Last week I mentioned a recurring thread. The Top 10 Chess Players.
this was closely followed by The Morphy question.
Some lad asked if Morphy was placed in a time machine and brought
forward to today could he hold his own v 2300 players?
This used to be, could Morphy stand with today’s great players?
but as their grades have got higher so Morphy’s playing strength
has got lower.
It was more of a question than a bold statement so don’t be too
hard on the lad.
So why is it always Morphy who gets shoved into the time machine?
He’s been in and out of time machines all over the net (more times
than Dr.Who) as posters put forward their for and against claims.
Players are always been to told to study Morphy
and their first natural question is “Why?”
Why not Carlsen, Anand, Kasparov...?
One reason is Morphy’s weaker opponents made the same mistakes
under 2000 players do.
He punished them with instructive easy to understand games.
Learn how to defeat players in your own class and up the ladder you go.
You could learn the same thing from Carlsen, Anand and Kasparov but
they do not play under 2000 players.
Take the case of Mr Joe Soap the average modern chess player.
He studies the Anand v Topolov match games and 90% of the
moves go over his head. Then he toddles off down to his local club
and gets mated by the club grifter in 16 moves.
Reasoning:
If I learned nothing from Anand v Topolov what is Morphy going to teach me?
Conclusion:
Morphy sucks!
Solution:
Get some Morphy Magic into you.
The great players all have it but very few get a chance to display it.
Last time I looked the thread had jumped into a wonderful fantasy land
with claims that Morphy the time traveller would have won the South the
American Civil War.
Another suggested that he could trip to 2010, gather all the opening TN’s
and skip back to 2001 and trash everyone with innovations.
Here however here we hit one of those paradoxes.
If Morphy had fed the 2001 players the theory from 2010 then what would
he have picked up in 2010? (all this was known in 2001).
So Morphy would be trapped between 2001 and 2010 grabbing TN’s
from 2010 only discover a few seconds later these TN’s are 9 years old.
So let us look at some of these 2300 dazzling virtuosos of the chessboard.
See if we can compare their wizardry to Morphy’s ‘lame efforts.’
First a 10 move mate. Black’s 9th move belongs in the -1200 database.
J.Banas,J (2362) - V.Cibulka,V (2324) SVK Cup Teplice,.2002
Next White gets picked off very much in the Morphy style.
White falls behind in development to nick a pawn.
Black switches into Morphy mode. It’s over.
D.Pergericht(2325) - J. Boudre(2320) Maubuee, 1988
Finally this 9 move masterpiece from a 2342 player that
will have Morphy heading for the hills.
But first see this position from the 1400 DB.
rsand2 - blither RHP 2007
Black has grabbed the e-pawn and now if the Knight moves then Nd6 mate
Which is what indeed did happen. An old trap that one.
Having seen that you will understand this game better.
Black has to shed a piece to stop the mate.
A.Ilkin(2306) - Y.Aplaev (2342) YUFA Cup.2007
I don’t think Paul Morphy would have trouble from 2300 players.
So was Morphy, my dear friend, so was Morphy.
Morphy the time traveller is not as far fetched as it may sound.
I was scanning the net looking for pics of Morphy and came across this.
That book looks familiar?
Looks like he has been nipping in and out of a time machine.
I cannot find my copy anywhere.
Post of the many weeks is a better description.
It began thus:
And has over 3,000 posts and was on top of page one today 6th August 2010.
So lets us have a look at two games plucked at random from the RHP 1400 database.
First both players cast aside the Opening Principles.
One by dithering the other by playing good chess.
The Bishop that could not make up it’s mind.
[b]StrayJay - chewie RHP 2003
1.d4 d5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Bf4
Well this is looking good.
3…e6 4.Bg5
So much for that rule about moving a piece twice in the opening.
It’s OK no severe damage done. White can afford one slack opening
with a piece. He has lost his move, he is now Black.
4…..c5 5.e3 Qb6 6.b3 Ne4!
Black is playing chess. He has hit b2 with the Queen taking advantage
of it’s lack of cover and the Knight has taken up a nice post.
The opening principles are not set in concrete.
Good players know when to break them.
Black has brought out his Queen early and moved a piece twice in the opening
after only 6 moves and yet most good players would prefer Black here.
7.Bf4
The Bishop is tied to that square by a piece of elastic.
7….cxd4
Correctly opening up the game and threatening Bb4+ those dark
squares on Queenside are very inviting.
8.Bxb8?
8 moves and 4 of them by this Bishop. Now we see why you simply cannot
do this against a reasonable player.
8…Bb4+ 9.Nbd2 dxe3 10.fxe3
Steady now Black, a good move in the position, take your time.
Find the best one, this all very instructive so far.
10…..Nxd2???
When playing your games you should think of the poor chess writer
who is bereft of perfect examples.
One ? because you missed a good move.
One ? because this game should ended two moves later and I could have
wrapped up the blog with ‘..and that is how a good player does it.”
One ? because…because…because…..it’s my Blog.
10….Nc3 was the move here sunshine.
The Queen has only one square. 11.Qc1 Qxe3+ 12.Be2 Qxe2 mate.
No more analysis just some snapshots.
The Queen and Bishop have tied up the White army.
In this position White decided to invite the Black’s Rook into the game
and opened up the d-file with 14.c4?
When you are stuck in the unenviable positions as White is then
do not open up lines against yourself.
The pinned piece on d2 fell and the White King was kicked all over
the Kingside till it finally got mated by a pawn.
Finally this entertaining game with a double checkmate that came out of the blue..
Mahoutsoukai - cantspell. RHP 2007
A nice picturesque finish.
Nothing sinister.
I simply forgot to add it.
Another instructive and amusing post GP.
Can I ask why the "Bishop Cartoon" was edited out of the final post?
Was it because an image of a bishop tied up with elastic was deemed to be too provocative for this environment or did you decide that the (no doubt numerous) folks who might be directed to this page by searching Google for "images", "clergy", "bondage" would be the wrong kind of new recruits for RHP? 🙂