Barnes - Morphy, London 1858

Escalating piece sacrifices.

May 14, 2026

One of Morphy’s first opponents after crossing the Atlantic was Thomas Barnes, an English master for whom an unlikely defense, 1.e4 f6, is named. Barnes was a powerful opponent, taking Morphy down with this exact opening. After a slow start, Morphy started to take over. I’m struck by this game’s course. After extricating himself from the troubles of a dubious position, Morphy turns the screws, and sacrifices the pieces in rough order of value. First a bishop, then a knight, then another bishop (via a rook move), then finally his queen.

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 d6

The Philidor Defense. Morphy often chose 2…d6 once he reached England. It’s interesting to see how the theory of the day wasn’t quite sure if 2…Nc6 was a better choice here; and in fact it wasn’t established in America that the Ruy Lopez was any better than the Italian game.

3.d4 f5!?

The “Philidor countergambit”. The original idea by Philidor, who always advocated the advancement of the f-pawn and development of pieces behind the pawns in general. Nowadays this idea is known to be bad in this particular position, but in Morphy’s day, it hadn’t been refuted yet.

4.dxe5 fxe4 5.Ng5 d5 6.e6 Bc5 7.Nf7?! Qf6 8.Be3 d4? 9.Bg5!

Black’s transformed the f-pawn into a huge central pawn on e4, but the position is clearly better for White, thanks to healthy structure, safer king position, and no weaknesses.

9…Qf5 10.Nxh8?

Barnes’s greed gets the better of him with this impatient move that loses control of the g5 square. 10.Bc4 solidifies the position and prepares eventual castling, and Black isn’t able to get out of trouble. For instance, 10…h6 11.g4! Qh7 12.Bh4, and White has a severe bind that Black can’t escape.

10…Qxg5 11.Bc4 Nc6 12.Nf7?

Castling was much stronger.

12…Qxg2! 13.Rf1 Nf6