deac0n

"Genuis is a starry word; but if there ever was a chess player to whom that attribute applied, it was Paul Morphy." ~Andrew Soltis "Morphy was probably the greatest genuis of them all." ~ Bobby Fischer "Paul Morphy was the greatest player that ever lived." ~Dr. Emanuel Lasker "Morphy was the master of all phases of the game, stronger than any of his opponents, even the strongest of them." ~Alexander Alekhine "The magnificent American master had the most extraordinary brain that anybody has ever had for chess." ~Jose Raul Capablanca "I consider Mr. Morphy the finest chess player who ever existed." ~Adolf Anderssen "So having lately sailed, I wrote you, down the Hudson, having explored Staten Island, Hoboken, Fort Hamilton and all the glorious retreats about New York, I shall say forever one thing is more beautiful than them all, the chess-play of Paul Morphy." ~Henry Edward Bird "After the passage of a century, Morphy still remains the most glamorous figure that has ever appeared in the chess world." ~Edward Lasker "I saw all my combinations twisted and then turned against me, and I felt myself in a grasp against which it was almost vain to struggle. And was another win for Paul." ~Johann Lowenthal According to 'Chess: A Celebration of 2,000 Years'; Geza Maroczy called Paul Morphy "The Chosen of The Chosen." Finally, one of Mr. Morphy's most famous lines: "Scare. Terrify. Petrify your opponent." ~Paul Morphy "Checkers is for tramps." ~Paul Morphy "Chess is eminently and emphatically the philosopher's game." ~Paul Morphy "Morphy will not let me." ~ former unofficial world champion Adolf Anderssen, when asked why he did not play as brilliantly as usual against Paul Morphy. "[I play in] the style of Morphy, they say, and if it is true that the goddess of fortune has endowed me with his talent, the result [of the match with Emanuel Lasker] will not be in doubt. The magnificent American master had the most extraordinary brain that anybody has ever had for chess. Technique, strategy, tactics, knowledge which is inconceivable for us; all that was possessed by Morphy fifty-four years ago." ~ José Raúl Capablanca. “Help your pieces so they can help you” -Paul Morphy "A popularly held theory about Paul Morphy is that if he returned to the chess world today and played our best contemporary players, he would come out the loser. Nothing is further from the truth. In a set match, Morphy would beat anybody alive today... Morphy was perhaps the most accurate chess player who ever lived. He had complete sight of the board and never blundered, in spite of the fact that he played quite rapidly, rarely taking more than five minutes to decide a move. Perhaps his only weakness was in closed games like the Dutch Defense. But even then, he was usually victorious because of his resourcefulness." ~ Bobby Fischer. My only regret is that I have so few peices to sacrifice ~ deac0n