I played Paul Morphy

    A couple of weeks ago there was a water main break in my neighbor’s tree lawn. In the process of making repairs the city dug up a 4-inch plastic pipe that drains water out of my backyard and downspouts. To keep the line from freezing there is an electric heating cable running through the pipe that was severed. 

    The Water Department supervisor told me not to worry...he would be back the next day and install a new cable and repair the drain. The next day he showed up and gave me excuses about why he couldn’t get to it for another day or two and assured me he was not blowing me off. I suspected that was exactly what he was doing and I have not seen hide nor hair of him since. 

    Consequently, Friday was spent making repairs myself; I had the pipe, but a new cable was about $90. Filling in the trench with dirt was back breaking, so the afternoon was spent in the recliner tinkering with Fritz 20. 

    After a couple of games against beginners I decided to test myself against the Paul Morphy personality set at the Grandmaster level. As expected, I lost quickly. The quick slaughter looks pretty realistic. You can learn more about Fritz 20 and its personalities on a YouTube video HERE. If you enjoy playing against engines or are looking for a training program then Fritz 20 is worth the $100. 

 

 

 

[Event "Grandmaster Level"] [Site "?"] [Date "2025.11.14"] [Round "?"] [White "Tartajubow"] [Black "Paul Morphy Personality"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "C24"] [Annotator "PlentyChess"] [PlyCount "40"] [EventDate "2025.11.14"] {Urusov Gambit} 1. e4 e5 2. Bc4 {The Bishop's Opening allows for a lot of transpositions.} Nf6 {White may or may not defend the P. 3.Nc3 transposes into the Vienna Game, 3.d3 is flexible if somewhat slow, 3.Nf3 transposes into the Petrov Defense or 3 f4 with further transpositions possible.} 3. d4 {The fun, but risky, Urusov Gambit. Backin in the 1920s the Dimock Theme tournaments which had some strong player (like Marshall and Torre) were held to test the gambit and white did not score well. It's probably not good choice against Morphy!} exd4 {This is the most natural response. White doesn’t want to recapture with 4.Qxd4 exposing the Q, so 4.Nf3 sacrificing a P is the only real option.} (3... Nxe4 {allows white to gain a slight advantage after} 4. dxe5 {Black is going to lose time with his N.} c6 {This is most popular and considered best.} 5. Qe2 Nc5 6. a3 Be7 7. Nf3 O-O 8. Nc3 d5 9. exd6 Qxd6 10. b4 Ne6 11. O-O {White is just slightly better.}) 4. e5 {Usual is 4.Nf3. Alekhine wrote that after 4.Nf3 Nxe4 5.0xd4 white has a very strong attack. He added that he avoided such material gains in the opening on principle because they lead only to loss of time and delay of development. Engines do not like 4.e5 and give black about a one P advantage. This is not a good situation against a very strong opponent!} d5 5. exf6 {A weak move from which white never recovers. I should have listened to the voice in my head saying it's a bad move.} (5. Bb3 {is the best reply, but after} Ne4 6. Nf3 Bc5 7. O-O Bg4 8. Bf4 g5 {Black soon won in Cokan,M (2003)-Korneev,O (2573) Kranj op 1st 2004}) 5... dxc4 6. Qe2+ { Another very weak move. Best is 6.Ne2} (6. Nf3 Qxf6 7. Qxd4 Qxd4 8. Nxd4 Bd6 9. O-O O-O {Black is better. Felix Vega,A-Tandogan,B Wch U10 Girls Kemer 2007}) 6... Be6 $19 7. fxg7 Bxg7 8. Nf3 Nc6 9. O-O Qd5 10. Bf4 O-O-O 11. Re1 Qf5 { It's obvious that blacl has a crushing position. I was hoping an exchange of Qs would ease my defense.} 12. Qe4 Qxe4 13. Rxe4 Bf5 14. Re2 b5 15. Na3 { This attack on the b-Pawn comes to nothing.} c3 (15... d3 {was even stronger.} 16. cxd3 Bxd3 17. Rd2 b4 18. Nb5 c3 {attacking the N and R.}) 16. bxc3 b4 17. cxb4 d3 {[%mdl 64] Attacking both Rs.} 18. cxd3 Bxa1 19. b5 Rxd3 $2 20. bxc6 Rxa3 {White resigned} 0-1