Daniel Harrwitz. Some Match Games To Enjoy.

Afternoon everyone. A humble offering today, but one which has some chess and pictures which you probably won't have seen before.

I have always said that Morphy's finest performance was to wipe out Harrwitz - 5 wins and a draw in 6 games - after having lost three games in a row to him. Just magnificent! Why? Because Harrwitz was a tough, experienced and resilient match player and clearly in decent form.

Indeed, in the context of the era, when formal chess contests were a rarity, he played a lot of matches. The list from edochess.

I have touched on his '3 in 1' match against Staunton before. Another of his matches was particularly dramatic, and you can read about it in an article by the much missed @batgirl here - https://www.chess.com/article/view/the-most-remarkable-match   

Looking into an early tournament of Max Weiss for my last offering, I had my head in vol. 20 of Fialla's Quarterly For Chess History. The article was followed by one on the three Williams - Harrwitz matches, hence my doing this today!

So, let's give some Harrwitz match games chosen just because, for various reasons, they have stuck in my head.

Elijah Williams was a pretty decent player - you can read about him in one of my longer blogs!! 
https://www.chess.com/blog/simaginfan/a-certain-player-named-williams-the-man-who-incurred-the-wrath-of-staunton  

Harrwitz destroyed him three times. They first met when both were new to London chess circles.

The first game is a fascinating one all through - particularly the endgame.

The tables were turned in another fascinating game between the two ( I go out of historical sequence because of the context!) with an equally botched endgame. You realise how great Philidor was when you see elite players of 100 years after him not understanding what he had taught! No notes here - I will give you the chance to point out the technical errors. No need to thank me for making you do some work!!

A game in a theoretical debate which I have written about before - from the M'Donnell - La Bourdonnais matches.

In that year of the first match with Williams, Harrwitz also played against another of the recent London arrivals, Bernhard Horwitz.

A picture which links some material here, and is one of my all time favourite chess pictures. The Gastinau Garden Party of 1873. Horwitz and Lowental on the back row.

Horwitz knew everything about endgames, and nothing about openings!

The two later - 1849 - played a second match. 

So, why does that game stick in my head? Because of the opening. Contrary to what some of those biased by idolatry might tell you, Morphy studied chess! He knew pretty much everything that could be known at the time, and he certainly knew that game!! The first game of the Harrwitz - Morphy match. It's a wonderful effort by Harrwitz.

That's the version you find on the internet, but it may be wrong!! In 'le monde illustre' Harrwitz himself gives a couple of additional moves.

Best finish up - dinner to be cooked here!!

A visit to a later match against a well known and important chess figure of the time, Augustus Mongredien.