The Life and Chess of Paul Morphy
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- Опубликовано: 17 сен 2024
- By popular request, we present this look at Paul Morphy's biography and greatest games. This lecture was presented at Center64 (www.center64.com) on April 27. In it, FM Warren Harper takes you through 4 of Morphy's most famous games, while Lucas Anderson takes you through his childhood and life in New Orleans.
Paul Morphy is My Favorite Chess Player of ALL-TIME !!!
As GM Ben Finegold says, and I agree, "how did Morphy get so good? He had a time machine and travelled back after learning chess in the future."
+Brusselpicker Nah, he is simply a genius, while every other chess genius are not true geniuses, thus, the term genius has been lost and therefore we don't quite know what to call Morphy, but in reality, from what I see, Morphy is the only true chess genius. Every other great players were self-made by endless computer study, or in Bobby Fischer's case and so forth, they started age 4-6 played endlessly, played against greater players to get better with endless book study and in Fischer's case endless play against himself for 20 years.
Morphy however could play chess after seeing his father playing one game, Morphy saw the winning moves, age 9 he was playing blindfold, he went onto simply beat everybody blind or otherwise until his death he was the greatest this much is clear.
If Paul studied and really cared about chess and didn't quit, by far, he would be the greatest player all of times, before or since and forever forward. True genius.
Genius: exceptional intellectual or creative power or other natural ability.
Maybe we need use mega-genius for such as Einstein, Leo, Mozart, Morphy, no? Or at least only use genius within proper context, minor-genius may be a useful term as well. Regardless, easily the greatest natural chess player whom ever lived and seemingly will ever live. If our data on his rating is true, then he was only a little weaker than Fischer while everybody else was maybe 1500+ players. The 'how' is easy: genius. Geniuses have the ability to be far greater than everybody else in their given field without studying greater minds or even studying the field itself. I stand with GM Ben Finegold: greatest player who ever lived, whatever Magnus' rating is add 10 haha.
Morphy is the best player of all times, he was a chess genius .
Kenny Warkola playing through Paul morphy games quickly will really improve your play
Rapid development and rapid point pressure were second nature to him there was no such thing as a waiting move for Paul Morphy
For an amateur like me I love playing through his games when I get the chance and another direct tactical player was Bobby Fischer
Yes we are aware of his Jewish problems but at the chessboard boy were his games a revelation
Both of these guys were cut from the same cloth different times of course
Not all Paul morphy games were good you can even learn some good endgame technique by going through games he lost and seeing how it could be done
Very good video series here can't believe how good this stuff is my interest in chess is formerly restored after twenty years dormancy
Thanks guys
china yassine not true
a cinemamovie about paul morphy would be great ;)
Morphy was fantastic! What a genius!! If only we had players like him today.... I feel confident that, were he alive today, he would be one of the best on the planet. And Staunton is a coward for not playing him.
Tom Monk Staunton knew he would be pulverised even though he had moved away from chess and focusing on his Shakespeare writings
Nah he would have been thrashed anderessen was more of a match for morphy
Exactly. Staunton hid like a scared rabbit.
Excellent series with very cool facts and examples of play styles. Great job guys, thank you! I spent a day and a half with your lectures and feel like I have learned a great deal about the game.
+Heathcliff Ambrogi Thank you! Glad you enjoy the videos.
This is an excellent lecture on the life of Paul Morphy and I'm grateful but chagrined that so much new information is available on his life. Chagrined because I drifted from chess in the mid 1970s prior to the publication of the first edition of Lawson's biography, and I never heard of it, or remember hearing of it, until today. The biographical information on Morphy, even at that late date, was sketchy at best. For example, the connection between Morphy's general difficulties in life and the Civil War was rarely, if ever, explored despite it being a rather obvious connection to his life. In other words I'm mad that I didn't think of this myself. The chess biographies of the time were usually written by chess players for chess players and his games took center stage.
There were hints 40+ years ago, that Morphy's madness was the direct result of his rejection by a young woman on the grounds that she would never marry "a mere chess player." That event was never proven to have occurred much less be the cause of his mental illness,and perhaps was projection on to real life of the theme in the 1960 novel "The Chess Players" by Frances Parkinson Keyes.
The comparisons to Fischer are obvious, but if we look a little closer, they are less striking. Yes both were Americans, and both left chess at the height of their respective powers, and both did suffer from some kind of persecution complex. But Morphy's illness may have been triggered by social rejection (except for his chess), something far more serious then than today. No one took him seriously and I'm sure he felt a deep shame that he let down his family. Fischer, most likely, didn't abandon chess to the same extent that Morphy did. Fischer abandoned the chess world and its structure. Fischer's behavior after he left chess was vile. Morphy's was odd and harmless, but incapacitating nevertheless. Two sad stories.
I personally don't buy that story about Morphy and the young lady. Morphy passed college and law school at a very young age. He was very accomplished away from chess. Probably a photographic memory.
Tom Monk i read somewhere that when morphy established his law firm all people wanted to do was discuss his chess with him and he wanted probably to have a proper career as opposed to being a chess player
His firm crashed and he probably had to depend financially on people when he would rather be independent
For such a smart guy this must have been a bitter blow enslaved by his fame
A previous post on the civil war and the effect that possibly had on him is an interesting angle
He came to England to play Staunton really and stauntons behaviour towards him was not at all gentlemanly
Clearly morphy was very well principled and Staunton well we will say no more on that
Richard o'neill I think that's pretty accurate. After Morphy's European sojourn, he basically gave up chess. His family didn't think chess was a legitimate occupation. They gave him problems over his chess. They wanted him to get started on his career, which certainly wasn't helped by the Civil War. It's very sad. Morphy was unable to do what he was a genius at, and posterity was denied so many incredible games.
Absolutely love these. Thank you guys so much!
I enjoyed this and it was a well produced lecture on one of the Legends of Chess. Thanks!
Loved it, like all of the lectures so far, great job!
Yet another awesome lecture!
Thank you very much for your videos. I've watched them all and find them very enjoyable, informative and also motivational...
A work of passion :)
WOW! You guys did a great job!
YES! Great work
Great lecture, thanks for posting this. Morphy's story is remarkable as a great American story of triumph and tragedy-- one that should interest even non-chess enthusiasts. Great way to end the lecture it with the opera game as well! When one thinks of Fischer's decline, they should look at the Donald Byrne game, and enjoy it for what it is.
Keep up the good work! ;)
Excellent presentation. A real treat for Chess and Morphy fans. Thank you for uploading it.
Life of leisure for some... while others toiled in the fields.
it is kind of a chesspedia intersting & useful for chess players well done.
the guy here that comments games laughs like the doctor from simpsons, its awesome :D
Have anyone in here heard of the Nesjmetdinov-gambit? I ask because I´ve got a Little old book from Jakov Estrin published in 1982 where this gambit is mentioned. To be precise it´s called the Nesjmetdinov-gambit in the Siesta-variation of the Ruy Lopez/Spanish. It is strange that no chessplayer I´ve asked seem to know it, despite they´ve got Estrin´s book which title from Danish to English would be pronounced as "Gambitplay in chess". It appears to me that it´s a forgotten gambit, since not even the great chess-engines seem to know about it. Siesta-variation YES but NO when it comes to the Nesjmetdinov-gambitlines.
Fischer did have some training as a kid, don't know if he was his coach.
genius first chess player
In the quote from John van Buren, you have the date listed as May, 1959. I think you mean 1859.... :-)
Good catch!
Lucas Anderson No problem. Great series. Thank for the videos. I think they help my chess. I am tactically challenged. Lol
Great lecture. Is Morphy's undergraduate thesis in print or accessible online?
That's a great question. I did a cursory search of Spring Hill College, Morphy's alma mater, but didn't turn up anything. I asked a reference librarian there, and received this response: "We do have items and docs about him in Special Collections, though I'm not finding any we have digitized and made available on the Archives website."
A better answer may come from David Lawson's biography. He writes: "Existing college records, though very incomplete (for Spring Hill College has suffered two disastrous fires since Morphy's days there), show that he received many awards..." (p. 34). Lawson himself relays the subject of Morphy's undergraduate thesis second-hand, so it may be that the original is not available. Out of professional curiosity, I'll ask their archivist when they're back in the office next week.
That's so interesting. I'd love to hear what the archivist says. I'm trained in history and philosophy of science, aka HPS, and I rarely do archival work in history of science (because I'm a philosopher), let alone history in general; but that thesis topic is so interesting that I could see myself seeking inter-collegiate permissions, if the archival were available for general academic use --and supposing it extant.
Thanks for the info.
Here is part of their reply: "We hold a vast collection of Paul Morphy and his
chess career; however, we do not hold either of his Theses (Bachelor of Science
nor Master of Arts). We also hold other items like a chess set Paul Morphy used
while at Spring Hill College."
I'm sorry to disappoint!
Bummer. Thanks for checking into it.
Lucas Anderson hi I wonder if there is a possible of download these videos .
Thx!!!
At 11:30 there is an anecdote that also appears in your bio of Capa.
+Herbert Plummer Great catch!
the more games u include, the better the video, as the 4th game here shows.
trivia q: what opera was playing during the opera house game? now i know.
Curious as to why there is no mention of the story that Morphy had some type of shoe fetish- that he kept his shoes in circle on the floor.
He is my Descendant. He's my 2nd sons wife's great niece or something I can't remember...
Beautiful presentation! Just let me do a correction. When you say Malaga (the Spanish city), you need to accent the first "a". As here ruclips.net/video/6rT105cm7pI/видео.html .
hello lucas ,my name is ayush and i liked your videos very much they are just fantastic and i have never seen this type of videos collection anywhere else.i like to take private training from warren harpen a beloved chess player and a fantastic coach.can you please help me??i had taken training from remote chess academy by igor smirnov international gm.of russia.
+Ayush Gupta Dear Ayush: I can put you in touch with Warren. Email me at landerson @ awty.org and I will forward it to him. Be warned though that Warren does almost no private coaching, as he is a computer scientist by day. In the case that he can't help you, I can recommend others.
okk sir thankyu so much in keep working on the videos they are just great.please make a video on magnus carlsen
hello lucas.my name is ayush gupta and i am from india.i live in small town rajnandgaon in chattisgarh state.i am not a beginner player as i had taken coaching from gm igor smirnov and see a lot of chess dvd like powerplay dvd and shows of daniel king,danny kopec,maxim dlugy i have attended all the seminars of remote chess academy including some of them is missing.but i still want private training from you or warren.
+Ayush Gupta Neither Warren or I are GMs! In my experience, it's best to work face to face with a coach. I'm not sure that's possible for you, so if not continue to work with a coach via internet. Remember though, playing rated games and going over them carefully is still the best way to improve.
thankyu so much for your response but warren is still a fide master and he is beaten grandmasters.so he can do coaching as well.He is very knowledgable.
not to talk shit... but: You did 12 episodes and missed Capablanca and Morphey?? Aren't they both naturally in the top 5?
+Charles J Gartner The series was somewhat chronological and started with Nimzowitsch, so I missed both Capablanca and Morphy in the initial run. We didn't set out to cover the 10 greatest players...In fact when we started we didn't have much of a plan beyond an initial brainstorming session. But we got around to them both, and I hope to get around to other missed players (e.g. Botvinnik) soon. There are tons of players/events I would like to cover, but it's a huge time commitment for something we derive no income from.
+Charles J Gartner I was about to ask the same question, thanks
Lucas Anderson are you still making documentaries and I am sorry to hear you have dervived no income from your endeavours
You need to think how to make income out of it as you and your team have done a remarkable job
There must be a market for this somewhere time for a deep think
There was some wondering about what Morphy was doing wile Anderssen was thinking. Was he focused on the game. Years ago I read an anecdote that Anderssen once took so long to make a move, which was his habit, that Morphy burst into tears out of frustration.
+Observer Even if that's apocryphal, I love the image of Morphy crying over the inadequacy of his opposition :)
+Observer that anecdote was referring to Louis Paulsen. When Anderssen arrived in paris he didn't have a great deal of time, and found morphy in bed sick as a dog, to worsen things up in those days they applied leeches to improve symptoms, so he became terribly weak. They played at least the first and maybe the second game in his room due to his conditions. You may now draw your own conclusions. Anderssen was the finest opponent Morphy had faced, the best the world had to offer and yet he couldnt go further than 2 wins vs 7 losses and 2 draws. This only minimally gives you the idea of the strenght paul had, a strenght that was not even begun to be tested.
I would imagine the main reason he turned against chess was the death and destruction of the US Civil War. The South was devastated. Meanwhile, Morphy was away in Europe. He must have felt tremendous guilt, and chess must have felt more and more like a frivolity compared to the terrible tragedy that was the Civil War.
Patrick Pray Morphy chose to go to Europe during the Civil War (his mom and sister were already there). Many Southerners who wanted to abstain from the war (and of sufficient means) did so. This does not take away from your second point, that chess likely seemed a frivolity in comparison. Consider that Paul always struggled with society's perception (and his family's perception) that chess is a frivolity while Paul seemed to derive pleasure from it. He resisted their calls to become a lawyer and get a "real" job, and never seemed happy afterward.
Yes, my point was that if Morphy needed a reason to be disillusioned about chess, clearly the catastrophe of the Civil War should be considered the probable cause. Look at the impact WWI had on European intellectuals. The Civil War must have had a similar effect, especially on Southern intellectuals (where most of the fighting and destruction occurred).
Morphy sounds like he was in the closet
why are u talkin about possible bad positions, just comment the game how it was.
Karpov my chess hero would absolutly crush morphy if they cuold meet, 8-1 for karpov.