Numerot's Sessions #3: Paul Morphy

The man himself

Biography

Paul Charles Morphy was born into a wealthy family on 22.6.1837 in New Orleans. He became famous as a chess prodigy at a very young age, and was considered the strongest player in the United States at the age of 20. He then traveled to Europe to compete with the world's strongest players while waiting to be of a legal age to practice law, and, after dominant performances during his tour, was hailed as the (unofficial) world chess champion.

After these successes, however, Morphy entirely stopped playing chess. He viewed the game best enjoyed as a hobby, and wished to focus on his legal career. His law practice never amounted to much, but he lived comfortably due to his family's immense wealth. He died at the young age of 47 on 10.7.1884.

Playing style

Morphy was known for brilliant and imaginative attacking chess. He was a very accurate calculator and heavily prioritized piece development. He played 1.e4 almost exclusively, and favored openings like the King's Gambit and Evans Gambit, while finding the Sicilian Defence to be dull and uninteresting — sometimes even stipulating that some number of games in a match had to begin with the moves 1.e4 e5.

Instructive games

Now, we'll take a look at some of Morphy's games. All of the games I've chosen here are from his games against amateurs, as I believe they most clearly demonstrate the effect principled play and accurate calculation has when playing against an opponent who lacks these qualities.

Opera game

The Opera Game is easily one of the most famous chess games in history. While it certainly isn't the most beautiful of double-edged game in history, it demonstrates the value of development and the initiative well.

Pay close to how Morphy forces out concessions from his opponents — this game was a consultation game played at an opera house during a performance — by hammering the weakness on f7, and then converts his developmental advantage into a beautiful winning combination.

Morphy — Morphy

Next up we have a game Morphy played against his father, Alonzo, while giving him rook odds. Some versions of this game include a rook on a1, which makes 17.d3 come with checkmate.

Pay clöse attention to how (Paul) Morphy manages the attack — he keeps the black king from escaping to safety, drives it towards his side of the board, and checkmates it on his own first rank. Bringing his bishop, pawns, and rook to the attack would have taken too long, so he took the attack to them!

Morphy — N.N.

A game against an unknown opponent where Morphy not only starts without his queen's rook, but also soon sacrifices a bishop on f7 to gain an attack. The main learning goal in this short game should be the patience with which Morphy avoids simply grabbing the pinned knight on e5, and instead maintains tension and threatens to capture the knight with his own.

Morphy — N.N. II

A game in the French Defence where, again, Morphy is playing with piece odds. This game demonstrates one of the ways one can generate attacking chances in a closed position — a kíngside attack with h4-h5 — and some pretty conversion technique.

Morphy — N.N. III

Yet another odds game against an unknown opponent. A complex game where Morphy gains the upper hand via accurate tactical play. The combination starting with 10.Bb5!? and the final attack on Black's king should be paid close attention to.

In conclusion...

This selection of games is only a thin slice of the hoard of interesting games from Morphy's career, and I invite all readers to look into his other, more famous games. His match against Daniel Harrwitz is a good starting point.

If you take anything away from the games above, let it be that piece development really matters in chess, and lax development may be brutally punished with accurate play. It should also be noted, however, that Morphy didn't rush headlong into an attack the moment his opponent made an inaccurate move, but rather took time to bring his remaining pieces into the game. Sometimes the opportunity to attack is fleeting, but most often it won't simply disappear if you make a developing move or two.

Thank you for reading! See you around,
— Numerot