Paul Morphy

Paul Charles Morphy, an American chess player, dominated the game during a short-lived career in the late 1850s and was widely considered the world's finest master. Experts who came later judged him to be remarkably advanced for his era. A child prodigy, Morphy burst onto the competitive scene in 1857 by decisively taking the First American Chess Congress, crushing every opponent in his path. After that, he sailed to Europe, spending time in England and France to take on the continent’s best. He faced most of the top English and French players, plus the German Adolf Anderssen, and won every match by a wide margin. By 1859, Morphy had returned to the United States, but soon gave up competitive chess and faded from public life. **Biography**

**Early life** Morphy was born in New Orleans into a wealthy, prominent family. His father, Alonzo Morphy—of Spanish and Irish descent—worked as a lawyer and later served as a Louisiana state legislator, Attorney General, and a justice on the Louisiana Supreme Court. His mother, Louise Thérèse Felicitie Thelcide Le Carpentier, came from a distinguished French Creole family and was musically gifted. Paul grew up in a refined, genteel household where chess and music were regular Sunday pastimes. Accounts differ on how he first learned the game. According to his uncle, Ernest Morphy, no one taught him; he simply picked it up by watching others. One day, after Ernest and Alonzo abandoned a long game, calling it a draw, young Paul spoke up and said Ernest should have won. The men were stunned—they hadn’t realized Paul knew the rules, let alone strategy. He proved his point by resetting the pieces and showing the winning move his uncle had missed. Biographer Frederick Milnes Edge later dismissed this story as apocryphal. In 1845, Ernest acted as a second for Eugène Rousseau in a match against Charles H. Stanley and brought young Paul along. **Childhood victories** By 1846, at age nine, Morphy was already considered one of New Orleans’ best players. That year, General Winfield Scott visited the city on his way to the Mexican-American War. He told his hosts he wanted an evening of chess against a strong local opponent. Scott, though an infrequent player, thought himself formidable. Arrangements were made, and a game was set after dinner. When Morphy was brought in, Scott initially took offense, thinking a child was being offered as a joke. After being assured that his request had been taken seriously and that Morphy was a genuine prodigy, Scott agreed to play. Morphy beat him easily in both games, ending the second by announcing a forced checkmate after just six moves. During 1848 and 1849, Morphy faced New Orleans’ top players. He played at least fifty games against Eugène Rousseau, then considered the strongest local opponent, and lost at most five. In 1850, Hungarian master Johann Löwenthal, a refugee from the 1848 revolution, arrived in New Orleans after beating the best players in other American cities. He accepted an invitation to Judge Morphy’s home to play twelve-year-old Paul. Löwenthal quickly realized he was up against a formidable opponent: each time Morphy made a good move, Löwenthal’s eyebrows shot up in a way Ernest Morphy called “comique.” Löwenthal played three games during his stay; sources record either two losses and a draw, or three losses. **Schooling and the First American Chess Congress** Starting in 1850, Morphy played little chess for several years, focusing on his studies. He earned a bachelor’s degree from Spring Hill College in Mobile, Alabama, in 1854, writing a thesis on the narrow logical limits of justifications for war and secession by southern states. He stayed an extra year to study mathematics and philosophy, receiving a master’s degree with highest honors in May 1855. Morphy then studied law at the University of Louisiana (now Tulane University), earning an LL.B. on April 7, 1857. It has been claimed he memorized the entire Louisiana Civil Code during his studies. Not yet old enough to practice law, Morphy had free time after graduation. That year, he was invited to the First American Chess Congress, held in New York from October 6 to November 10, 1857. He initially declined but changed his mind at the urging of Judge Alexander Beaufort Meek, a close family friend. The main event was a 16-player knockout tournament, with each round consisting of short multi-game matches. Among the competitors was strong German master Louis Paulsen, who already knew of Morphy’s talent and openly predicted Morphy would win. During the tournament, Paulsen repeatedly said that if Morphy visited Europe, he could prove himself the greatest living player. As Paulsen foresaw, Morphy defeated James Thompson in the first round, family friend Meek in the quarter-finals, German master Theodor Lichtenhein in the semifinals, and Paulsen himself in the finals to take the grand prize.