ChessTactics: Paul Morphy - Count Isouard, Duke of Brunswick

[ooooooohmy]

black drops the pawn i should have said of course

[ooooooohmy]

how is the rook on a8 'there for the taking'. that is not so at all. if Qxb7 then ...Qb4+ (forcing a trade of Qs) when white drops only a pawn. and in so doing opens a file for his rook, with probably more piece activiy. it a;ways amazes me how little those who comment on chess vids actually understand chess.

[bailinnumberguy]

@ooooooohmy Yep, you're correct. Missed that the black queen was defended by the dark squared bishop. You probably could've made your point w/o the condescension. It always amazes me how commenters choose to correct others and fail to proofread their response for distracting typos. Thanks for the correction.

[ooooooohmy]

@bailinnumberguy yes fair point, pls accept my apologies.

[bailinnumberguy]

Morphy doesn't even bother w/ the rook on a8, which is his for the taking. He sees how horrible black's position is and how weak the player is and just starts pinning everything and developing, winning w/ his 2 remaining pieces.

[imitareimitare]

Beautiful!

[john17972]

Count Isouard of Brunswick wasn't a strong player. The first mistake he made was taking whites N with his B. White gained a tempo by taking blacks B with his Q. White is already ready to castle but black is no where near being ready to castle. Blacks kingside is cramped and white keeps applying the pressure for a win.

[TheOneBlackSheep1973]

@john17972 Count Isuouard and Duke Karl of Brunswick its two people playing a consultation game against Morphy , just saying thats all .

[TheTinkywinky3]

And who is Count Isouard? He can't play chess. He plays like a childe.

[MRr3n3gade]

That was absolutely beautiful :)

[eos2112]

Rather poor video of a game that has been replayed many times in like fashion. This man had nothing to say and his paucity of comment made for painful viewing.

[MuseseekerMan]

This has double value for me! learn about chess and put me to sleep quickly.

[Lola0bajo]

at 1:28 why he did not play queen b7?

[MrMadMungo]

@Lola0bajo This would only be one pawn won because of Queen b4 with check, so white has to take with the queen. Knight c3 didnt win a pawn, but gave him a lot of attack.

[gornass]

@eczp2002 In many cases having less material doesnt nessecerally mean that you lose. In this case of game notice that blacks knights are pinned therefor they cant move so they are like dead pieces also the black sqaure bishop cant move therefore + one dead piece + the rook on h8 also is a dead piece so count out and tell me who has more active pieces therefore its like morphy having more material and more active material than his oppoment + black king is trapped in the middle meaning white wins

[eczp2002]

@gornass --- I guess you did not get what I mean... I was replying to yamui's comment and in kudos to him he clarified it. By the way I am a city chess champion and several other tournaments... so I guess I can understand a little bit of chess.

[boomqwer]

This was a great game!

[efflurage]

I really like your chess videos and would like to see more. Thanks,

[jddtjtdt]

black should of castled at 2:30



[djbl1973]

@jddtjtdt

...Qe6 simply leaves white with Bc4 when the black Q is attacked (...Qc5 say, ...Qd8 is instantly losing) then Bxf7+ when the king has to move to d8 - pinned now by the R and B and even if it wasnt easily winning already whiite regains all his all his material with 3 pawns for the B, a much better position due to white's better king saftey, all his pins and the fact that blacks pieces are undeveloped and almost impossible to mobilize due to the pins. mate is simply innevitable.

[TheManowarBabsi]

@jddtjtdt

after 0-0-0 (castle queenside),

whites next two moves (bishop a6 , followed by Qb7) lead to a forced mate i guess

[djbl1973]

@jddtjtdt

are u kidding? after ...0-0-0 the black king is in achres of space with all whites pieces about to gobble it up. there would be countless easy peasy ways to finish that one off...a sure case of 'castling into it' if ever there was.

[Yamui67sx]

I think a slightly more interesting move than Rd8 is Qe6. It's attacking white's queen and freeing up the pin on f6. It's attack and defense at the same time. This move also alleviates the pressure on black's king, as bishop takes f6, bishop at f8 moves to d6 which protects the pawn at e5.

The moves would be as follows: 12. Qe6, 13: Bxf6, Bd6, 14: Qxe6+, fxe6, 15: Bxd7+, Kxd7, 16: Bxe5, Ke7,

and black will be down a bishop, but he is in much better position. Definitely interesting game though

[eczp2002]

@Yamui67sx

What the? How come he is down a bishop but is better? and Qe6 cannot be called attack...

[Yamui67sx]

@eczp2002

After some analysis of the black's pieces and white's attacking pieces, Qe6 is probably the move I would have made. There is some discrepency in my comment, and for that I apologize. After the trade off in pieces, I did not mean to say that black is in a better position because he is now better off than white, but that he is in a better position than he would have been if he had moved his rook to d8, blocking in his king. I hope that's cleared up the discrepency somewhat.

[eczp2002]

@Yamui67sx  - All the same he would lose

[Rookian1]

@ concernerGUY we don't really care about your low skills and your negative iQ

[concernedagain]

I had a similar game with my friend years ago, he got too excited and overjoyed that he captured my queen, he even did a lap of honor, only to sit back down with a big smile on his face to meet my bigger smile on my face where i moved in the bishop and said,"mate, mate!" :)

He was inconsoleable :)

[D35758]

Listening to this guy, I feel like Archie Bunker did when Edith started telling a long story...

[CliveFromEngland]

there were actually 2 players playing the black pieces.

[tufosanta]

u have to love this guy...i was having trouble sleeping in the begginig of this year...but now that i found out his chess games analysis my problems r finally over!

[bierbuik]

Great vid

[hackman1911]

Paul morphy,possibly the greatest player ever? He certainly had to be the most dominant player of his era right?

[1swastik]

i know this game

[FFFUUUCCCKKKEEEDDD]

This is a perfect example of how to make one of the most beautiful games of chess ever played seem boring , great job on the analysis

[michael2244]

I wonder how Morphy would do agenst the GMs of today.

[sebastianquilt]

@michael2244 I think he would still smash them. I get this through mere observation of Morphy's simplistic view of chess. If you see the game in his eyes, you see the world aright. He was not meant to play chess, because he didn't really 'play'. He just dissolved the game.

[michael2244]

@sebastianquilt No i really don't think so, because no one goes for traps anymore, and a lot of the time Morphy over commits to someone taking material in order to set up a trap, but no one ever fucking does that anymore.

[colourmegone]

@michael2244 Morphy's positional sense was second to none in his era. If he were alive today he'd be among the top 5 players in the world. All his tactics flowed naturally from a positional superiority sometimes attained by sacrificing material to gain time. Have a look at SeanGGodley's 'Modern Miniatures' series and remember these are modern GMs playing modern GMs.

[Ronbo710]

This game is why I don't play the Philidor defense :).

[noxtradamentus]

holñ

[nomerci87]

minchiaaa .. genio..

[dobsondale]

good opening by white !

[Ishayau]

very nice video and excellent game.

[serrie85]

Did the complete game goes untill the checkmate or was there resigned after the queen sacrafice?

[arweiss21]

Uh, it's checkmate after the knight takes the queen and rook moves to #

[serrie85]

I know but was wondering if that last move was played in the game, cause gm's usually resign before they are checkmated.

[arweiss21]

this game did not involve two grandmasters (just one- Morphy)... it was played at a theater or something, and morphy had to win the game in order to watch the show (or something along those lines)

[gqmighty]

@serrie85 back then they would play till the checkmate usually...even if they saw the mate, (which, while black may not have been great, I am sure they saw the mate.

[hkkiid]

@serrie85

This game was played about 100 years before the title of GM ever got handed out! Plus, black was a scrub. He knew Morphy was an opera fan, so he invited Morphy to the opera, then got him a seat with his back to the stage and demanded a chessgame before morphy could switch seats. The result was this game where an annoyed Morphy crushed black without breaking a sweat.

[CliveFromEngland]

@hkkiid

this game was actually played in the interval of the opera.

[ManilaSyndicate]

One of my favorite games. Truly inspiring. More than Philidor, Morphy was the first modern player.

[bibafortuna]

excellent game and excellent

commentary dude.

[arweiss21]

will you be doing any more Morphy games?

They are so stunning and enjoyable, just like your videos.

[house25]

hahahaha! no sarcasm there uh?

[bailinnumberguy]

This is a well known game, demonstrating the importance of development and the tactical power of pins. The only problem is that Morphy's opposition probably played to a rating of about 1000...

[Chali1971]

mr. vorojtsov, you have to speak with more entusiams and more fluently, you are a good instructor and people can learn a lot with your videos, as I do, but how can you say at 2:35 "now it is amazing" with a face and a voice as if you just did wake up in the morning. You have to be amazed too when you show it to the people in order to delight the people who watch the beautiful games and combinations. You are a young man and your voice must have much more energy!!!

[1Bleyer]

Chali 1971

im sorry idont agree he has a very calm voice which i like not every thing has to be wham Bam thank you mam but i must agree he is a great instructor

[Chali1971]

Yes, he has a very calm voice, but too calm , too weak and too slow. His voice sounds as if he is afraid to speak. He has no smile and no expression on his face. There are training where you learn to speak with more joy and how to make a presentation.

Watch the video "Paul Charles Morphy-Magia 2". I dont know if you do speak spanish, but there you will see a very nice and fluent way to explain the end of this game. Enjoy!

[1Bleyer]

i just looked at "Paul Charles Morphy-Magia 2"

the grafics are fantastic but un fortunatly i dont speak spanish and the difference is he is speaking in is home tongue and mr Vorojtsov is not i wish i could speak russian as good as he speaks english

[Chali1971]

You dont need to speak spanish. Just listen to the sound of his voice, to his smile, to his body language. This man makes a an impression of beeing totally awake and enjoying to speak to the audients! That´s the way to delight people when you make a presentation!

I would like to see a video of mr. vorojtsov speaking when he is tired in the evening or early in the morning after waking up.

[64ah]

yea the billy mays intro doesnt work rip billy mays

[geffrod]

I like his style because it doesn't distract from the game itself. Chess isn't a professional football game where commentators yell at you and tell you when you should be excited-- if you like the game you should already be excited by contemplating the next move by yourself.

[smashos85]

I rather enjoy his demeanor. Let's keep emotions off of the chess board.

[Yaser22usa]

@Chali1971 hahahaha somehow I like this comment

[Painkilaxx]

that's a humilliating check mate hehe

[1emu3e]

i think first mistake was moving at 1:05 by black side, as Kxg8 to xF6, i think best moving could be queen at the same place and could be advantage to prepare black kingnht for other moving,

[infernol28]

amazing

[byakuugan86]

Players back then didn't have proper defensive skills, but were a lot better at tactics. I think either Morphy would beat them with brilliant tactics, or get positionally ground.

[ani19bd]

One wonders how Morphy would have performed against modern day players like Anand, Kramnik, Tapolove.

I think his FIDE rating would have been around 2500 level.

[xox0808]

Yeah maybe that's right but Morphy didn't have any chess engines like fritz and rybka!

[colorfire]

Howard Staunton, a player Bobby Fischer considered the 2nd best player of all time, was afraid to play a little kid named Paul Morphy. He'd easily beat Kramnik and Anand, and if you give him a few months to study the news chess computers/books, I can't imagine how good he'd become.

[lflr4lnco]

well if morphy's talent was nurtured during teh days of kramnik and anand... then hed probably be winning

[Carbunkal]

i went through a database of morphy's games, and all i could think was 'good god morphy, can you go one game without a brilliant sacrifice?' combination mastery.

[denWere]

haha black wasnt that skilled to be honest. but white was really amazing

[agentkuyan]

Morphy was great

[danpt2000]

I wonder also, at around 3:13, if black had moved Qb4 attempting to trade queens, instead of Qe6, would that have dragged the game longer?

[danpt2000]

One question, Morphy didn't bother with taking the pwn at b7 at 1:26, why?

[malsizedem]

Because, black move b4+ and obligate an exchange of queens, Morphy saw it!! :D

[CliveFromEngland]

@danpt2000

after Qxb7 black has Qb4+ forcing off the Queens and blunting white's attack immediately.This was not the way Morphy played the game.

[TunedInAndOut]

Morphy was a genius. Great choice of game, great annotation.

But s/h stayed on final position a bit longer...

[organis1]

ah, i love this game. seen it many times befor. morphy got some outher good games as welll

[danpt2000]

It was as if the bishop and rook on f6 and h6 didnt even factor into the game. Black was pinned so tightly all thru out the game.

[LarryRickenbacker]

Paul Morphy was a Chess equivilent of The Beatles.

[EGarrett01]

You have incredible charisma.

[EnzoTheBaker]

lol

[stitched83]

haha

[colourmegone]

@EGarrett01 It should be 'the pin is mightier than the queen'!

[UnforgivableMen]

@EGarrett01 LOL

[bowlochile]

BAM !  Beautiful.

[regaldrifter]

20,000th viewer :D

[Destroyer666AU]

i'm on 22,001 views haha =]

[kishorei20]

What was Q doing without taking the pawn at b7 at 1:27?

[italyy06]

becuase black would play Q-b4 and exchange queens.. this way white has a more solid attack

[BishopRealTalk]

@ 1:29 why didn't white move queen to b7?

[greatestchessplayer]

if you take a second look at it you'll see the rook is threathened. Qe7 is the way to save it...

QxP; Qb4+ and trade queens. this is the only choice to save the rook

[hockey2hockey]

at 1:40 why doesn't black pond attack the black squared bishop?

[stinky472]

Huh

[RandomVariabull]

A classic gem.

The really fascinating part to me is that Morphy sacrificed a piece so early to get an apparently forced win much later after even more sacrifices.

[danpt2000]

Yes, by the end of the game white was already down by a Queen and a knight. Yet he was able to win thru superior positioning.

[mrrobbyboy]

Ziz iz good gem

[leokimvideo]

A very interesting video, looks so easy as a onlooker, and yes your video brought out the beauty of the games moves..

Lovely 5 stars.

The Mad Bomber.

[GameOverXbox]

The pin is mightier than the sword...

[kareem87said5]

Morphy was a great player

[peboguxX]

why does people think IQ has anything to do with chess? lol

[Devilsnightforlife]

Well because it actually do. You have to think tactical and ahead to be good at this game. And you gotta have a good memory.

[jagjagjag009]

you think peoples win bye luck in chess?

[peboguxX]

No. Do you?

[jagjagjag009]

no, i beleve its about IQ, logical thinking and good memory.

[peboguxX]

I believe It's about being good in chess, or at least better than your opponent

[jagjagjag009]

And how you think you are suppose to be good/better then your opponent if your not smart? there is not luckfactor in chess. a bad player will never beat a good one. I still beleve its your minds capacity that limits your ability to perform well in chess.

[peboguxX]

Studying and trainning a lot. All the logical and memory stuff are things you develop in chess, not things you born with. If you study and practice chess you probably have noticed how better you get in calculating and visualizating. So it's not about having a bigger IQ, (any master could kick Stephen Hawking's ass in chess), it's about studying a lot.

[jagjagjag009]

I didnt say you are born with skills in chess just because you are smart. But to be good besides alot of practis you need to be smart. You still think it ONLY has to do with training? Why doesnt every one get to the top then in chess or any other sport ? they train alot.

Ther is alot of peoples training hard in a sport they love. Very few will be the best, not always cos they train harder. but becaus they got the geans and ability to be good.

[jagjagjag009]

if you would compare 20 peoples that have train chess for aprox the same time in chess. would you say they MUST all have similar skills in chess?

OR if you compae somone who played chess for 15 years MUST be better then someone who has played for only 10 years?.

[cosbyshow3]

Paul had to finish of the game quickly, because he had to watch the opera he was invited to. He didn't want to refuse the challenge by them because he didn't want to be rude. And then Checkmate in 17 moves AND NOTICE that paul morphy used all his pieces to deliver his checkmate with just a rook left and a bishop! BEAUTIFUL!!!

[IAmSonyFanBoy]

dude stfu with the "beautiful" its really getting annoying. do you really find it "BEAUtiful"?

[taipan342]

who asked for your opinion fuckface

[IAmSonyFanBoy]

"fuckface"? look who's talking

[cursevirus]

one who does not enjoy the game of chess will not understand the beuty of this game

[IAmSonyFanBoy]

And who are you to say that? Are you a Grandmaster? Are you even a master at all? Don't talk when you haven't achieved anything

[cursevirus]

Do i have to be a grandmaster in order to enjoy this game?

[IAmSonyFanBoy]

I've won Chess tournaments. I am too intelligent to see simple moves as "beautiful". The more complicated your mind is, the less beautiful things are because they are so simple. That was probably why the guy that had the highest IQ in history did not find women or men attractive.

[mctagnutandfries]

Congratulations to the winner of the Most Pretentious And Pompous Twat Of The Year Award 2008, which goes to IAmSonyFanBoy for his enlightening commentary on chess, beauty and intelligence, on all of which he is a fucking expert.

[ginian1]

Absolutely, wonderfully said! In fact, sometimes when the mind and life become more and more complicated, the greatest and most satisfying solace one can find is in simplicity. But, some souls have to suffer much in this world before they can come to such a realization, don't you find?

[Devilsnightforlife]

I just gotta say, i've won chess tournaments too. Though it was junior tournaments and a long time ago, i've still won them and ranked pretty high overall. AND i've averaged about 120-130 in seveal IQ-tests. And I gotta say I fancy women.

Still i find this play by morphy beautiful. Being good at chess isnt equivalent to have a passion for it. You dont necessarily love your work just because your good at it.

smart people do find simple things beautiful. Prove me wrong.

[billybob1212]

sometimes the most simple of moves prove to be the deadliest.

[jagjagjag009]

he said enjoy...he can enjoy the game even if hes not a master.

[msafa1972]

6. Qf6 was better than Nf6... I think! but still white more aggrissive.

[garotobossanova]

Man!!

I am falling in love with chess game...

[davidmingming]

what if queen b4??

[davidmingming]

after rook d1

[Bentery]

White then simply plays B:f6, when after Q:b3 B:d7 is mate, while g:f6 is completely hopeless, for instance Qd5 or even Q:b4 B:b4 R:d7 Kf8 Bc4 Be7 R:a7 +-

[davidmingming]

what if black castles?

[Bentery]

well I made this comment blind, so I overlooked castling, but even this would be lost after R:a7, white also has R.d7 instead of Q:b4. Anyway, after winning back the rook on d7 white is a lot of pawns up... 3.-bg4? is a mistake and after Nf6? the position is completely lost for many reasons.

[SoCleAn87]

why doesnt he take on b7 and then take the rook?

[cruiseylee]

if white queen takes on b7 then black just plays Qb4 and gets check and attacks queen, white is then in losing position. Bxf7 is actually better move than what morphy played of Kc3 but maybe he knew what the other players were going to do and had plan in place.

[cruiseylee]

Sorry didnt mean to say in losing position but would not have been as good.

[dontdewcriz]

that was pretty sick. i never would have considered sacrificing all those pieces to come up with that final position.

[Bentery]

well, probably Morphy didn't either when playing N:b5 but planned Q:e6+f:e6 B:f6 which is also completely winning...

[Neueregel]

awesome. One of the best sacrifial games ive ever seen

[Iueamin2]

wow beautiful game

[Sopho4tw]

never would of thought of that. he was such an awesome player.

[silentangler]

besides the beauty of game Morphy in fact enjoyed opera " The Shaver from Sevilla" ,therfore was a blind game for him.

[AntiBullS]

that Duke played like a patzer though , nothing to be taken from Morthy .

[Eskn69]

or if he used his queen to kill beshop when it cheked the king..

[Eskn69]

that wouldnt of happned if he moved his queen to b4 instead of e6 when queen was on e7

[elperrillo]

This game always makes me smile. Morphy was brilliant.

[sallom899]

morphy was a legend.

[arthastfp]

excellent sacrifice

great attacker

amazing vision

[iceheart920]

Very elegant.

[JIM2u007]

Beautiful game. Layers of beauty unwrapped. Amazing Morphy.

[criscrunk117]

B E A utiful