Grandmaster games · Consultation game, Italian Opera 1858
The Opera Game
Seventeen moves in a box at the Paris opera: Morphy develops every piece, keeps the black king on e8, and mates with the last two.
The setting
Paris, October or November 1858. Paul Morphy, the young American who had come to Europe to play its best masters, was a guest of the Duke of Brunswick in the Duke's box at the Théâtre-Italien, in the Salle Ventadour. The Duke and Count Isouard took the black pieces together and talked over every move while an opera played on the stage. Which opera it was is disputed: an eyewitness, Frederick Edge, remembered Norma, and other writers name The Barber of Seville.
Why study it
It is the clearest lesson in chess on development and the initiative. Live it from both sides. Morphy spends every move bringing a piece out with a threat, and gives up material three times to keep the black king on e8. The consulting pair answer every threat with a sensible defence of a pawn or a square, and end the game a rook up and mated.
Live it from inside a mind
Each player speaks in the first person, in a voice of their own: what they see, what they fear, the lines they calculate, why they choose. Switch minds at any move.
Paul Morphy
White · United States
A 21-year-old from New Orleans on a tour of Europe in 1858, after winning the First American Chess Congress the year before. Morphy is widely regarded as the strongest player of the era.
Duke Karl II of Brunswick and Count Isouard
Black · Germany and France
Two amateurs consulting on every move: Karl II, the deposed Duke of Brunswick, who lived in Paris, and the French nobleman Count Isouard de Vauvenargues.
Paris, an evening at the opera. I sit with my back to the stage in the Duke of Brunswick's box, and the Duke and Count Isouard will choose Black's moves together. I would rather hear the music. Strong players defend well; amateurs who play by consultation develop slowly. So my plan is simple: open lines fast, develop every piece with a threat, and make the game short.
An evening at the Italian Opera, in the Duke's own box. The Count and I play Black together, against Paul Morphy, the young American who has beaten Löwenthal and Harrwitz in matches this year. Our plan: play solidly, keep the material level, castle, and avoid the open lines where Morphy's pieces are so fast.
The game in 5 chapters
- 1
Philidor and the pin moves 1–5
Black defends e5 with ...d6 and pins White's knight with ...Bg4. Morphy takes on e5 anyway, and Black gives up the bishop to keep material level.
- 2
Two targets moves 6–8
Bc4 and Qb3 aim at f7 and b7. Black holds with ...Nf6, ...Qe7 and ...c6, but the queen on e7 buries the bishop on f8 and castling is far away.
- 3
The knight sacrifice moves 9–11
Bg5 pins the knight on f6. Black hits back with ...b5, and Morphy answers with 10.Nxb5, a knight for two pawns, to pin a second knight with the check on b5.
- 4
The d-file moves 12–14
Morphy castles long, gives a rook for the knight on d7 and brings the second rook to d1. Black breaks the pin on f6 with ...Qe6 and offers a trade of queens.
- 5
Mate on d8 moves 15–17
15.Bxd7 check, 16.Qb8 check and 17.Rd8 mate. The queen sacrifice pulls the last defender off the d-file.