Among Paul Morphy’s contemporary rivals at the time of his famous 1857 run was German chess master Louis Paulsen, thought to be among the best players in the world at that point. This game, played during Morphy’s tour of Europe, demonstrates the value of well-calculated piece sacrifices.
Morphy was skilled at spotting opportunities to make a winning “sac,” short for sacrifice, of a major piece. His victory in his famous Opera Box game was prompted by a queen sac that opened the door for a back rank checkmate, and his victory in this matchup against Paulsen features yet another queen sacrifice that swings the momentum of the game in his favor.
Paulsen vs. Morphy
Paulsen played White in this game, and Morphy played Black.
As the story goes, Morphy took 12 minutes to decide to offer Paulsen his queen by capturing the bishop on f3, and Paulsen took an hour to choose whether or not to capture back.
In this case, taking the queen proved disastrous for Paulsen. Moving the g-pawn opened him up to a check from Morphy’s rook on the very next move, and the use of piece coordination and strong tactical play by way of forks and discovered attacks allowed Morphy to gobble up material and apply so much offensive pressure that Paulsen resigned the game.
Conclusion
Not every trade that looks bad on the surface actually is bad in the end. As young chess players continue to develop their calculation skills and improve their play, they should consider whether a move that looks like a blunder by their opponent is a true mistake or a nasty trap.
For more practice finding opportunities to make successful sacrifices, as well as analysis of games where chess masters sac pieces to secure victories, students can take classes through our online Academy program, which serves students from all 50 states and produced 11 state champions in 2025.
