Board 4 of the Birmingham blindfold display; the single game Morphy lost, a Scotch Gambit in which Mr. Kipping pounced on a rare blindfold slip.
5.O-OThe judgment with which Mr. Morphy opens his games when playing blindfold is truly remarkable; Castling, as in the text, is better than 6. P. to Q. B's 3rd, for Black would in that case reply with Kt. to K. B's 3rd, and resolve the game into the well-known Giuoco Piano.
5…d6Correctly played, and a better move than Kt. to K. B's 3rd.
7.Bg5An interesting attack results from advancing P. to Q. Kt's 4th, and considering the greater freedom of White's pieces, we give his game the preference.
12.h3Mr. Morphy's blindfold games are singularly free from errors, but here he makes a slip of which Mr. Kipping takes prompt and accurate advantage.
14.Qf3The result would have been the same if either the Knight or the Rook had been interposed; indeed the regaining of the piece was unavoidable.
17.Bb5+A very ingenious attempt to recover the game, though it was unsuccessful.
18…Rhe8It will be seen that if Black had taken the Bishop, the loss of the Queen must follow on White's playing 19. Q. takes P. (ch.), 20. Q. to K's 7th (ch.), and then Q. R. to B's sq. (ch.), &c.
20…Kc7Here also, if the Bishop had been taken, White would have won easily by taking Q. B's P. (ch.).
29…Ne3+And White resigned.
J. Löwenthal, Morphy's Games of Chess (1860) · Public domain · source