Chicago Bulls: Poor Anderssen didn't have much luck with the Spanish game either just getting a draw and a loss with it in his other two whites. Actually 1.a3 could have been a success if he had followed up his opening advantages better. Morphy did not handle the closed positions very well that arose out of this reversed Sicilian. Beim's books "Paul Morphy a Modern Perspective" gives some interesting analysis on these games. Anderssen should probably have won the 6th match game that he lost with 1.a3, but a lack of practice and the speed of the play did not help his chess in that match.

It is too bad that Morphy did not give Anderssen a rematch or play Kolisch a couple of years later. Unfortunately we chess players have missed out on a number of interesting matches, because of players losing interest in the game or refusing to play worthy contenders in the good old days before FIDE or after if for that matter! If we count Kramnik's refusal to play Kasparov before the latter retired from chess.