The Machine Who Was Also a Boy

Paul Charles Morphy – Adolf Anderssen
Match game 11; Paris, December 28, 1858
French Defence C00

1. e4 e6 2. d4 g6 3. Bd3 Bg7 4. Be3 c5 5. c3. Morphy, one of the most erudite players of all time, is faithfully following one of Anderssen’s games! 5. ... cxd4 6. cxd4 Nc6. Improving on 6. ... Qb6? 7. Ne2 Qxb2? 8. Nbc3 Qb6 9. Rc1 Na6 10. Nb5 Bf8 11. 0-0 and Black got destroyed quickly, Anderssen – Staunton, London 1851 Chess Tournament, London 1851. 7. Ne2 Nge7 8. 0-0 0-0 9. Nbc3 d5. “The side with less space rarely finds it profitable to fix the Pawn structure. Therefore, 9 ... b6 looks preferable”, Grandmaster Valeri Beim writes in his book “Paul Morphy Una Prospettiva Moderna”, Roma, Prisma Editori, 2008, p. 198. 10. e5 f6 11. f4 fxe5 12. fxe5 a6 13. Qd2 Nb4?! “Anderssen again neglects development and moreover Knights are frequently superior to Bishops in blocked positions. Hence, 13. ... Bd7 was better”. (Beim, ibidem). 14. Bg5! Nxd3 15. Qxd3 Bd7 16. Qh3 Qe8 17. Ng3 Rc8?! Géza Maróczy suggests 17. ... Nf5 18. Nxf5 Rxf5 19. Rxf5 gxf5 followed by ... Qe8-g6, which doesn’t look so bad. 18. Rxf8+ Qxf8 19. Rf1 Qe8 20. Qh4 Nf5? Wilhelm Steinitz calls this and Black’s 22nd move “flagrant errors of position judgment”. Black somehow had to keep his Knight on the board: 20. ... Nc6 is Beim’s suggestion. 21. Nxf5 gxf5 22. Rf3 Bb5 23. Rg3 Rc7 24. Bf6 f4!? A desperate Pawn sacrifice in order to transfer the Bishop on the diagonal b1-h7. If, instead, 24. ... Kh8 then 25. Qh6 Qf8 26. Nxb5 axb5 27. Rxg7 Rxg7 28. Kf2 winning as in the game. 25. Qxf4 Qf8 26. Nxb5. However, even in case of 26. Qh6 Bd3 Black’s idea didn’t work at all: 27. Rxg7+ Rxg7 28. Qxg7+! (not 28. Bxg7?? Rf1 mate) 28. ... Qxg7 29. Bxg7 Kxg7 30. Na4! with an easily won ending. 26. ... axb5

27. Qh6 Kh8 28. Rxg7 Rxg7 29. Kf2. Black is in Zugzwang. 29. ... Kg8 30. Qxg7+ Qxg7 31. Bxg7 Kxg7 32. Kf3 b4 33. g4 b6 34. h4 b5 35. Ke3 b3 36. a3! But 36. axb3 b4 37. h5 also wins. 1 : 0. Thus ended one of the most one-way matches in chess history. Eight years later, Wilhelm Steinitz will beat Anderssen 8–6 in a match fought until the last breath!