If Morphy were still alive…

Morphy vs L. Paulsen in 1857

The legendary Paul Morphy developed a well earned reputation for not just quickly dispatching his opponents but doing so with elegance and joy.  Many of his finest games will be included in best games collections for thousands of years to come. Who can ever  forget Paulsen vs Morphy in New York 1857, where the American genius’ surprise Queen sacrifice baffled everyone, or Morphy vs Duke Karl Count Isouard at the Paris opera the following year where Morphy sacrificed one piece after the other and delivered mate in just 17 moves?

Spectators naturally love a good attack, executed with flair, precision and finesse.  Piece sacrifices are not absolutely necessary, but they do add a touch of immortality to the outcome.  Witness yesterday’s game between the English grandmasters Mickey Adams and David Howell, where Howell’s kinside is demolished with a steamroller as he gets mated in just 28 moves.

While I am often critical of organizers who only invite a handful of players to tournaments with prize funds ten times larger than most common grandmaster tournaments, I have to admit that  the London organizers have managed to put together a very interesting tournament.  It is a great pity that it will be over in just one week!

The tournament pits 4 of England’s hottest players (Adams, Short, McShane and Howell) against 4 of the very best players in the world (Anand, Kramnik, Nakamura and Carlson).  It is difficult (if not impossible) to predict who will win the 50,000 euro first prize, but after seeing Adams’ game yesterday I will put my money on him!  It seems only fair that if an Englishman must win the tournament, then Mickey it will be….

Mickey Adams is having a great year. Will he pull it off with a victory in London?

Howell tried to surprise the more experienced Adams by playing a very old line of the Berlin Defence that is rarely seen today, and certainly not in Howell’s repetoire, before now anyway.  His 5…Be7 used to be considered the mainline more than a century ago, championed by the great Lasker himself.

I am a bit surprised that Howell would want to play this way in the first round of such an important tournament, especially with most of the world watching and naturally wondering why such an inexperienced GM would be invited to such a star studded tournament.  The opening is , infact, very difficult to play with the Black pieces and Black must often resort to tortuous manoeuvring before finally getting an acceptable position. 

Howell said after the game that he had been taking a look at this line several weeks before the start of the tournament…be that as it may, I would have thought that he might have realized that Black’s life is not a bed of roses and almost any other opening would be easier to play…perhaps after his trouncing in this game he will see the light!?

Believe it or not, this used to be very popular!  Ofcourse, Black’s position is not very appealing at present, but the potential offered by  the 2 Bishops and  compact center pawns was very attractive to players like Lasker who would not mind getting their hands dirty in the midst of a good fight.