Morphy was probably the greatest genius of them all.
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[Event "London"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "1883.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Zukertort, Johannes"]
[Black "Blackburne, Joseph"]
[Result "1-0"]
[Annotator "Hayes, David"]
[BlackElo "unknown"]
[ECO "A13"]
[TimeControl "0"]
[WhiteElo "unknown"]
{ The tournament book of London 1883 records, "The fiend has offered his queen
and it cannot be taken without suffering mate." The fiend is Johannes
Zukertort, and Joseph Blackburne suffered.|Zukertort was a soldier,
pianist and linguist in addition to his skill on 64 squares. If not for his
failing health, he may well have won the first world championship match.
Blackburn was a competitive Englishman who earned a living touring Britain
giving simultaneous chess demonstrations. A cavalier fellow, he once drank
his opponent's glass of whisky by mistake and then stated, "He left it en
prise and I took it en passant."|Wilhelm Steinitz, the first world chess
champion, had this to say about this game. "One of the most noble
combinations conceived over the chessboard and a worthy finish to one of the
most brilliant games on record." } 1. c4 { A13: English Opening: 1...e6 } 1... e6 2. e3 Nf6 3. Nf3 b6 { An modern line of play in 1883. } 4. Be2 Bb7 5. O-O d5 6. d4 Bd6 7. Nc3 O-O 8. b3 Nbd7 9. Bb2 Qe7 $2 { A positional error that loses the
minor exchange of a bishop for a knight. Black should have played a6 before
Qe7. } 10. Nb5 Ne4 11. Nxd6 cxd6 { An odd recapture. Black plans to pour his
rooks down the open c-file. Not a bad plan all in all. } 12. Nd2 { White
challenges black's strongest piece before launching his own plans. } 12... Ndf6 13. f3 { Black's strong outpost on e4 must go. } 13... Nxd2 14. Qxd2 dxc4 15. Bxc4 { Of
course not Bxc4 where the c-pawn would come under attack by black's rooks. } 15... d5 { A terrible dilemma. Do you keep the diagonal open for your own Bishop,
or stuff white's Bishop? } 16. Bd3 Rfc8 { Black rushes his rooks to the open
file. White can counter this by doing the same, but a series of exchanges
along the c-file would accomplish nothing. } 17. Rae1 { Black will seek play on
the open file while white advances in the center. } 17... Rc7 18. e4 Rac8 19. e5 { White wins space in the center and opens lines against black's king. } 19... Ne8 20. f4 g6 { Covers f5 } 21. Re3 { The white rooks prepare to slide into the
attack along the third row. } 21... f5 { A poor way to attempt to stop the advance of
the f-pawn. Ng7 reactivates the Knight. White would then follow with an
eventual g4 to continue the pawn storm. } 22. exf6 Nxf6 23. f5 { Black's house
is crumbling. Now 23... gxf5 is no good because there would follow 24. Bxf5
Re8 (24... Ne4 25. Bxe4 dxe4 26. Rg3+ Kh8 27. d5+ e5 28. Qf4 and white wins)
25. Rxe6 Qxe6 26. Bxe6+ Rxe6 27. Qf4. } 23... Ne4 { A futile attempt to relieve the
center pressure. } 24. Bxe4 dxe4 25. fxg6 { Now 25... hxg6? is worthless
because of 26. Rg3 Qg7 27. d5. } 25... Rc2 { Black's Rooks hunt for counter play. } 26. gxh7+ { Black cannot recapture with Kxh7, because of Rh3+. } 26... Kh8 27. d5+ e5 28. Qb4 $1 { The tournament book (London 1883) reports, "The fiend has offered
his Queen and it cannot be taken without suffering mate." } 28... R8c5 { Forced.
28... Qxb4 29. Bxe5+ Kxh7 30. Rh3+ Kg6 31. Rg3+ Kh7 32. Rf7+ Kh6. 33. Bf4+
Kh5 34. Rh7#. } 29. Rf8+ $1 { Yet another sacrifice of material. 29... Qxf8
30. Bxe5+ Kxh7 31. Qxe4+ Kh6 32. Rh3+ Kg5 33. Rg3+ Kh5 34. Qg6+ Kh4 35. Qg5# } 29... Kxh7 30. Qxe4+ Kg7 31. Bxe5+ { Efficiency experts will note a slightly
speedier conclusion here, but the outcome is not in doubt. 31. Rg8+! Kxg8
32. Qg6+ Kf8 (32... Qg7 33. Qe8+ Qf8 34. Rg3+ Kh7 35. Qg6+ Kh8 36. Bxe5+ Qg7
37. Qxg7#) 33. Rf3+ Qf6 34. Qxf6+ Ke8 35. Qf8+ Kd7 36. Rf7# } 31... Kxf8 32. Bg7+ $3 { The only move, and a good one. } 1-0