Paul stories

An excellent recent article by Dominic Lawson in Standpoint magazine reminded me of the greatness of Paul Keres. The Estonian grandmaster,whose centenary falls this month, was silver medallist in no fewer than four world championship Candidates tournaments. (I will be writing about him next week.)

Another illustrious player (one with the same first name) is Paul Morphy, the victor of Bobby Fischer’s favourite masterpiece. I saw Fischer demonstrate this game to Fidel Castro during the 1966 Olympiad in Havana and it forms the topic of this week’s analysis.

Morphy–Duke of Brunswick and Count Isouard; Paris 1858; Philidor Defence

1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 d6 3 d4 Bg4 Nowadays, as Kasparov wryly notes in his Everyman Great Predecessors series, upon which the following comments are based, every schoolboy knows that this is bad. 4 dxe5 Bxf3 5 Qxf3 dxe5 6 Bc4 Nf6 The decisive mistake. Black had an unpleasant choice between 6 … Qf6 7 Qb3 Bc5 8 0‑0 Bb6 9 a4 a5 10 Nc3 Ne7 11 Be3 Nd7 12 Rad1 and 6 … Qd7 7 Qb3 followed by Nc3, 0‑0 and Rd1 — in both cases White has an obvious advantage. 7 Qb3 A classic double attack. 7 … Qe7 In a game played a month earlier, Morphy–Harrwitz (Paris eighth match game, 1858), Black preferred to suffer a pawn down after 7 … Bd6 (7 … Qd7? 8 Qxb7) 8 Bxf7+ and he resigned on the 59th move. 8 Nc3 For the sake of rapid development Morphy avoids the exchange of queens, although after 8 Bxf7+! Kd8 (or 8 … Qxf7 9 Qxb7) 9 Qxb7 Qb4+ 10 Qxb4 Bxb4+ 11 c3 Black can resign. But Morphy was an artist, not a butcher. 8 … c6 9 Bg5 b5 An attempt to solve all the problems in one go.