Morphy's Pawn&move

In a dispatch sent from Paris on January 5, 1859 and published in the N.Y. Herald on Jan. 30, 1859, the correspondent states plainly that "Paul Morphy has declared he will play no more matches with any one unless accepting a pawn and move from him."

lol One day I beated a thousand GMs blindfolded. That's because I told nobody of the secret event and no opponent showed up.

wer did u get that cpy?? sell it. 😆😆

n o i c e e e

😆😆😆😆😆😆😆😆😆😆😆😆

Lovely. Thanks!!

Don't sell it. Money ruins everything.

It may be true in terms of official matches, but he played several games (including games against a slave), at even odds when he fled the civil war.

Thanx batgirl! Has anyone recognized what's written in the middle of 4th paragr. from bottom?    "The eight antagonists selected by Harrwitz were what the French call ............ " call what?

mazettes 'weaklings'

thank you!

lol but Morphy told everyone and defeated'm all like shot'm all movie not just like this but IN A STYLISH CHESS STYLE hahahhahahahahahahahaha he played blindfold at 12 YO

A very nice article Bat

Well, my point is that many people say there is no evidence that Morphy ever made such a requirement. While this isn't direct evidence, it's compelling nonetheless, particularly considering the accuracy of the report .  Yes, this was about official matches.   On even terms, he played a match, promised before the P&move issuance, against Augustus Mongredian, (played at the Hotel du Louvre, where Mongredian was staying, in the presence of St. Amant and Rivière with Morphy winning 7-0, the first game a draw); three games with Lowenthal; one with Boden; and a few casual games against Rivière and Mongredian (in 1863), and some games against his Cuban host, Aureliano Medina and the household slave, Felix Sicre. Other than these, Morphy never played another game without giving odds.

Well, it's not mine to sell but I totally agree with your sentiment.

Harrwitz was embarrassed by his performance v. Morphy. One of Harrwitz' claim to fame was his blindfold ability. The attention given to Morphy's famous 8 board blindfold exhibition, especially since it was played during a break in his match with Harrwitz when Harrwitz claimed illness after Morphy started beating him, must have put Harrwitz in need of some face-saving activity. Unfortunately, it backfired on him.  It's really rather sad.  You can read about Harrwitz here: http://www.edochess.ca/batgirl/Harrwitz_Lange1.html   and https://www.chess.com/blog/batgirl/the-late-herr-harrwitz

Made me curious and I came upon their 1895 match.

Looks like Morphy's heart wasn't quite in it at first. He blunders a knight, and even loses the next game, but comes back strong scoring 5 wins and a draw in the next 6 games.

It's fun (at least for me) to see a game like this, because Morphy looks a lot more human. 

The match started on September 5th . Harrwitz won the first game. After the game, Harrwitz made an insolent and impertinent gesture by approaching Morphy, taking his hand and feeling his pulse! Turning to the crowd, he shouted, "Well, this is astonishing! His pulse does not beat any faster than if he had won the game!"

Harrwitz won the second game also. According to Edge Harrwitz started acting in a manner which said - "Oh, it takes very little trouble to beat this fellow."

Walking back to the hotel, Edge relates that after telling Morphy that those people who had placed bets favoring Morphy were becoming worried, Morphy replied, "How astonished all these men are going to be. Harrwitz will not win another game."

Did Morphy have his measure now? Or was Morphy setting him up all along. We'll never know for sure. But Harrwitz had indeed won his last game against Morphy.

Woooow, so rude.

Next time my opponent is a jerk, I'll have to remind myself that relatively speaking this isn't anything to get upset over.

I have not seen much questioning of the report, in Lawson's Morphy biography, of the odds-condition that Morphy used to discourage people from seeking a match on level terms. It seems to me that the primary confusion has been over whether or not Morphy ever issued a challenge to the world to play a match at odds. To be at all meaningful, such a challenge would have had to have involved well-publicized potential arrangements for travel expense compensation. I am not aware of Lawson (or anyone else) finding any record of the announcement of such a challenge.