Habanera

Paul Charles Morphy – Placido Domínguez
Three board blindfold simultaneous exhibition; Havana, February 16, 1864
Two Knights Defence C55

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. d4 exd4 5. 0-0 Bc5 6. e5 Ne4? Black wants to avoid the Max Lange Attack, but his remedy is much worse than the hypothetical disease. 7. Bd5! f5 8. exf6 Nxf6 9. Bg5! Of course, 9. Re1+ wasn’t bad either. 9. ... Be7 10. Bxf6 Bxf6. Not 10. ... gxf6 on account of 11. Ng5! (far stronger than Jude Frazier Acers’ 11. Nh4) 11. ... Ne5 12. Qh5+ Ng6 13. Bf7+ Kf8 14. Qh6 mate (Géza Maróczy’s analysis). 11. Re1+ Ne7? This seems the decisive mistake. Black ought to have played 11. ... Kf8! 12. c3!? g6! aiming to mitigate damages. 12. Ne5! Bxe5. Not 12. ... Nxd5? 13. Qh5+! winning immediately. 13. Qh5+ g6 14. Qxe5 Rf8 15. Nd2 c6. This allows Morphy to finish in style, but after 15. ... d6 16. Qxd4 c6 17. Be6 Bxe6 18. Rxe6 d5 19. Rae1 Rf7 20. Nf3 is busted anyway (Maróczy’s analysis).

16. Nc4! d6 17. Nxd6+ Kd7 18. Be6+ Kc7 19. Nxc8+. 19. Nc4+ is a dual. 19. ... Qd6 20. Qxd6 mate.

Andrés Clemente Vázquez
“La Odisea de Pablo Morphy en la Habana, 1862-1864”
Habana, La Propaganda Literaria, 1893