Lesson: Don't mess with Morphy.

helliswwll wrote: "My level of analysis is clearly years behind what has been posted previously, at move 32, why wouldn't Capdeville go Rxg8, and if Morphy wants to complete the exchange, Cap has him beat 5 pawns to 4?  Cap just seems too timid, and it cost him the game trying to compete short-handed."

I believe that after 32...Rxg8 33.Qh6 is a one sided epaulet mate.

Thanks.

My level of analysis is clearly years behind what has been posted previously, at move 32, why wouldn't Capdeville go Rxg8, and if Morphy wants to complete the exchange, Cap has him beat 5 pawns to 4?  Cap just seems too timid, and it cost him the game trying to compete short-handed.

There's not much to find out. It's apparently one of 10 games Morphy conducted, in the late Winter/early Spring of 1858, blindfold against the members of the New Orleans Chess Club (not the later New Orleans Chess, Checkers and Whist Club) of which he was president. It's the only one preserved. Where Shibut located the game, I have no idea. Morphy was very intent upon being recognized as the premiere mutiple-game blindfold player in the US, something  for which he felt Paulsen was getting undeserved attention, and set about practicing the art.

No problem. BTW - I found this game at the chessgames.com database. I like your research and I would really like to find out the real history of this game. I've noticed that the longer I play chess the more interesting the history behind the individual that played the game is to me.

It's not a matter of being off-course or correcting, as i see it. This covers a lot different areas, a lot of minutiae, some of it almost trivial, and a lot of research that few individuals, unless it's their advocation, would ever know off-hand. The game itself is the Thankgiving Turkey, everything else is just the dressing, cranberry sauce and potato salad and only serves to make the main course more appetizing.  Thanks for bringing a little known Morphy masterpiece to everyone's attention.

Thanks for the info. You guys are a wealth of knowledge. I love it when I'm off course on something at this site because there's always somebody willing to help me see the error of my ways.

Thanks for the posts!

Mike

 

Yes, Kasparov has played Evan's gambit successfully a number of times, with quite a few wins in the early 1990's.

Ha batgirl beat me to the post, and what do u know....I was right :-)

Hmm...funny I seem to recall Kasparov playing the evans gambit occasionally...or maybe he just played the Scotch....I'm gonna check on this.

What I know of Morphy, Capdevielle and Openings.

 

That is "most likely" Paul Capdevielle who was mayor of New Orleans from 1900-1904. He was born in either 1842 or 1844 depending on the source. He claimed he played Morphy in a blindfold simul when he (Capdevielle) was 13.  This raises some questions. The score on the game here, taken from Shibut who is the only source, gives 1864 as the date. If that's true, then either Capdevielle was wrong and didn't know his own age, or it was another P. Capdevielle, which seems unlikely (how many P. Capdevielles played Morphy in a blindfold simul??) or the game's date is wrong. The last seems the most rational. I suspect the game was published in 1864.  Morphy almost for certain was NOT giving blindfold exhibitions in 1864.  While Morphy played blindfold games before the 1857 Congress, he didn't start practicing multiple games until 1858. If Capdevielle was born late in 1844, he would have been 13 early in 1858 (between January, after Morphy returned to New Orleans from the N.Y. Congress and May, when he left for England). So, the most reasonalbe explanation puts this game around February,1858 and Paul Capdevielle, future Mayor of New Orleans, at the tender age of 13.

 

Confused yet?

 

Morphy was considered the greatest opening specialist of his day.  Staunton, Lowenthal and Lange all said this in one form or another. Morphy never played unsound or irregular openings. His openings were precise and in accordance with the theory current at that time. He made few, if any, innovations, but rather, once his opponent strayed however slightly for known theory, was usually able uncover the weaknesses of those lines. Morphy had superior middle-game abilities that tended toward the risky side, something for which he was occassionally critcized. His endgame technique, for what few endgames he had to play, seemed equal to, or superior to, the best of those in his day.

 

The Evans Gambit, which Morphy called, "that most beautiful of openings" was widely played in the 19th century. But even Morphy recognized it as "irretrievably lost for the first player."  Still, Morphy won 98% of his many Evans Gambits as either black or white.  Lasker supposedly took the bite out of the opening and muted it's bark by returning the gambitted material, and it was laid to rest for nearly a century. Kasparov revitalized it for a while after using it against Short, proving it's not in the least unsound. But, like the King's Gambit, it really offers little for white,if black's prepared,  particularly played at the highest levels, so GMs just simply avoid it's surprises.

Chode,

Thank you for the language arts lesson. It was a nice try at distracting readers from an invalid point. I never mentioned "the Danish, Kiezeritsky, Allgaier, Muzio, and Salvio Gambits", did I? Since this is an Evans Gambit let's write about it: Current Grandmasters find the Evans Gambit to be unsound. The most visable support for this statement is that they don't use it in upper level play. It was popular Pre - 1900. Even then the gurus of chess knew that the Evans Gambit was weak and didn't play it past the first decade in the 1900s.

I will agree with you on two points: My Linguish needs work and Morphy was way ahead of his time in using opening development compared to his peers.

 

Hi Bendcat, I don't know where the other games are. I found this one standing alone on a database. I'll try to find the others later.

very nice! very sharp combination.

one of 10, where are the 9 games? 

Beautiful indeed!  I hadn't seen that game before.  Thanks for posting it.  A well played game can flow with such beauty.