C.A. Buck

“ The mental derangement which overwhelmed Morphy's brilliant mind and clouded his later life is a curious chapter in his career, and has given rise to no little wonder among chess players as to the cause and conditions of his mania. ”

“ From his thirteenth to his twentieth year Morphy was devoted to his studies, but during his vacations, which were spent for the most part at home in New Orleans, he played chess with the strong amateurs of the city and with such players of force who were sojourning there. Hence, when the first American chess congress convened in New York in October, 1857, his renown as a chess player had preceded him and he was the cynosure of the chess enthusiasts. ”

“ An incident may here be related as showing how Morphy was often crucified on the cross of his fame. He became enamored of a wealthy and handsome young lady in New Orleans and informed a mutual friend of the fact, who broached the subject to the lady, but she scorned the idea of marrying a "mere chess player". Small wonder that he became morbid and abjured the practice of chess. ”

“ My impression is that I can give him the odds and make even games." But Thompson did not accept the challenge. Attention is called to the chess vanity that prevented Thompson from playing Morphy and take the odds of pawn and move, because after Morphy's return from Europe eighteen months later he defeated Thompson decisively at the odds of a knight! Winning this match at such odds against a player of Thompson's ability is regarded by some as Morphy's greatest achievement. ”

“ His encounters, about this time, with Eugene Rousseau, a native of France but then a resident of New Orleans, further showed a surpassing mastery of chess for a boy just entering his teens. Rousseau's rating as a chess player may be judged by the games he played with Kieseritzky on even terms, of which there were more than one hundred, the latter winning a bare majority. Morphy and Rousseau played over fifty games during the years 1849 and 1850, and Morphy won nine-tenths of them. ”

“ It should be noticed that before he was twenty years old he had graduated at college and at a law school, his learning embracing fluency in four languages and ability to recite from memory nearly the entire Civil Code of Louisiana. ”

“ Morphy went to England in June, 1858, to play Staunton, the representative of English chess, but failed to meet him in a match owing to default by Staunton. They did meet however, in consultation play, Morphy's ally being Thomas Wilson Barnes and Staunton' s confere being Rev. J. Owen ("Alter" in chess circles) . Two games were played, and Morphy and Barnes won both. Morphy played a match with Lowenthal, and won by a score of nine games to three, with two draws; also a match with Rev. J. Owen, at odds of pawn and move, winning five games and losing none, with two draws. ”

“ During the ten years following his return from Europe in 1859 Morphy's practice of chess was limited to casual games with intimate friends, chiefly with Charles A. Marian of New Orleans and Arnous de Riviere of Paris. ”