50 games you should know: Morphy vs. Duke of Brunswick, Count Isoard

by Johannes Fischer
10/18/2017 – Occupying the center, developing pieces, opening lines, mating the enemy king: Paul Morphy knew how to win quickly. His most famous game also followed this pattern. Morphy played it November 2, 1858, against the Duke of Brunswick and Count Isouard in the Duke's loge in the Paris Opera. Morphy's brilliancy is more than 150 years old but the strategic pattern is still relevant. As Magnus Carlsen knows. | Photo: (left) Engraving by Daniel John Pound, based off a photograph by a Parisian photographer named Thompson) was first published in "The Drawing-Room Portrait Gallery of Eminent Personages," vol. II, London. 1859 | (right) Morphy in New York City, 1857 by Mathew Brady

Master Class Vol.9: Paul Morphy Master Class Vol.9: Paul Morphy

Learn about one of the greatest geniuses in the history of chess! Paul Morphy's career (1837-1884) lasted only a few years and yet he managed to defeat the best chess players of his time.

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Morphy: simple, powerful, strong

Morphy's opponents often played badly, yet his aggressive and dynamic chess still seems almost perfect. Every move develops a piece, creates a threat or captures an enemy piece, in this case culminating in a queen sacrifice that leads to mate.

The following game was played in 1858 at an opera house in Paris, in the Duke's private box, while they were ostensibly watching a live production!

 
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1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 Bg4?! Not a good move. The early sortie of the bishop weakens Black's queenside and forces Black to give his bishop for White's knight - and this trade favours White. 4.dxe5 Bxf3 4...dxe5 5.Qxd8+ Kxd8 6.Nxe5 would probably not lead to a brilliancy but would net White a solid extra-pawn. 5.Qxf3 dxe5 6.Bc4 Nf6?! After this natural developing move Black is already in serious trouble. Therefore Houdini recommends 6...Qd7 7.0-0 Nc6 8.Nc3 with a clear plus for White. 7.Qb3! Attacking f7 and b7. Qe7 Black offers a pawn to reduce White's pressure. If White takes on b7 Black will exchange queens with 8...Qb4+. 8.Nc3 Morphy rejects the pawn offer and prefers to develop his pieces. c6 9.Bg5 b5? Black lags too far behind in development for such pawn-breaks. Houdini instead recommends 9...Na6 and after 10.Bxf6 gxf6 11.Bxa6 bxa6 12.Qc4 Qe6 13.Qxa6 Bb4 14.0-0 Bxc3 15.bxc3 Kf8 White is a pawn up but Black is still in the game. 10.Nxb5! Of course. cxb5 11.Bxb5+ Nbd7 12.0-0-0 Rd8 13.Rxd7! White already sacrificed a piece to open lines and now he sacrifices an additional exchange to let the rook on h1 join the party. Rxd7 14.Rd1 Now Black cannot avoid substantial material losses. Qe6 15.Bxd7+ Nxd7
16.Qb8+! Nxb8 17.Rd8#
1–0
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Morphy,P-Charles II, Duke of Brunswick, Count Isoard-1–01858C41Paris

The Black Lion — an aggressive version of the Philidor Defense

Looking for an interesting, exciting, aggressive and flexible opening to play against 1 e4!? Then the Black Lion is just the opening for you! The Lion gets ready to roar after 1.e4 d6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3 e5 4.Nf3 Nbd7 5.Bc4 Be7 6.0–0 c6 – and now Black wants to attack with an early ...g5. Grandmaster Simon Williams suggests a simple to learn, yet deadly system of development for Black. He explains the main ideas of this opening in an easy and entertaining manner, using examples from such maverick players as Baadur Jobava. In what other opening do you get a chance to attack White’s castled King with an early ...g5? Let the Lion roar and the fun commence!


Carlsen in the style of Morphy

Today, grandmasters win such games only in simuls. But even top grandmasters can lose quickly if they do not develop their pieces. One example of many is a game between the young Magnus Carlsen and Sergey Dolmatov — the World Junior Champion in 1978 and World Championship Candidate in 1991 — played in Moscow, 2004 at the 3rd Aeroflot Open.

 
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1.Nf3 f5 2.d3 d6 3.e4 e5 4.Nc3 Nc6 5.exf5 Bxf5 6.d4! White wants to open the position to exploit the exposed position of Black's king. Nxd4 7.Nxd4 exd4 8.Qxd4 Nf6 Black refrains from taking the pawn on c2 - which indeed looks risky, e.g. 8...Bxc2 9.Bf4 Nf6 10.Bc4 c6 11.0-0 d5 12.Rfe1+ Kf7 However, in this position the engines give White only a slight plus. 9.Bc4 c6 10.Bg5 b5 11.Bb3 Be7 12.0-0-0 Qd7 Black has difficulties to develop his pieces and to bring his king into safety. White, however, has open files for his rooks and diagonals for his bishops. 13.Rhe1 After this natural move Houdini thinks that Black is lost. White threatens 14.Qxd6 and 14. Bxf6. Kd8 After 13...0-0-0 14.a4 Black's position is also very precarious. 14.Rxe7! Now Black collapses. Qxe7 Or 14...Kxe7 15.Re1+ Kd8 16.Bxf6+ gxf6 17.Qxf6+ Kc7 18.Re7 and White wins. 15.Qf4 Bd7 16.Ne4 d5 17.Nxf6 h6 18.Bh4 g5 19.Qd4 Black resigned. After 19...gxh4 20.Nxd5 White wins the house. 1–0
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Carlsen,M2484Dolmatov,S25911–02004A04Moskau Aeroflot OpenA3

Master Class Vol.8: Magnus Carlsen

Scarcely any world champion has managed to captivate chess lovers to the extent Carlsen has. The enormously talented Norwegian hasn't been systematically trained within the structures of a major chess-playing nation such as Russia, the Ukraine or China.


Historical notes

Paul Morphy in New Orleans, 1870Paul Morphy was born June 22, 1837, in New Orleans, into a wealthy, respected and influential family. Morphy learnt the rules of chess early and at the age of 13 he arguably was already the best player in America. He convincingly won the 1. American Chess Congress 1857, and one year later, 1858, he travelled to London and Paris to challenge the best European players. Here, too, Morphy proved to be superior and defeated Adolf Anderssen, Johann Jacob Löwenthal and Henry Edward Bird convincingly. Morphy also challenged the English top player Howard Staunton to a match but Staunton again and again found reasons to avoid Morphy.

After his return to the United States Morphy worked as a lawyer, though without much success. He only rarely played chess and in 1867 he completely withdrew from the game. (Photo at right from New Orleans, 1870.) Morphy, who increasingly suffered from mental disorders, died on July, 10, 1884 in New Orleans.

Charles II, Duke of Brunswick

Charles II, Duke of Brunswick was born October 30, 1804 in Brunswick. Both parents died when Charles was still underage and only when he turned 19, October 30, 1823, did Charles became the official ruler of the Duchy. But things did not go his way and after a revolt in September 1830 the Duke fled into exile. But though he lost political power he still kept his considerable wealth.

After fleeing from the Duchy of Brunswick Charles II lived in Spain, England and France until he finally settled in Geneva, Switzerland, where he died August 18, 1873. He bequeathed his fortune to the city of Geneva which in turn erected a memorial that still pays tribute to the Duke.

The Duke was a passionate chessplayer and a strong amateur — even though this is difficult to see in his most famous game. But Tim Krabbé unearthed other games of the Duke (Chess Diary, Entry 217, June 9, 2003) and in one of these games Charles II drew against Daniel Harrwitz, at that time one of the world's best players.

 
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1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.b4 Bxb4 5.c3 Ba5 6.d4 exd4 7.Qb3 Qe7 8.0-0 h6 9.Ba3 d6 10.e5 Qd7 11.cxd4 Nd8 12.exd6 c6 13.Ne5 Qf5 14.Qe3 Ne6 15.Bxe6 Qxe6 16.f4 f5 17.Nc3 Bxc3 18.Qxc3 Nf6 19.d7+ Bxd7 20.Rfe1 Ne4 21.Qb4 b5 22.Qa5 g5 23.Rac1 gxf4 24.Qc7 Rc8 25.Qxa7 Rg8 26.Rc5
Black to play and draw: 26...Rxg2+! After 27.Kxg2 Qa2+ White cannot escape the perpetual because 28.Kh3 Ng5+ 29.Kh4 Qxh2# would lead to mate.
½–½
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Harrwitz,D-Duke of Brunswick,C-½–½1857C52Paris

Count Isoard was born October 6, 1804, and comes from the house of d’Isoard-Vauvenargue. Information about his life is scarce but he graduated in 1822 and in 1829 he was distinguished by Pope Pius VIII at the conclave 1829. His death was announced on December 16, 1883, descendants are not known. As Martin Weteschnik found out during his research about the life of Count Isoard the castle of the family of d’Isoard-Vauvenargues was later acquired by Pablo Picasso, who is buried there.

A great fan of Morphy's game against the Duke of Brunswick and Count Isoard was Bobby Fischer. In the following video he shows it on Yugoslavian TV. Translator and moderator is the Serbian journalist Dimitrije Bjelica.

More information about Morphy offers Gisbert Jacoby who revised the historical part of the ChessBase Mega Database 2017, adding a lot of unknown games and historical material. In the following video he presents his findings about Morphy.


Correction October 19 — The Duke of Brunswick became ruler of the Duchy from his 19th birthday in 1823, not (as originally stated) on his birthday in 1815 when he would have been just 11. In fact 1815 was the year his parents died, but he did not become the ruler for a further 8 years. 


Master Class Vol.9: Paul Morphy

Learn about one of the greatest geniuses in the history of chess! Paul Morphy's career (1837-1884) lasted only a few years and yet he managed to defeat the best chess players of his time.


50 games every chessplayer should know...

  1. McDonnell - Labourdonnais
  2. Anderssen - Kieseritzky, The Immortal Game

See also


Johannes Fischer was born in 1963 in Hamburg and studied English and German literature in Frankfurt. He now lives as a writer and translator in Nürnberg. He is a FIDE-Master and regularly writes for KARL, a German chess magazine focusing on the links between culture and chess. On his own blog he regularly publishes notes on "Film, Literature and Chess".

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