Three Thompson -- Morphy Games
Following the First American Chess Congress, which Paul Morphy won, Morphy played a number of casual games against the other participants. Against James Thompson, whom Morphy defeated in the first round of the tournament, Morphy had Black in the three games that have been preserved.The first two in the order presented in Geza Maroczy, Paul Morphy: A Collection of His Games with Detailed Notes, trans. Robert Sherwood* began 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.b4 Bxb4 5.c3 Ba5 6.d4 exd4 7.Qb3 Qf6 8.O-O d6
White to move
9.cxd4 Bb6 10.e5 dxe5
White to move
An interesting game that ChessBase does have was won by Samuel Mieses against his teacher, Adolf Anderssen in 1862. According to the engine, White was losing until Black's error on move 22.
That game continued 11.Re1, a move that has not been repeated as far as I can tell, 11...Nxd4 12.Rxe5+ Ne7 13.Bxf7+ Qxf7 14.Nxd4 Bxd4 15.Qa4+ Bd7 16.Qxd4 O-O-O 17.Qxa7 Nc6 18.Qa8+ Nb8 19.Be3 Bc6 20.Nc3 b6 21.Qa7 Qg6 22.Rg5 Qc2 (22...Qf6 maintains Black's advantage) and White went on to win.
Thompson -- Morphy continued 11.dxe5 Qg6 12.Ba3 Be6 13.Nbd2 Nge7 14.Bxe6 fxe7
White to move
15.Rae1
15.Bxe7 seems White's only chance to stay in the game.
15...O-O 16.Ne4
Maroczy comments that Nc4 would have been "somewhat better" (59). Stockfish prefers Nh4, which I briefly considered this morning, but then decided to look for improvements earlier in the game and found 15.Bxe7.
16...Rad8 17.Neg5
Black to move
The game lasted another 25 moves, but Morphy was in full control.
The Next Game
In game 54, White deviated on move 9 from the previous page (see diagram at the top of the page).
9.e5 dxe5
9.e5 dxe5
White to move
The year after this game, Morphy had White's position in a blindfold simul. He played the best move: 10.Re1 Nge7 (10...Nh6 was better) 11.Bg5 Qg6 12.Bxe7! Nxe7 13.Nxe5+- and Morphy won in 29 moves.
10...exd4 11.Nbd2 Nge7 12.Bb2 O-O 13.Ne4 Qg6
Black is in full control.
As I am going through Morphy's games using the database offered some years ago on Tim Krabbe's site,** my first time through each game is often very fast. I don't always look at the players and seeing White's aggression thought Morphy was White. However, as the attack proved to be going nowhere and Black began to counterattack, I looked at the players
Several moves later, White fatally weakened the e3 square with f2-f4 and Morphy demonstrated how to exploit such a weakness.
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.b4 Bxb4 5.c3 Ba5 6.O-O d6 7.d4 exd4
Maroczy's move order differs from what I find in the database, but reaches the same position. Maroczy has 6.d4 exd4 7.O-O d6
8.cxd4 Bb6
10...exd4 11.Nbd2 Nge7 12.Bb2 O-O 13.Ne4 Qg6
Black is in full control.
As I am going through Morphy's games using the database offered some years ago on Tim Krabbe's site,** my first time through each game is often very fast. I don't always look at the players and seeing White's aggression thought Morphy was White. However, as the attack proved to be going nowhere and Black began to counterattack, I looked at the players
Several moves later, White fatally weakened the e3 square with f2-f4 and Morphy demonstrated how to exploit such a weakness.
The Third Game
The third Evans Gambit battle with James Thompson as White against Paul Morphy began with more conventional moves to reach a standard position that previously appeared on Chess Skills in 2019 (see "A New Book and a Morphy Game").1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.b4 Bxb4 5.c3 Ba5 6.O-O d6 7.d4 exd4
Maroczy's move order differs from what I find in the database, but reaches the same position. Maroczy has 6.d4 exd4 7.O-O d6
8.cxd4 Bb6
White to move
9.d5
Engqvist prefers 9.Nc3 and I am increasingly convinced that he is correct that the knight move is a better developing move. It is more flexible and dynamic.
9...Nce7
9...Na5 is far more common.
10.e5 Ng6
Four moves have been played here. As White, Morphy faced 10...exd5 in 1859.
White to move
Maroczy calls this a "senseless attacking move" (61).
Morphy had White at least three times in this position, played 11.e6! each time, and the results were a win, loss, and draw. His win was in a blindfold simul. The other two games proceeded for a few moves as a later game Merian,A--Mason,J. 1870, which Merian won. 11...fxe6 12.dxe6 N8e7 13.Ng5 (Nc3 is probably better) 13...O-O 14.Qh5 h6 15.Nf7
Black to move
After Thompson's premature Ng5, Morphy quickly seized the initiative.
11...N8e7 12.Re1?
12.e6 is White's best chance for advantage, likely transposing into the line given above after 11.e6
12...O-O
12...Nxe5 and Black is already clearly better with two more pawns and no exploitable weaknesses.
13.Qh5 h6
Had the pawn advanced to e6 first, this attack might appear stronger.
14.Ne4 Nxe5-+
White to move
Morphy went on to win in 26 moves.
Morphy was fond of the Evans Gambit and did well playing it. From the Black side, he also had several instructive victories that show how Black should defend.
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*Sherwood's translation was published in 2012 by Caissa Editions and then in 2026 by Russell Enterprises. I have the latter.
**A better PGN database was offered later, twenty years ago, via Batgirl's blog. It is better, containing fewer corrupted games as well as some notes on sources. Perhaps chessgames.comchessgames.com is the best generally available source.
**A better PGN database was offered later, twenty years ago, via Batgirl's blog. It is better, containing fewer corrupted games as well as some notes on sources. Perhaps chessgames.comchessgames.com is the best generally available source.
