Morphy Life and Games: Unofficial World Champion

Paul Morphy was the strongest player in the world in his time, and is remembered as an unofficial world champion. Below, I explore his life and games.

Photo: Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons

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Paul Morphy was born in 1837 in New Orleans. He was born into a wealthy family, as his father was successful in the field of law, and his mother was a musician. As a young boy, he learned to play chess by watching his father and uncle play. He was therefore exposed to chess at a fairly high level from an early age, as his uncle was one of New Orleans’ stronger players. Despite, this, Morphy’s family saw chess as merely a leisure activity, and not something to be taken seriously.

Morphy improved quickly as a young boy, and he allegedly won two games against General Winfield Scott, a Commanding General of the United States Army, twice at the age of just eight and a half. This story is, however, difficult to verify. Around 1849, Morphy proved himself to be the best player in New Orleans by winning the majority of the games in an informal match against the French master Eugene Rousseau.

In 1850, Morphy provided further proof of his talent by winning a match against the famous Hungarian master Lowenthal. That same year, he graduated at the age of 13 from Jefferson Academy, and soon began to study at Spring Hill College. He would prove to be a successful student, graduating with his undergraduate degree in 1855 and his master’s degree a year later. Morphy then moved to Louisiana to study law, graduating in 1857. Unfortunately, he while there, his father died in 1856.

Although Morphy had now received his law degree, he was not allowed to practice law until the age of 21. He therefore turned his attention to chess, and competed in the first American Chess Congress. There he proved himself to be the strongest player in the United States, taking first place and becoming the champion of his country.

Having conquered America, Morphy travelled to England in 1858, wanting to play a match against the famous English master Staunton. The two played some casual games, but a formal match did not end up taking place. Instead, Morphy played matches against the other leading English masters. He won matches against Thomas Barnes (+19 -7 =0), Samuel Boden (+6 -1 =3) and Henry Bird (+10 -1 =1). Morphy also played a match against John Owen, winning by four wins to one, with Owen receiving pawn and move odds. Another match took place against Lowenthal in London, but this did not end any more successfully than before for the Hungarian, as Morphy won with the score +9 -2 =3.

Morphy then travelled to France to visit the famous Café de la Régence, where he played a match against the German chess master Daniel Harrwitz. There Morphy lost the first two games, but came back to win the match +5 -2 =1. A match with Anderssen, then one of the world’s strongest players, was arranged, and the prize money from the Harrwitz match was used to cover Anderssen’s travel expenses to France.

While waiting for Anderssen to arrive, Morphy played frequently at the Café de la Régence, and gave a memorable blindfold simultaneous exhibition there, achieving a remarkable +8 -0 =0 score. Morphy became somewhat of a celebrity in France, playing chess with Princess Anna Murat, and being invited to visit the Opera. He may also have won a game against Napolean, while giving Napolean rook odds, although this is not clear.

Although Morphy fell sick before his match with Anderssen and lost the first game, he bounced back to win the match convincingly by seven wins to two.

In 1859, Morphy travelled back to America with his step-brother, having earned the title of unofficial world champion. However, this turned out to be a turbulent time in Morphy’s life, as the American Civil War broke out in 1861. Morphy’s family lost much of their wealth, and his home city of New Orleans was occupied by Union forces. In 1862, Morphy escaped the war and travelled to Paris to join his mother and sister, although this time around he didn’t play much chess. This may have been influenced by the presence of his mother, who still viewed chess as purely a leisure activity, and an activity which should not be taken seriously.

With the war coming to an end, Morphy travelled back to America in 1864. However, he was not successful in his attempts to start a law career. Around this time, Morphy tried to publish a collection of his games, but the publishers were not interested. His family had lost much of their wealth during the war, and Morphy received many opportunities to play chess for stakes. However, as his family saw chess as unsuitable for a career, he turned these opportunities down.

In the late 1860s, Morphy’s mental health began to deteriorate, perhaps because of his lack of professional success and his family’s financial difficulties. Morphy’s personal life did not improve, and his remaining years were plagued with mental illness. He died in 1884, at the age of 47.

Today Morphy is remembered as the unofficial world champion of his time. Although his career ended before the first official World Championship match between Steinitz and Zukertort in 1886, Morphy was far stronger than any of his rivals. His games are still studied today, over 150 years later, and used as models of how to play open positions and to demonstrate the importance of quick development.

Morphy won an interesting game against the English master Henry Bird in London in 1858, which demonstrates the power of a space advantage.

Doubled pawns can be useful if they control important squares and if you can make use of the open file they provide.

When the opponent has a space advantage, it is important to strike at the advanced pawns before they can be consolidated.

Every exchange is a critical moment, and must achieve something specific to improve the position. If not, it is better to maintain the tension.

To find more about Morphy’s life and games, the following are useful resources:

Morphy’s chessgames.com page,

his chess.com page,

this chessbase article by Eugene Manlapao,

this YouTube video by Lucas Anderson,

and this collection of Morphy’s tournament and match results.