Neumann's Kingside Combination

Gustav Neumann (1838-1881), a German player, was one of the top 6 players in the world around the 1870s.  He suffered from mental illness later in life.  He was a fine combination player as demonstrated in this game.  Here, he defeats Jean Dufresne with a few sacrifices to open up the kingside.  The opening was a King's Gambit Declined.

Way to go Gustav!

                                                 Gustav Neumann

Here a little story....

Neumann and Jules Arnous de Rivière co-authored a book in 1868 - called, for short, "Le jeu des échecs" which covered, in part, the tournament in Paris in 1867.

Both authors were at the tournament and in the down time, each played a blindfold game at the Café de la Régence against a team of ladies comprised of Princess Anna Murat, the duchess de la Trémoille, the marechale Comtesse Regnauld de Saint Jean d'Angely and the Marquis de Colbert-Chabannias. The ladies won both blindfold games. The authors considered the ladies' playing impeccable while others ascribed the writers' loss to courtesy.

Paintings of a couple of the above-mentioned ladies

Paul Morphy was in Paris at this time, but never went into the Café de la Régence, nor did he attend the tournament.