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Louis Charles Mahe de La Bourdonnais vs Alexander McDonnell
La Bourdonnais - McDonnell 1st Casual Match (1834), London ENG, rd 4
Italian Game: Classical. De la Bourdonnais Variation (C53)  ·  1-0

8
7
6
5
4
3
2
a
1
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
White to move.
ANALYSIS [x]
Notes by MorphyThe required move of 4...Nf6 is undoubtedly the best at Black’s command at this juncture; the objection to the course pursued in the text is that enables White to establish center pawns. This move, a favorite one with Labourdonnais at this stage of the Giuco Piano, is inferior, in our opinion, to 7.Nc3. The advance of the queen’s pawn is premature, and, if properly met by Black, should lead to a perfectly even game. The correct play is 7.Nce7This allows White by playing his queen to f3, to double the Black pawns upon the f-file, and to gain an opening upon the adverse king; but however Black had played, white would still have had a slightly superior game. 18...Bd7, with the view of playing the queen’s rook to g8, would have been far preferable. In this game M’Donnell does not seem to have played with the self reliance which characterized the three preceding contests. 25...Bd7 would surely have been more advisable; the move made throws the game away at once. 1-0

rnbqkbnr/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/RNBQKBNR w KQkq - 0 1
FEN COPIED

Annotations by Paul Morphy.      [30 more games annotated by Morphy]

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Kibitzer's Corner
Jul-25-05  Knight13: 26... Be6?? is a blunder. 26... Bd7 is much better, as Morphy pointed out.

Good game.

Oct-26-06  ronaldducalang: Don't you mean 26... Be5?
Dec-24-06  JIRKA KADLEC: 7.d5?!(7.Nc3) 15.Ne2?!(15.Rg1)15...Rh8(15...h5)17.Rg2=(17.g5 ) 17...Ke7(17...Rg8) 19.g5?!(19.gxh5)19...f5?!= (19...fxg5 )21...Bd6(21...fxg6 22.Rxg6 f4=) 22...Kxf7?!(22...f4 23.Be2 Bg4 24.f3 Bh3 25.Rg7 a6=)23.f4? (23.Rdg1 )24.Rdg1?! (24.Re1 )24...Kf8?! (24...f3 )25.Rg6?! (25.Re1 )25...f3?! (25...Bc5) 26...Be5 (26...Bxh2; 26...h4) 27...cxd6?? (27...Bxd6 )30...Kd7?? (30...Kf7 31.Nb6+ Kf6 32 Rg6+ Ke7 33.f6 Bxf6 34 Nd5+ Ke6 35.Rxf6+ Ke5 36.Rxf3 )
Jun-24-07  gauer: congrats to white for scoring a Model Checkmate! Does that mean that he gets bonus points for his efforts?
Sep-25-07  nimh: Rybka 2.4 mp, AMD X2 2.01GHz, 10 min per move, threshold 0.25.

De La Bourdonnais 6 mistakes:
15.Ne2 -0.34 (15.Rg1 0.00)
17.Rg2 -0.78 (17.h4 -0.51)
18.0-0-0 -0.47 (18.Nc3 -0.17)
19.g5 -0.95 (19.gxh5 -0.46)
23.f4 -0.51 (23.Rdg1 0.47)
24.Rdg1 -1.12 (24.Rf1 -0.54)

McDonnell 6 mistakes:
17...Ke7 -0.17 (17...h5 -0.78)
19...f5 0.12 (19...fxg5 -0.95)
24...Kf8 -0.44 (24...f3 -1.12)
26...Be5 0.39 (26...Bxh2 -0.24)
27...cxd6 2.31 (27...Bxd6 0.38)
30...Kd7 #1 (30...Kf7 2.31)

Oct-11-07  nimh: Correction, new threshold 0.33.

De La Bourdonnais 4 mistakes:
15.Ne2 -0.34 (15.Rg1 0.00)
19.g5 -0.95 (19.gxh5 -0.46)
23.f4 -0.51 (23.Rdg1 0.47)
24.Rdg1 -1.12 (24.Rf1 -0.54)

McDonnell 6 mistakes:
17...Ke7 -0.17 (17...h5 -0.78)
19...f5 0.12 (19...fxg5 -0.95)
24...Kf8 -0.44 (24...f3 -1.12)
26...Be5 0.39 (26...Bxh2 -0.24)
27...cxd6 2.31 (27...Bxd6 0.38)
30...Kd7 #1 (30...Kf7 2.31)

Feb-27-08  wolfmaster: Cool checkmate!
Oct-26-08  just a kid: It's funny that Black opens up the g-file for himself,but lets White get it.
Dec-27-10  Llawdogg: Nice annotations from Paul Morphy. McDonnell never did develop his queen side and this did him in.
Dec-27-10  Tigranny: Wow what a blunder, Be5, blowing the game away. I liked Paul Morphy's annotations too.
Feb-01-12  Knight13: 23. f4 just throws away a pawn for no reason. It's like 20... b5 in this game La Bourdonnais vs McDonnell, 1834. I wonder why Morphy didn't comment on that move.
Sep-02-21
Premium Chessgames Member
  GrahamClayton: 14...Kh8 with the idea of ...Rg8 to hinder g5 might have been a better idea.

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