At his
The Kenilworthian blog, Michael Goeller states that he likes Black's position after
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 f5 4.Bc4 exd4 and even
wonders why I usually play Morphy's
4...Nc6. The bad news for Black in the
4...exd4 line is the game
Zemitis-Svendsen, Correspondence 1998 which continued
5.Ng5 Nh6 6.O-O Nc6 7.exf5 Bxf5 8.Re1+ Kd7 9.Be6+ Bxe6 10.Nxe6 Qh4 11.Bxh6 gxh6 12.Qf3 Be7??
The only move to avert disaster is 12...Ne5. But after 13.Qxb7, Black's position looks shaky.
13.Qf5! Ne5 14.Nxd4+ Kd8 15.Ne6+ Kc8 16.Rxe5! dxe5 17.Nc5+ Kb8 18.Nd7+ Kc8 19.Nb6+ Kb8 20.Qc8+ Rxc8 21.Nd7#.
Ironically, the final position is Philidor's Legacy! I think Morphy knew what he was doing when he played 4...Nc6 instead of 4...exd4.
