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Paul Morphy vs John William Schulten
Casual game (1857), New York, NY USA
Italian Game: Evans Gambit. Morphy Attack (C51)  ·  1-0

ANALYSIS [x]

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Kibitzer's Corner
May-07-04  takchess: This game is the example of the Evans Gambit given in Winning Chess Openings by Bill Robertie
Oct-02-05  Corwin: 33. Qf7 LOL! :))
Oct-02-05
Premium Chessgames Member
  WannaBe: I'd played Qe8+ =)
Jan-10-06  morpstau: Another example of how to play the dreaded evans gambit. paul morphy sees his opponent not castle and burns him. Oh how i love to see the Morphy attack!!(9.nc3!)
Jan-11-06  MrsMurdstone: gorgeous Queen deflection!
Jan-11-06  morpstau: Thats just the icing on a long since baked cake! Morphy saw that move 5 moves before it was played!!! Its a sac of the queen not a deflection.
Jan-11-06  blingice: You are still saying things without you actually KNOWING what is happening, <morpstau>. The ♕ SACRIFICE causes a DEFLECTION of BLACK'S ♕. He's talking about black's ♕, not white's ♕.
Jan-11-06  morpstau: oh i appologize humbly on my part. It is indeed a deflection not a sac. Black had to take and mate next move. But i dont know why black just didnt resign when he saw the brilliant move by the first player?
Sep-08-06  babakova: I would have played 32.Bc6 if I were white. Of course black is already completely busted and it doesnt really matter what move is made, but Bc6 requires minimum calculation and minimum effort.
Apr-30-07  gambitfan: 31
43 3
Dec-28-07  nimh: Rybka 2.3.1 mp, AMD X2 2.01GHz, 10 min per move, threshold 0.33.

Morphy 2 mistakes:
20.Ne2 -0.17 (20.Rg3 0.37)
21.Nf4 -0.64 (21.Bf4 0.07)

Schulten 5 mistakes:
21...Nxf4 0.25 (21...Qd7 -0.64)
22...g5 4.63 (22...fxe5 0.24)
23...Ke8 7.78 (23...Kf7 4.62)
26...Kg6 12.84 (26...Ke8 7.79)
28...Bd8 #13 (28...h6 12.38)

Jan-28-08  JimmyVermeer: babakova, Morphy's 32nd move was correct. It's a mate in 7. If Morphy had played your Bc6, Black could have delayed mate a number of moves longer by playing 32...Kg6.

Morphy's 31st move is a mate in 9. If Black had delayed mate for as long as possible at that point, the game might have ended: 31 Be3 Bd8 32 Rg4 Bf6 33 Rg3 g4 34 Rh3+ gxh3 35 Qc5+ Qd5 36 Qxd5+ Kh4 37 Qf5 Nh6 38 Qf4+ Kh5 39 Qxh6#

Mar-22-08  heuristic: <21.Nf4 -0.64 (21.Bf4 0.07)> with a Fritz8 eval, the difference between these two moves is 0 ! (13ply)

21.Nf4 Qd7 22.Nxg6+ hxg6 23.Bf4 fxe5
21.Bf4 fxe5 22.dxe5 N8e7 23.Rg5 Qh4

and to my eye, these two positions do look about equal... thus, your engine may vary!

Mar-09-09  Gambit All: 11...♔f8?? - seems highly dubious. Of multiple possibilities, ...♘e7 followed by 0-0 makes Morphy's work a little harder.
Jul-20-09  tentsewang: What a beautiful checkmate by Morphy, sacrificing queen as to end up victor had never been miscalculated back in that old era.
Jul-22-10  sevenseaman: Well if Schulten cannot suspect that White queen was a Trojan horse for a gift I too didn't pause to have a suspicion. Amazing! As they say in business, 'there are no free lunches.'
Jun-24-12  e4 resigns: I love the Evans, but why would Morphy play 6.0-0?!
I think he himself wrote somewhere that 6.d4! was best.
Nov-20-12  Llawdogg: Look at the final position. All Morphy's pieces are placed perfectly for the mating attack, while all of black's pieces are in a useless heap in the corner.
Nov-20-12  Cemoblanca: The 'Nothing But Net' game! ;) Wonderful attack by the great Morphy! Always a delight! :)
Oct-18-16  talhal20: This game of 64 squares has innumerable permutations and combinations and thus inherently complex. When Morphy plays, it looks so simple. When he plays chess it is starkly different from all other champion players from Steinitz to Carlsen. On the eve of 1972 championship match between Bobby Fischer and Boris Spassky Time magazine carried and article in which it stated that " Morphy is perhaps the brightest spot in the history of chess" This statement comes to my mind when I see Morphy's games and wonder every time why there is no other player playing chess like Morphy!!!
Oct-18-16
Premium Chessgames Member
  offramp: <talhal20> Aye, and verily. Once in every four score thousand years our forefathers bequeathed unto us a great and shining titan who came unto us in the form of a god-like fawn. And in his brave and shining glory there existethed a great talent unto which the Gods of Olympus had cast him the like of which we had not yet seen unto. And yet his spirit remains within us all, even unto time immemorial. Amen.
May-06-19  par5vin: No purpose in Black moving 11...Kf8
...simply makes no sense
Nov-26-19
Premium Chessgames Member
  keypusher: <This statement comes to my mind when I see Morphy's games and wonder every time why there is no other player playing chess like Morphy!!!>

Because there is no one above patzer level today playing like Schulten.

Couple of minor comments -- 24.Nf4 was a blunder; 24....Qd7 25.Nxg6 hg 26.Bd2 Ne7 would have given Black a considerable advantage.

After 27.Qf8, as Sargeant points out Morphy is threatening two mates in four:

28.Qxf6+! Nxf6 29.Rxg5+ Kh6 30.Rg4+ Kh5 31.Bf7# and

28.Rxf6+! fg 29.Bf7+ Kf5 30.Bh5+ Ke6 31.Qf7#.

<par5vin: No purpose in Black moving 11...Kf8 ...simply makes no sense>

It was a book move at the time, and still a computer favorite. Playing 11....a6 then 12....Kf8 is also an option.

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