Paul Morphy

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 and 1859.

Life

Morphy was considered a chess genius, after he had already achieved not only a considerable playing strength at the age of twelve, but also blind, knew how to play so no view of the board. He had learned to play chess from his father and his uncle Ernest Alonzo Morphy. Morphy in 1855 began the study of law in Louisiana, graduating soon with a degree. However, he was not allowed to practice as a lawyer when he was still a minor under the law of his home state. Even during his studies Morphy had not neglected the chess, and now he had enough time to play. He beat the American champion in significant ways, some even in default games.

In 1857 he won the first prize in the chess tournament in New York and went 1858/1859 on a European trip on which he beat all the opponents that in London and Paris competed against him, including the German master Adolf Anderssen. Only the English champions Howard Staunton refused to give him a race. On his journey accompanied him Frederick Milnes Edge, a journalist of the New York Herald, as private secretary. Edge later published a book that is an important source about Morphy. As Morphy had become 21 years old, he tried to earn his living as a lawyer, making him but proved unsuccessful: the public saw in him only the chess genius and did not change this picture. Morphy retired in 1867 alone the game of chess and began the game even to hate. The psychoanalyst Ernest Jones, who in 1931 wrote an essay about Morphy, believed the causes of the neurosis in Staunton's brusque rejection of the person Morphy to have found. As the later world champion Wilhelm Steinitz, Morphy wanted to meet, he was prepared to encounter only on the condition that it will not talk about chess.

The completely lonely and then deranged Morphy died on July 10, 1884 at the age of only 47 years in his hometown.

The merits of his playing style existed in the shortest possible character development, in energetic tempo game and holding the initiative in attack guides. His highest Elo rating was historic 2824th

Morphy's style of play is perfectly exemplified in his famous game (→ Morphy - Karl of Brunswick and Count Isoard, Paris 1858), which he in Paris played as white players in 1858 during a performance of the opera The Barber of Seville against Karl of Brunswick and Count Isoard de Vauvenargue that the black stones resulted in bilateral consultation.

Ancestors and Family

Morphy came from a distinguished family. His grandfather Michael Murphy ( "u " ) was an Irishman. When he accepted the 1753 Spanish citizenship, he changed the last name in Morphy. Paul Morphy's father Alonzo Morphy was born in Spain, he was president of the Supreme Court of Louisiana. Paul's mother Louise Therese Felicite Thelcide Le Carpentier was a French woman. She was a concert pianist. Paul had three sisters: Malvina (* 1830), Edward ( * 1834) and Helen (* 1839).

Chess played Paul's father Alonzo, whose brother ( Paul's uncle ) and Paul's maternal grandfather Ernest Joseph Le Carpentier.