Morphy's Mate

                    Morphy's Mate

A little R & B from Louisiana ...

This theme is named after the legendary Paul Morphy from New Orleans (1837-84), because
of a dazzling queen sacrifice he played against Louis Paulsen in 1857. The idea
was to open the g-file, whereupon rook and bishop forced mate. You might wonder what
is the difference from Pillsbury's Mate (Deadly Checkmate 19), where the winning concept
is, well ... basically the same! Over the years, no one has been prepared to choose
between the two names. As there are lots of key themes, it suits our purpose to continue
the little charade. In any case, both of these brilliant Morphy and Pillsbury combinations
deserve to be honoured individually.
Morphy's Mate in the original form is rare. You are more likely get the concealed version.
It is vital that White captures the black f7 -pawn, before giving the final discovered
check. Otherwise, when White's rook retreats along the g-file, Black could defend by
advancing the pawn to f6.

                 Basic Pattern for Morphy's Concealed Mate :

                                                          White moves :

After 1 Rg7 + Kh8 White uses the discovered
check (from his bishop) to capture
the black f-pawn and repeat moves: 2: Rxf7+!  Kg8 3 Rg7+  Kh8....

                                  White moves :

Having captured the black f-pawn,
White is ready to give discovered check
with any rook retreat on the g-file, e.g. 4 : Rg5+ Rf6 5  Bxf6 mate.