Morphy's Inspired Sacrifice Manifests 83 Years Later!

In 1941 Bronstein was 17 years old. The Nazis were to invade the Soviet Union later that year, but in the meantime, he played an immortal game in Kiev, Ukraine, against Efimov. Bronstein had Black in a King's Gambit Accepted and uncorked a mating combination starting with a diversionary sacrifice, 8...Be6!!

But I am getting ahead of myself. The Efimov-Bronstein game is found in the book

"David Bronstein: Fifty Great Short Games", by IM Nikolay Minev. I recommend this book highly. All the games are in 25 moves or less.

In his comments to this game, Bronstein mentions that he was inspired by a similar move that Morphy had made. Now, Morphy's main year of chess activity was 1858! So I scrambled, curious to find which Morphy game he was talking about.

After searching for nearly one hour, I finally found it. And, indeed, it was not surprising that the pattern stayed in Bronstein's mind. Such was the brilliance of Morphy's conception! What surprised me was that, at the age of 17, Bronstein was already familiar with Morphy's games. 

The strongest form of teaching is by example, and Bronstein is no exception. He advocated studying the games of the great Masters of the 19th Century, and here is the proof that he practiced what he preached.

I hope this example inspires players of the younger generation to explore the games of the great Masters of the 19th Century.

Best wishes of health, peace and joy to all!

EPILOGUE:

Now, believe it or not, these two games remind me of another ....Be6 sacrifice, this time from the game Bagirov-Gufeld, which Gufeld considers to be his immortal game, his "Gioconda"

The game is found in Gufeld's wonderful book, "My Life in Chess"

This book is highly recommended.....lots of fun games and stories! Gufeld is one of the most entertaining and human chess writers I have ever encountered.

Here is the Bagirov-Gufeld game:

Wow...those ...Be6 sacrifices are worth remembering!