A Way to Say Goodbye

Paul Charles Morphy – Adolf Anderssen
Paris, December 1858
King’s Gambit Accepted C38

1. e4 e5 2. f4 exf4 3. Nf3 g5 4. Bc4 Bg7 5. 0-0 d6 6. c3 Nc6 7. Qb3 Qe7 8. d4 a6? Anderssen’s stubbornness in not playing 8. ... h6(!) proved to be fatal for him. The text is even worse than 8. ... Nf6? as played by him earlier in the afternoon. 9. Nxg5! Now it is like a joke for Morphy. 9. ... Qxg5 10. Bxf7+ Kd8. On 10. ... Kf8 11. Bxf4 is even stronger. 11. Bxf4 Qe7 12. Bxg8 Bg4 13. Nd2 Kd7 14. Bd5 Nd8 15. Bxb7 Nxb7 16. Qxb7 a5

17. Bxd6! Unfailingly brilliant to the very end! 17. ... Bxd4+. Not 17. ... Kxd6 18. Qd5 mate. If, instead, 17. ... Qxd6 then 18. Rf7+ Ke8 19. Rxg7 and White wins. 18. cxd4 Qxd6 19. Rf7+ 1 : 0.