Thompson - Morphy
New York 1857
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.b4 Bxb4 5.c3 Ba5 6.d4 exd4 7.Qb3 Qf6 8.0-0 d6 9.cxd4
Thompson does not repeat his experiment from their last encounter of 9.e5!?
9...Bb6 10.e5 dxe5 11.dxe5?!
This is much disliked by my main analysis engines, who prefer 10.Nc3!? (Stockfish10) or 10.Bg5!? (Komodo10), neither of which is in ChessBase's 2019 Mega database.
11...Qg6 12.Ba3 Be6 13.Nbd2
A new move. Howard Staunton had unsuccessfully played 13.Nc3 three years earlier.
13...Nge7?!
Probably not best. The engines prefer 13...0-0-0.
14.Bxe6
The engines give 14.Bxe7 Nxe7 15.a4 a5 16.Bxe6 Qxe6 17.Qxe6 fxe6 18.Ng5, when White has some compensation for his pawn deficit, but Black must be better.
14...fxe6 15.Rae1?!
Again Bxe7 looks better, eg 15...Nxe7 16.a4 a5 17.Nc4.
15...0-0
The engines' 15...0-0-0!? may be stronger.
16.Ne4
And here they give 16.Nh4 Qf7 17.Ne4 with something of an initiative.
16...Rad8 17.Neg5?
Now Nh4 can be met by 17...Qg4 as the knight cannot be supported by Nf3 or Re4, which would have been possible if Black had played 16.Nh4. But that would have been better than the text, which loses material to a fairly elementary tactical sequence.
 |
| Position after 17.Neg5? |
*****
*****
*****
*****
17...Rxf3! 18.Nxf3 Rd3 19.Qb2 Rxf3 20.Kh1 Bd4 21.Qc1 Rc3 22.Qb2 Rg3 23.Qc1 Rxg2 24.Qf4 Nf5 25.Qf3 Rxh2+ 26.Kxh2 Bxe5+ 27.Rxe5
The only move to avoid a quick mate.
27...Nxe5 28.Qh3 Nh4 (0-1, 42 moves)
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