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Opera Game

The Opera Game was a chess game played in 1858 at Salle Le Peletier in Paris. The American master Paul Morphy played against two amateurs: the German noble Karl II, Duke of Brunswick, and the French aristocrat Comte Isouard de Vauvenargues. It was played as a consultation game, with Duke Karl and Count Isouard jointly deciding each move for the black pieces, while Morphy controlled the white pieces by himself. The game was played in a box while an opera was performed on stage. Morphy quickly checkmated his opponents following rapid development and sacrifice of material, including a queen sacrifice.

The game
White: Paul Morphy Black: Duke of Brunswick and Count Isouard Opening: Philidor Defence (ECO C41) Paris, October/November Bobby Fischer, in his analysis of the game, called it a weak move. Today 3...exd4 or 3...Nf6 are more commonly played. Philidor's original idea, 3...f5, is a risky alternative. 4. dxe5 Bxf3 :If 4...dxe5, then 5.Qxd8+ Kxd8 6.Nxe5 and White wins a pawn and Black has lost the ability to castle, and White is threatening Nxf7+ winning the rook. If 4...Qe7, White remains a pawn up with 5.Qd5. Black, however, did have the option of 4...Nd7 5.exd6 Bxd6. In this position, Black is down a pawn but has some compensation in the form of better development. 5. Qxf3 :Steinitz's recommendation 5.gxf3 dxe5 6.Qxd8+ Kxd8 7.f4 is also good, but Morphy prefers to keep the queens on. After Black recaptures the pawn on e5, White has a significant lead in development. A with the queen is the most natural as it keeps a healthy pawn structure. 5...dxe5 6. Bc4 Nf6 :This seemingly sound developing move runs into a surprising . After White's next move, both f7 and b7 will be under attack. Better would have been to directly protect the f7-pawn with 6...Qd7 or 6...Qf6, making White's next move less potent. 7. Qb3 Qe7 (diagram) :Black's only reasonable move. White was threatening mate in two, for example, 7...Nc6 8.Bxf7+ Ke7 (or Kd7) 9.Qe6#. 7...Qd7 loses the rook to 8.Qxb7 followed by 9.Qxa8 (since 8...Qc6? would lose the queen to 9.Bb5).Although this move prevents immediate disaster, Black blocks the f8-bishop, impeding development and kingside castling. 8. Nc3 :Morphy could have won a pawn by 8.Qxb7 Qb4+ 9.Qxb4 Bxb4+. White can also win more material with 8.Bxf7+ Qxf7 9.Qxb7, but Black has dangerous counterplay after 9...Bc5 and 10.Qxa8 0-0, or 10.Qc8+ Ke7 11.Qxh8 Bxf2+!. "But that would have been a butcher’s method, not an artist's." (Lasker). Other than the king, all of White's remaining pieces play a role in the checkmate. Therefore, the position satisfies the definition of an economical mate. Economical mate is one of a few terms used by chess problem composers to describe the aesthetic properties of a checkmate position; related concepts include pure mate, model mate, and ideal mate. The final position nearly satisfies the criteria of a model mate, but fails on one condition: there are two reasons why the black king cannot be moved to the square f8. It is occupied by a bishop of the same colour, and it is guarded by the white rook. ==Notes==
Source: Wikipedia ↗
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