Castle as Soon as Possible, Preferably on the Kingside
Move 1: e4, e5
Standard king’s pawn opening.
Move 2: Nf3, Nc6
White and black bring out knights and simultaneously defend and attack the center pawns.
Move 3: Bc4, Nf6
White plays Bc4 making this the Italian game. Black plays Nf6 playing the two knights defense. Morphy loves to attack with his Fried Liver attack.
Move 4: Ng5, d5
White’s knight attacks the f7 pawn and there is no good way to defend it, we must block with a pawn.
Move 5: exd5, Nxd5
Black makes an amateur mistake and Morphy is ready to attack.
Move 6: Nxf7, Kxf7
Morphy sacrifices his knight and lures the king to the center to be attacked. This is called a king hunt. The king is hunted by all of white’s pieces in the center of the board.
Move 7: Qf3+, Ke6
The queen comes out and forks the king and the knight on d5.
Move 8: Nc3, Nd4
Down a piece for a pawn, but the king is in the middle of the battlefield. Black tries to get a tempo or free move in by attacking the white queen.
Move 9: Bxd5+, Kd6
Morphy wins the piece and attacks the king making it run around the center. The black king is running out of squares.
Move 10: Qf7, Be6
Chess question: Can you see Morphy’s threat for checkmate in one?
Move 11: Bxe6, Nxe6
Forced trade or else white would just lose a piece.
Move 12: Ne4+, Kd5
The black king keeps running forward trying to escape the queen and knight, but the white army is just ahead of him.
Move 13: c4+, Kxe4
If Kxc4 then again, we take the black knight and it is in check. Black instead chooses to keep running forward and takes, the poisioned knight.
Move 14: Qxe6, Qd4
Morphy wins the knight back and is threatening some checkmates. Black plays Qd4 to try and defend his king. Unfortunately, the king is surrounded.
Move 15: Qf4+, Kd3
Always looked for forced moves to attack your opponent. Checks, captures, and threats. Morphy brings the strongest piece back and attacks the king making the king go further down the hole.
Move 16: Qe2+, Kc2
The queen keeps harassing the king and he must run to safety further down the board. Notice the king cannot take on c4 because the queen controls the diagonal.
Move 17: d3+, Kxc1
Discovery check and king runs to the first rank for white. Can you find checkmate in one?
Move 18: O-O
Do not forget to castle, Morphy gets his king to safety and gets his rook into the gameand checkmates his opponent.
