad as the theory says ? 7.Bxf7+ Ke7 8.NxNc6+ bxNc6 9.Bc4 Nf6 10.d3 Bh6 11.Qe1!...
Apr-12-07  iccsumant: See this game, it's quite similar to this one! Morphy vs Lord Lyttelton, 1858
Apr-12-07  Tactic101: That's not funny!!! :) They are the same game! Pretty clever on your part.
Apr-12-07
Premium Chessgames Member
  kevin86: This is one of my all time favorites:not only artistically,but tactic-wise as well. White uses five moves-one by each of his pieces-to grind his opponent into submission. Unlike the Opera House game,that sacrifices all but two of his pieces,this one is more subtle.
Apr-12-07  Jack Kerouac: I think InspiredByMorphy and clocked should play an e-mail game and post the results.The Kieseritsky Gambit would be a bold challenge. I too have both Philip Sergeant Morphy books and consider the first one a jewel in my collection.
Apr-12-07
Premium Chessgames Member
  playground player: A blunder by Morphy is a good move by anybody else.
Apr-12-07  Maxwell843: why didn't Morphy play 15. Re1 and finish the game there and then?
Apr-12-07
Premium Chessgames Member
  WannaBe: <Maxwell843> Because 15...Qh4+
Apr-13-07  iccsumant: <That's not funny!!! :) They are the same game! Pretty clever on your part.>

Well it helps you to straight go up without having to press the "up" button!

Feb-11-09  brtl1000s: Why didn't Morphy play 16.Rg5++ ?
Feb-11-09  Jim Bartle: Black had 16...Bg6.
Mar-12-09  WhiteRook48: 17...Qxe1?! 18 Kxe1 Bh5 19 Qg5+ Bg6 20 Qf6
argh. Silly me.
Apr-19-09  YoungEd: Hi, <Maxwell843>,
If 15. ♖e1, then Black can avoid mate at least for a bit with 15. ♕h4+ followed by ♕xh6. Don't know that it would have made much of a difference either way! :)
Apr-17-11  Gambit All: What if ...16. ♕xc2?
Apr-17-11
Premium Chessgames Member
  Phony Benoni: <Gambit All: What if 16...♕xc2?


click for larger view

White plays 17.♖g5+, forcing 17...♗g6. The pinned bishop no longer protects the queen, so White can play 18.♕xc2.

Aug-10-12  LoveThatJoker: Guess-the-Move Final Score:

Morphy vs Lord Lyttelton, 1858.
YOU ARE PLAYING THE ROLE OF MORPHY.
Your score: 24 (par = 15)

LTJ

Jul-06-17
Premium Chessgames Member
  drollere: what i enjoyed most about this game when i first saw it is that all morphy's captures are secondary to some other purpose -- retreat an attacked piece (Nxg4), escape check (Kxf2), develop a piece (Bxf4) or neutralize an attack (Nxe4). everything else is pure tactics flowing out of superior development of the right piece at the right time to the right location. really masterful.
Aug-09-21
Premium Chessgames Member
  kingscrusher: 8...Bxf2+ does seem to be based on vagueness about the King seemingly exposed without any actual exploitability in a concrete way.
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