[Event "USCF/WS/23VP13 (USA)"] [Site "ICCF"] [Date "2023.09.26"] [White "Knudsen, John C."] [Black "Shannon, Paul D."] [Result "1-0"] [WhiteElo "2335"] [BlackElo "1934"] [Annotator "Irons,Robert"] [Variant "Standard"] [ECO "C77"] [Opening "Ruy Lopez: Morphy Defense, Anderssen Variation"] [Source "https://lichess.org/study/COTjwBdh/YW1ZnS8J"] [Orientation "white"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. d3 { This is currently quite popular, but the first time it was played, according to my database, was in the Anderssen – Morphy match of 1858! Anderssen played it as White in the second game of the match, which ended in a draw. The match rules called for the players to keep their colors until a win is recorded, so he played it again in the third game, which Morphy won. } 5... d6 { In both games Morphy continued with 5...Bc5. } 6. c3 g6 7. O-O { Another continuation is to play the knight maneuver Nbd2-f1-e3/g3 prior to castling. } 7... Bg7 8. h3 O-O 9. Be3 h6 10. Nbd2 Bd7 11. Re1 Kh7!? (11... Re8 { to inhibit d3-d4 looks better. }) 12. d4 Nh5?! (12... Re8 13. Bc2 b5 { is more to the point. The knight maneuver doesn't help here. }) 13. Bc2 Qe7 14. d5 Nd8 15. a4 b6 16. a5 b5 17. b4 f5 18. exf5 { Forced due to the threat of ...f5-f4 winning the bishop. } 18... Bxf5 (18... gxf5 19. Nxe5 { wins a pawn. }) 19. Ne4 Nf4? (19... Nf6 { looks best here. The text opens Pandora's Box! }) 20. Bxf4! Bxe4 21. Rxe4 Rxf4 22. Rxf4 exf4 23. Qd3 Qf6 24. Re1 Nf7 25. Re6 Qxc3 26. Qxg6+ Kg8 27. Qh7+ Kf8 28. Nh4 Ne5 29. Rxe5! { White smells blood in the water, and mate is not far away! } 29... dxe5 30. Qf5+ Kg8 31. Qe6+ Kh8 32. Ng6+ Kh7 33. Bf5 Qe1+ 34. Kh2 Qxf2 35. Nxe5+ Kh8 36. Nf7+ { 1-0 White wins. } 1-0