
The famous Checkmate by Castling Game!
[Event “Friendly Game”]
[Site “New Orleans (USA)”]
[Date “1850”]
[Round “?”]
[White “Morphy, Paul”]
[Black “Morphy, Alonzo”]
[Result “1-0”]
[SetUp “1”]
[FEN “rnbqkbnr/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/1NBQKBNR w Kkq – 0 1”]
[Annotator “Chris Torres”]
1. e4 {At the age of 13, Paul was already a much stronger player than his father Alonzo. So, to keep things interesting, Paul played this game with only one rook.}

1… e5
2. Nf3 Nc6
3. Bc4 {A young Paul Morphy was a fan of the Italian Game.}

3… Nf6
4. Ng5 d5
5. exd5 Nxd5
6. Nxf7 {The famous Fried Liver Attack!}

6… Kxf7
7. Qf3+ {Paul Morphy develops his queen by simultaneously
attacking the exposed king on f7 and the pinned knight on d5.}
7… Ke6
8. Nc3 {Again, developing with threats against the pinned knight.}
8… Nd4!? {What is normally considered a mistake, instead raises eyebrows when played at rook’s odds.}

9. Bxd5+ Kd6
10. Qf7 {Threatening Ne4#!}

10… Be6 {Alonzo Morphy makes a crucial mistake. Better was:} (10. .. Qe7 11. Ne4+ Kd7 12. Nc5+ Kd8 {and Paul Morphy is forced to start trading pieces.})
11. Bxe6 {Sometimes the only reasonable response to the fork is to eat off of it.}
11… Nxe6
12. Ne4+ Kd5
13. c4+ {Throwing the kitchen sink at black’s king is preferable to agreeing to a draw by repetition (Nc3+ kd6 Ne4+.)}

13… Kxe4
14. Qxe6 Qd4?? {The move that seals the deal. What looks to be a strong move for the queen in actuality steals the king’s escape route. If only Alonzo had played Kd3 instead. But then we never would enjoyed this game’s spectacular finish.}

15. Qg4+ Kd3
16. Qe2+ {Attacking the king and his escape route on c4.}
16… Kc2
17. d3+ {A cute little discovered check keeps black’s king on the run.}

17… Kxc1 {Of course with perfect play, black could have survived longer. However, the opportunity to be checkmated by O-O doesn’t occur very often.} (17. .. Kb1 18. O-O Bc5 19. Be3+ Kxa2 20. Bxd4 Bxd4 21. Qc2 b5 22. b4+ Ka3 23. Rb1 bxc4 24. dxc4 Bb2 25. Qxb2+ Ka4 26. Ra1#)

18. O-O#
Below is the whole game animated: