The Bar on the Seine

Paul Charles Morphy – Adolf Anderssen
Match game 5; Paris, December 23, 1858
Scandinavian Defence B01

1. e4 d5 2. exd5 Nf6 3. d4 Nxd5 4. c4 Nf6 5. Nc3 Bf5 6. Nf3 e6 7. Be3!? It seems a strange place for the Bishop to stay. The alternative is 7. Bd3 Bxd3 8. Qxd3 Be7 9. Bf4 c6 10. 0-0-0 Qa5 11. Rhe1 with an edge for White, Keres – Novotny, Prague 1943. 7. ... Bb4!? Everyone puts here a question mark. It seems to me too severe. 8. Qb3. If 8. Qa4+ then 8. ... Nc6 9. Ne5 0-0 10. Nxc6 Bxc3+ 11. bxc3 bxc6 “and whether White take the Pawn or not, in either case his opponent has an equal game” – it’s Morphy’s holy word! 8. ... Bxc3+ 9. bxc3! A man ahead of his time! 9. ... Be4 10. Nd2 Bc6 11. Bd3 Nbd7. Intending ... Nd7-c5. 12. Qc2 h6? This move in particular, and the whole Black’s plan in general, appear to be of very questionable use. Both 12. ... 0-0 and 12. ... Ng4 seem more to the point. 13. 0-0 0-0 14. Rae1. That is the most romantic deployment for White’s Queen’s Rook. Johannes Hermann Zukertort, more soberly, suggests 14. Rfe1, followed by Ra1-d1. 14. ... b6 15. h3 Qc8. Black apparently prepares for a weird Queen fianchetto by ... Qc8-b7, thus attracting criticism – perhaps not unjustly – from most commentators.

16. Kh2! Kh8. In case of 16. ... Qb7 White was probably intending to play 17. Rg1 followed by g2-g4-g5 with a bayonet assault. But, as Grandmaster Valeri Beim points out, 16. ... Bb7!? 17. Rg1 c5 would have offered Black better prospects for counterplay. 17. Rg1 Rg8?! “Anderssen implements a misguised plan. Here either 17. ... e5!? 18. f4 exf4 19. Bxf4 Re8 or 17. ... Bb7!? 18. g4 c5 would have been quite good”, Beim writes in his book “Paul Morphy Una Prospettiva Moderna”, Roma, Prisma Editori, 2008, p. 182. 18. g4 g5?! “This move puts the final ‘splat’ on Black’s position. It was better to play 18. ... Bb7!? and after 19. h4 h5 20. f3 White would have been better, but with a whole game yet to be played. Now it ends quickly”. (Beim, ibidem). It’s all true, but I’m sure Morphy would have played 19. g5! (rather than 19. h4). 19. f4! Qf8 20. Rg3! Prepares for Nd2-f3. 20. ... Rd8. Zukertort recommended 20. ... Qd6, but 21. Rf1 (preparing for Nd2-f3) makes his long analysis unnecessary as White’s preponderance on the Kingside would be unstoppable. 21. Nf3! Bxf3 22. Rxf3 Qd6 23. Kg2 Nh5. Quite a desperate sacrifice, harshly dismissed by Wilhelm Steinitz as irrational craziness. But, of course, Anderseen is not crazy! His position is simply busted and so he goes all out. 24. fxg5 hxg5 25. gxh5 g4 26. hxg4. Another way to win was 26. Rxf7! (26. ... gxh3++ 27. Kh1 Rg2 28. Bf4+−). 26. ... Rxg4+ 27. Kf1 f5 28. Qf2 Ne5 29. dxe5. Morphy takes it easy. Stronger was 29. Bf4! Rxf4 (or 29. ... Nxd3 30. Bxd6 Nxf2 31. Be5+) 30. Rxe5 winning a piece in both cases. 29. ... Qxd3+ 30. Qe2 Qe4 31. Bf2 Qc6 32. Rd1 Rxd1+ 33. Qxd1 Qxc4+ 34. Qd3! Well, okay, by 34. Qe2 Morphy would have retained the a-Pawn, but the text allows White to exchange either Rooks or Queens, making the ending much easier. 34. ... Qxa2 35. Rg3 Qc4 36. Qxc4 Rxc4 37. Rg6 Rc6 38. c4 a5 39. Ke2 Rxc4 40. Rxe6 Rc2+ 41. Kf3 a4 42. Rg6 Rc4 43. Rg1 a3 44. e6 a2 45. Ra1. Morphy must enjoy playing cat-and-mouse or he would have won immediately with 45. e7 Re4 46. Bh4 followed by Rg1-a1. 45. ... Re4 46. Rxa2 Rxe6 47. Kf4 Rd6 48. Kxf5 Rd5+ 49. Kg4 b5 50. Ra8+ Kh7 51. Ra7 Rd7 52. Bg3 Rg7+ 53. Kh4 Rf7 54. Rxc7 1 : 0.