Louis Paulsen vs Paul Morphy (New York, 1857): unforgettable game

This was the final game, played for first place, in the First American Chess Congress. The tournament was the equivalent at the time to, or maybe you could say the predecessor to, the United States Chess Championship.

Here is the game for you to play through, followed by my analysis, annotations, and commentary.

1. e4 e5
2. Nf3 Nc6
3. Nc3 Nf6
This opening is the Four Knights Game.
4. Bb5 Bc5
5. O-O O-O
Standard 19th century chess in the beginning days of opening theory. The beginner can take note of the squares that the pieces are on as good ones for development, mobility, and attempting to control the center.

6. Nxe5 Re8
If black recaptures the white knight at e5 with his knight at c6, white can fork the black knight and bishop by d4.
Morphy decides to give up his e pawn for rapid development, placing his rook on the open e file to attack the white knight at e5.
7. Nxc6 dxc6
Rather than losing time by retreating his knight, Paulsen exchanges knights.
8. Bc4 b5

Paulsen hits the f7 square with his light-squared bishop.
Morphy is attacking the white pawn at e4 twice with his knight and rook, and this pawn is defended only once by the white knight at c3.
But If Morphy plays Nxe4, Paulsen can go Bxf7+. Then if black takes the white bishop with his king, white can take the black knight at e4 with his knight at c3. If black recaptures the white knight at e4 with his rook, white can go Qf3+, forking the black king and rook.
So this sequence would be: 8. Bc4 Nxe4 9. Bxf7+ Kxf7 10. Nxe4 Rxe4 11. Qf3+ Qf6 12. Qxe4. And Paulsen has a material advantage.
Therefore, as shown above, Morphy played b5.
9. Be2 Nxe4
Now that the white bishop has been driven off the diagonal to move Bxf7+, black can take the white e pawn.
10. Nxe4 Rxe4
11. Bf3 Re6
White places his bishop on the diagonal to attack the black rook and the black pawn on f6. Black moves his rook back to e6 defend the black pawn on f6.
12. c3 Qd3
Paulsen plays c3 apparently to prepare for d4 and/or b4, driving away the black dark-squared bishop. Morphy sees an opportunity to move his queen to an outpost, to the undefended square, stopping d4 by white.

13. b4 Bb6
Morphy chooses to keep his dark-squared bishop on the diagonal going to the white king.
14. a4 bxa4
White attacks the black b pawn, seemingly to exploit the black c6 pawn being pinned by the white bishop at f3 that points at the black rook at a8.
15. Qxa4 Bd7
Paulsen develops his queen by recapturing. The black c6 pawn is attacked by both the white queen and the white bishop at f3.
So Morphy defends his c6 pawn by developing his light-squared bishop. He is planning to double his rooks on the e file.
16. Ra2 Rae8
Morphy has moved his light-squared bishop to d7, instead of fianchettoing to b7. This allows white the chance to play Qa6, challenging the black queen at the prime location of d3.
But Paulsen did not play Qa6 right away. His hesitation at this moment, moving tentatively with Ra2, turned out to be crucial.
This gave Morphy the time to activate the last of his pieces. His bishops are pointing at the white kingside, and his rooks are lined up to go.
For all of Paulsen’s efforts on the queenside, the black queen has not been dislodged from the outpost. Paulsen’s pieces have not been fully activated.
Paul Morphy begins an attack that seems to come from nowhere.

17. Qa6 Qxf3
What kind of sorcery is this?

18. gxf3 Rg6+
White’s kingside falls apart. All of the black pieces can come after the white king now.
19. Kh1 Bh3
White’s move is forced. Next, the black bishop threatens the white rook, but more importantly, Bg2+.
If white tries Rg1, then black plays Rxg1+. When white captures the black rook with his king, then black goes Re1+. White can only block the check with his queen. Black will finish with Rxf1#.
The moves would go like this: 19. Kh1 Bh3 20. Rg1 Rxg1+ 21. Kxg1 Re1+ 22. Qf1 Rxf1#.

The game actually continues:
20. Rd1 Bg2+
21. Kg1 Bxf3+
Again, white’s move is forced. Black’s discovered check capturing the white pawn attacks the white rook at d1, but more significantly, it continues the checkmating combination.
22. Kf1 Bg2+
The “quiet” move Rg2 by Morphy could have led to a checkmate like this: 22. Kf1 Rg2 23. Qd3 Rxf2+ 24. Kg1 Rg2+ 25. Kh1 Rg1#. Double check and checkmate.

A superb finish.
After Morphy’s magic on move 17 made this legendary game worthy to be studied and enjoyed for all time, maybe we can allow him to close out certainly satisfactorily, well, still artistically, if not in the most expedient way.
So the game actually continued:
23. Kg1 Bh3+
24. Kh1 Bxf2
Another winning variation for Paul Morphy would have had him play Bg2+ again on this move. This sequence includes both a discovered check and a tricky change in diagonal by the black light-squared bishop: 24. Kh1 Bg2+ 25. Kg1 Be4+ 26. Kf1 Bf5 27. Qe2 Bh3+ 28. Ke1 Rg1#.

In the game’s actual continuation, notice how all the black pieces are on the kingside surrounding the white king, and all the white pieces are on the queenside away from the white king. Morphy threatens Bg2#.

25. Qf1 Bxf1
Paulsen gives up his queen to prevent checkmate. But the assault on the white king rolls on, just for fun.
26. Rxf1 Re2
27. Ra1 Rh6
White’s d pawn had been pinned. If he had moved it, the black rook at e2 could attack the white rook at a2.
That’s why Paulsen backs up his rook to a1, unpinning his d pawn for him to push that pawn on his next move, uncovering an attack on the black rook at h6 by his bishop at c1.
28. d4 Be3
Morphy blocks the attack by the white bishop on his rook with his bishop. At this point, Paulson resigned.
If Paulsen moves Bxe3, then Morphy can play Rhxh2+. After Paulsen goes Kg1, Morphy can end it with Reg2#. The game would conclude: 29. Bxe3 Rhxh2+ 30. Kg1 Reg2#.

Old-school chess at the master level, and by that, I mean very old, seemed to be always full of interesting tactical possibilities and nice combinations.
In My Great Predecessors, Part I, Garry Kasparov wrote that Paul Morphy was the forefather of modern chess. According to the great Kasparov, Morphy's historical value was understanding the importance of fast development of the pieces and domination of the center, about a quarter of a century before Wilhelm Steinitz had formulated those principles.

(image credit: the accomplished historical chess writer batgirl here on chess.com)

This has been one of 40 lessons from my first chess book Learning Chess Middle-Game Attacking with the Classic Masters: Volume 1. Here is a video which I made for this lesson below. I created the music, too, on the JamStudio application.