Morphy vs T W Barnes, 1858 (1857?)
Hello All,
This week's Guess the Next Move game is from 1858 (chess dot com says 1857) between Thomas Wilson Barnes and Paul Morphy. Every person has their weakness, Superman has kryptonite, Sandy Koufax had Hank Aaron, and Morphy had Barnes.
Some quick historical background information about T W Barnes for you history buffs like me:
British chess master
Born in 1825, passed on 1874
Two different moves named after him: the Barnes Defense (also known as the Smyslov Defense) the second one is the Barnes Opening (literally the first move is f4)
For this game I am playing as Morphy, where par is 40 and my score was 42
Moves 1 through 4 are a given, so we start at move 5
5) My idea was O-O which received the full credit of 3 points, the actual move made by Paul was c3 (the chess dot com computer says the best move was Nxd4, looking back at the board, I agree!)
6) My suggestion of Qxd3 received a single point, the actual move was Qb3
7) I guessed correctly with Bxe6
8) Two points for my idea of O-O. Qxb7 was the actual move
9) Full 3 points for my idea of Bd4. Qb5 was the actual move
10) A single point for my suggestion of Nd2. Paul moved Ng5.
11) I lost a point for Qc4. Paul's move was Qa4
12) A correct guess with Nxe6
13) Lost a point with my idea of Qc4 (at least I am consistent!). Paul's move was Nxc5
14) Full credit for my suggestion of O-O. Grrr! Now Paul moved Qc4 (side note: the computer here on chess dot com liked my castle move better. Take that science!)
15) Lost a point with Be3. Grr times 2! Now Paul decided to castle O-O
16) No points for my move of h3. The actual move was f4 (chess dot com says the best move was Qe6)
17) Correct guess of Bxd2
18) Lost 2 points for my poor suggestion of Be2. Paul's move was h3
19) Correct guess of Nxd2
20) Correct guess of Qe2
21) Correct guess of Rxf1
22) Correct guess of Nc4
23) A single point for my idea of f5. Paul's move was e5
24) Two points for my Rf3. The actual move was f5
25) No points for my idea of f6. Paul's move was Qg4
26) A single point for my e6 suggestion. The actual move was Rd1 (I actual saw this but dismissed it as being too weird)
27) A correct guess with Qxf5
28) A correct guess with Rd7
29) A correct guess with e6
While I was reviewing the games between Morphy and Barnes I noticed that Barnes won a decent number of them. Morphy visited England in 1858, where Barnes played Morphy and won eight games (but it was eight games out of 27 but still, it was better than anyone else)
Side Note: please feel free to challenge my current opponents. They are kicking me across the board and I need them to be distracted so I can swap pieces 
Mathiesh - my favorite player who is juggling everything from a family, job and home and is still light years better than me
PL11US - she will be Queen one day!
WizardAngelo - It won't be long now before he starts chewing through opponents at tournaments
Enjoy!
