The Opera Game was an 1858

chess Chess is a board game for two players, called White and Black, each controlling an army of chess pieces in their color, with the objective to checkmate the opponent's king. It is sometimes called international chess or Western chess to dist ...

game, played at an opera house in Paris. The American master

Paul Morphy Paul Charles Morphy (June 22, 1837 – July 10, 1884) was an American chess player. He is considered to have been the greatest chess master of his era and is often considered the unofficial World Chess Champion. A chess prodigy, he was c ...

played against two strong amateurs: the German noble Karl II, Duke of Brunswick, and the French aristocrat Comte Isouard de Vauvenargues. It was played as a , with Duke Karl and Count Isouard jointly deciding each move for the black pieces, while Morphy controlled the white pieces by himself. The game was played in a

box A box (plural: boxes) is a container used for the storage or transportation of its contents. Most boxes have flat, parallel, rectangular sides. Boxes can be very small (like a matchbox) or very large (like a shipping box for furniture), and can ...

while an opera was performed on stage. Morphy quickly his opponents following rapid of , involving a

queen sacrifice In chess, a queen sacrifice is a move that sacrifices a queen in return for some compensation, such as a tactical or positional advantage. Queen sacrifice: real versus sham In his book ''The Art of Sacrifice in Chess'', Rudolf Spielmann disti ...

. It is among the most famous of chess games. The game is often used by chess instructors to teach the importance of piece development, the value of

sacrifices Sacrifice is the offering of material possessions or the lives of animals or humans to a deity as an act of propitiation or worship. Evidence of ritual animal sacrifice has been seen at least since ancient Hebrews and Greeks, and possibly exis ...

in mating combinations, and other concepts.

The game

White: Paul Morphy Black: Duke of Brunswick and Count Isouard Opening:

Philidor Defence The Philidor Defence (or Philidor's Defence) is a chess opening characterised by the moves: :1. e4 e5 :2. Nf3 d6 The opening is named after the famous 18th-century player François-André Danican Philidor, who advocated it as an alternative ...

('' ECO'' C41)
Paris, October/November 1858 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 d6 :This is Philidor's Defence, named after

François-André Danican Philidor François-André Danican Philidor (7 September 1726 – 31 August 1795), often referred to as André Danican Philidor during his lifetime, was a French composer and chess player. He contributed to the early development of the ''opéra comique''. ...

, the leading chess master of the second half of the 18th century and a pioneer of modern chess strategy. He was also a noted opera composer. It is a solid opening, but slightly passive, and it ignores the important d4-square. Most modern players prefer 2...Nc6 or 2...Nf6, the

Petrov Defence Petrov's Defence or the Petrov Defence (also called Petroff Defence, Petrov's Game, Russian Defence, or Russian Game – russian: Русская партия) is a chess opening characterised by the following moves: :1. e4 e5 :2. Nf3 Nf6 Th ...

. 3. d4 Bg4 :Though common at the time, 3...Bg4 is considered inferior. Today 3...exd4 or 3...Nf6 are usual. Philidor's original idea, 3...f5, is a risky alternative.

Bobby Fischer Robert James Fischer (March 9, 1943January 17, 2008) was an American chess grandmaster and the eleventh World Chess Champion. A chess prodigy, he won his first of a record eight US Championships at the age of 14. In 1964, he won with an 1 ...

, in his analysis of the game, calls it a weak move. 4. dxe5 Bxf3 :If 4...dxe5, then 5.Qxd8+ Kxd8 6.Nxe5 and White wins a

pawn Pawn most often refers to: * Pawn (chess), the weakest and most numerous piece in the game * Pawnbroker or pawnshop, a business that provides loans by taking personal property as collateral Pawn may also refer to: Places * Pawn, Oregon, an his ...

and Black has lost the ability to castle, and White is threatening Nxf7+ winning the rook. Black, however, did have the option of 4...Nd7 5.exd6 Bxd6, when he is down a pawn but has some compensation in the form of better

development Development or developing may refer to: Arts *Development hell, when a project is stuck in development *Filmmaking, development phase, including finance and budgeting *Development (music), the process thematic material is reshaped * Photograph ...

. 5. Qxf3 :

Steinitz Steinitz may refer to: * Steinitz, Germany, a town in the district of Altmarkkreis Salzwedel in Saxony-Anhalt in Germany * Steinitz (surname) {{Disambiguation ...

's recommendation 5.gxf3 dxe5 6.Qxd8+ Kxd8 7.f4 is also good, but Morphy prefers to keep the

queens Queens is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located on Long Island, it is the largest New York City borough by area. It is bordered by the borough of Brooklyn at the western tip of Long ...

on. After Black recaptures the pawn on e5, White has a significant lead in development. Queen capturing is the most natural move as it keeps a healthy kingside pawn structure. 5...dxe5 6. Bc4 Nf6 :This seemingly sound developing move runs into a surprising . After White's next move, both f7 and b7 will be under attack. Better would have been to directly protect the f7-pawn with 6...Qd7, making White's next move less potent. 7. Qb3 Qe7 (diagram) :Black's only good move. White was threatening mate in two moves, for example 7...Nc6 8.Bxf7+ Ke7 (or Kd7) 9.Qe6#. 7...Qd7 loses the

rook Rook (''Corvus frugilegus'') is a bird of the corvid family. Rook or rooks may also refer to: Games *Rook (chess), a piece in chess *Rook (card game), a trick-taking card game Military * Sukhoi Su-25 or Rook, a close air support aircraft * USS ...

to 8.Qxb7 followed by 9.Qxa8 (since 8...Qc6? would lose the queen to 9.Bb5). Notice that 7...Qe7 saves the rook with this combination: 8.Qxb7 Qb4+ forcing a queen exchange. :Although this move prevents immediate disaster, Black is forced to block the f8-bishop (chess), bishop, impeding development and castling. 8. Nc3 :Morphy could have won a pawn by 8.Qxb7 Qb4+ 9.Qxb4 Bxb4+. White can also win more material with 8.Bxf7+ Qxf7 9.Qxb7, but Black has dangerous counterplay after 9...Bc5 and 10.Qxa8 0-0, or 10.Qc8+ Ke7 11.Qxh8 Bxf2+!. "But that would have been a butcher’s method, not an artist's." (Emanuel Lasker, Lasker). In keeping with his style, Morphy prefers rapid development and Initiative (chess), initiative over material. 8... c6 :The best move, allowing Black to defend his pawn without further weakening the , which have been weakened by Black trading off his light-square bishop. 9. Bg5 b5? :Black attempts to drive away the bishop and gain some , but this move allows Morphy a strong sacrifice (chess), sacrifice to keep the initiative. This move loses but it is difficult to find anything better; for example 9...Na6 10.Bxf6 gxf6 11.Bxa6 bxa6 12.Qa4 Qb7 and Black's position is very weak. 10. Nxb5! :Morphy chooses not to retreat the bishop, which would allow Black to gain time for development. 10... cxb5 :Black could have prolonged the game by playing 10...Qb4+, forcing the exchange of queens, but White wins comfortably after either 11.Nc3 or 11.Qxb4 Bxb4+ 12.c3! 11. Bxb5+ :Not 11.Bd5? Qb4+, unpinning the knight and allowing the rook to evade capture. 11... Nbd7 :11...Kd8 holds out longer, but 12.0-0-0+ still gives White a winning attack. 12. 0-0-0 Rd8 (diagram) :The combination of the pin (chess), pins on the knight (chess), knights and the open file for White's rook will lead to Black's defeat. 13. Rxd7 Rxd7 :Removing another defender. 14. Rd1 :White's piece activity is in marked contrast to black's passivity. Black's d7-rook cannot be saved, since it is pinned to the king (chess), king by the bishop and attacked by the rook, and though the knight defends it, the knight is pinned to the queen. 14... Qe6 :Qe6 is a futile attempt to unpin the knight (allowing it to defend the rook) and offer a queen trade, to take some pressure out of the white attack. Even if Morphy did not play his next crushing move, he could have always traded his bishop for the knight, followed by winning the rook. 15. Bxd7+ Nxd7 :If 15...Qxd7, then 16.Qb8+ Ke7 17.Qxe5+ Kd8 18.Bxf6+ gxf6 19.Qxf6+ Kc8 20.Rxd7 Kxd7 21.Qxh8 and White is clearly winning. Moving the king leads to mate: 15...Ke7 16.Qb4+ Qd6 (16...Kd8 17.Qb8+ Ke7 18.Qe8#) 17.Qxd6+ Kd8 18.Qb8+ Ke7 19.Qe8# or 15...Kd8 16.Qb8+ Ke7 17.Qe8#. 16. Qb8+! :Morphy finishes with a

. 16... Nxb8 17. Rd8 :This checkmate patterns, mating pattern is sometimes called the "opera mate" in reference to this game.Jonathan Tisdall, ''Improve Your Chess Now'', Everyman Chess, 1997, pp 192, 194, 201-202, Other than the king, all of White's remaining Chess piece#Usage of the term piece, pieces play a role in the checkmate. Therefore, the position satisfies the definition of an economical mate. Economical mate is one of a few terms used by chess problem Chess composer, composers to describe the Chess aesthetics, aesthetic properties of a checkmate position; related concepts include pure mate, model mate, and ideal mate. The final position nearly satisfies the criteria of a model mate, but fails for one reason: there are two reasons why the black king cannot be moved to the square f8. It is occupied by a bishop of the same color, and it is guarded by the white rook.

Notes

References

External links

Le mat de l'opéra
{{in lang, fr, variations of the game's final in other chessproblems and games, 2 July 2008
Video commentary on the game
by

Chess games Chess in France Opera history 1858 in chess 1858 in France October 1858 sports events 1850s in Paris Nicknamed sporting events

The game

Notes

References

Further reading

External links