Mr. Thompson against Morphy, New York — the first of two Evans's Gambits played some time ago on even terms. The termination is very pretty. Notes by Löwenthal.
6.d4Castling was formerly considered to be the better mode of continuing the attack; and to the effect of playing the P. to Q's 4th before, instead of after, this move, our attention was first called by Mr. Stanley, in his American magazine, some ten years ago. He there observes, "We have always upheld this move (i.e., P. to Q's 4th) as being far preferable to that of Castling, as in the latter case Black may bring out his Knight to K. B's 3rd." Anderssen, also, in the Berlin "Schachzeitung" for 1851, gave a most able analysis of this move, and very clearly demonstrated its superiority over the move previously in vogue.
7…Qf6Q. to K's 2nd is sometimes played here.
10.cxd4R. to K's sq. is also a good move at this point.
23.Qxb7Played probably with the view of defending the K. Kt's P.
23…Re8Black has now a splendid game, almost certain to give him the victory.
28…Nd1And wins. The termination of this game is very pretty, and it is solely on that account that we have included it in our selection, as it otherwise presents few points of interest.
J. Löwenthal, Morphy's Games of Chess (1860) · Public domain · source