Those that do are in a for pleasanr shock when they see the game and the year it was played. 1853. Most will be thinking "NO. this is a mistake, surely it was played in 1953".

Often wonder if Morphy had set back chess by 50 years. (and I am a massive Morphy fan) Game editors were only too happy to publish his games and everyone hit the sac-happy trail till Steinitz reined them in.

However if they had studied the games these two were putting out before Morphy his the scene in 1857 then we could have had the Hypermodern Revolution in the 1860's.

(It's just a thought. What would have happened to chess had there been no Morphy.)

These game are quite unlike anything you see from the 1850's. These games are very much like the games you see in the 1950's.

This one in particular. The Four Pawns attack in the Kings Indian. It's a tad rough around the edges but see how many 'modern' KID ideas you can spot.

And it's all wrapped with a cute Queen sac.

The 1850's gave us the Immortal, the Evergreen and Morphy.

However, you generally don't get games with such elementary blunders as ...Nxe4 played between top players in the 1950s and later. I was genuinely surprised to see it, especially as I came to this page because the game was primed as "a great example of early play in modern style". Tactics count too.