Paul Morphy – The Duke of Brunswick and Count Isouard in consultation [C41]

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 Bg4?
Most decent juniors should be well aware that this is bad. It is rarely a good idea to pin your opponent’s Knight before they have castled!
[3…Nc6?! 4.d5 (4.Nc3 -Olmeda-Orosso; 4.dxe5 dxe5 Ramirez-Opuama) 4…Nb4 -Craig-Marie]

4.dxe5 Bxf3 [4…dxe5 5.Qxd8+ Kxd8 6.Nxe5+-; 4…Nd7 5.exd6 Bxd6 6.Be2 (6.Nc3 -Frommel-Nathe) 6…Ngf6 -Szigeti-Deak(6…Qe7 -Rodriguez-Fernandez) ]

5.Qxf3 [5.gxf3 dxe5 6.Qxd8+ Kxd8 7.f4± Pachman]

5…dxe5 6.Bc4 Nf6? This is a good example of why you need to think at EVERY move
[6…Qf6! -Sulliman-Bernschutz 7.Qb3 Bc5 8.0–0 Bb6 9.a4 a5 10.Nc3 Ne7 11.Be3 Nd7 12.Rad1; 6…Qd7 would have been another sensible response]

7.Qb3! Immediately targeting the weak f7 square and b7; Black clearly had not considered this
[7.Bg5 -Fievet-Touati]

7…Qe7 Because Black did not really think, already he is forced to make a poor move that prevents his dark squared Bishop from entering the game

[7…Qd7 8.Qxb7 Qc6 9.Bb5]

8.Nc3! Morphy, true to his style, continues to DEVELOP!!
Some other possibilities worth examining:
8.Qxb7 Qb4+ 9.Qxb4 Bxb4+ 10.Bd2+-; 8.Bxf7+! Kd8 (8…Qxf7 9.Qxb7+-) 9.Qxb7 Qb4+ 10.Qxb4 Bxb4+ 11.c3 Bc5 12.Bg5 Nbd7 13.Nd2 Rf8 14.Be6 h6 15.Bxd7 hxg5 16.Bc6 Rb8 17.Nf3 Rxb2?
18.0–0–0+ 1:0 Tenk-Egert, Brno 1930]

8…c6 9.Bg5 b5? [9…Qc7; 9…Nbd7]

10.Nxb5! [10.Be2 Qb4=]

10…cxb5 11.Bxb5+ Nbd7 [11…Kd8 12.0–0–0+] 12.0–0–0 Rd8

In this position the Knight on f6 is pinned to the Queen and the Knight on d7 is pinned to the King (an ABSOLUTE pin); Morphy makes excellent use of these pins

13.Rxd7! Rxd7 14.Rd1 Qe6 15.Bxd7+
[15.Qxe6+ fxe6 16.Bxf6+-]

15…Nxd7 16.Qb8+!! Nxb8 17.Rd8# 1–0

REMEMBER: Chess is a game of war and in war you always need your army on the battlefield as quickly as possible, but two of Black’s army, the dark-squared Bishop and the Rook on h8, NEVER got into play; they might as well have stopped in the box!