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Spark & Whetstonethe grown-up commons

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The Opera Game

Paul Morphy vs Duke of Brunswick & Count Isouard (consulting)

Paris (Italian Opera House), 1858

Paris, 1858 — Morphy plays a casual game in a theatre box while the opera runs. Every move develops a piece toward the enemy king; nothing is wasted. It is the clearest short lesson in chess: get everyone into the game, then strike.

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Board view

    Result: 1–0 (White won). This game is in the public domain. Its moves are checked against the on-device engine, so the board is always correct; the commentary is our own.

    Sources: Philip W. Sergeant, "Morphy’s Games of Chess" (1916, public domain), game 200 · Wikipedia, "Opera Game" (independent of the Sergeant lineage).