Early life Morphy was born in
New Orleans to a prominent wealthy family. His father
Alonzo Morphy, of Spanish and Irish ancestry, was a lawyer. He later served as a Louisiana state legislator,
Attorney General, and a
Louisiana State Supreme Court Justice. Morphy's mother, Louise Thérèse Felicitie Thelcide Le Carpentier, was a musically talented woman from a prominent French
Creole family. Paul grew up in an atmosphere of cultivated, genteel civility, where chess and music were the typical highlights of a Sunday home gathering. Sources differ about when and how Morphy learned to play chess. According to his uncle, Ernest Morphy, no one formally taught the young Morphy how to play chess; rather, he simply learned by watching others play. After observing Ernest and Alonzo abandon what had been a lengthy game, conceding that it was a draw—Paul spoke up, stating that Ernest should have won. This surprised the two men, who had not realized that Paul knew the rules of the game, let alone any
notion of strategy. They were even more surprised when Paul proved his claim by resetting the pieces and demonstrating the win his uncle had missed. Biographer Frederick Milnes Edge dismisses this anecdote as apocryphal, however. In 1845, Ernest acted as the second for
Eugène Rousseau in his match against
Charles H. Stanley, and took the young Paul along with him.
Childhood victories By 1846, the nine-year-old Morphy was considered one of the best players in New Orleans. That year, General
Winfield Scott visited the city while on his way to the
war with Mexico. He informed his hosts that he wanted to spend an evening playing chess against a strong local opponent. While he only played infrequently, Scott enjoyed chess and considered himself to be a formidable player. The arrangements were made, and a game was set up after dinner. When Morphy was brought in, Scott initially took offense to a child being offered as his opponent, believing he was being made fun of. However, after being assured that his wishes had been scrupulously obeyed, and that Morphy was a chess prodigy who would prove his skill, Scott agreed to play. Morphy easily defeated Scott in both of the games they played, ending the second game by after only six moves. During 1848 and 1849, Morphy competed against the leading players in New Orleans. He played at least fifty games against
Eugène Rousseau, considered to be the strongest of Morphy's opponents during this era, and lost at most five. In 1850, Hungarian chess master
Johann Löwenthal visited New Orleans. Löwenthal, a refugee of the
Hungarian revolution of 1848, had visited various American cities and competed successfully against the best local players. He accepted an invitation to Judge Morphy's house to play against Paul, now twelve years old. Löwenthal soon realized he was facing a formidable opponent: each time Morphy made a good move, Löwenthal's eyebrows shot up in a manner described by Ernest Morphy as "". Löwenthal played three games against Morphy during his stay in New Orleans, with sources recording him as either having two losses and one
draw, or as losing all three games.
Schooling and the First American Chess Congress Beginning in 1850, Morphy played relatively little chess for a number of years, instead focusing on his education. Diligent in his studies, he received a
bachelor's degree in 1854 from
Spring Hill College in Mobile, Alabama, with his graduating thesis detailing what he saw as the narrow logical limits on justifications for war and secession by the southern states. He proceeded to spend an additional year on campus studying mathematics and philosophy, and in May 1855 was awarded a
master's degree with the highest honors. Morphy went on to study law at the
University of Louisiana (now Tulane University), receiving an
LL.B. degree on April 7, 1857. It has been claimed that Morphy memorized the complete
Louisiana Civil Code during the course of his studies. Not yet the required age to practice law, Morphy found himself with free time after graduation. That year, he received an invitation to participate in the First
American Chess Congress, to be held from October 6 to November 10, 1857, in New York. Morphy initially declined, but later changed his mind at the urging of
Alexander Beaufort Meek, a judge and close family friend. The main event of the Congress was a 16-man knockout tournament, with each round consisting of short multi-game matches contested by the opponents. Also competing was the strong German chess master
Louis Paulsen, who was already aware of Morphy's talent, and said openly beforehand that he would be the tournament's victor. Moreover, while the competition was underway Paulsen repeatedly stated that if Morphy were to visit Europe, he could prove his status as the game's greatest living player. As predicted by Paulsen, Morphy defeated James Thompson in the first round, his family friend Meek in the quarter-finals, the German master
Theodor Lichtenhein in the semifinals, and ultimately Paulsen himself in the finals, to win the tournament's grand prize. After his victory, Morphy was immediately hailed as the chess champion of the United States, but he appeared to be unaffected by his sudden fame. According to the December 1857 issue of
Chess Monthly, "his genial disposition, his unaffected modesty and gentlemanly courtesy have endeared him to all his acquaintances." While staying in New York during the fall of 1857, Morphy played 261 games, both with and without odds. In regular games, Morphy's overall record was 87 wins, 8 draws, and 5 losses. Also in 1857, Morphy founded the Chess Club of New Orleans, becoming its first President. Early in the following year, he was recruited by
Daniel Fiske to serve as co-editor of his
Chess Monthly publication, a position he held until the end of 1860.
Europe appearing in ''
Ballou's Pictorial'' (1859) Up to this time, Morphy was not well known or highly regarded in Europe. Despite his dominance of the American chess scene, the quality of his opponents was relatively low compared to Europe, where most of the best chess players lived. European opinion was that they should not have to make the journey to the United States to play a young and relatively unknown player, especially as the United States had few other quality players to make such a trip worthwhile. Morphy returned to his home city with no further action. The New Orleans Chess Club determined that a direct challenge should be made to European champion
Howard Staunton. Staunton made an official reply through
The Illustrated London News, stating that it was not possible for him to travel to the United States and that Morphy must come to Europe if he wished to challenge him and other European chess players. Eventually, Morphy went to Europe to play Staunton and other chess greats. Morphy made numerous attempts at setting up a match with Staunton, but none ever came through. Staunton was later criticized for avoiding a match with Morphy, although his peak as a player had been in the 1840s and he was considered past his prime by the late 1850s. Staunton is known to have been working on his edition of the complete works of Shakespeare at the time, but he also competed in a chess tournament during Morphy's visit. Staunton later blamed Morphy for the failure to have a match, suggesting among other things that Morphy lacked the funds required for match stakes—a most unlikely charge given Morphy's popularity. Morphy also remained resolutely opposed to playing chess for money, reportedly due to family pressure. Seeking new opponents, Morphy crossed the
English Channel to France. At Paris's
Café de la Régence, the center of French chess, Morphy soundly defeated resident chess professional
Daniel Harrwitz. While there, he also defeated eight opponents in blindfolded simultaneous exhibitions. In Paris, Morphy suffered from a bout of
gastroenteritis. In accordance with the medical wisdom of the time, he was
treated with leeches, resulting in his losing a significant amount of blood. Although too weak to stand up unaided, Morphy insisted on going ahead with a match against the visiting German master
Adolf Anderssen, considered by many to be Europe's leading player. The match between Morphy and Anderssen took place between December 20, 1858, and December 28, 1858, when Morphy was still only 21 years of age. Despite his illness Morphy triumphed easily, winning seven while losing two, with two
draws. When asked about his defeat, Anderssen claimed to be out of practice, but also admitted that Morphy was in any event the stronger player and that he was fairly beaten. Anderssen also attested that in his opinion, Morphy was the strongest player ever to play the game, even stronger than the famous French champion
La Bourdonnais. Morphy gave numerous simultaneous exhibitions in both England and France, sometimes
while blindfolded, in which he regularly played and defeated eight opponents at a time.
Hailed as champion , on May 29, 1859,
John Van Buren, son of
President Martin Van Buren, ended a testimonial presentation by proclaiming, "Paul Morphy, Chess Champion of the World". In Boston, at a banquet attended by
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow,
Louis Agassiz, Boston mayor
Frederic W. Lincoln Jr., and
Harvard president
James Walker,
Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes toasted "Paul Morphy, the world's Chess Champion". Consumer products including the "Morphy Hat" and the "Morphy Cigar" were named for him, as was the Morphy Baseball Club in Brooklyn. At the New York testimonial dinner, Morphy made an assessment of chess that has been widely paraphrased: Nowadays this may seem ironic or even paradoxical in light of Morphy's dedication to chess. But at the time, Morphy's remarks did not cause surprise. Morphy was engaged to write a series of chess columns for the
New York Ledger, which started in August 1859. They consisted primarily of annotating games of the
La Bourdonnais – McDonnell chess matches of 25 years before, plus a few of Morphy's own games. The column ended in August 1860.
Retirement from chess and later life After returning home in 1859, Morphy intended to start a career in law. He did not immediately cease playing serious chess; on a visit to Cuba in 1864, he played a number of games with leading players of that country, including
Celso Golmayo Zúpide, the champion, all at odds of a knight. For the rest of his life, Morphy would not compete in another tournament or serious match without odds, a stipulation he would stress repeatedly. Morphy was late to start his law career, not having done so by the time the
American Civil War broke out in 1861. His brother Edward had joined the army of the
Confederacy at the very beginning of the war, while his mother and sisters had taken up residence in Paris. Not much is known about Morphy's Civil War service; David Lawson cites contemporary reports that Morphy had briefly been on the staff of
Pierre Beauregard, as well as being seen at the
First Battle of Manassas. Lawson also recounts a recollection by a Richmond resident in 1861 describing Morphy as being "an officer on Beauregard's staff". Other sources indicate that Beauregard considered Morphy to be unqualified, but that he had indeed applied for a staff position. During the war, he spent time both in New Orleans and abroad, spending time in
Havana (1862, 1864) and
Paris (1863). After the war, Morphy remained unable to build a successful law practice. According to records, Morphy attempted at least three times to open and advertise a law office, with each endeavor ultimately being abandoned. It has been speculated that his celebrity as a chess player worked against him, overshadowing his attempted practice. Financially secure thanks to his family's fortune, Morphy essentially spent the rest of his life in idleness. When asked by admirers to return to chess competition, he refused. In 1883, Morphy encountered
Wilhelm Steinitz on the street while Steinitz was visiting New Orleans, but declined to discuss chess with him.
Mental illness Morphy showed signs of deteriorating mental health in his final years. By 1875, his mother, brother and a friend tried to admit him to a Catholic sanitarium, but Morphy was so well able to argue for his rights and sanity that they sent him away. Morphy had shown signs of a persecution complex; he sued his brother-in-law, for example, and tried to provoke a duel with a friend. Hertan notes that it is not easy to determine just when this behavior began, or what might have triggered it, but gives as an example some incidents described in a letter by
Charles J. Woodbury to
The Hartford Times in 1873. By 1879, according to a letter to the
Cincinnati Commercial from a Dr. L. P. Merideth, Morphy was talking to himself and responding to imaginary salutations.
Ernest Jones published an article of psychoanalytic discussion of Morphy.
Reuben Fine published a longer article in which Morphy was mentioned. Both articles have been criticized for the use of unreliable historical sources. Fine wrote that Morphy "arranged women's shoes into a semi-circle around his bed", and this has been widely copied and embellished upon. But it is a misquotation from a booklet written by Morphy's niece, Regina Morphy-Voitier. She wrote: Now we come to the room which Paul Morphy occupied, and which was separated from his mother's by a narrow hall. Morphy's room was always kept in perfect order, for he was very particular and neat, yet this room had a peculiar aspect and at once struck the visitor as such, for Morphy had a dozen or more pairs of shoes of all kinds which he insisted in keeping arranged in a semi-circle in the middle of the room, explaining with his sarcastic smile that in this way, he could at once lay his hands on the particular pair he desired to wear. In a huge porte-manteau he kept all his clothes which were at all times neatly pressed and creased. Fine incorrectly claimed that the shoes described were ''women's'' shoes instead of Morphy's own. But in any case, Hertan dismisses the psychoanalytical studies:
Death On the afternoon of July 10, 1884, Morphy was found dead in his bathtub in New Orleans at the age of 47. The cause of death was described as
congestion of the brain brought on by entering cold water after a long walk in the midday heat. A lifelong Catholic, Morphy was buried in the family tomb in
Saint Louis Cemetery No. 1, New Orleans, Louisiana. The mansion was sold by the family in 1891, and later became the site of the restaurant
Brennan's. ==Style of play==