1	The Tragic Life of Paul Morphy A collection of Morphy Vignettes By Eric Hicks Academic Chess Founder Copyright 2003 All Rights Reserved Academic Chess
2	The Birth of a Superstar Morphy was born on June 22^nd, 1837 in New Orleans, Louisiana. He was born into a wealthy family. His dad was an attorney, a judge and a former Congressman. His uncle, Earnest was one of the best chess players in New Orleans. Paul Morphy was of Spanish descent. In fact his blood was nearly Pure Spanish.
3	The Morphy Mansion Morphy had a dreamy chess-filled childhood. Every Sunday the Morphy family would play chess on the back porch of their New Orleans mansion. Morphy taught himself the moves by watching his uncle and father play. As Morphy became better and better at chess, Morphy’s father had a giant chess board inlaid in the floor of Morphy’s. Morphy lived, loved, went crazy and died in this house. It still stands on 417 Royal Street. Sadly it is not the Morphy museum…it is now a five star restaurant.
4	Morphy the School Boy Morphy was a quiet dreamy eyed boy in school. He was frail in build and would spend much time with his elbows on his desk day dreaming. Perhaps he was going through chess positions in his head…probably not. Morphy was a boy (and later a man) of many interests including music, fencing, law and drama. Morphy was a great intellect, and always treated chess like a side activity. Classmates, at both elementary and college level, said that Morphy never talked about chess, and they never saw him playing chess or reading a chess book in his spare time.
5	Morphy the Prodigy Morphy is one of the great child prodigies of chess. At a very early age he was able to beat his uncle, an accomplished player, and could beat nearly anyone in New Orleans giving them piece odds. (removing material from his board). The Morphy family knew Paul was good, but they were not sure how good until a famous Hungarian Master by the name of Lowenthal came to town.
6	The Prodigy Strikes Lowenthal, A famous Hungarian chess master who recently moved to the United States was traveling around playing the best chess masters in the region. Morphy's father invited Lowenthal to the family mansion for dinner and to play a few games with the young prodigy. Lowenthal had played young talents before, and expected to smash Morphy, and considered the informal match as a waste of time but accepted the offer as a courtesy to the well-to-do Judge. Morphy was 12 years old at the time and small for his age. When Lowenthal met him, he patted him on the head in a patronizing manner. When the first game began, Lowenthal got to about move 12 and realized he was up against something very special. His entire demeanor changed and he slowed way down on his moves, and did funny eye brow movements after Morphy completed ever move. He was shocked at the power he was up against. In the 3 game match, Morphy won all 2 ½ out of 3 games. It is rumored that Morphy gave Lowenthal the draw in a won position after Lowenthal committed a fatal blunder and refused to take the move back . According to Lawson’s account in his book “Paul Morphy” Morphy offered Lowenthal a take back, Lowenthal self righteously declined. Morphy cordially offered a draw even though he could easily win. From this time on, the Morphy family knew they had truly something special in their hands in little Paul.
7	Chess Problem Composer When Morphy was just 10 years old he composed this chess problem. This is the only problem Morphy would ever create. Can you find the forced mate in 2? Go forward in the show to see the answer.
8	The Answer White plays Ra6!! Which limits black’s possibilities. Now if black plays PXR, then white plays b7 mate. And if black moves the bishop, then white mates with RxP.
9	Morphy…How He Helped to Invent the Chess Clock Morphy's famous match with Paulsen is one of the first matches where it was realized that a timing device (chess clock) would be required as the skill levels of players continued to improve. Paulsen really took advantage of the limitless time, and took hours to complete a chess game. Morphy, bridled by chess talent and passion, was known for moving fast. While Morphy, not wanting to appear impatient, sat expressionless at the board, Paulsen would at times take up to two hours for a single move. Some of the chess games between Paulsen and Morphy lasted over 12 hours! It was realized that these marathon chess games, with Paulsen taking all the time, was not really conducive to the "sport" of chess. If they would have let it continue to go that way, chess would have become the laughing stock of spectator sports. Morphy would force draws in positions against Paulsen that normally he could have won. To try to deal with this problem time controls where put on the match where each move was timed with a timer. Later on in tournament play, huge hour glasses were used. Both players would have a hour glass and they would turn it over when they completed their move. Eventually this would lead to the mechanical chess clock, an apparatus with two clocks with a start stop device. Today chess clocks are a fundamental part of tournament and casual (speed chess) play. And what happened with the matches between Paulsen and Morphy? The normally cool tempered Morphy after an 11 hour marathon game with Paulsen was so infuriated with Paulsen taking an hour on a forced move. While out with a friend in between rounds sipping sherry and biscuits (?!) Morphy slammed his fist on the table and exclaimed, "Paulsen shall never win another game from me as long as he lives!" And Paulsen didn't.
10	Morphy wins the first ever US Championship Morphy won his first US Championship in 1858 at the age of 20. Today, he is the 2nd youngest US Champion ever next to Bobby Fischer who won it at age 14. Morphy, who refused to be a professional player, did not accept the prize of $300 cash. Instead, by prearrangement, he was awareded a prize of a silver pitcher and four goblets. I hope that pitcher came filled with some good whiskey!
11	In Pursuit of a Chicken Morphy’s playing career only lasted an amazingly short 16 months. This is even more amazing when you consider a great deal of this time was wasted with Morphy trying to nail down Staunton for a game. Staunton was a master ducker and dodger and ducked out of a promised match with Morphy. This was extremely upsetting for Morphy, because he wanted to beat all the world’s strongest players before retiring from Chess. At the time, Staunton was thought to be the world’s strongest.
12	Creator of the World’s Most Famous Game In 1858, Morphy played the most famous game in Chess history. He was in Paris. where he was smashing all the great European players of the time, when he was invited to the Paris Opera House (right) by two rich Dukes from London. Being a big music fan, Morphy accepted, but was challenged during the Opera by the two dukes. Not wanting to be rude, Morphy accepted, and created one of the most beautiful games in chess history....and definitely the most famous. The Opera House Massacre Game is proof that when it comes too chess, pairing two mediocre players does not double their talent. In other words...two heads are not better than one. The "Opera House Massacre“ Game with annotation Opera House Massacre Slide show
13	Blindfolded Chess Insanity A blindfold match is when a chess player plays multiple people without seeing the board. The players call out the move to the blindfolded player who remembers the position, and calls out his move. Morphy was capable of playing multiple blindfolded games at once (Blindfold simultaneous exhibit). In Russia, the goverment made it illegal for their great players to play blindfolded games because they believed it was bad for a players health. Morphy dazzled audiences around the world many times in his 16 month career with his blindfolded play exhibits. Some say all the blindfolded play is what led to Morphy's eventual insanity. See the amazing eight games of the event!
14	Morphy In Europe To See a complete story on Morphy’s chess antics in Europe, see the Morphy Horror Picture Show. There is no charge for this double-feature!
15	The Ultimate Coffee House Player Most of Morphy's games were casual games. In fact his most famous game, and the most famous game of all time, the Opera House Massacre, was a casual game against amateur opponents. In truth, Morphy only played in one official tournament, the 1857 US Championship (which he won) in his short playing career. He considered himself an amateur player, and probably officially was one since he never truly made his living off of playing chess. Morphy never would accept prize money after his wins.
16	Morphy and the Lady A lot has been theorized about Morphy’s relationship with a Cajun queen. Morphy thought chess should not be considered anything more than just "an amusement". He refused to accept prize money for his chess, and would oftentimes even use prize money to buy his defeated opponents expensive presents! It is possible that this idea came from a New Orleans high society lady he dated who said that she would not marry a "mere chessplayer." Morphy did not play another chess game after 1869. He died completely alone in 1884 without ever being married. In fact Morphy died not only ladyless, but chessless. If it was this lady that stripped Morphy of his chess, she shall go into the anals of chess as the wickedest Femme Fatal!
17	Bobby Fischer on 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.” "Perhaps the most accurate player who ever lived, he would beat anybody today in a set-match. He had complete sight of the board and seldom blundered even though he moved quite rapidly. I've played over hundreds of his games and am continually surprised and entertained by his ingenuity" "Paul Morphy was a great chess player, a genius... Morphy, I think everyone agrees, was probably the greatest genius of them all..." Fischer compiled a list of the top chess players ever in his opinion. Morphy was at the top of that list. Lets see that list!
18	Morphy and Fischer Both: Were young and charismatic Americans Were incredible child prodigies. Both played incredible queen sacrifice games when they were young. Fischer the Game of the Century against Donald Bryne and Morphy's brilliancy against Paulsen. Won the US Championship at young ages. (Morphy 20 / Fischer 14) Came out of nowhere to become best in the world at chess at a time of European Chess Domination Became the best players in the world. Traveled to Europe and smacked the Europeans around at their own game. Both captured the media's attention more than any other chess player ever. Paul Morphy and Bobby Fischer are the two biggest names in chess worldwide. Disappeared from the chess scene entirely at the zenith of their powers. Had short but extremely brilliant chess playing careers. Preferred and played amazing open games. Completely dominated their eras in chess. Never had wives. Both had bad luck with women even though they were both good-looking , charismatic, famous, and succesful (when they were young). Took on other professions after chess, Morphy became a lawyer, Fischer a cable repair man in Pasadena. Both had brilliant minds that may have teetered over the edge. Both are huge American Tragedies. A loss to America, American Chess, and to themselves.
19	Morphy the Reluctant Chess Player and the Unsuccessful Attorney Morphy had no intention of being a chess player. He always treated chess like a side-activity. When he graduated from law school in 1957, he was 19 and a year and some months too young to practice law, so he played chess just to pass the time. Later he would become a full time lawyer and stop playing chess. His efforts of setting up a legal practice were not successful, and he ended up a very unhappy lawyer, void of his true passion, playing chess.
20	Insanity and Ladies Shoes Toward the end of his life, Morphy unraveled. He was often seen walking down Canal Street muttering to himself. He imagined that his father's estate was being drained by a relative, and would talk of little else. In an obituary, a New Orleans newspaper speculated that his brain had overdosed on blindfold chess. Morphy and his Ladies Shoes "[Morphy had an] eccentric habit of arranging women's shoes in a semi-circle in his room. When asked why he liked to arrange the shoes in this way he said: `I like to look at them.'" ---Rueben Fine
21	Morphy’s Death Morphy died at the young age of 47. Cause of death....heart problems. Morphy died broke, unhappy and alone, a man who allegedly lost his mind. In his later days, Morphy never left his house, and did not socialize with anyone. He is buried in an elaborate grave in Louisiana that was paid for post death by appreciating chess fans. Fischer at one point claimed to be the reincarnation of Morphy's spirit.
22	Morphy’s Consolation Prize So although Morphy was nicknamed the Pride and Sorrow of Chess, Died broke, nuts, ladyless, and without chess. Morphy got something post mortem that most men will never have…a couple of postage stamp with his image! Notice those aren’t American Stamps!
23	A Protest Imagine the disgrace! Our hero, Paul Morphy, gets a couple of puny postage stamps named after him from small countries, while Staunton, The Immortal Chess Chicken, gets a chess set named after him that has become the standard for all tournament chess. England knows how to honor their chess stars, while America has learned to criminalize and forget ours. If there was such a thing as a chess lobbyist group I would call up our President and get a national Paul Morphy day, and a couple of Bobby Fischer coins!
24	A Tribute This is a tribute to Paul Morphy, one of Two American chess legends, with an eerily similar fate. Before Fischer, Morphy was the talk of the American chess scene. Years after Morphy’s death, legends and facts continued to circulate. Fischer took over the public eye when he crashed the scene in 1959. Now years later, when Americans speak of chess heroes, Bobby Fischer is the first name that comes to mind. Morphy was just as dominating as Fischer, and just as enigmatic. Plus, Morphy lacked the hate that consumed Fischer at times. If I were going to do a movie, I would base mine on Morphy…and call it something like, “Searching For Paul Morphy.”
25	Morphy Links See the Morphy Horror Picture Show Play through some Morphy Games Get more information on Morphy See the Opera Massacre Game See the famous games list Watch the Bobby Fischer Picture show Go to Sarah’s wonderful Morphy Site
26	Morphy Sources This presentation would not have been possible without the wonderful source “Paul Morphy: The Pride and Sorrow of Chess” by David Lawson. Thank you Mr. Lawson for immortalizing Morphy..without you much of his life would have been forgotten. Unfortunately the book is out of print now, but keep your eyes peeled in used book stores, it goes for $300 online. Also Sergeant’s “Morphy’s Games of Chess” is a great resource of Morphy’s games with commentary as well as history and is currently available at Amazon (click link above).