by David Lawson
As Morphy was quite ready to accede to both conditions, he had no doubt that the match would be arranged were he to go to London. With unbounded confidence in his superiority and undoubtedly encouraged by others, he made plans to go abroad, much against his family’s wishes. He was most willing and eager to meet all comers.
His family was not enthusiastic about the trip for several reasons. They were concerned about interference with his professional career, for Paul would come of age in June and would then be able to establish himself in practice. Reluctantly, and only after setting down certain conditions, the family yielded to great pressure from the New Orleans Chess Club Committee’s prominent members, and from Ernest Morphy and Judge Meek. Very likely, Morphy’s family believed the trip could hardly last longer than three or four months at most. Presumably, the family knew of his invitation to attend the Birmingham meeting, which was to commence June 22, and saw no great objections to his participation. At that time, only Morphy knew his true intentions; but as he was later to reveal, his primary motive in going abroad was to challenge Staunton.
On May 30, shortly before his departure for Europe, Morphy sent a letter to Fiske, which by the great courtesy of James J. Barrett of Buffalo, New York,* we are enabled to reproduce here. It is an excellent specimen of Morphy’s writing and his estimate of his blindfold play. It concludes with his proclaiming his determination to voyage to Europe and there offer his challenge to the celebrated players of that continent and the British Isles.
New Orleans, May the 30th, 1858
Daniel W. Fiske, Esq.
My dear Fiske,
I send you five games for the July issue of the “Monthly”; they are all short and lively specimens of games at large odds. Two out of the five were contested in New York, the remaining three were played in this city. I should thank you for publishing four of my blindfold games in the August number (three Evans gambits and one King’s gambit). These have all been inserted in the N.O. Sunday Delta, as also in Frank Leslie’s; but I much desire that they should appear in the “Monthly,” as I rank them among the best and prettiest I ever played. By the way, and entre nous, I have seen no blindfold game of Paulsen’s that justifies the somewhat ridiculous praises that are bestowed upon him; and while I admit that he may be able to play more games at one time than I can, I claim that an impartial comparison between the specimens of blindfold play we have both given to the public will lead every true chess man to the conclusion that Paulsen is not the American blindfold player. I have no time to annotate the games and do not regret it; Fuller or yourself may for once, as I am sure you will with pleasure, perform that task and do that justice to the games which I could not. All I ask is a fair trial; I am firmly convinced that hitherto justice has not been done to my blindfold play outside of New Orleans. I would suggest that together with the four games alluded to, you publish some of the very best of Paulsen’s; I will then await with perfect confidence the decision of every competent judge.
Yours in haste
Paul Morphy
P.S. I shall leave tomorrow evening on my way to New York. I have made up my mind to cross the Atlantic and throw the gauntlet to all comers.
P.M.
FOOTNOTE
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* EDITOR’S NOTE: James J. Barrett was the chess columnist at the Buffalo Courier Express, as well as a collector of chess memorabilia. Lawson thanks him in his acknowledgements not only for supplying such letters, but also for helping with “the selection, preparation, and proofreading of the games.” See The Steinitz Papers: Letters and Documents of the First World Chess Champion, ed. Kurt Landsberger (Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Co., 2002), 20.
CHAPTER 8
London and Lowenthal
In London, Staunton was keeping his readers informed about Morphy. Almost every weekly issue of the Illustrated London News had some mention of Morphy or one of his games. Obviously, London had heard much about Morphy, as Staunton’s comments suggest:
April 10—Annual Meeting of the Chess Association. It was noticed in our column last week that this event, the Chess-players’ Derby Day, was fixed to commence on the 22nd of June. The arrangements of the local committee are, of course, not yet complete, but it is whispered that they have succeeded in insuring the presence of the American chess phenomenon, Paul Morphy, an attraction, of itself, sufficient to secure the largest attendance which had been known for years.
May 22—No official intimation as to the postponement of the Birmingham Meeting has been given, the committee being unable to take any step until a reply to their invitation to Mr. Morphy has been secured . . . and remember that Mr. Morphy, when a mere child, beat Mr. Lowenthal two games out of three.
June 19—Visit of Mr. Morphy, the American Chess Champion. A communication which has just reached us by the Fulton, from New York, conveys the gratifying intelligence that Mr. Paul Morphy has definitely settled to visit England and attend the meeting of the British Association at Birmingham now postponed to August.
June 26—Arrival of Mr. Morphy. The communication addressed to this gentleman announcing the postponement of the Chess Association meeting from June 21 to August 24th having miscarried, he unexpectedly made his appearance in Birmingham on Monday [June 21], prepared to do battle a l’outrance for the honor of the Stars and Stripes. Fortunately his intention was to make some considerable stay in Europe; he has therefore consented to take part in the gathering of August, which will probably be one of the most brilliant chess assemblages known.
As had been the case prior to his arrival at the New York Chess Congress, Morphy was a well-known personality in English chess circles, even before his arrival in England. Soon after his arrival, Ernest Falkbeer, chess editor of the London Sunday Times, made the following remarks in his chess column after mentioning some other chess masters:
As to the rest, Morphy’s presence in London is the all-absorbing topic of the Chess World, and detracts even from the interest of the meeting at Birmingham. This is, at least, a chess player from head to foot. Since Philidor and Labourdonnais we do not remember a similar apparition.
Had Morphy decided not to accept the Birmingham invitation and had he planned to leave for England a short time later than he did, chess history might well have taken a vastly different course. Charles H. Stanley had received a letter from Staunton, to whom he had written upon learning about the New Orleans Chess Club challenge. Instead of imparting the interesting information he received in his letter from Staunton to a chess editor, and having no chess column of his own at the time, he sent the following letter to the New York Spirit of the Times. It was published July 10, 1858.
Dear “Spirit”—Having no longer any regular channel through which to gossip with the vast brotherhood of Caïssa’s worshippers, a vent must be somewhere found. . . .
Well, our young friend Paul Morphy has gone to England. I shall hear of his doings very shortly, when we will speak further on the subject. In what other manner can we account for the gigantic strides with which the spirit of chess has measured this vast country, if we fail to attribute it to the publicity given to its merits.
What I did mean especially to refer to was a communication lately received from my old friend, Mr. Howard Staunton, on the subject of Mr. Morphy’s challenge; being in reply to my letter wherein I urged Mr. Staunton (knowing that it would be out of the question from himself to abandon all his engagements for such purpose) to stir up some other first-rate player upon whose time were less calls, and parade him, making, if possible, New York the battleground.
In reply, Mr. Staunton informs me that the pecuniaries would be insurmountable for so expensive a contest; but at the same time makes a suggestion which, had not Mr. Morphy taken his departure, I think we might have brought to bear. What do you think it was? It was simply to play a match, Staunton vs. Morphy, for 500 pounds a side, by the Electric Telegraph! Just fancy—Morphy seated at our own club rooms in Bondstreet, and Staunton at the London Club in St. James street, blazing away
at one another at a distance of some three thousand miles! If ever I fight a duel, I shall select small swords at that distance. At such a game, however, Staunton would have had master Paul at some advantage as to time, at least; as his (Staunton’s) moves would arrive here some hours before they were sent; whereas Morphy’s would not reach London until some time after! So much for that matter.
Your old friend and contributor
C. H. Stanley
The suggestion of a transatlantic Electric Telegraph Chess Match at that time was startling news indeed, especially a match between Morphy and Staunton. Telegraph chess matches were rather common, telegraph companies offering free service, but these occurred only between neighboring cities. Baltimore and Washington in 1844 were the first to use the new medium, followed by London and Portsmouth in 1845. Thereafter, there were many such telegraph matches—for example, those between New York and Philadelphia in 1856–57.
Some forty years were to elapse from that time before an English-American cable match materialized. In 1897, following a match the year before, a Parliamentary Cable Chess Match took place between the British House of Commons and the United States House of Representatives, which ended in an even score.
Of course, Staunton was not aware of Morphy’s real strength at the time he suggested the telegraph match. Few of Morphy’s games had been published in England, nor had he played against such masters as Europe possessed, with the exception of his childhood games with Rousseau and Lowenthal. Although Morphy dominated the American Chess Congress, no players there, except Paulsen (also unknown in Europe) compared with European players. Morphy’s skill was therefore totally underestimated in Europe.
In any case, the telegraph match never took place, since Morphy left for Europe before news of Staunton’s suggestion became known in the United States. Morphy had planned his journey in order to reach Birmingham a day or so before the announced date for the meeting—June 22, 1858. However, the Managing Committee had decided at the last minute to postpone the meeting until August 24, and news to that effect had not reached America until the day after Morphy left New York, as Staunton had mentioned in the Illustrated London News. Had he been aware of the postponement and of Staunton’s challenge for a cable match, Morphy might well have deferred his trip to Europe. For, as he later revealed in a letter to Lord Lyttelton written October 26, 1858, “I visited your country for the purpose of challenging Mr. Staunton.”
On the morning of June 20, 1858, Morphy arrived in Liverpool. He was not a good sailor, and the twelve-day voyage had affected him adversely. No doubt, as expressed in the English and German press, his debilitated physical condition affected his playing for some time.
After his arrival in Liverpool, he entrained at once for Birmingham. In an article in the New Orleans Times-Democrat of June 18, 1899, Alderman Thomas Avery, president of the Birmingham Chess Club, tells of meeting him at the Curzon Street Station:
I was never more astonished by the appearance of anyone. Having formed my opinion of the man by the strength of his chess, I expected to see a tall broad-shouldered individual, with a big beard and a ferocious expression. And there he turned out to be a slight, beardless stripling youth in a broad-brimmed straw hat, a black tie and a meek and mild manner. I took him at once to the photographer, and had the portrait taken which is now in the Birmingham Chess Club. He was a very gentlemanly young fellow; no talker, and as it seemed to me, a player who performed all his wonderful feats by instinct and without any visible effort.
Advised by Avery of the postponement of the meeting, Morphy proceeded to London the next morning and arrived there that afternoon, June 21. Edge, Morphy’s companion in Europe, writes of Morphy being ill in Birmingham and of his getting up from a sickbed to go to London. In London, he registered at Lowe’s Hotel, owned by Edward Lowe, an accomplished chess player. And so it happened that Lowe, with whom he played the next day, became Morphy’s first opponent in England. Morphy won all six games they played. Following this experience, Lowe rushed to the Grand Chess Divan to tell of Morphy’s arrival and what could be expected of him.
The following day, June 23, Morphy visited the Grand Divan and the St. George’s Chess Club. At the latter, he met Thomas Hampton, secretary of the club, who was the first to engage him there. Just how soon Morphy met Staunton is not known, but evidently it was on the twenty-third or twenty-fourth of June, because he enjoyed Staunton’s hospitality at his country home at Streatham that weekend, as Edge mentions in one of his letters.
After friendly greetings, Morphy renewed the challenge of the New Orleans Chess Club, which Staunton conditionally accepted, requesting, as Edge states, a month “to brush up on his chess openings and endings.” To this month’s delay, Morphy readily assented, adding, as he wrote to Lord Lyttelton, “that my stakes [will] be forthcoming the moment . . . desired.” This matter of the stakes should be kept in mind for future reference.
About Morphy’s first meeting with Staunton, Edge writes:
On Mr. Staunton’s arrival, Paul Morphy asked him if he had any objection to play an off-hand game. Now it is Morphy’s almost invariable custom to wait to be asked; the solitary exceptions to this rule (to my knowledge) being in the cases of Messrs. Staunton and Harrwitz. Mr. Staunton declined the offer on the ground of an engagement preventing, and notwithstanding that they met frequently at the St. George’s, he would never consent to a contest of the most friendly description.
While at Streatham, Staunton proposed some consultation games, Thomas W. Barnes and the Reverend John Owen also having been invited to Staunton’s country estate. Morphy and Barnes were paired against Staunton and Owen, and the former pair won the first game. A second game between the same partners was adjourned and not resumed until nine days later at the St. George’s Club. In the meantime, the game was well analyzed by Barnes, Owen, and others, all agreeing it could end only in a draw. However, when resumed, it was won by Morphy and Barnes.
Whether any games took place between Morphy and Staunton that weekend other than those in consultation with Barnes and Owen has remained a subject for speculation for many years. W. P. Turnbull, author of Chess in Action, told Philip W. Sergeant that he had heard that Morphy and Staunton did play private games together at that time. As Sergeant suggests, it was undoubtedly Staunton who stipulated that there be no publicity, and therefore nothing was divulged concerning them while Staunton was alive. Both Barnes and Staunton died in 1874. However, Owen lived on until 1901, and evidently Turnbull’s information came from him. Without doubt, chess was what brought the four of them together that weekend, and it is most reasonable to believe that more than one game of chess was played while they were there.
Barnes and Boden were the first strong players Morphy met in England. He met Boden at the Divan, and of the first two games played, Morphy won one and drew the other. Edge says that thereafter they played in a private room, Boden being sensitive about this chess playing. The final score between them stood Morphy six, Boden one, and three drawn, not counting another game played months later when Morphy played Boden and four other masters simultaneously. Boden was one of the first to recognize Morphy’s strength, as the following comment he made in the London Field of July 1858 suggests:
Let us do Mr. Morphy full justice; he is beyond question, one of the finest players living; and we may fairly question whether he will meet with his superior. He possesses singular coolness along with great concentrative power, is deliberate but not by any means slow, and to great depth of insight he unites a rapidity and faculty in combination which we have not seen surpassed. His memory is remarkably tenacious, and the unerring truth and force with which he pursues an advantage once obtained have excited the admiration of the best players in London. His style of play is attacking and brilliant, occasionally rather over hazardous, but he possesses a steadiness which when we consider his youth, is marvelous. We heartily congratulate our chess brethren in America upon the skill and chivalry of their young champion. . . . He possesses a truly giga
ntic capacity for chess which was never fully called forth, because even its partial development sufficed to enable him to triumph over all opponents.
With Barnes, Morphy played a series of twenty-six games. Surprisingly, at the beginning, each scored every other game of the first ten played. Edge describes their encounter as follows:
His [Morphy’s] next antagonist was Mr. Barnes and the result of their play was, at first, most surprising. During several successive days they scored alternate games, and the London chess world consequently measured Morphy’s powers by this antagonist. Ultimately the former recovered from the effects of his voyage, and the proportion was established of Morphy 19 to 7 for Barnes, the last ten or twelve games being scored almost without a break.
Barnes thus made the best showing of all Morphy’s opponents because their games took place just after the latter’s arrival. Lowenthal made the following comment on Morphy’s play during his first days in London, in the Era of July 18, 1858:
Our report of last week shows that after recovering from the fatigue of a voyage across the Atlantic, and the excitement natural on finding himself among strangers, his play has been similar to that exhibited in America. . . . A slight illness probably induced by the same cause, compelled him, to defer his match with Herr Lowenthal for a few days.
Morphy made it a point to visit all the London chess clubs, among which there was some rivalry (Sergeant says they were divided into cliques). He did not show special preference to any one of them in particular, although he played much of the time at the Divan. After having met many of the strong English players, he came to recognize Boden as the strongest of them all. His only known over-the-board meeting with Ernest Falkbeer was at the Philidorian Rooms, according to Falkbeer in his book Paul Morphy (the English translation of Max Lange’s Paul Morphy Skizze aus der Schachwelt). There, Falkbeer says, he “took part with Mr. Mucklow against Messrs. Brien and Falkbeer. The game resulted in favor of the latter parties; but being a mere experiment, was never noticed by any publication.”
