[chessmind] Dennis Monokroussos: Morphy vs. Count & Duke: Something New? - Revisited

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Posted by Dennis Monokroussos:
Morphy vs. Count & Duke: Something New? - Revisited
http://chessmind.powerblogs.com/posts/1145081587.shtml


   In the famous "Opera game" Morphy-Count of Isouard & Duke of
   Brunswick, Morphy's play is a model of elegance, flawless from
   beginning to end...with one exception, his eighth move. In this
   position, after 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 Bg4?! 4.dxe5 Bxf3 5.Qxf3 dxe5
   6.Bc4 Nf6? 7.Qb3 Qe7
   [morphy_countandduke_1.jpg]
   Morphy chose 8.Nc3 rather than 8.Qxb7, when Black can trade queens
   with 8...Qb4+. Morphy's choice is objectively inferior, but a better
   choice in the circumstances: rather than a slow win in a dull endgame,
   his overmatched opponents had to hold their own in a lively
   middlegame. They failed dismally, of course, losing perhaps the most
   famous game in history after 8.Nc3 c6 9.Bg5 b5 10.Nxb5! cxb5 11.Bxb5+
   Nbd7 12.O-O-O Rd8 13.Rxd7 Rxd7 14.Rd1 Qe6 15.Bxd7+ Nxd7 16.Qb8+ Nxb8
   17.Rd8#
   Yet as I noted in a [1]post a long, long, long time ago*, 8.Nc3 and
   8.Qxb7 do not exhaust the options, and some commentators have
   suggested 8.Bxf7+, with the point that 8...Qxf7 9.Qxb7 allows White to
   win significant material.
   [morphy_countandduke_2.jpg]
   Sergeant, Lasker, Ward and Kasparov all suggest that this is the most
   cold-bloodedly effective move, even if some (e.g. Lasker) find it
   inartistic. Only GM Valeri Beim has noted so much as the possibility
   that there might be complications down that path, and he's quite
   right! (My conclusion is that if White finds a long series of best
   moves, he emerges with a very small advantage - and it's Black who has
   all the fun along the way.)
   Readers: if you haven't yet tried to work this position out for
   yourselves, I suggest giving it a try. If you're ready to check out my
   own analysis, click [2]here.
   P.S. If you want to look at a somewhat less detailed, more humorous
   analysis of the whole game when you're finished, click [3]here.
   * What are 15 months between friends? Better late than never, at least
   in this case.

References

   1. http://chessmind.powerblogs.com/posts/1142743914.shtml
   2. http://chessmind.powerblogs.com/files/morphy_countandduke.htm
   3. http://www.chesscenter.com/kingpin/Kingpin/raymondo.htm