The Opera Game

Hello everyone! In this post I will analysis the chess game played by Paul Morphy against Duke of Brunswick and Count Isouard (They both consulted each other). This game was played at an opera house in Paris, 1858, during Bellini's opera Norma. This game is known as "Opera game".

This is their game. Paul Morphy is White and Duke Karl & Count Isouard is Black.

1.e4 e5  2.Nf3 d6 => Philidor's Defense.

3.d4 => White attacks the center and e5 pawn.

3...Bg4?! => Main line is 3...exd5 4.Nxe5.

4.dxe5 => White open the d-file for queen.

4...Bxf3 => Black remove the knight which is attacking the e5 pawn. Because If black play 4...dxe5? ,White will win the e5 pawn after 5.Qxd8 Kxd8 6.Nxe5.

5.Qxf3 dxe5 => White's queen has developed while the black is not yet developed our pieces.

6.Bc5 Nf3 => White threatened to checkmate with 7.Qxf7# so black block the white's queen with the knight.

7.Qb3! Qe7=> White double attack b7 and f7 pawn. Black can't defense both pawn at same time in the next move.

8.Nc6 => 8.Qxb7 is a good move for white. but Morphy doesn't want to exchange queens after black play 8...Qb4+.

8...c6 => Stops 9.Nb5 or 9.Nd5 for white

9.Bg5 b5? => This is a big mistake for black. A sacrifice is coming after this move.

10.Nxb5!! cxb5? => The best move for black is 10...Qb4+ forced to exchange queen and white have 1-2 extra pawn.

11.Bxb5+ => White has initiative.

11...Nbd7 => 11...Kd8 doesn't help for black because after 12...O-O-O+ Black's king is very dangerous.

12.O-O-O Rd8 => White castle and the rook is coming to attack the d7 knight. So black must defense our knight.

13.Rxd7! Rxd7  14.Rd1 => White attack a pin on d7. After 13.Rxd7 if black capture the rook with a knight or a queen, white will win a queen.

14...Qe6 => Any move, black will lose a rook and very weak king.

15.Bxd7+ Nxd7 => If black recapture with the Queen, white will win for exchange materials. But this move white can force checkmate in 2 moves.

16. Qb8+!! => It is an amazing sacrifice. Black's knight can't block d8 square. and white will move a rook to checkmate.

16...Nxb8  17.Rd8# => White has beautiful checkmate. (1-0)

________

In this game, notice that Morphy focuses on the development of the piece and try to attack the opponent's position. Generally, position is more important than the value of pieces. So he always sacrifice a piece when he will have combination.

Thank for reading and good luck to everyone.