Calisson

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. “Morphy considered White’s 5th and 6th moves the best possible. 6. d4, however, was (and still remained into modern days) more usual, the continuation being 6. ... h6 7. c3 Qe7 8. Na3”, Philip W. Sergeant writes in his book “Morphy’s Games of Chess”, New York, Dover, 1957, p. 278. 6. ... Nc6. 6. ... h6 was still worth considering, as 7. d4 Ne7 8. h4 Ng6 9. h5 Ne7 transposes into Morphy – de Rivière, Paris 1863. 7. Qb3 Qe7. 7. ... Na5 8. Bxf7+ Kf8 9. Qd5 did not appeal Anderssen. 8. d4 Nf6? Now it was Anderssen’s last chance to play 8. ... h6 and if 9. Na3 then 9. ... Nf6 eventually transposing into Steinitz – Neumann, Paris 1867. 9. Nxg5 Nxe4 10. Bxf7+ Kd8 11. Nxe4 Qxe4 12. Bxf4 Bh3. “Ingenious but unsound, as Morphy shows”. (Sergeant, ibidem).

13. gxh3 Nxd4 14. Nd2. 14. Bg5+ Kd7 15. Qd5 is regarded by Géza Maróczy as simpler. 14. ... Ne2+. No better is 14. ... Nxb3 15. Nxe4 Nxa1 16. Rxa1 Rf8 (or 16. ... h6 17. Bh5 Rf8 18. Bg3+−) 17. Bg5+ Kd7 18. Bh5+− (Maróczy’s analysis). 15. Kf2 Qxf4+ 16. Kxe2 Qg5 17. Rae1 Bh6 18. Qd5 Re8+!? 19. Kd1 1 : 0. Anderssen’s dog day afternoon.