LaviChess

The Opera Game

While an opera was playing on the stage, Paul Morphy played two noblemen in a box. Seventeen moves later it was mate.

  • WhitePaul Morphy
  • Blackthe Duke of Brunswick and Count Isouard
  • WhereParis, Salle Ventadour
  • WhenOctober or November 1858
  • EventConsultation game: the Duke and the Count chose Black's moves together
  • Result1–0, White won
  • OpeningPhilidor Defense (C41)
  • Length17 moves

In the fall of 1858, the young American Paul Morphy was in Europe to take on the continent's best players. One evening in October or November, he played in the Duke of Brunswick's box at the Italian opera in the Salle Ventadour in Paris, against the Duke and the French Count Isouard de Vauvenargues. The two noblemen played Black together and agreed on every move: a so-called consultation game.

Which opera was playing is disputed. Frederick Milnes Edge, who wrote a book about Morphy's European tour, described an evening in the Duke's box during Norma, when Morphy sat with his back to the stage and, music lover that he was, would gladly have been spared the chess. Max Lange and David Lawson wrote instead that the game was played during The Barber of Seville, and according to Lawson, Edge's story is about an earlier evening. The time is the surest part: October or November 1858.

The Duke was known for playing chess at the opera. As early as November 1857, the newspapers reported that he had caused a scandal by playing chess during a performance of La traviata and making so much noise that the director had to ask him to be quiet.

The players

Paul Morphy (1837–1884) from New Orleans was 21. During his short career in the late 1850s, he was recognized as the world's leading chess master. He had won the First American Chess Congress in 1857, and on his European tour he won matches against most of the leading English and French players and against Adolf Anderssen, all by wide margins. In 1859 he went home, and in time he gave up competitive chess altogether.

Karl II of Brunswick (1804–1873) was Duke of Brunswick from 1815 to 1830. Count Isouard de Vauvenargues was a French aristocrat. Both were amateurs, and against Morphy they struggled even together.

The game move by move

Step through with the arrows or tap a move. Moves with a dot have a comment.

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Paul Morphy has the white pieces, the Duke of Brunswick and Count Isouard the black.

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Open on the analysis board

Watch the game on the living board

Play like Morphy

Guess the moves Morphy played, one at a time. The move from the game earns two points, and a move Lavi thinks is about as good earns one. The other side's moves and the game's notes come as you go.

Play like MorphyPlay like the Duke and the Count

The moments that decided it

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After 10.Nxb5: Morphy sacrifices the knight instead of retreating the bishop.
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After 16.Qb8+: the queen is sacrificed to lure the knight away from d7.

The end

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The final position after 17.Rd8#. White gave mate on move 17.

Why the game is famous

Chess teachers still use the Opera Game to show how much development matters. Black moves the queen and the bishop early and trades them off, White brings out piece after piece, and when the lines open only White's pieces are in the game. The chess writer Philip W. Sergeant put it this way: “No doubt the opposition was weak; but Morphy's method of overcoming it was most beautifully logical—a Damascus blade cutting a silk cushion.”

The mating pattern is sometimes called the opera mate, after this game. Morphy has only a rook and a bishop left, and both are needed.

The whole game with notes, as text

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 d6 The Philidor Defense, named after François-André Danican Philidor, the leading chess master of the 18th century, who was also an admired opera composer. The opening is solid but a little passive. 3. d4 Bg4 This move has long been considered inferior. Bobby Fischer called it weak in his analysis of the game. 4. dxe5 Bxf3 If Black takes with 4…dxe5 instead, then 5.Qxd8+ Kxd8 6.Nxe5: White wins a pawn and Black has lost the right to castle. 5. Qxf3 Morphy takes back with the queen and keeps the queens on the board. When Black takes back the pawn on e5, White is well ahead in development. 5… dxe5 6. Bc4 Nf6 A natural developing move that runs into a surprising refutation. Steinitz wrote that 3…Bg4 was not good, “and this is worse.” 7. Qb3 Now both b7 and f7 are attacked. The queen threatens b7 directly, and against f7 it works together with the bishop on c4. 7… Qe7 Black's only reasonable move. The queen protects f7 but also shuts in the bishop on f8. 8. Nc3 White could have won material, for example with 8.Qxb7 or 8.Bxf7+. Emanuel Lasker wrote that this would have been a butcher's method, not an artist's. Morphy chooses development and the initiative. 8… c6 9. Bg5 b5 Black wants to drive off the bishop on c4 and gain time, but the move allows a strong sacrifice. 10. Nxb5 Morphy sacrifices the knight rather than retreat. Steinitz called the move “the first link in the chain of a most beautiful combination.” 10… cxb5 11. Bxb5+ The bishop gives check. Black puts the knight in the way on d7, where it is pinned to the king. 11… Nbd7 12. O-O-O Castling queenside puts the rook straight onto the open d-file. The knight on d7 is pinned to the king, and the knight on f6 to the queen. 12… Rd8 13. Rxd7 The rook is sacrificed to remove yet another defender. Steinitz called the move “all powerful and exact.” 13… Rxd7 14. Rd1 A new rook on the d-file. The rook on d7 is pinned to the king, and the knight protecting it is itself pinned to the queen. 14… Qe6 Black tries to break the pin and offers a queen trade. 15. Bxd7+ The bishop takes the rook with check. 15… Nxd7 16. Qb8+ The queen sacrifice. The knight has to take, and that opens the d-file for the rook. “A sparkling finish,” wrote Savielly Tartakower. 16… Nxb8 17. Rd8# Checkmate. The rook gives check, protected by the bishop on g5, which also covers e7. Every white piece that is left, except the king, takes part in the mate.

PGN – the game as text for other chess programs
[Event "Consultation game: the Duke and the Count chose Black's moves together"]
[Site "Paris, Salle Ventadour"]
[Date "1858.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Paul Morphy"]
[Black "the Duke of Brunswick and Count Isouard"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C41"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 Bg4 4. dxe5 Bxf3 5. Qxf3 dxe5 6. Bc4 Nf6 7. Qb3 Qe7 8. Nc3 c6 9. Bg5 b5 10. Nxb5 cxb5 11. Bxb5+ Nbd7 12. O-O-O Rd8 13. Rxd7 Rxd7 14. Rd1 Qe6 15. Bxd7+ Nxd7 16. Qb8+ Nxb8 17. Rd8# 1-0

Download .pgn

Sources

  • Chessgames.com, Morphy–Duke Karl / Count Isouard 1858
  • Wikipedia: Opera Game
  • PGN Mentor, Morphy.pgn

The moves compared in three sources (Chessgames, Wikipedia, PGN Mentor): identical, 33 half-moves. The place and time (Salle Ventadour, October or November 1858) from Wikipedia. Every move has also been replayed by computer and checked against the rules of chess.

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Updated November 6, 2026