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Paul Charles Morphy ( June 22, 1837 - July 10, 1884), known as "The Pride and Sorrow of Chess," was generally considered to have been the strongest chess master of his time and an unofficial World Champion. He was also the first American since Benjamin Franklin to have been recognized as the pre-eminent world figure in an intellectual field, as well as the first recorded chess prodigy in history.
1 Early life
Morphy was born in New Orleans, Louisiana to a wealthy and distinguished family. His father, Alonzo Michael Morphy, was a lawyer, state congressman, state attorney general, and state Supreme Court Justice of Louisiana. Morphy's mother, Louis Therese Felicite Thelcide Le Carpentier, was the musically talented daughter of a prominent French Creole family. Morphy grew up in an atmosphere of genteel civility and culture where chess and music were the typical highlights of a Sunday home gathering.
According to his uncle, Ernest Morphy, no one formally taught Morphy how to play chess. Ernest wrote that as a young child, Morphy learned on his own from simply watching the game played. His uncle recounted how Morphy, after watching one game for several hours between his father and him, told him afterwards that he should have won the game. They both were surprised, as they didn't think that young Morphy knew the moves, let alone any chess strategy. They were even more surprised when Morphy proved his claim by resetting the pieces and demonstrating the win his uncle had missed. Later, a similar story was told about the Cuban chess prodigy José Raúl CapablancaJose Raul Capablanca y Graupera ( November 19, 1888 March 8, 1942) was a famous Cuban chess player in the early to mid twentieth century. He was World Champion, between 1921 and 1927. Capablanca, born in Havana, Cuba, was a chess prodigy having beaten the.
2 Childhood victories
After that Morphy was recognized by his family as a precocious chess talent. Taken to local chess activities and allowed to play once a week at family gatherings on Sundays, Morphy demonstrated his innate ability in contests with relatives and local players. By the age of nine, he was already considered one of the best players in New Orleans. In 1846, General Winfield ScottWinfield Scott ( June 13, 1786 May 29, 1866) was a United States general, diplomat, and Presidential candidate. Some historians rate him the ablest American general of his time. Scott was born on his family's farm near Petersburg, Virginia. He attended th visited the city, and let his hosts know that he desired an evening of chess with a strong local player. Chess was an infrequent pastime of Scott's, but he enjoyed the game and considered himself a formidable chess player. After dinner, the chess pieces were set up and Scott's opponent was brought in: diminutive, nine-year-old Morphy, dressed in a lace shirt and velvet knickerbockers and looking like anything but a ferocious opponent. Seeing the small boy, Scott was at first offended, thinking he was being made fun of; but when assured that his wishes had been scrupulously obeyed, and that the boy was a chess prodigy who would tax his skill, Scott consented to play. To General Scott's surprise, Morphy beat him easily not once, but twice. The second time the boy announced a forced checkmate after only six moves. Two losses against a small boy was all General Scott's ego could stand, and he declined further games and retired for the night, never to play Morphy again.
In 1850, the strong professional Hungarian chess master Johann LöwenthalJohann Jacob Lowenthal ( July 15, 1810 July 24, 1876) was a 19th century professional chess master. He was born in Budapest, the son of a merchant. He was one of the first masters to play a match against Paul Morphy after the latter's arrival in England i visited New Orleans, and could do no better than the amateur General Scott could. Morphy was 12 when he encountered Löwenthaul.
Löwenthaul had played young talented players before, and expected to easily overcome Morphy, and considered the informal match as a waste of time but accepted the offer as a courtesy to the well-to-do Judge.
When Löwenthaul met him, he patted him on the head in a patronizing manner. He expected no more from Morphy than the usual talented young players he had played before.
When the first game began, Löwenthaul got to about move 12 and realized he was up against something formidable. 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. Löwenthal played three games with Morphy during his New Orleans stay, losing all three. (Note: One of the games was incorrectly given as a draw in Löwenthal's book Morphy's Games of Chess and subsequently copied by sources since then. David Lawson, in his biography of Paul Morphy, listed in "Further Reading" at the bottom of this page, corrected this error, provided the moves that were actually played, and urged that game records be corrected.)
