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Paul Morphy vs Paul Journoud
"Journoud's End" (game of the day Jul-11-2022)
Casual game (1858), Paris, Sep-??
Sicilian Defense: Morphy Gambit (B21)  ·  1-0

ANALYSIS [x]

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Kibitzer's Corner
< Earlier Kibitzing  · PAGE 2 OF 2 ·  Later Kibitzing>
Nov-01-04  sumant 9: I dont think that 3...e5 is good.
Nov-01-04  Shams: it does look dodgy. I checked chessbase and four masters have tried 3...e5. 2.5 points out of 4.

I assume you favor transposing to a non-gambit line then, sumant?

the other thing that surprised me about this game was 9. Bxg8. Obviously white is wary of 9...Na5 10. Qd5 Nf6 dropping the bishop, but he could play Bd5. Morphy prefers the tempo and keeping d5 open for the knight, I guess.

Mar-27-05  aw1988: e5 is a hell of an ugly move...
Dec-01-05  Chopin: This game was over before it started.
Feb-12-07  Thrajin: 3... e5 is not a bad move (it is considered a standard opening move after 3. Nf3). The pawn is immune from capture by the knight due to 4. Nxe5 Qa4+.

However, why black chose to virtually ignore white's Queen/Bishop battery, I have no idea...

Feb-20-07  InspiredByMorphy: There is nothing wrong with 3. ...e5 . There is something wrong with 3. ...Be7 . 3. ...Nc6 , 3. ...Nf6 or 3. ...Qc7 would have all been a more efficient way of handling this opening.
Aug-28-20  SubSahara: Was n't Morphy the Mike Tyson of the chess world?
Aug-29-20
Premium Chessgames Member
  fredthebear: Most definitely. Morphy's games must be studied!

Quotes rom KingG's collection:

Perhaps the most accurate player who ever lived, he would beat anybody today in a set-match. He had complete sight of the board and seldom blundered even though he moved quite rapidly. I've played over hundreds of his games and am continually surprised and entertained by his ingenuity. – Bobby Fischer (on Morphy)

A popularly held theory about Paul Morphy, is that if he returned to the chess world today and played our best contemporary players, he would come out the loser. Nothing is further from the truth. In a set match, Morphy would beat anybody alive today. – Bobby Fischer

Morphy was probably the greatest genius of them all. – Bobby Fischer

Aug-29-20  saturn2: Todays champs would outplay him in the opening the same he outplayed the opponents of his time there.

Different if they started from a level position at move 20.

Aug-29-20  morfishine: Of course Morphy would more than hold his own today. He would just need a little time to familiarize himself with current openings, perhaps a day or two LOL
Jul-11-21  paulmorphy1969: Fisher said the real Morphy could compete with anyone, first of all he was gifted with prodigious momery indispensable in high-level chess, he learned quickly, and above all his playing strength remained unexplored. A genius remains a genius in every age.Then you make comparisons of a chess player knowledge of 1800 compared with search engines today in 2021 it is clear that this is not the correct way of thinking, If we take the greatest sack player in existence and bring him back to the era of Morphy, no pc no video no program just with their playing strength, do you think anyone could beat Morphy?
Jul-12-21
Premium Chessgames Member
  keypusher: <If we take the greatest sack player in existence and bring him back to the era of Morphy, no pc no video no program just with their playing strength, do you think anyone could beat Morphy?>

I have no idea and neither do you. Neither does anyone else. So it's not a very interesting question.

There should probably be a FAQ about this.

Paul Morphy (kibitz #6208)

Morphy vs A Bottin, 1858 (kibitz #31)

Jul-12-21
Premium Chessgames Member
  MissScarlett: Morphy was the telephone before the telephone.
Aug-07-21
Premium Chessgames Member
  kingscrusher: Something beautiful and sort of funny here in the variations:

If on move 14 black had played exf4, White has the stunning Nxf4 !!

146: Paul Morphy - Paul Journoud 1-0 0.0, Paris it 1858


click for larger view

If Bxb3 then either Ne6 checkmate or Ng6 checkmate :)

Jul-11-22
Premium Chessgames Member
  OhioChessFan: Pretty good pun. The end of the game looks like a composition.
Jul-11-22
Premium Chessgames Member
  ChessHigherCat: 16. Nc7+ would be a cool move to play in blitz in the park!

Two Italian kibbitzers:

Luigi: Nobody canna rock yurrr world lika Morphy!

Giovanni: You never meta' Morphy's sis!

Jul-11-22  ajile: Hi I'm playing Black and I would like to lose quickly today.
Jul-11-22  SeanAzarin: Nice finish. If 17... Kt - K 2, 18 P x P wins the pinned Knight.
Jul-11-22  TheBish: 3...e5 is a real lemon, but 4...Be7 only worsened matters, leaving little to no defense against the coming 6. Qb3. I used to play this move order as White (attempting to lure opponents into this positional error), but I would play 4. c3, transposing into a great version of the Smith-Morra Gambit, according to the recommendation of the author, I believe Paul Motwani, in one of his many opening books. But the bishop move (4. Bc4) may be even stronger, as it exposes the weakness Black created on his third move.
Jul-11-22
Premium Chessgames Member
  FSR: <TheBish> 3...e5 is dangerous, but is playable if Black knows what he's doing and doesn't obsess over keeping the pawn. If you're playing it in 1858, there's no chance you know what you're doing. Black would have been fine after 4...Nc6 5.c3 Nf6.
Jul-11-22  goodevans: <Thrajin: [...] why black chose to virtually ignore white's Queen/Bishop battery, I have no idea..>

By the time White played 6.Qb3 it was too late to do anything about that battery so Journoud's first big mistake was failing to anticipate it. For example, 5...Nc6 6.Qb3?! Na5 is complicated but certainly a lot better for Black than 5...d6.

A more difficult mistake to understand is 10...Qe8. This just invites White to plonk a piece on g5 (although 11.Nd5 must also have been tempting). From there on in the game was essentially lost.

Journoud had a reputation as being quite a strong player but this is absolute garbage. Even I can do better than this. It's a 'casual game' so maybe he'd had a little too much absinthe on this occasion.

Jul-11-22
Premium Chessgames Member
  PawnSac: < fredthebear:

"Perhaps the most accurate player who ever lived, he would beat anybody today in a set-match." In a set match, Morphy would beat anybody alive today. – Bobby Fischer >

Was Fischer including himself? Did he think he also would lose to Morphy?

Jul-11-22
Premium Chessgames Member
  ChessHigherCat: Soup du jour, no?
Jul-11-22  Whitehat1963: Morphs was a fantastic attacker, but he rarely had anyone really challenge him. It is too bad he did not get a chance to play a bunch of games against the likes of Steinitz, Zukertort, Blackburne, Andersen, etc.
Jul-11-22
Premium Chessgames Member
  keypusher: < . It is too bad he did not get a chance to play a bunch of games against the likes of Steinitz, Zukertort, Blackburne, Andersen, etc.>

Get a chance? What stopped him?

He did play a lot against Anderssen, by his standards.

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