Long before the 1857 competitive run that gave Paul Morphy his title as the “unofficial world champion of chess,” the foundational skills that would eventually propel him to chess stardom were visible in his games.
Morphy was only 13-years-old when he battled local attorney and amateur player James McConnell. Morphy's focus on rapid piece development gave him an early advantage over McConnell that led to a win by resignation just 14 moves into the game.
McConnell vs. Morphy
McConnell played as White in this game, Morphy as Black.
From the start, McConnell’s reliance on pawn moves over the development of his back-rank pieces sets him up for failure. While McConnell moves pawn after pawn, Morphy gets both knights, a bishop, and his queen involved in the game and takes control of the center.
By the eleventh move, Morphy is able to make the most of his quick development and coordinate his pieces to launch a queenside attack. He sacrifices his bishop to set the stage for an attack with his rook and two knights. Although McConnell tries to run the queen to safety, Morphy was able to trap the queen, forcing McConnell resign on the spot.
Conclusion
Use of all three opening principles–center control, piece development, and castling–is essential to strong chess play. Young players should focus their early moves on accomplishing these goals instead of mobilizing pawns, launching immediate attacks that lead to numerous moves of a single piece, or leaving their king in the center of the board for too long.
