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Chess legends series : Paul Morphy

Chess legends series : Paul Morphy

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19th century was the period of chess artists. Players like Anderrsen played breathtaking games that amaze chess players even today. Beautiful combinations filled with sacrifices eventually leading towards checkmate leave players around the world speechless. As painters are bowing to talents of Da Vinci, chess players bow to the king of 19th century : Paul Charles Morphy.

Paul Charles Morphy (1837-1884) 


Born in New Orleans Paul was a wonderkid since an early age. In Morphy's household chess was often played and encouraged.His uncle Ernest Morphy was at that time considered to be one of the strongest players in the town. As young Paul observed his father and uncle playing, he learned the rules and eventually begun to play. His talent was undeniable and when he was just 12 years old, he managed to beat his father,uncle and even Hungarian respected master Johann Löventhal.Morphy from an early age showed that he somewhat feels what position needs and every single opportunity he took masterfully.

In 1857 he got a law degree but he was too young to practice, so Morphy returned back to his game by playing in the 1st American Congress where he destroyed everyone he faced there.In the first two rounds against James Thompson and Alexander Meek he won flawlessly 6:0.In the 3rd round he faced Theodore Lichtenhein who lost 3:0 with 1 draw. In the final he met Louis Paulsen but even him couldn't stop Morphy from winning and the final score was 5 wins 1 loss 2 draws in favour of Morphy.

1st American Chess Congress

In the US he was already considered to be the best in the world but Europe demanded Morphy to play Howard Staunton. New Orleans chess club made several attempts to make this match possible but Staunton always refused. It is debated whether he was too frightened to face Morphy In his prime ( which I totally understand ) or the match simply couldn't happen. In search for a worthy opponent Morphy entered the famous "Café de la Regénce" where he meet Daniel Harrwitz. After his victory against Harrwitz (5 wins,2 losses,1 draw) Morphy continued to show off his skills by playing  and beating his opponents in blindfold simultaneous games. In 1858 he took on Adolf Anderrsen who was considered to be the strongest player in Europe. Even author of both "Immortal" and "Evergreen" games had to wave white flag. Morphy won convincingly with 7 wins, 2 losses and 2 draws. 

Morphy against Anderssen in their match in 1858

Same year as match with Anderssen took place, Morphy played number of casual matches from the most famous one bears a name "Opera game". In this game Morphy faced the Duke of Brunswick and Count Isouard. 

Opera game against Duke of Brunswick and Count Isouard
Paul Morphy couldn't find an opponent that would stand a serious chance against him and due to that fact he tried to play many games with various handicaps such as : starting the game without knight on b1 or rook on a1. However even this was not enough for his opponents. 
Having no one else to face Morphy's love and dedication for chess was declining. He tried to make a career as a lawyer but shortly after his chess retirement in 1859 American Civil War had different plans. After the war his attempts to open his own office as a lawyer, he quickly realised that people that came to visit him, desired to talk about chess rather than their legal affairs. Morphy's mental health was quickly deteriorating and last years of his life he spend in depression and severe paranoia.He died in 1884 in his bathtub.
His life as a chess player and his games fascinated even modern chess champions. Fischer said that Morphy could beat anybody even a century later. Garry Kasparov said that Morphy can be considered as a "forefather of modern chess". His influence and undeniable genius still resonates with us even today. If we consider chess as a form of art then Morphy was one of the true artists ever.