I think 13.Nxd4 giving up the pawn without a fight
is worse. 13.Nxd4 Qxd4 14.b3 c6 15.Nf3 Qf6 is not as
good as 13.Ne4 Be6 14.Rc1 Bxc4 15.Rxc4 Nde6.

15.Kh1 is a stinker, but PM drops the attack with
16...Bf5. He should played the R interpostion theme
now; 16...Rd8 17.Rae1 Bxh3 18.gxh3 Rd3 19.Qxd3 and
the game is over.

Cheers,

I've have always suspected that the amateur "F." was <de l'Angleterre> (de l'A.). Which would be: Mr. F. from England.

The Chess Monthly, Jan 1859, pp22-23, gives the game and identifies it as being against St. Amant and "another Parisian amateur". So perhaps a Paris native residing in England visiting France at the time of Morphy's visit?

Sorry, I overlooked this - it has <18. Rad1>.

<The earliest source I've found so far gives initials for St. Amant's partner as: "F. de l'A." (source: Paul Morphy. Skizze aus der Schachwelt. Zweiter Theil., 1859, p28).>

The <Field> of December 11th 1858 details Morphy's current record in France and it gives the consulting partners as <St. Amant and F. de L.>, the score being -3 in Morphy's favour. St. Amant separately teaming up with Lequesne (-2 =2).

I would be happiest identifying the unknown player simply as <"F. de L."> for a number of reasons (e.g. as <jn> noted, it agrees with the majority of sources).

Here is a link to the Lange v2 game source:

https://books.google.com/books?id=H... (G-97)

with the (misleading) "F. de l'A.".

I think the fact that <CG> has such a specific identification show a weakness in the system, ie. it's too easy to introduce changes in historical matters without full review(*).

<Some of the pleasantest hours passed by Paul Morphy in the French capital were spent at the

<Baronne de L.'s>.

This lady, who has long ranked as one of the great beauties of Parisian society, is renowned as a patroness of the arts. Her friendship for the lamented Pradier has passed into history, and her salons are the weekly resort of the most celebrated sculptors, painters, and authors of France. And no wonder, for the Baronne is gloriously merry and witty, a true child of the sunny south.

<A Creole, from the French West Indies>,

she immediately took a liking to Morphy, "because," said she, "he is another lazy Creole like myself;" and she invited all her acquaintances to come and see him.

She would get Morphy opposite her, and St. Amant or Lequesne by her side to stop her when she was about making too serious a mistake, and would play game after game, making us all laugh the whole time with her charming anecdotes and jeux d'esprit. How she would amuse us when she declared that parties and late hours were killing her, and that they did kill her last season, and yet she was always as fresh as a newly plucked rose. When she found how fond Morphy was of music, the principal singers from the opera would be present.

I remember one night she asked that finest of living baritones, “the honey-voiced" Graziani, to play our hero at the odds of the Queen. Signor Graziani had caught the general enthusiasm, and was applying his leisure moments to chess with the energy of a Staudigl, and had lately been taking lessons from Préti. He at first objected to play, from modesty, but the Baronne had determined he should, and she told him that, if he would play a game, Morphy would sing a duo with him afterwards. This was a sparkle of her fun, of course; but Graziani played, not one, but three games, and he then said: "If anybody asks me if I understand chess, I shall say, 'Oh, yes; I play sometimes with Mr. Morphy.""

[ed- slightly edited with emph and para breaks added]>