@greenpawn34 said
HI sundown316,
I think the Staunton at his peak would have given Morphy a good match.
As Black he would have gone for a French. Morphy always played the exchange
variation, that would have held no dangers for Staunton. Staunton handled
the exchange variation in much the same way as Korchnoi...early c5.
If Staunton fancied his chances as Black then the Sicilian. ...[text shortened]... not seem
too bothered. Steinitz in his 1880's - 'Chess Instructor' said White always goes first.
Hi greenpawn,
It's worth noting that Staunton developed heart palpitations in his second match against Saint-Amant, and his play went seriously downhill after the game with the swindle below. He died suddenly at his writing desk in 1874 presumably of a heart attack aged 64. In his reply to the New Orleans chess club he pointed out that he hadn't played a competitive game in five years. It was quite clear that he was in no fit state to take on Morphy.
La Bourdonnais' reputation seems to rest on his victory over McDonnell. Chessmetrics only goes back to 1840, but gives the following peak ratings:
Morphy: 2,745
Staunton: 2,706
Lowenthal: 2,616
Saint Amant: 2,603
Cochrane: 2,571
It doesn't give a rating for La Bourdonnais or McDonnell. I tend to take these figures with a pinch of salt, but it's clear that both Morphy and Staunton were a lot stronger than most of the rest of the players around at the time.
The Saint-Amant - Staunton game was:
[Event "Staunton - Saint Amant"]
[Site "Paris FRA"]
[Date "1843.11.28"]
[EventDate "1843.??.??"]
[Round "9"]
[Result "1-0"]
[White "Pierre Charles Fournier de Saint Amant"]
[Black "Howard Staunton"]
[ECO "D32"]
[WhiteElo "?"]
[BlackElo "?"]
[PlyCount "69"]
1.d4 e6 2.c4 d5 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Nf3 c5 5.e3 Nc6 6.a3 b6 7.Bd3 Bd6
8.cxd5 exd5 9.Bb5 Bb7 10.dxc5 Bxc5 11.b4 Bd6 12.Bb2 O-O 13.Ne2
Qe7 14.O-O Rad8 15.Rc1 Ne5 16.Ned4 Nxf3+ 17.Qxf3 Qe5 18.g3 Ne4
19.Qe2 Qg5 20.f4 Qg6 21.Rc2 Bc8 22.f5 Qh6 23.Bd3 Rfe8 24.Bc1
Bd7 25.Qf3 Ba4 26.Rg2 Rc8 27.Re1 Ng5 28.Qxd5 Nh3+ 29.Kf1 Be5
30.Rge2 Bxd4 31.Qxd4 Red8 {Stockfish gives this position as around -3.5, in other word black's clearly winning.} 32.b5 {This changes the assessment to -4.0, but since white was losing anyway it's hardly a mistake.} Qh5 {Staunton starts to fall apart, the engine's now saying -1.0. Rxd4 was good.} 33.g4 {The only move.} Rxd4 {This is a huge mistake, the engine assessment jumps to +7.9} 34.exd4 f6
35.gxh5 1-0