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[Illustration: Paul Morphy]
THE
EXPLOITS AND TRIUMPHS,
IN EUROPE,
OF
PAUL MORPHY,
The Chess Champion;
INCLUDING
AN HISTORICAL ACCOUNT OF CLUBS, BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES
OF FAMOUS PLAYERS, AND VARIOUS INFORMATION AND
ANECDOTE RELATING TO THE NOBLE
GAME OF CHESS.
BY
PAUL MORPHY'S LATE SECRETARY.
ILLUSTRATED WITH TEN PORTRAITS ON WOOD.
NEW YORK:
D. APPLETON AND COMPANY,
346 & 348 BROADWAY.
M.DCCC.LIX.
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1859,
BY D. APPLETON AND COMPANY,
In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the
Southern District of New York.
THIS RECORD
OF
PAUL MORPHY'S
ACHIEVEMENTS IN THE OLD WORLD,
IS DEDICATED
TO
The Members of
THE FIRST AMERICAN CHESS CONGRESS,
BY
THEIR MOST GRATEFUL
AND OBLIGED SERVANT,
THE AUTHOR.
PREFACE.
I am much indebted, in the following pages, to the kind assistance of that
able writer and veteran chess-player, Mr. George Walker, who has furnished
me with most of the very interesting and valuable information contained in
the fourth chapter of this work. I am likewise under obligations to Herr
Loewenthal for many anecdotes relating to chess celebrities of the past,
and other information; and also to Mr. George Medley, Honorary Secretary
of the London Chess Club, and Mr. Ries, of the Divan.
The cuts with which this work is embellished have been engraved by the
well-known Brothers Dalziel. The portrait of Paul Morphy, copied from a
photograph taken shortly after his arrival in London last year, is an
excellent likeness.
The portraits of Messrs. Staunton, Boden, Anderssen, and Loewenthal, are
copies of photographs, for which they sat at the Manchester Meeting, in
1857. The originals of Messrs. Saint Amant and Harrwitz are admirably
executed lithographs of those gentlemen, taken about four years ago, and
that of Mr. Mongredieu is copied from a photograph kindly lent for the
purpose.
I am under great obligations to Mr. Lewis, who came to London expressly to
sit for his likeness; and I feel assured that my readers will value this
"very form and feature" of an amateur who was famous before Labourdonnais
was known outside the Regence; and whose works are found in every
chess-player's library.
I had considerable difficulty in obtaining the portrait of Mr. George
Walker. Photographs, lithographs, etc., of that most popular of all chess
writers, did not exist, and many friends prophesied that his likeness
would not be in my book. But I importuned him so that he relented, and
confided to my care an oil painting, for which he sat five years ago, and
which was the only portrait of him in existence.
My readers can judge of the resemblance of the other cuts by the portrait
of Paul Morphy. I only wish my story was as good.
CONTENTS.
PAGE
CHAPTER I.
MORPHY'S FIRST GAMES 1
CHAPTER II.
THE FIRST AMERICAN CHESS CONGRESS 4
CHAPTER III.
MORPHY PREPARES TO START FOR EUROPE 12
CHAPTER IV.
CHESS IN ENGLAND 23
CHAPTER V.
MORPHY IN ENGLAND 57
CHAPTER VI.
THE STAUNTON AFFAIR 86
CHAPTER VII.
MORPHY IN FRANCE 140
CHAPTER VIII.
THE CAFE DE LA REGENCE 144
CHAPTER IX.
THE MATCH BETWEEN MORPHY AND HARRWITZ 150
CHAPTER X.
MORPHY'S GREATEST BLINDFOLD FEAT 159
CHAPTER XI.
CONTINUATION OF THE MATCH WITH HARRWITZ 166
CHAPTER XII.
MORPHY IN SOCIETY 170
CHAPTER XIII.
MORPHY AND THE FRENCH AMATEURS 176
CHAPTER XIV.
MORPHY GETS BEATEN 183
CHAPTER XV.
MORPHY AND ANDERSSEN 186
CHAPTER XVI.
MORPHY AND MONGREDIEU 197
CHAPTER XVII.
TROPHIES 200
VALEDICTORY 203
PAUL MORPHY.
CHAPTER I.
MORPHY'S FIRST GAMES.
Paul Morphy's father, Judge Morphy, of the Supreme Court of Louisiana,
beguiled his leisure hours with the fascinations of Chess, and, finding a
precocious aptitude for the game in his son, he taught him the moves and
the value of the various pieces. In the language of somebody,--
"To teach the young Paul chess,
His leisure he'd employ;
Until, at last, the old man
Was beaten by the boy."
I have here spoilt a very pretty story. The report in chess circles is,
that the young Paul learned the moves from seeing his father play with
his uncle, Mr. Ernest Morphy, long ranking amongst the first players in
the Union, and one of the brightest living ornaments of American chess.
One evening--so runs the tale--this gentleman awaited the arrival of the
Judge, when Master Paul impudently offered to be his antagonist. What was
the uncle's astonishment at finding the stripling a match for his deepest
combinations, and what the father's surprise on discovering a very
Philidor in his son of ten years! Deschapelles became a first-rate player
in three days, at the age of something like thirty. Nobody ever believed
the statement, not even Deschapelles himself, although his biographer
declares he had told the lie so often that he at last forgot the facts of
the case. But the story about Morphy beats the Deschapelles story in the
proportion of thirty to ten. I sorrowfully confess that my hero's
unromantic regard for truth makes him characterize the above statement as
a humbug and an impossibility.
Paul's genius for Chess was, very properly, not permitted to interfere
with his educational pursuits. At college (in South Carolina) until
eighteen years of age, he had but little time for indulgence in his
favorite game, nor did he find any one capable of contending with him.
When the vacations allowed of his playing against such adepts as his
father and uncle, or such well-known paladins as Mr. Ernest Rousseau, of
New Orleans, and Judge Meek, of Alabama, he soon showed himself superior
to all antagonists. In the autumn of 1849, Herr Loewenthal, the celebrated
Hungarian player, visited the Crescent City, and out of three games
against the young Paul, then but twelve years old, he lost two and drew
one. It is but reasonable to suppose that the desire of atoning for this
defeat had something to do with Herr Loewenthal's challenging his youthful
victor, on his arrival last year in Europe.