The King's Gambit on the Unknown
** Game numbers refer number of games I analyzed that were played by Paul Morphy, "The Pride and Sorrow of Chess".
Game 2
Location: New Orleans, 1849
White: Morphy (age 12)
Black: N.N.
King's Gambit Variation: Long Whip
1.e4 e5 2.f4 exf4 3.Nf3 g5 4.h4 g4 5.Ne5 h5 6.Bc4
6...Nh6 and black is force to commit a piece to guard the f7 pawn. The other choice is 6...Rh7
7.d4 establishing the classical center, and applying pressure along the c1-h6 diagonal.
7...d6 8.Nd3 f3 9.gxf3 Be7
10.Bf4 White insures that the king can run to d2 without blocking the bishop. This is a common theme in the King's gambit when white has no kingside pawns or delays castling. 10.Be3! is stronger for this purpose because it prevents black a defensive oppurtunity on move 11.
10...Bxh4+ 11.Kd2 gxf3? accelerating white's development, black should be focus on defense 11...Bg5! is a very suitable for this task, thus white could have prevented this by 10.Be3 giving him the ability to response with 11.f4.
12.Qxf3 Bg4 13.Qe3 Be7?! Preventing the threat of 14.Bxh6 Rxh6 15. Rxh4! (preventing the bishop fork) however black should of retreated to a more active square, Bf6 ensures some counter play against white's center. 14.Bxh6 Rxh6 15.Qxh6?? is answer by Bg5+ forking king and queen.
14.Nc3 c6 keeping the knight out of d5 and b5 but passive defense dosen't give black any oppurtunity of stealing the initiative away from white.
15.Raf1 White has a considerable advantage with all of white's pieces nicely placed against a poorly cooridnate defensive force.
15...f5?? Opening up the position can only accelerate Black's dimize.
16.exf5 Nxf5 17.Qe6 Nxd4
18.Qxg4! A nice tactical shot that wins a piece by a series of exchanges by using the x-ray on the h8 rook to setup a skewer on black's queen.
18...hxg4 19.Rxh8+ Kd7 20.Rxd8+ Black throws in the towel realizing he his now down a piece and his g-pawn will shortly be picked off in the near future. 1-0
Impressive game for a 12 year old, only 10.Bf4 can be criticized.
Game 3
Chessbase credits the following game as being played in New Orleans, 1850 making Morphy. While chess.com credits the game as being played in blinfold exhibition match that took place in New Orleans, 1858 and credits black play to player with the last name of Rooss.
White: Morphy
Black: Rooss
King's Gambit Variation: Rare Varation - 3...exf4 4.Nf3 c6
1.e4 e5 2.f4 exf4 3.Nf3 c6 4.Nc3 Bb4!? A system of development which is normal against 3.Bc4.
5.Bc4 Bxc3?? A hugh positional mistake black should only make this exchange after he estalblishes a pawn on d5, thus 5...Ne7 was the correct move.
6.dxc3 Takes to blacks previous move white has gain the bishop pair and a lead in development and positional pressure against d6 which black can not escape from since ...d6 is answered by Bxf4.
6...Ne7 Its hard to make any recommendations for black from this point on since his game is stragecially lost.
7.Qd6! The occupation of this weak square prevents the advancement of the d-pawn, therefore making it difficult for black to develope his queenside forces.
7...0-0 (7...Ng6 helps break the bind but white is still clearly better, 8.Bxf4 Nxf4 9.Qxf4 Qe7 10.0-0-0 b5 11.Bb3 0-0 12.Rhf1)
8.Bxf4 Ng6 9.Bg5 Qe8 10.0-0 (White is in complete control if black decides to take the pawn offer 10...Qxe4 Nd4 Qe5 11.Bf4! Qh5 12.Rae1)
Kh8 11.Rae1!? Bringing in the reserve instead of initiating the attack with 11.Nh4 f6
12.e5!! A pawn break that highlights the strength in the coordination of white's forces.
12...fxg5 13.Nxg5 b5 14.Rxf8 Qxf8 15.Bf7 winning
f5 13.Nd4 f4 14.e6 dxe6 15.Nxe6 Bxe6 Black has managed to trade off his traped piece 16.Rxe6 Qc8
17. Rxg6! A beautiful tactical shot that leads to easily won endgame and highlights the importance of development. hxg6 18.Qxg6 Qf5 19.Rxf4! Qxg6 20. Rxf8+ Kh7
21. Bg8+ Kh8 22.Bf7+ Kh7 23.Bxg6+ Kxg6 24.Bf4 and white wins either the knight or the rook that are still sitting on their intial square. 1-0
Game 4
Location: New Orleans, 1856
White: Morphy (age 19)
Black: N.N.
King's Gambit Variation: Accepted, Bishop's Gambit Lopez Variation (C33)
1.e4 e5 2.f4 exf4 3.Bc4 Applying pressure to f7 while freeing the f1 square for the king.
3...Qh4+ White will gain a tempo on the queen by a later Nf3, modern players usally prefer to avoid this associated risk and play ...Nf6 instead. A slight improvement to this idea is to return the pawn with ...d5 before giving this check, the idea being that Black should be aiming for rapid development.
4.Kf1 g5 securing his advance pawn.
5.Nc3 Securing the center first and introducing a second threat of Nd5, white dosen't need to rush with Nf3.
5...Bg7 6.d4
6.Nd5?! is too impatient Kd8 7.Nf3 Qh5 8.d4 c6 and knight has to return to c3. If white waits black plays c6 anyways and white has gain a useful tempo or black hinders the advancement of the c-pawn by playing Nc6 and then white can then play Nd5 successfully.
6...Nc6 here I would prefer ...Ne7 to prevent Nd5
7.Nf3 Qh5 8.Nd5 Kd8 White now has adequate compensation for the pawn.
9.c3 Nf6 10.Nxf6 Bxf6 11.e5 Bg7?! 11...Be7 was necessary to make the typical h4 advance more difficult.
12.h4! activating the h1 rook.
12...f6 Black can't prevent his kingside pawns from falling part if he plays 12...h6 13.Kg1 Qg6 14.Qd3!!
13.Kg1 g4 14.Nh2?? Morphy actually blunders! It was necessary to play 14.exf6 Bxf6 15.Ng5 and white maintains his edge since he will soon gain a firm grasp on the initiative.
14...dxe5 15.Nxg4
15...exd4!? Here, I would prefer 15...Rf8 16.dxe5 Nxe5 17.Be2 d6 18.Nf2 Qf5 with a comfortable position for black.
16.Bxf4 In this position White's king is more exposed than Black's, however Morphy gets lucky with black blundering on his next move.
16...Rf8??? this move makes a lot more sense a move ago, and now it's Black's king that is in danger, Black could of played ...Qc5!!.
17.Bg5+ Ne7 18.Qe2! Attacking the knight while eyeing a discovery on black's queen. 19.Rd8 20.Ne5! and black can't prevent mate or lost of his queen.
20...Qxe2 21.Nf7 checkmate 1-0