Notable Games
Paul Morphy
14 celebrated games · 309 in the full archive
◈The games that made the legend
Morphy – Rousseau · 1849 · 1–0
New Orleans, 1849 — a twelve-year-old Morphy accepts the King's Gambit and finishes with a clean mating attack, 17.Qc7#, against the strong French-American master Eugène Rousseau: an early flash of the prodigy.
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Morphy – Le Carpentier · 1849 · 1–0
New Orleans, 1849 — one of the boy Morphy's earliest recorded brilliancies: giving rook odds, he lets his queen be captured and mates with a knight, 13.Nxh8#.
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Schulten – Morphy · 1857 · 0–1
New York, 1857 — a celebrated Falkbeer Counter-Gambit: Morphy sacrifices a rook and drives the white king up the board (…Nf3+, …Qd4+, …Qf2+, …Qxf3+) into a forced mating net. One of his most reproduced attacking games.
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Paulsen – Morphy · 1857 · 0–1
First American Chess Congress final, New York 1857 — the immortal 17…Qxf3!! queen sacrifice against Louis Paulsen, tearing open the white king in one of the most famous games of the nineteenth century.
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Marache – Morphy · 1857 · 0–1
New York, 1857 — from an Evans Gambit, Morphy answers Napoleon Marache's attack with a whirlwind of threats and a picturesque knight mate, 20…Nde2#.
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Morphy – Meek · 1857 · 1–0
New Orleans, 1857 — an Evans Gambit against Alexander Meek, one of the strongest American players of the day; Morphy wins material, drives home a passed pawn, and mates by promotion, 33.cxd8=Q#.
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Morphy – Duke of Brunswick · 1858 · 1–0
“A Night at the Opera,” Paris 1858 — the most famous game ever played. In a consultation game against Duke Karl of Brunswick and Count Isouard, Morphy develops every piece with gain of time and mates in seventeen with a queen sacrifice, 16.Qb8+ and 17.Rd8#.
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Bird – Morphy · 1858 · 0–1
London, 1858 — against Henry Bird, Morphy meets a Philidor with the celebrated exchange sacrifice 17…Rxf2! and a cascade of tactics, hunting the white king down with his queen.
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Morphy – Harrwitz · 1858 · 1–0
Match, Paris 1858 — after dropping the first two games to Daniel Harrwitz, Morphy stormed back to win the match; here the queens come off by move six and he gives a masterclass in the resulting queenless struggle.
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Morphy – Loewenthal · 1858 · 1–0
Match, London 1858 — Morphy defeated Johann Löwenthal +9−3=2; this sharp King's Gambit Declined sees him launch a kingside pawn storm and weather the counterattack to win.
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Morphy – Baucher · 1858 · 1–0
Blindfold game, Paris 1858 — playing without sight of the board, Morphy sacrifices a rook on h6 to drag the king into the open (25.Rxh6+ Kxh6) and forces mate, a showcase of his legendary blindfold strength.
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Morphy – Anderssen · 1858 · 1–0
Match, Paris 1858 — Morphy's crowning contest was his decisive win (+7−2=2) over Adolf Anderssen, widely regarded as the world's leading player. Here a Sicilian erupts into a seventeen-move king hunt that forces Anderssen's resignation.
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Anderssen – Morphy · 1858 · 0–1
Match, Paris 1858 — Anderssen resorted to the offbeat 1.a3 (a move that now bears his name) to sidestep Morphy's opening mastery; Morphy answers it calmly and grinds out the win with the black pieces.
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Morphy – Schrufer · 1859 · 1–0
1859 — one of Morphy's last brilliancies before he withdrew from serious play: from a Two Knights against F. Schrüfer he sacrifices to strip the black king and hunts it across the board to a knight mate, 24.Nd7#.
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