Paul Morphy: The Pride and Sorrow of Chess

by David Lawson

  At last, Morphy’s prolonged stay in New York was coming to an end. He was expected home before the New Year. Fiske writes of his last evening in New York in a letter to Professor Allen dated December 20, 1857:

  Something more than a score of us New Yorkers gave Paul a dinner on Wednesday the 16th, the evening before his departure. We had a fine time. It was less formal and far pleasanter than our Congressional banquet. Mr. Thompson presided. Morphy made a capital speech, which I could not persuade him to write out for me. It was much longer and altogether a far better display of the man’s character than the remarks he made at the St. Denis dinner—Frère’s toast was[,] “The Game of Chess: thank God, it has no Mason and Dixon’s line!”

  Then, as The First American Chess Congress relates:

  On the seventeenth of December, 1857, Mr. Morphy left New York, where he had spent nearly three months and a half, on his way to his Southern home. . . . Near the close of the year he reached New Orleans, by way of the Mississippi, and met with a cordial reception from his friends and the chess-players of that city, by whom he was serenaded soon after his arrival.

  FOOTNOTE

  ______________

  * EDITOR’S NOTE: Lawson published the game in his Part II, which is not included in this edition. With its publication in Lawson’s original, however, it has become part of Morphy’s chess oeuvre and is available through a variety of other outlets.

  CHAPTER 7

  The Challenge

  Morphy reached New Orleans just before the New Year. In his first letter to Fiske, given below, he mentioned the “Creole” reception that he received. The Chess Monthly, of which he was now co-editor with Fiske, appeared some days before the first of each month. Since the January number announced that, “It is understood, unless otherwise stated that all Notes to Games and Analysis are written by Mr. Morphy,” it is evident that he had prepared several games with notes before leaving New York. Of these games, four were his own, including the Queen Sacrifice game. It is evident that Morphy took his editorial duties very seriously, annotating six games each for the January and February issues with comprehensive notes.

  The January Chess Monthly carried the following announcement:

  Mr. Morphy extends the challenge sent to the New York Club so as to comprise all the leading practitioners of the United States. He proffers any American player the odds of the Pawn and Move and will always be glad to arrange a match upon those terms.

  The New Orleans Sunday Delta, of which Charles A. Maurian became chess editor in March, published some of the games Morphy played while awaiting an answer to his challenge, as well as happenings at the New Orleans Chess Club, of which Morphy was now president. Morphy’s letters to Fiske in the months from January to May are the chief source of information about his activities during that time:

  New Orleans January 25th, 1858

  Daniel W. Fiske, Esq.

  My dear Daniel,

  From the moment of my arrival up to the present hour I have had, as you may well imagine, but little leisure at my disposal. Even today so much of my time is taken up that I can only hastily drop a line or two. The New Orleans Chess Club is more flourishing than ever. It numbers while I write more than thirty members, and ere another month will have passed away, the number will have swollen to fifty or sixty. The Club now meets at the rooms of the Mercantile Library Association, corner of Exchange Alley and Canal Street—the very heart of New Orleans. I one night played two and on another occasion three blindfold games simultaneously, all of which I won. The rooms were literally crowded, and the spectators much pleased and interested.

  I pass the very flattering, or to speak more truly, the “Creole” reception which greeted me here. It was one of those things that are felt deeply and long remembered, but not described.

  Do not be surprised at the comparatively meager notes appended to the games. Some games, as you know, require but few comments. Hereafter, I shall make it an inflexible rule to be very full in my remarks and criticisms.

  Present my regards to all the members of your club, as also to such gentlemen, not chess players, as I have had the honor of knowing while in New York.

  Your best friend,

  Paul Morphy

  P.S. I hope the Monthly is doing well. I shall exert myself to the utmost to procure subscribers. Let me hear from you at your earliest convenience; I shall probably write again this week and at greater length.

  Still unable to practice his profession, Morphy set about developing his blindfold chess skill, as indicated in the above letter. He entertained his chess club with blindfold exhibitions, increasing from two simultaneous games in January, to seven or eight in April. We have no record of any games of these latter exhibitions, but it was reported that he won six and lost one of the seven games of the exhibition he played on March 31, and it was announced at that time that he would play eight blindfold games the week of May 2.

  His challenge to any American player, offering the odds of Pawn and move in a match for one hundred dollars a side, received no response.

  The enthusiasm of his friends and the New Orleans Chess Club now knew no bounds, and the club decided it would issue a challenge on his behalf to the Old World. It addressed the following letter and terms for a match to Howard Staunton of London, which was later published in the Chess Monthly of April 1858:

  New Orleans, Feb. 4, 1858

  Howard Staunton, Esq.

  Sir,—On behalf of the New Orleans Chess Club, and in compliance with the instructions of that body, we, the undersigned committee, have the honor to invite you to visit our city, and there meet Mr. Paul Morphy in a chess match. In transmitting this invitation permit us to observe, that we are prompted no less by the desire to become personally acquainted with one whom we have so long admired, than by the very natural anxiety to ascertain the strength of our American players by the decisive criterion of actual conflict over the board.

  We can see no valid reason why an exercise so intellectual and ennobling as chess, should be excluded from the generous rivalry which exists between the Old and the New World, in all branches of human knowledge and industry. That the spirit of emulation from which this rivalry arises has not, hitherto, been made to embrace our chivalrous game, may be mainly ascribed to the fact that, although the general attention paid to chess in the United States during the last fifteen years has produced a number of fine players, yet their relative force remained undetermined, and none could assert an indisputable right to preeminence. The last Chess Congress has, however, removed this obstacle, by finally settling the claims of the several aspirants to the championship; and it must now be a matter of general desire to fix, by actual contest with the best European amateurs, the rank which American players shall hold in the hierarchy of chess.

  For this purpose it was suggested that Mr. Morphy, the winner at the late Congress, and the present American champion, should cross the ocean, and boldly encounter the distinguished magnates of the transatlantic chess circles; but it unfortunately happens that serious family reasons forbid Mr. Morphy, for the present, to entertain the thought of visiting Europe. It therefore becomes necessary to arrange, if possible, a meeting between the latter and the acknowledged European champion, in regard to whom there can be no scope for choice or hesitation—the common voice of the chess world pronounces your name; and to us it is a subject of congratulation that the scepter of transatlantic chess is wielded by one who, with respect to regularity of communication between the two countries, and for other reasons, enjoys facilities for accepting our invitation possessed by no other European player.

  We take the liberty herewith to enclose a series of proposed “terms of the match” which has been drawn up, not for the purpose of imposing conditions, but with a view to obviate the necessity of repeated correspondence. We have been studious to make these terms as equitable as possible, and to include all matters upon which contestation was likely to arise. You are respectfully invited to suggest any alterations which you may deem adv
isable, not only in the minor points embraced, but also as to the amount of the stakes, the time fixed for the commencement of the match, &c., &c.

  Fully subscribing to the wisdom of the proposal made by you, in the introduction to the “Book of the Tournament,” we beg leave to express our entire willingness to insert a clause providing that “one-half at least” (or even all) “of the games shall be open ones.”

  In conclusion, Sir, receive the assurance that it will afford us extreme pleasure to welcome among us a gentleman, who is as greatly admired for his powers in play as he is esteemed for his many and valuable contributions to the literature of chess.

  Hoping soon to receive a favorable answer, we remain, with distinguished regard your obedient servants,

  TERMS OF THE MATCH

  1. The amount of the stakes, on each side, to be five thousand dollars, and the winner of the first eleven games to be declared the victor, and entitled to the stakes.

  2. The match to be played in the city of New Orleans.

  3. Should the English player lose the match, the sum of one thousand dollars ($1000) to be paid to him out of the stakes, in reimbursement of the expenses incurred by him in accepting the challenge.

  4. The games to be conducted in accordance with the rules laid down in Mr. Staunton’s Chess Player’s Handbook.

  5. The parties to play with Staunton chessmen of the usual club-size, and on a board of corresponding dimensions.

  6. The match to be commenced on or about the first of May 1858, (or on any day other during the present year most agreeable to Mr. Staunton), and to be continued at not less than four sittings each week.

  7. In order that the stay of the English player in New Orleans be not unnecessarily prolonged, he shall have the right to fix the hours of play at from ten o’clock a.m., to two p.m., and from six to ten o’clock, p.m.

  8. The time occupied in deliberating on any move, shall not exceed thirty minutes.

  9. The right to publish the games is reserved exclusively to the contestants subject only to such private arrangements as they may agree upon.

  10. The stakes on the part of Mr. Staunton to be deposited prior to the commencement of the match in the hands of . . . ; and those on the part of Mr. Morphy, in the hands of Eugene Rousseau, Esq., cashier of the Citizen’s Bank of Louisiana.

  Staunton was singled out for this challenge because, in the opinion of the committee, he was the most outstanding figure in English chess. Not only had he defeated St. Amant of France in 1843, at which time Staunton was probably the strongest chess master in Europe, but Staunton had also published many authoritative books on chess. He was the author of the Handbook of Chess, Chess-Player’s Companion, and Chess Tournament, 1851. He was editor of The Chess Player’s Chronicle for thirteen years and chess editor of the Illustrated London News. In short, the general impression prevailed in the United States that he was the English chess champion. However, this opinion was strongly challenged abroad.

  Upon reading of the challenge to Staunton, Samuel Boden, chess editor of the London Field, voiced the following opinion:

  America vs. Europe—Our cousins on the other side of the Atlantic, having apparently made up their minds to resign for the present the contest for the lead of the Turf, have turned their attention to Chess, and in consequence the New Orleans Club have forwarded a challenge to Mr. Staunton whom they profess to consider “the acknowledged European Champion” of this noble game.

  Now, we can see no possible objection to the acceptance of this challenge by Mr. Staunton, as a private individual, if he thinks proper, and we have no doubt that it is made in good faith by the New Orleans Chess Club; but, though we do not devote any space to the record of chess games, yet we cannot avoid entering our protest against this selection on the part of our rivals of a champion for our side, whose defeat, if it takes place, will be chronicled as that of all Europe.

  The editor of the chess department in the Illustrated News, and of the “Manual of Chess” which bears his name, is no doubt a high authority on the rules of the game; but that he is now the champion, even of London, alone, over the board, we unhesitatingly deny—and this fact is notorious enough in this country, while on the Continent the idea of his being considered the champion of Europe would be ridiculed as the height of absurdity. If, as it is alleged, Mr. Morphy cannot attend the Congress at Birmingham, in June next, to which he has been invited, let the challenge be forwarded through some public channel to any or all of the principle clubs in England, France, and Germany; and then, if it is taken up, the reputation of the respective countries will be at stake, or, if declined without some valid reason, they will suffer accordingly.

  Staunton replied to the New Orleans challenge in his chess column of April 3 and in the following letter to the New Orleans Chess Club of the same date:

  London, April 3, 1858

  Gentlemen:

  In reply to your very courteous proposal for me to visit New Orleans for the purpose of encountering Mr. Paul Morphy at Chess, permit me to mention that for many years professional duties have compelled me to abandon the practice of the game almost entirely except in the most desultory manner, and that at the present time these duties are so exacting that it is with difficulty I am enabled to snatch one day out of seven for exercise and relaxation.

  Under such circumstances you will at once perceive that a long and arduous chess contest, even in this Metropolis, would be an enterprise too formidable for me to embark in without ample opportunity for the recovery of my old strength in play, together with such arrangements as would prevent the sacrifice of my professional engagements for the sake of a match at chess, and that the idea of my undertaking one in a foreign country, many thousand miles from here, is admissible only in a dream.

  With friendly greeting to my proposed antagonist, whose talent and enthusiasm no one can more highly estimate, and with compliments to you for the honor implied in your selection of me as the opponent of such a champion, I beg to subscribe myself, with every consideration.

  Yours obediently

  H. Staunton

  To Messrs. Halsey, Maurian

  Bonford, Michinard and Pandely. New Orleans.

  Staunton’s reply did not reach New Orleans until the end of April. In the meantime, Morphy continued to delight the members of his club with games and blindfold exhibitions. Apparently, he was very active at the club, for he played many games, mostly at large odds of Queen’s Rook or Knight.

  On April 21 he played two games, giving the odds of Pawn and two moves in each game to four of the strongest New Orleans players in consultation. April also brought two visitors. W. W. Montgomery of Georgia arrived just before April, staying a week. He and Morphy played their first four games even, Morphy winning all. Morphy then played him at odds of Pawn and two moves, and under these conditions Montgomery won one but lost two. At Knight odds, Morphy won nine out of ten games, the tenth being a draw.

  The other visitor in April was T. H. Worrall of Mexico, who paid a flying call. Yet in those few short days he played fifteen games with Morphy at odds of Queen’s Knight, of which the latter won eight. Morphy did much better with him a year later in London. Others with whom he contested at this time at large odds were John Tanner, James McConnell (now giving him a Knight), Maurian, and Dr. Beattie. Also, Morphy was providing Fiske with annotated games for the Chess Monthly, although he found little time for it. And of course he was thinking all this time of Staunton.

  Apparently after being prodded by Fiske for games for the Chess Monthly, he sent the following letter:

  New Orleans, March 9, 1858

  Daniel W. Fiske, Esq.

  My dear Fiske,

  Do not get too excited about the delay this month; it has not been in my power to forward the games sooner. Thenceforward, depend upon it, the games will reach you in good time. I only send four, requesting you to insert whatever others you may see fit, as I really am at a loss to select among those I have here.

  The New Orleans Che
ss Club has challenged Mr. Staunton for a stake of 5000 dollars. I will send you tomorrow a copy of the letter addressed to that gentleman, together with the proposed “terms of the match”—I have received a very flattering communication from Belton Bill Co., Texas, informing me that a chess club has been established there under the name the “Morphy Chess Club.” I understand that another “Morphy Chess Club” has been started in Maine.

  Present my regards to each and every member of your club and believe me

  Ever your best friend

  Paul Morphy

  Upon receipt of Staunton’s reply to the challenge of the New Orleans Chess Club, Morphy’s plans began to take shape in his mind. He would accept, with his family’s permission, the invitation to attend the Birmingham Chess Meeting set for June, and would then accept whatever fate decreed. It would seem that Paul’s was a somewhat secretive nature, for he never mentioned Birmingham in his letters to Fiske, nor certain important matters to Maurian (these to be discussed in Chapter 9).

  In his statement in the Illustrated London News, Staunton noted “that the combat shall take place in New Orleans appears to us utterly fatal to the match.” His declining to come all the way to New Orleans simply for the purpose of playing a match with Morphy cannot be considered unreasonable. But in his letter to the New Orleans Chess Club, Staunton also added two necessary conditions to be met for the match, if held in London, namely, “ample opportunity for the recovery of my old strength in play, together with such arrangements as would prevent the sacrifice of my professional engagements.”