Blindly following Morphy

A common chestnut from Morphy's detractors is that his opponents played so poorly that he couldn't help but crush them, which misses the point that it was Morphy's ahead-of-his-time positional manner that fomented the opportunities, a straightforward style that can be understood and learned by students and club players. Still, it is true that Morphy's opponents could play wretchedly, and it's up to the student to recognize when his own opponents aren't that bad.