The Mathematician of Flow

Paul Charles Morphy has been call the Pride and Sorrow of Chess. But his games are mathematical masterpieces. Check out the "Opera at the Chess House" against Duke Karl Isouard in 1858. Morphy opens with a knight and pawn against Duke Isouard's Philidor Defense.

Morphy sacs a knight to begin the tactical crescendo of rook and bishop pins before bringing Isouard to a climactic finale of a queen sacrifice checkmate. 

Graduating in 1854 from Spring Hill College in Mobile, Alabama, he remained enrolled for an extra year to study mathematics and philosophy before getting his masters in 1855. One of Morphy's most legendary battles was against Hungarian Master Johann Lowenthal in 1850. At the age of 12, Morphy was chosen to dust off Lowenthal who believed he was being punked due to Morphy's age. But when the smoked clear and the dust settled, Lowenthal's pride was riddled with caps from Morphy's extraordinary mastery of the 64 squares

Slaying his opponents before there was any such thing as a World Chess Championship, Morphy was triumphant in tall fashion by winning the First American Chess Conference of 1857. Though he would later retire from chess at the tender age of 22, he is hailed as the greatest chess master of his era. Before losing his mind to what many claimed was mental illness, he was sought out by masters from around the world for his brilliance and expertise. He remains one of chess's greatest immortals and the mathematician of flow.