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Paul Morphy vs Duke Karl / Count Isouard
"A Night at the Opera" (game of the day Dec-02-2007)
Paris (1858), Paris FRA
Philidor Defense: General (C41)  ·  1-0

ANALYSIS [x]

FEN COPIED

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Kibitzer's Corner
< Earlier Kibitzing  · PAGE 29 OF 29 ·  Later Kibitzing>
Dec-04-20  Pulpofeira: Go Beth! :P
Dec-04-20
Premium Chessgames Member
  AylerKupp: <<Sally Simpson> My vid on this game is historically accurate>

Loved it !!!

Feb-23-21
Premium Chessgames Member
  juan31: According Miss Jessica Fischer, the opera was " El barbero de Sevilla"
Feb-24-21  savagerules: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_8E...

Around six minutes into the video, Fischer sets up the position by memory at move 16 of this game on a board for Cavett. Of course Cavett had no idea of how the pieces moved or anything else but Fischer was showing the Queen sac followed by Rd8 mate for some people who may actually understand chess history. Fischer said it was between Paul Morphy and the Duke of Brunswick and of course Cavett had no idea of who Morphy was.

Feb-24-21
Premium Chessgames Member
  MissScarlett: Fischer doesn't seem to have been aware of Count Isouard. See the video where he discusses Morphy with Dimitrije Bjelica.
May-09-21
Premium Chessgames Member
  Messiah: Nice!
Aug-07-21  mikealando: One can only imagine the looks of amazement Duke Karl and Count Isouard gave one another shortly after Morphy's rook hit d8.
Sep-22-21
Premium Chessgames Member
  Gottschalk: The Most Famous Game by Edward Winter:

https://www.chesshistory.com/winter...

https://en.chessbase.com/post/edwar...

Jan-14-22
Premium Chessgames Member
  Messiah:

wew

May-17-22  hafnia: Awesome legendary game.
I have taken the time to programme this game into 3D animation with sound.

https://youtu.be/uZ5jeYKHbO0

With analysis from Stockfish.

May-18-22  Dionysius1: See here! If it wasn't for chuffing geniuses coming and showing us up, we can play perfectly decent chess and have fun doing it. Duke Karl of Brunswick vs Prince of Villafranca, 1870

White to play and enjoy himself


click for larger view

Jan-08-23  Granny O Doul: I sometimes wonder how famous old games such as this appear through an objective 21st century lens. Chess.com's engine-produced "game report" calls it "a close game decided by a blunder".
Feb-02-23  Joshka: Would 6...Bb4+ offer any better resistance?
Feb-02-23
Premium Chessgames Member
  beatgiant: <Joshka> 6...Bb4+ 7. c3, attacking the bishop and still threatening Qxf7#, so Black loses a piece.
Feb-05-23  generror: It has often been said that Morphy's opponent made it relatively easy for him to shine, and I do agree -- he was on another level than even the best. This Duke and this Count, however, make it *really* easy. It's a nice little miniature where everything goes Morphy's way. Just get out your pieces and your opponent is doing the rest. It looks effortless because it is effortless. But I guess that's what makes it so beautiful and elegant.

Or to answer <Joshka>: *Everything* would offer any resistance :)

Feb-05-23  generror: <Granny O Doul>, chess.com's engine-produced game report isn't very smart. This is far from being a "close game", White has a won position (defined by me as being evaluated as equivalent to a piece up, i.e. +3, or more) from <6...Nf6?!> on, after <10...cxb5?>, he's up two pieces, and after <13...Rxd7?!>, up a queen. This is one of the un-closest games I've seen.
May-21-23  LIFE Master AJ: I looked ... on about page 5 is a link that I gave for my analysis. (It no longer works.) It is from like 2005 and my pages on GeoCities were closed over 10 years ago.

Here is my analysis of this game:
http://www.ajschess.com/lifemastera....

May-22-23  stone free or die: <<AJ> I looked ... on about page 5 is a link that I gave for my analysis. (It no longer works.)>

You can still find it on the Wayback:

https://web.archive.org/web/2001103...

<It is from like 2005 and my pages on GeoCities were closed over 10 years ago.>

The wayback version is from Oct. 2001.

Jun-06-23  Joshka: How about 7...Qd4!?? can this save black??
Jun-06-23
Premium Chessgames Member
  Diademas: 8.Qxb7 with the rook on a8 next to go.
Jun-06-23
Premium Chessgames Member
  Troller: <Diademas> Then 8..Qxc4 9.Qxa8 Bb4+ is probably good enough if a bit messy. 8..Qxe4+ 9.Qxe4 Nxe4 10.Bd5 is very clear.

I am pretty sure that Morphy would have gone 7..Qd4 8.Be3 though, e.g. 8..Qxe4 9.Nc3 is in the style of the game and must be winning.

Jul-01-23  DouglasGomes: What is the "artist's way" after 9.. Na6 ?
Aug-05-23  MaczynskiPratten: <generror>; It's only really easy with hindsight. Black throughout is playing sensible-looking moves, not gross errors. But Morphy exploits them neatly, keeping the pressure on throughout. It's hard to see any better alternative to Black's moves after 3..Bg4, without an engine at any rate. That's why this game is so instructive. Certainly agree with you that the chess.com game report is naive and crass; White has an edge from move 3 and gradually exploits it. Presumably their so-called "blunder" is b5, but only because of the sacrifice, and how else does Black develop?
Aug-06-23  MaczynskiPratten: Or maybe one should say that there are better alternatives to several of Black's moves, but they look plausible at the time unless you look 2-3 moves ahead. Maybe one wonders how hard the pair were concentrating on the game (see the Duke's good game in a comment above), just as Kieseritsky was a much better player than "The Immortal" would suggest as it was an offhand game. Several of Morphy's moves seem to have taken them by surprise; 4 exd5, 7 Qb3, 8 Nc3, 10 Nxb5, and of course 16 Qb8+. But his play throughout is simply so dynamic and logical, exploiting and extending his advantage.
Aug-06-23  MaczynskiPratten: <DouglasGomes>; Must admit I can't see an artistic alternative to Bxa6, settling for wrecking Black's pawn structure, otherwise Nc5 looks useful for Black. The c6 pawn does a useful job in preventing Nd5.
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