Chess Coincidence?

Interestingly, the day of the human chess match was the anniversary of the famous Paul Morphy vs Duke Karl and Count Isouard chess game played in Paris during an opera.  The opposition left something to be desired, but it displays Morphy's tactical genius.

The link is:  www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1233404

Click on the moves or the forward arrow and the pieces will move.

Morphy was unquestionably the strongest player of his generation and a good argument can be made (hell, I make it) that he was the strongest ever.  Called the pride and sorrow of chess, he retired at 22 to a career (gasp) in law.

Oh, and in another coincidence, if you look at the final position, Morphy mated with a black bishop and rook battery, the same as I was about to unleash to win the game had "cheating (shenanigans)" not occurred. 

Nice, Emily.  Someone tell me they played over the Morphy game.  BTW, Duke Karl was actually the Duke of Brunswick, whose forbear died during the Napoleonic Wars (at Quatre Bras?)