PAUL MORPHY
A popularly held theory about Paul Morphy is that if he returned to the chess world today and played our best contemporary players, he would come out the loser. Nothing is further from the truth. In a set match, Morphy would beat anybody alive today.
He was the best-read player of his time, and is known to have been familiar with such books as Bilguer’s Handbook (first published in 1838 and consisting of 400 pages of tabular analysis) and Staunton’s “The Chess Handbook”, among others. These books are better than modern ones; there has been no significant improvement since then in King Pawn openings, and Morphy’s natural talents would be more than sufficient for him to vanquish the best twentieth century players.
Morphy was perhaps the most accurate chess player who ever lived. He had complete sight of the board and never blundered, in spite of the fact that he played quite rapidly, rarely taking more than five minutes to decide a move. (His opponents, in those days before chess clocks, often took hours).
I have played over several hundred of Morphy’s games, and I am continually surprised and entertained by his ingenuity. It has taken me twenty minutes at times to find the proper response to one of his moves. Morphy always fought on in bad positions, and found winning possibilities in situations that looked hopeless. In addition, he had very fine endgame technique. Perhaps his only weakness – and it is most apparent in his match with Anderssen – was in closed games like the Dutch Defense. But even then, he was usually victorious because of his resourcefulness.
As is well-known, Morphy gave up the game in 1859. His disillusionment was more with chessplayers than with chess.
A popularly held theory about Paul Morphy is that if he returned to the chess world today and played our best contemporary players, he would come out the loser. Nothing is further from the truth. In a set match, Morphy would beat anybody alive today.
He was the best-read player of his time, and is known to have been familiar with such books as Bilguer’s Handbook (first published in 1838 and consisting of 400 pages of tabular analysis) and Staunton’s “The Chess Handbook”, among others. These books are better than modern ones; there has been no significant improvement since then in King Pawn openings, and Morphy’s natural talents would be more than sufficient for him to vanquish the best twentieth century players.
Morphy was perhaps the most accurate chess player who ever lived. He had complete sight of the board and never blundered, in spite of the fact that he played quite rapidly, rarely taking more than five minutes to decide a move. (His opponents, in those days before chess clocks, often took hours).
I have played over several hundred of Morphy’s games, and I am continually surprised and entertained by his ingenuity. It has taken me twenty minutes at times to find the proper response to one of his moves. Morphy always fought on in bad positions, and found winning possibilities in situations that looked hopeless. In addition, he had very fine endgame technique. Perhaps his only weakness – and it is most apparent in his match with Anderssen – was in closed games like the Dutch Defense. But even then, he was usually victorious because of his resourcefulness.
As is well-known, Morphy gave up the game in 1859. His disillusionment was more with chessplayers than with chess.
Robert James Fischer, Chessworld, Volume 1, Number 1, January-February 1964, p. 58.
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