Morphy - Barnes
St George's Chess Club, London 1859
Petrov Defence Classical Attack
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Nxe5
In this game, part of an eight-board blindfold simul, Morphy sticks with the Classical Attack that he used to such good effect earlier in the year in Paris (see part four of this series).
3...d6 4.Nf3 Nxe4 5.d4 d5 6.Bd3 Bd6!?
Barnes is the first to vary. This aggressive continuation has become a favourite of Caruana.
7.0-0 0-0 8.c4 Nf6!?
8...c6 is overwhelmingly more popular today, and was already the mainline when David Hooper write his 1969 classic A Complete Defence to 1 P-K4: A Study Of Petroff's Defence. Hooper credited the text to Pillsbury, and called it "worth consideration."
9.Bg5 Be6
The mainline runs 9...dxc4 10.Bxc4, transposing to a game from the 1834 first match between Louis de Labourdonnais and Alexander McDonnell.
10.Qb3 dxc4
 |
| White to make his 11th move |
*****
*****
*****
*****
11.Bxc4
Johann Löwenthal in Morphy's Games Of Chess points out that 11.Qxb7?? loses to 11...Bd5, eg 12.Bxf6 gxf6 13.Qxd5 Bxh2+ etc.
11...Bxc4 12.Qxc4 Nc6 13.Nc3 h6 14.Bh4 g5!? 15.Bg3 Qd7 16.Ne5 Qe6 17.Qxe6 fxe6 18.Nxc6 bxc6
Bearing in mind his airy king's position, Black can be pleased at getting the queens off, but, as Löwenthal points out, "White has somewhat the better game as Black's pawns are evidently weak."
19.Rfe1 Rfe8 20.Rac1 Rab8 21.b3 Re7 22.Na4 Rb4 23.Be5 Bxe5 24.dxe5 Nd5 25.Rxc6
White wins a pawn but, as in his game against Löwenthal, Morphy's endgame technique proves insufficient.
25...Rd4 26.Rc2 Nb4 27.Rce2 Nd3
Löwenthal states that "from this position the game ought, with correct play, to be drawn," but that is highly debatable.
28.Rd2?!
Better seems to be 28.Rd1, preventing the little combination Black plays in the game.
28...Rxa4! 29.Rxd3?
And here White should have played 29.Re3 Ra5 30.Rexd3 Rxe5 31.h3, with winning chances thanks to Black's three isolated pawns.
29...Rxa2 30.Rc1 Rf7 31.f3 ½–½
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