The Opera Game: Morphy v Brunswick and Isouard, Paris 1858

In the autumn of 1858 Paul Morphy played this game in a box at the Paris opera house, the Salle Le Peletier, while an opera was being performed on stage. Sources disagree on which opera: The Barber of Seville and Bellini's Norma are both named. Morphy played alone against two amateurs, Karl II, Duke of Brunswick, and Count Isouard, who chose Black's moves together. Morphy developed quickly, gave up material to open lines, and mated with his last two pieces. It is one of the best-known games ever played, and teachers still use it to show why development matters.

White to move and mate in two. Morphy v the Duke of Brunswick and Count Isouard, 1858.

The whole game

The Opera Game: Morphy v the Duke of Brunswick and Count Isouard, Paris 1858. Step through all 17 moves.

What Stockfish makes of it

We had Stockfish check every move. The surprise is how accurate Morphy was: every one of his moves was Stockfish's first choice or within a third of a pawn of it. The mistakes were all Black's.

6...Nf6: natural, and it loses material

Black to move after 6.Bc4. 6...Nf6 develops a piece and runs into 7.Qb3.

After 6.Bc4, White's queen and bishop are both looking at f7. 6...Nf6 develops a piece, but after 7.Qb3 White threatens mate in two and attacks the pawn on b7, and 7...Qe7 is Black's only reasonable reply. Stockfish prefers 6...Qf6, which guards f7 at once: White is better by about a pawn, against more than two pawns after 6...Nf6.

8.Nc3: development before material

White to move after 7...Qe7. Morphy chose 8.Nc3; 8.Qxb7 wins a pawn.

Morphy could have taken a pawn with 8.Qxb7. He brought out a knight instead. Emanuel Lasker said that taking "would have been a butcher's method, not an artist's". Stockfish rates the two moves the same: about two and a quarter pawns better for White either way.

9...b5: one pawn move too many

9...b5 attacks the bishop on c4, and it loses. Stockfish prefers 9...Na6, still worse for Black by about two and a half pawns, against about three and a half after 9...b5.

10.Nxb5!: the only move that keeps it all

10.Nxb5! cxb5 11.Bxb5+ Nbd7 12.O-O-O: White gives a knight and brings the rook to the d-file.

Instead of saving the bishop, Morphy gave up the knight. Stockfish rates 10.Nxb5 about three and a half pawns better for White; the next best move, 10.Bxf6, about one. The point is time: Black's bishop on f8, shut in by the queen on e7, stops Black from castling, and White's rooks reach the open d-file first.

Black should have exchanged queens with 10...Qb4+, which loses more slowly. After 10...cxb5 White is five pawns better.

16.Qb8+!: the queen goes, and mate follows

15...Nxd7 16.Qb8+! Nxb8 17.Rd8#.

After 15...Nxd7 it's mate in two. 16.Qb8+ leaves Black only one legal move, 16...Nxb8, and 17.Rd8# is mate by the last two white pieces, the rook and the bishop. This finish is known as the Opera mate. 15...Qxd7 would have lasted longer, but Black was lost either way.

How we checked

The moves are from Wikipedia's page on the game. We replayed every one with python-chess: all are legal and the game ends in checkmate.
The engine: Stockfish 16.1 checked every move at depth 22, and the key moments again at depth 28. "A pawn better" is Stockfish's measure of the position, not a count of material.
The history and the named opinions are from the Wikipedia article.

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