Paul Morphy: The Pride and Sorrow of Chess

by David Lawson

  Although Morphy and Staunton met frequently at the St. George’s, they never sat down together. Morphy, having made the first move, now awaited Staunton’s approach. It would appear that the reason for their having no friendly game in public was that Staunton desired first to observe Morphy’s strength and manner of play against other opponents. He was unwilling to risk losing to Morphy, although he could not have been much impressed by Morphy’s early performance in London, for as Edge remarked of the first twelve or fifteen games Morphy played with Barnes:

  Judging from these parties, Paul Morphy was little, if anything, superior to that gentleman, but time had not been allowed him to recover from the fatigues of his voyage, and I have always remarked that traveling, even by rail, seriously deteriorates Morphy’s game.

  Probably the strongest member of the St. George’s Chess Club after Staunton was the Reverend John Owen. Owen, Staunton’s closest friend, preferred playing under the alias of “Alter,” and all his games appeared under that pseudonym in Staunton’s chess column. Morphy contested several games with him on July 3. Of the three games played that day, Owen won the first and Morphy won the last two. Later, they played two more games, Morphy winning both.

  Yet it was Staunton with whom Morphy most desired to play. However, very soon after their first meeting, Staunton asked that their match be postponed until after the Birmingham meeting in August. Morphy agreed to this second postponement, and Staunton affirmed the agreement in the Illustrated London News:

  July 10—Mr. Morphy has proffered to play Mr. Staunton a match of 21 games for a stake of 500 pounds a side, and the latter has accepted the challenge, conditionally that the terms of play are such as he can agree to without infraction of his present literary engagements. As there appears every disposition on the part of his opponent to meet his wishes in this respect the match will probably take place in London shortly after the Birmingham Chess Meeting.

  Edge, in writing to Fiske on July 6, was quite certain that the Morphy-Staunton match would occur in a matter of a few weeks:

  I am glad to inform you subrosa, that a match is about being arranged between these two [Morphy and Staunton] and I can assure you that, my own feelings apart, the belief is here that Staunton will be defeated. This match will come off in about a month’s time, as Staunton says he requires a certain period to rub up his openings &c. Meanwhile, he shows no disposition to try an off-hand game with the “American,” as he will probably speak of him, before long, in the Illustrated.

  This week Morphy plays a short match of the first seven games for 50 pounds a side, with Lowenthal, of which you shall have full particulars next week. This match is, of course, looked upon as a test of his strength, and I am much afraid that Staunton will want to pay forfeit after the licking which Lowenthal will receive.

  Evidently, Edge had not been told by Morphy that Staunton had postponed their match until after the Birmingham Meeting, which meant it would not occur until well into September. He thus knew nothing of the matter until he saw it in Staunton’s chess column.

  Morphy had met Lowenthal during his first week in London, when the latter was still smarting from Staunton’s publicity in May about his defeat in 1850 by a boy not yet thirteen. Lowenthal thus lost no time in proposing a match to clear the score between them. He doubtless thought the chances of winning were in his favor, after having observed Morphy play during his first week or so in England. Morphy had not yet recovered completely from the effects of the voyage. In fact, the match was delayed a few days on account of it, and then further delayed when Lowenthal’s friends asked that the stakes and number of games be increased.

  Apparently, these friends of Lowenthal’s, confident that he would win, persuaded him to double the stakes to £100 a side and to increase the number of games necessary to win to nine. Half of Lowenthal’s stakes were found by members of the St. George’s Club. Evidently Morphy provided his own stakes, not having accepted anything up to this point from the New Orleans Chess Club. The club had offered expense money for the trip, and had agreed to provide stake money up to $5,000 for the Staunton match, as indicated in their challenge.

  Lowenthal’s chess strength had increased since his encounter with Paul in 1850. Even Staunton, who was not on the best of terms with Lowenthal, conceded in his book Chess Praxis Lowenthal’s great knowledge of chess theory and the fact that he had “all the advantage of incessant practice, a life, in fact, devoted to the game.” He was superior to Barnes, as he was soon to demonstrate at Birmingham in August.

  In his chess column in the London Era of July 18, Lowenthal supplied the following information about the terms of his match with Morphy:

  We last week informed our readers that a match at chess was in course of arrangement between the American champion, Mr. Paul Morphy, and Herr Lowenthal. The arrangements have been brought to a most satisfactory conclusion, and the match will be duly commenced on Monday next [July 19]. The winner of the first nine games is to be the victor.

  The stake is £100 a side, and the play is to take place on four days each week, viz., Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. One game will be played at each sitting, unless adjourned by mutual consent. Half the games to be played at the St. George’s and half at the London Chess Club. The games [are] to be exclusively the property of the players. . . . The seconds of Mr. Morphy are Lord Arthur Hay and the Rev. J. Owen, and those of Mr. Lowenthal, Messrs. Barnes and Oldham. Mr. Staunton has been named umpire, and Mr. Lewis stakeholder.

  The stipulations in this match are exceedingly simple and fair for both parties. They are as follows:

  1. The Winner of the first nine games shall be entitled to the stakes.

  2. The first move shall be decided by lot, in the first game, and shall subsequently belong to each player alternately, drawn games notwithstanding.

  3. One half of the games shall be played at the St. George’s Chess Club, the other half at the London Chess Club.

  4. The play shall take place on the following days in each week: Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays. On Monday and Tuesday, at the London Chess Club, at two p.m.: Thursday and Friday at noon, at the St. George’s Chess Club, unless otherwise agreed.

  5. Either party failing to appear within half an hour of the appointed time shall incur a penalty of one pound, one shilling; within an hour, 2 pounds, 2 shillings; within an hour and a half, 5 pounds, 5 shillings; the fines in each case being payable to the opposite party.

  6. No game shall be protracted beyond one sitting, unless adjourned by mutual consent.

  7. After five hours’ play, either party shall be at liberty to demand an adjournment for an hour.

  8. The games shall be the joint property of the players.

  As Edge wrote to Maurian, Morphy acceded to Lowenthal’s request that “no stipulation as to the time of each move be made,” which may have been a mistake. Had Morphy known that Lowenthal might take up to an hour on a move, which did, in fact, happen (game eight of the match being a good example), he might have hesitated. In Lowenthal’s match with Harrwitz a few years earlier, one of the conditions was a time limit of twenty minutes for any move.

  The match started on July 19 at the St. George’s Club, but after six hours it was adjourned for refreshments. After another two hours that evening, it ended in a draw. The next day the second game was played at the London Chess Club, ending in a win for Morphy. The third game, also won by Morphy, was a very long one of eighty moves, and probably lasted much longer than the first, which was seven hours, thirty minutes long. The fourth game, which Lowenthal resigned at his thirty-first move, was pronounced by the German critics as the most brilliant of the series. By August 6, ten games had been played, of which Morphy had won seven and lost two. The other was a draw.

  Needless to say, Staunton was one of those most interested in the progress of the match. There now seemed to be a discernible change in his attitude toward Morphy, and there was much talk at the clubs on this subject.

  On August 6, Edge
began a letter to Fiske concerning the Lowenthal match:

  At the commencement, before in fact the match had begun, Morphy bet Lowe that Lowenthal would not score 5 games, and it now stands M.7—L.2—Drawn 1. leaving two games for Morphy to gain to pocket the 100 Spondulicks. I need not send you the games inasmuch as you will find them in the Illustrated London News, accompanied by those mean, sneaking notes, which have constituted Staunton the “Chess Pariah” of the London world. . . . After the second game, which Morphy won, the first being a “draw,” the Rev. John Owen, alias “Alter” who is one of Morphy’s seconds, came up to Lowenthal and said to him in my hearing[,] “Never mind, one swallow don’t make a summer.” This reverend gent . . . is more inimical to Morphy than any man in London. God knows how he became Morphy’s second; Morphy did not choose him. After each game Lowenthal lost, he would come to Morphy and tell him that he had won by L.’s oversight, and that he played much below his strength, or he would not beat him. Morphy has become so disgusted by his ungentlemanly conduct, and thickheaded observations on the games, that he has challenged him to a match, giving him the odds of Pawn & Move, and this may probably come off, before the match with Staunton. . . .

  But Owen states that he does not look upon the result of the match with Lowenthal as conclusive of Morphy’s superiority, nor does he think that Morphy having gained of himself 4 out of 5 offhand games, in which Owen took an average of 1/4 hour to a move prove anything, and that he wishes to play two matches simultaneously with him, one at even, one at Pawn and Move—alternate games. . . .

  Staunton has shown his willingness to play after the Birmingham meeting by allowing a committee to form in his favor at the St. George’s, to raise funds to back him &c. but if Owen can make a match with Morphy at even, Staunton will be justified in saying: “I have made every preparation to play, but Mr. Morphy’s procedure has prevented my doing so. Mr. Morphy plays Mr. Owen even,—I give Mr. Owen Pawn and Move. Mr. Morphy playing Mr. Owen even, must also accept Pawn and Move from me.” Paul Morphy very properly will not consent to play him [Owen], therefore, even, and Lord Arthur Hay backs him up in such determination. This nobleman, a splendid looking officer in the Queen’s Guards, and a member of St. George’s[,] is much taken with Morphy and always comes to his assistance when such jealous devils as Owen & Co, are besetting him. You may rely upon the match coming off with Staunton in September.

  The same letter continues as follows, under the date of August 13:

  The Rev. John Owen (alias “Alter”) consented to play the match at Pawn and Move on Tuesday last [August 10]; the terms being the winner of the first five games (5) for a set of Ivory Staunton Men. If Owen won, Morphy to play him afterwards even; if the contrary, Morphy to give him Pawn and two. Staunton gives Owen Pawn and one, and loses the majority of games, and the impression was at the St. George’s that no man living could give him these odds in a match. The first game Morphy won in 18 moves, time 1 1/2 hours, whereof Owen took 2 hours. The second game was drawn, after 6 hours play; the 3rd and 4th were both won by Morphy, leaving Owen at Zero. This is considered Morphy’s greatest performance since his arrival in Europe, and the folks at the St. George’s believe now that Alter will not get a game. The match is resumed tomorrow [August 14]; when it will probably be finished [it was].

  Morphy has not played with anyone during the continuance of his match with the Hungarian [up to August 6]. We have been constantly together, and have seen most of the sights in London. I look particularly after his health, which I am happy to say is capitally good: his nerve is excellent, and I think he is at least a pawn and move stronger than when he played here at first, for he was then somewhat fatigued from his voyage.

  On August 6, Lowenthal visited Morphy at Lowe’s Hotel. He wished to explain a very unfavorable and inaccurate paragraph in the Era. It had been printed without his knowledge, since he had turned over the editing of his chess column to another for the duration of his match with Morphy. Lowenthal was visibly ill, and Morphy insisted on postponing the match games until he recovered, which took a week. This interval (August 10 through 14) provided time for Morphy’s match game with “Alter,” of which Edge spoke in the above letter to Fiske.

  In his Morphy book, Edge tells of the following boast made by Owen prior to the match:

  Now Alter had been playing for months past at those odds [Pawn and move] with Mr. Staunton, holding his own against that gentleman, and he considered that if he [Mr. Staunton] could not beat him, certainly Morphy could not. So confident was he of the result, that he told the young American: “Were it not for my position [as a clergyman] I would willingly play for £1000.”

  It was well for “Alter” that his “cloth” had saved him from the higher stakes, for, as Edge relates, of the seven games played with Morphy at the odds of Pawn and move, “Alter” won none, Morphy won five, and the other two were drawn. Although Owen had agreed to play a second match at greater odds if he lost this first match, the second match never took place.

  Edge, again in his Morphy book, mentions Morphy’s confidence about these and other matches:

  Before the contest [with Owen] commenced, he said to me: “Alter may win two games, but he will not win more,” and I would here notice his [Morphy’s] power of estimating an opponent’s strength. When the preliminaries were settled with Herr Lowenthal, he stated to me: “If I cared about betting, I would bet that Lowenthal does not win five games. Of course there will be plenty of draws, but he will not get more than four.” On our way to Paris, he said: “Well, now I am going to play Harrwitz, and I would bet the same as about Lowenthal,” and when he was preparing to meet Anderssen, he awarded four games to the Prussian champion. In every instance he overrated his opponents, or, perhaps I should rather say, underrated himself.

  As has been noted, English players were not initially impressed by Morphy’s play, Staunton apparently less so than others. But with Morphy’s gathering strength, demonstrated by his growing majorities over England’s strongest players, opinion soon changed in his favor. Boden and Lowenthal were the first to recognize and admit his superiority. However, at the beginning of his match with Morphy, Lowenthal had confidence in his ability to hold his own. As Edge quotes Lowenthal:

  I felt chagrined at the result of the first one or two games, because I thought that I ought to have won them; but now I feel no longer dissatisfied, for I am convinced that I was vanquished by superior strength. . . . After the first game I went home saying to myself, Well, Morphy is not so terrible after all! The second partie failed to change my opinion; but in the third, I saw all my combinations twisted and turned against me, and I felt myself in a grasp against which it was almost vain to struggle.

  As Morphy’s victories over Lowenthal increased, together with his extraordinary match victory over Owen, the main topic of conversation at the London clubs was the likelihood of the Morphy–Staunton match. Edge mentions hearing such remarks as, “Mr. Staunton now knows too well what antagonist he will have to deal with.” As early as July 24, Edge wrote in a letter to Maurian of doubts expressed at the clubs as to whether the match would ever be held. These caused Morphy much concern, as Edge mentioned in this same letter to Maurian:

  Morphy crossed the ocean, and threw down his gauntlet in the very sanctum of his adversary—the den of the dragon—the St. George’s Club. No way now for Staunton to refuse. Accept he must[,] but play, will he? And men are now betting odds of 5 to 4 at the St. George’s, the London and the Divan, that Staunton will find some pretext for not playing. He does not like the present appearance of things, for during the past fortnight although Morphy has been playing right and left, with men of all shades of strength, he has not lost a game, more especially in view of the match now progressing between Morphy and Lowenthal. Lowenthal was the proposer of this match, which was offered by him in the most friendly spirit, with an eye, also to wiping out his former defeat by a boy of 13 years old, which you of course remember.

  Although doubts expressed about the mat
ch with Staunton caused Morphy much concern, Edge was not at all worried:

  On myself, however, I can conscientiously declare that it [the clubs’ gossip] had no effect. I did not believe it possible that any man having so publicly accepted a challenge, would attempt to avoid a contest, and expressed this opinion to Mr. Morphy, “It will be well not to accept all that one hears. Mr. Staunton has numerous enemies; do not allow yourself to be prejudiced by them, but look upon his acceptance of the challenge as a certainty that the match will come off.”

  In his composite August 6 and 13 letter to Fiske, Edge reaffirms his own confidence that the match would occur:

  You may rely upon the match coming off with Staunton in September, and Morphy is too much a diplomatist to commit any faux pas, which may give Staunton a loop-hole to escape. . . .

  You can state positively that the match between Staunton and Morphy for £500 a side will commence the first week in September; the scorer of the first eleven games to be winner.

  Lowenthal resumed match play on August 12, winning the eleventh game, and the match continued until August 21, when Morphy won his ninth game and the match. The final score was Morphy nine, Lowenthal three, and two games drawn. Morphy was awarded £100 for winning the match, but he immediately presented Lowenthal with a set of furniture valued at £120, for a new apartment the latter had just acquired.

  CHAPTER 9

  Staunton and Stakes

  As the Lowenthal match progressed, Staunton showed increasing signs of unfriendliness toward Morphy. At about this time, Edge wrote Fiske that “Morphy wants me to say for the hundredth time, ‘on no account to take anything relating to him from the Illustrated London News.’”