[Event "La Bourdonnais - McDonnell 2nd Casual Match"]
[Site "London ENG"]
[Date "1834.??.??"]
[EventDate "1834.00.02"]
[Round "5"]
[Result "1-0"]
[White "Alexander McDonnell"]
[Black "Louis Charles Mahe De La Bourdonnais"]
[ECO "C24"]
[WhiteElo "?"]
[BlackElo "?"]
[PlyCount "95"]

1. e4 {Notes by Morphy} e5 2. Bc4 Nf6 3. d4 {3.Nf3 is now
generally preferred at this point, and leads to an interesting
game. Black's reply is 3...Nxe4 or ...Nc6. If the former be
adopted, 4.Nc3 on White's part, a move first brought in vogue
by Mr Boden, undoubtedly the strongest English player of the
present, affors a scope for positions of peculiar
interest. Should Black decline the capture of the king's pawn,
and moves 3...Nc6, the opening is resolved into the "Two
Knights Game". White's rejoinder being 4.Ng5, or better,
perhaps, 4.d4.} exd4 4. e5 Qe7 {A bad move, resulting in loss
of time and position. 4...d4, Black's accepted play, would
have given him the better opening. } 5. Qe2 Ng8
{Compulsory. Had Black now played 5...d5, he would have
evidently have lost a piece, as White would have captured
knight with pawn, and on Black's exchanging queens, (his best
move), would have retaken with the bishop. } 6. Nf3 Nc6 7. c3
d6 8. cxd4 Bg4 9. Bb5 d5 10. Nc3 Qe6 11. h3 Bxf3 12. Qxf3
O-O-O 13. Bxc6 Qxc6 {Surely, 13...bxc6, would have been far
better. The uncovering of his king was a matter of small
consequence compared to the loss of his valuable f-pawn and
the "passing" of his adversar's advanced center pawn. The loss
of the game may be ascribed to the heedless move here made by
Labourdonnais. } 14. Qxf7 Bb4 15. Bd2 Ne7 16. O-O Rdf8 17. Qh5
Nf5 18. a3 Bxc3 19. Bxc3 g6 20. Qd1 h5 21. Rc1 Qe6 22. Qe1 h4
23. f4 Rfg8 24. Rf3 Kb8 25. Qd2 Rh7 26. Qd3 Rhg7 27. Bd2
{Preventing the threatened advance of the g-pawn. } a6 28. b4
Qb6 29. Bc3 {This bishop was well posted, and should not have
been withdrawn from the diagonal it occupied. 29.Rc5 as
suggested by Mr. Walker, would have done White better
service. } Ng3 30. a4 Ne4 31. b5 g5 {Black now gains an
opening on the adverse king, but his attack fails, and the
stength of White's passed center pawns becomes irresistable.}
32. f5 g4 33. hxg4 Rxg4 34. Rc2 h3 {Labourdonnais management
of the latter part of this game is very ingenious, but the
crushing force of M'Donnell's pawns tells heavily throughout
the termination. } 35. Rxh3 Rg3 36. Rxg3 Rxg3 37. a5 {Very
well played. } Qh6 {37...Rxd3 would have won a piece, but
could not have saved the game. Suppose, 37...Rxd3 38.axb6 Nxc3
39.Rxc3 Rxc3 40.f6 and will queen one of his pawns. Or
37...Rd3 38.axb6 Rxc3 39.Rxc3 Nxc3 40.e6 (best) Ne4 41.e7 Nf6
42.g4 Kc8 43.bxa6 (best) bxa6 (best) (The line of play
beginning with White's 43rd move, is the only road to
victory. Should he move 43.g5, Black would draw by 43...cxb6,
and on White's capturing the knight, moving ...Kd7. We
recommend this study to the student's attention; it will amply
replay perusal) 44.b7+ Kxb7 (Here again, should White
incautiously advance his pawn to g5, Black would secure a
drawn battle by taking ...cxb6, and moving his king to d7 on
White's capturing his knight.) 45.g5 Ne8 (The advance of the
knight's pawn now forces the game, the Black king having been
removed one square by the sacrifice of the b-pawn.) 45.f6
winning. White might also have won by 40.f6, but not as
prettily. These variations contain a number of others which we
must omit, after commending them to the patient study of
amateurs. [37...Rxd3 38.axb6 A) 38...Rxc3 39.Rxc3 Nxc3 40.e6
Ne4 41.e7 Nf6 42.g4 Kc8 43.bxa6 (43.g5 cxb6 44.gxf6 Kd7)
43...bxa6 44.b7+ (44.g5 cxb6 45.gxf6 Kd7) 44...Kxb7 45.g5 Ne8
46.f6; B) 38...Nxc3 39.Rxc3 Rxc3 40.f6] } 38. Bd2 Qh3 39. Qf1
Rg8 40. f6 Qh5 41. f7 Rf8 42. e6 Ng3 43. Qf3 Qh1+ 44. Kf2 Ne4+
45. Ke2 Qb1 46. e7 Qxb5+ 47. Qd3 Ng3+ 48. Kd1 {This game is
finely played throughout by M'Donnell. His play in these
matches, unfortunately, does not appear to have been as
uniformly sustained as that of his great competitor. } 1-0