Paul Morphy

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Paul Morphy standing New York 1859.jpg
Paul Morphy, New York City 1859
Surname Paul Charles Morphy
Association United StatesUnited States United States
Born June 22, 1837
New Orleans
Died New Orleans July 10, 1884
Best Elo rating 2743 (June 1859) ( historical rating )

Paul Charles Morphy (born June 22, 1837 in New Orleans , Louisiana , † July 10, 1884 ) was an American chess player of the 19th century and the strongest player in the years 1858 to 1861.

Life

Morphy came from a distinguished family. His grandfather Michael Murphy (with “u”) was Irish. When he took Spanish citizenship in 1753, he changed his surname to Morphy . Paul Morphy's father, Alonzo Morphy , was born in Spain and was President of the Louisiana Supreme Court . Paul's mother, Louise Therese Felicite Thelcide Le Carpentier, was French. She was a concert pianist. Paul had three siblings: Malwina (* 1830), Edward (* 1834) and Helena (* 1839).

Morphy was considered a chess genius , having not only reached a remarkable level of play at the age of twelve, but also knew how to play blindly , i.e. without looking at the board. He learned the game of chess from his father Alonzo and his uncle Ernest Morphy. As early as 1849 he defeated chess master Johann Jacob Löwenthal 2-1 in a match .

In 1855 Morphy began studying law in Louisiana , which he soon graduated with a degree. However, he was not yet allowed to practice as a lawyer because he was not yet of legal age according to the law of his home state. Morphy hadn't neglected chess during his studies either, and now he had plenty of time to play. He beat the American champions in a remarkable way, sometimes even in handicap games .

Paul Morphy and Jules Arnous de Rivière at the chess board, Paris 1858

In 1857 he won first prize at the First American Chess Congress in New York , where he easily beat the favorites Louis Paulsen and Theodor Lichtenhein . In 1858/1859 he went on a trip to Europe, on which he defeated all opponents who faced him in London and Paris , including the German champions Adolf Anderssen , Löwenthal and Henry Edward Bird , whom he defeated 10-1. Only the English champion Howard Staunton , who was the real reason for Morphy's trip, refused him a competition after a long delay and despite a price exchange of 2000 British pounds . Frederick Milnes Edge, a journalist for the New York Herald , accompanied him on his journey as private secretary. Edge later published a book that is a major source on Morphy. From 1857 to 1861 Morphy edited the chess magazine Chess Monthly together with Daniel Willard Fiske .

When he was in his early twenties, he tried to earn his living as a lawyer, but was unsuccessful. So the disabled Civil War his lawyer. In addition, potential clients were more interested in talking to him about chess than about their legal cases. Morphy retired from the public game of chess. When the later world champion Wilhelm Steinitz wanted to get to know Morphy, he was only willing to meet on the condition that chess was not discussed. Neither he nor Johannes Hermann Zukertort managed to persuade Morphy to make a comeback as a chess player.

Morphys grave in St. Louis Cemetery, New Orleans

In his later years he was considered mentally broken and paranoid . Morphy died of a stroke in his hometown on July 10, 1884, aged only 47 .

Play style

The advantages of his style of play consisted in the fastest possible figure development, in energetic pace play and in holding on to the initiative when conducting attacks. Emanuel Lasker characterized Morphy's importance for the development of the game of chess with the words:

“He has found that the popular belief that the master's brilliant move is an inexplicable inspiration is invalid. He discovered that this brilliant move or this deep maneuver that achieves victory is not due to the spirit of the master, but to the quality of the position. He analyzed this peculiarity of the position, and succeeded in finding a general law which thus reads: The brilliant moves and maneuvers that achieve victory are only possible in positions in which one has an excess of effective force in front of the opponent has ahead. In such positions they are always possible, and if one pursues the right strategy oneself, no deep and subtle idea of ​​the opponent can overturn the certainty of his eventual defeat ”

- Ost und West , 1910, issue 8/9, p. 583

Morphy's style of playing is exemplified in his famous role (→ Morphy - Karl von Braunschweig and Graf Isoard, Paris 1858 ), which he played as white player in Paris in 1858 during a performance of the opera The Barber of Seville against Karl von Braunschweig and Graf Isoard de Vauvenargue who led the black stones in consultation on both sides .

See also

literature

  • Valeri Beim : Paul Morphy, A Modern Perspective . Russell, Milford 2005, ISBN 1-888690-26-7 .
  • CA Buck: Paul Morphy: his later life . Will H. Lyons, Newport 1902; Wikisource .
  • Frederick Milne Edge: Paul Morphy, the Chess Champion. An Account of His Career in America and Europe . New York 1859 (Reprint edition BiblioBazaar, Charleston 2009, ISBN 1-103-21517-5 ); archive.org .
  • Ernest Jones : The Paul Morphy Problem; a contribution to the psychoanalysis of the game of chess . In: The theory of symbolism and other essays . Ullstein, Frankfurt / Main, Berlin, Vienna 1978, ISBN 3-548-03480-2 .
  • Michael L. Kurtz: Paul Morphy: Louisiana's Chess Champion . In: Louisiana history: the journal of the Louisiana Historical Association , 34.2 (1993), pp. 175-199.
  • Max Lange : Paul Morphy, his life and work . 3. Edition. Leipzig 1894 (first edition in 1859 under the title Paul Morphy. Sketch from the world of chess . Archive.org ).
  • David Lawson: Paul Morphy, The Pride and Sorrow of Chess . McKay, New York 1976 (modern standard biography).
  • Johann Jacob Löwenthal : Morphy's Games: A Selection of the Best Games Played by the Distinguished Champion . Appleton, New York 1860; archive.org .
  • Géza Maróczy : Paul Morphy . Edition Olms, Zurich 1989, ISBN 3-283-00024-7 (reprint of the Leipzig 1909 edition).
  • Regina Morphy-Voitier: Life of Paul Morphy in the Vieux Carré of New Orleans and Abroad . New Orleans 1926 (Regina Morphy-Voitier was Morphy's niece).
  • Macon Shibut: Paul Morphy and the evolution of chess theory . Caissa Editions, Yorklyn 1993, ISBN 0-939433-16-8 .
  • Chris Ward: The genius of Paul Morphy . Cadogan, London 1997, ISBN 1-85744-137-0 .

Morphy also served as a literary source for the novel The chess players by Frances Parkinson Keyes , New York 1960.

Web links

Commons : Paul Morphy  - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ 1855-1865. chessmetrics Summary; accessed on December 4, 2018.
  2. ↑ a b c d Paul Morphy dead . (PDF) In: New York Times , July 11, 1884, p. 4.
  3. ↑ a b A Chess Champion's Dominance - and Madness . Smithsonian Institution , December 12, 2011
personal data
SURNAME Morphy, Paul
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Morphy, Paul Charles
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American chess player
DATE OF BIRTH June 22, 1837
PLACE OF BIRTH New Orleans
DATE OF DEATH July 10, 1884
Place of death New Orleans