CHESS
Past masters
Raymond Keene
WITH THE WORLD championship over, and Kasparov firmly re-established as champion, I intend, over the next few weeks, to take a look at some of Kasparov's predecessors. Although official world championships only started in 1886, when Steinitz beat Zukertort, it has always struck me as somewhat unfortunate that we are not able to recognise such great masters as Philidor, de la Bourdonnais, Staunton, Anderssen and Morphy as world champi- ons. In truth, Steinitz's tenure itself should really have dated from 1866, when he defeated Anderssen in a set match in London after Morphy's retirement.
To start off, I examine the career of Paul Morphy. Morphy certainly holds a high place in the all-time pantheon of chess greats. In fact, he virtually invented the modern style of play. Morphy was well versed in the theory of the day. He had perfect sight of the board, played rapidly, never blundered, was ingenious, resource- ful and possessed an outstanding endgame technique.
At the age of 12, in his home town of New Orleans, Morphy defeated the visiting European Master Lowenthal. This amazing feat established him as a chess prodigy. Seven years later, in 1857, Morphy was invited to the first American Chess Congress held in New York. There he swept the field and defeated another out- standing European Master, Louis Paulsen, in the finals of the competition. The crush- ing margin of Morphy's victory — five wins, two draws and just one loss — combined with the coruscating brilliance of his play, left no doubt he was a star of the very first magnitude in the chess world firmament.
The way he played was staggering. When he sacrificed his queen to force checkmate against Paulsen, the publicity generated was enormous, and the Americans went wild with enthusiasm. Encouraged by tri- umph on his home territory, Morphy left the US in 1858 for a grand European tour. In a series of matches in London and Paris, he again overwhelmed Lowenthal, beat Harrwitz and finally destroyed the great Adolf Anderssen himself, the man who had been regarded as the de facto chess cham- pion ever since the tournament in London in 1851. The margins of Morphy's superior- ity were astonishing: opponents won one or two games, but Morphy won games in droves. Had anyone thought of creating the official World Chess Championship at that time, Morphy would certainly have been the laureate.
However, after beating Anderssen, Morphy played no more chess matches or indeed games against first-class opponents. He confined himself to simultaneous dis- plays, playing 20, 30 and even 40 people at once, and casual games against inferior opponents. In these encounters, he habitu- ally gave heavy odds, such as an extra rook or an extra knight, at the start of the game. Morphy, in fact, issued a challenge to the world to play him at the odds of a pawn, but no one took it up. In effect, Morphy was announcing that he was the world's greatest player and nobody could face him over the chessboard. Thereafter, and for the rest of his life, Morphy withdrew from chess.
Here is the famous queen sacrifice game. It illustrates with crystal clarity the over- whelming impact that Morphy's exuberant play had at the time. However, please take note: his sensational sacrifices are highly dangerous for lesser players to emulate.
Louis Paulsen–Paul Morphy: New York, 1857; Four Knights Opening.
1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Nc3 Nf6 4 Bb5 Be5 5 0-0 0-0 6 NxeS White's capture on move 6 introduces a simple exchanging combination known as the `fork trick'. The point is that the reply 6 ...Nxe5 allows 7 d4, attacking two black pieces at once. 6 ...Re8 7 Nxc6 dxc6 8 Bc4 Morphy, the genius of attack, does not now fall for the invitation to reply 8 ... Nxe4. This would have allowed 9 Nxe4 Rxe4 10 Bxf7+ Kxf7 11 Q13+ with a double attack on Black's king and rook. Instead he plays 8 ...b5 9 Be2 Nxe4 10 Nxe4 Rxe4 11 Bf3 Re6 12 c3 This is a mistake which Morphy is quick to exploit by powerfully seizing control of the hole. Paulsen should have played 12 d3. 12 ...Qd3 13 b4 Bb6 14 a4 bxa4 15 Qxa4 Bd7 16 Rat It is still not too late for White to play 16 Qa6 to chal- lenge the black queen. 16 ... RaeS 17 Qa6 Qxf3 (Diagram) This splendid queen sacrifice must Position after 17 . . . QxJ3
have come as a terrible shock to Paulsen. Black gets just a bishop for the queen, but the impor- tant thing is that the pawn front before White's king is shattered, and the 'g' file is wrenched open, so that Black's rook can join in the onslaught. 18 gxf3 Rg6+ 19 Khl Bh3 20 Rdl Bg2+ 21 Kgl Bxt3+ 22 KF1 Bg2+ 23 Kgl Bh3+ 24 Khl Bxf2 White is now helpless and must give back the queen. 25 Qfl Bxfl 26 Rxfl Reg 27 Ral Rh6 28 d4 Be3 Here Paulsen resigns. Had he not done so, there would have followed: 29 Bxe3 Rhxh2+ 30 Kgl Reg2 checkmate.
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