by David Lawson
Our readers will not be surprised by the announcement that we positively decline any correspondence in connection with this department. The reason is obvious. We could not undertake such a task. From the number of letters that we daily receive, in our private character, on the subject of chess, we can well imagine what an increased quantity we would receive in our character of chess editor. To answer every epistle would be an impossibility. Besides, correspondents must allow us to suggest that any leading treatise on the game contains all the information generally sought by them.
We present our readers in the present number with the first of the long series of games contested between Labourdonnais and M’Donnell. True, they have been published before; but no satisfactory analysis has, to our knowledge, ever been appended to them. We purpose giving one or two a week, in the order in which they were played, with careful annotations. It is hoped that this attempt to furnish the American public with a clue to the intelligence of these beautiful models of chess strategy, will not prove unacceptable.
At the request of numerous friends, we will occasionally publish some of the games played by us in Europe and in this country.
Morphy then gave as a problem a neat endgame position he had against Lowenthal, and the first of the Labourdonnais–M’Donnell games. It was in examining the twenty-sixth game between these two masters that Morphy characterized the “Evans Gambit” as “that most beautiful of openings.” It was M’Donnell who had offered it and won, Labourdonnais resigning on his thirty-third move.
As noted above, Morphy had positively declined to have any column correspondence, which at that time was a very popular feature, occasionally being half the column. Many readers wrote in anyhow, some addressing their letters directly to Robert Bonner. One reader remarked, “What would the chess column of the Illustrated London News be without its correspondence?” while another asked, “How long will they remain pleased?” Finally Bonner bowed to popular demand and engaged W. J. A. Fuller to answer correspondents, being careful to state that Fuller would consult Morphy on all important matters.
Without doubt Morphy’s limited interest in chess, which others could not understand, together with his being perhaps constitutionally unsuited for any job as such, is what may have led Fuller to say later in the Steinitz– Zukertort Match Program 1886 that “he was incorrigibly lazy.” Also it is necessary to consider the unsettling situation between North and South at that time, with those of the South especially affected.
In any case, Morphy’s association with Bonner and the Ledger ended in August 1860. However, during the year in which his chess column ran, Morphy annotated thirty-five of the Labourdonnais–M’Donnell games and others, including a few of his own, undoubtedly fewer than his readers would have liked.
After the first few months, Morphy did his editing from New Orleans. At that time, the South was seething over “free states” and “slave states,” Louisiana to secede some months later. Lincoln had already said, “A house divided against itself cannot stand.”*
But while Morphy was preparing the first of his Ledger articles, he was facing another challenge. As the Thompson match neared its end, the New Orleans Sunday Delta and other papers mentioned a match in the offing with Theodore Lichtenhein, considered a slightly stronger player than Thompson. Certainly Lichtenhein did not believe that Morphy could successfully give him odds of a Knight.
Lichtenhein won the first two games as had Thompson, but the final result was Morphy six, Lichtenhein four, and one game drawn. Lichtenhein objected to the presentation of the game between them that appeared in the Chess Monthly of that August with Morphy’s approval, but witnesses to the games agreed with Morphy about the outcome of the match, although it was not mentioned as a match at the time.
Also during that July of 1859, Morphy was induced to sit for Charles Loring Elliott for a portrait in oil, later exhibited by the National Academy of Design. And at the Eighth Annual Banquet of the Manhattan Chess Club on March 1, 1884, Thomas Frère presented the portrait to the club, on behalf of the Directory, in an address that the club later published.
Four months later according to the Manhattan Chess Club Resolutions, the portrait was “draped in mourning for a period of three months,” since which time Morphy has looked down from the walls of the club these many years, upon contests of the world’s great and lesser masters. He saw Capablanca make his last move and Robert J. Fischer make his first impressive move in “The Game of the Century.”
During that same month of July 1859, Ballau’s Pictorial devoted its front page to Morphy, illustrated by a large drawing of him by one who was later to be considered one of America’s greatest painters—Winslow Homer.
As reported in the New York Saturday Press of July 30, 1859, toward the end of July what was described as
A curious dinner-party came off . . . at the Athanaeum Club, in Fifth Avenue. It consisted of Mr. Morphy, Senator Douglas, Colonel Forney, John Brougham, the Rev. Mr. Milburn, Park Benjamin, and others. A few days before Mr. Morphy dined with Ex. Governor Walker at Hoboken, and a few days later with Mr. Senator Benjamin at the New York Hotel.
Earlier in the month the press reported that Morphy was seriously indisposed and might go to the White Mountains for his health, and he finally decided to do so. In early August he left New York for the White Mountains and Newport. While at Newport, he stayed at the Ocean House, where he met Mrs. Butt and her daughter, Virginia. The latter engaged Morphy over the board and probably won.
A letter from Newport, published in the New York Albion of September 3, 1859, stated that
the ladies wished to put on a set of Tableaux Vivants and engage the services of Mr. Morphy, the celebrated chess-player, who is among the temporary lions here. And it was proposed to enact a tableau of the “Game of Life” [Retzsch] with a complimentary variation representing Morphy as the young man beating the Devil in the final game. But the characteristic modesty of Mr. Morphy was invincible, and he courteously declined to appear.
As will be described later, an incident did occur in which Morphy played the role of a young man trying to save his soul by winning a game of Satan.
Morphy also visited Niagara Falls and returned to New York to find Judge Meek and W. W. Montgomery sojourning in the city. He was, of course, induced to play chess with them. Thompson, still dissatisfied with the result of his match at the odds of a Knight, asked for further play, and again Morphy won in the same proportion as he had before—Morphy ten, Thompson six—for a total of Morphy sixteen, Thompson nine, and one game drawn at the odds of Knight.
On September 10, at long last, The First American Chess Congress book was published. It had originally been promised for the spring of 1858 but the book grew in the hands of Fiske and finally appeared as a volume of 563 pages. It is not only a full report on the Chess Congress of 1857 but contains invaluable chapters on the history of chess, Americans in chess from Benjamin Franklin to Paul Morphy, the Automaton, etc., and all the games of the Grand Tournament, as well as many other Morphy games. As the Chess Monthly of October 1859 stated, “The games contained in the lengthy sketch of Mr. Morphy’s life are regarded by him as the very best contests he ever played.” It also gave the sixty-eight-move solution to Cook’s frontispiece problem, which Cook later found he could solve in twenty moves. At this point, games of the Congress, including Morphy’s, were made public for the first time, released from the restrictions of the Congress rules.*
In October, the proof sheets of Lowenthal’s book on Morphy’s games arrived, for the Appleton edition, and Morphy was busy proofreading.
The Gambit, a new chess weekly periodical edited by Theodore Lichtenhein, made its appearance on October 22, priced at three cents a copy, and it was the first to publish some of Morphy’s games.
While in New York, Morphy had received many earnest solicitations from cities eager to honor him, but time allowed him to visit only those directly on his path toward New Orleans. He planned to visit Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Washin
gton, the last merely for sightseeing. Philadelphia had great plans for his visit, but Morphy, in the following letter, published in the Charleston Courier of August 3, 1859, ruled them out:
Brevoort House, New York, July 21, 1859
Professor George Allen
My Dear Sir:
In my last communication to you I stated that it was not in my power to specify any period at which to visit your city. My engagements here have been such, that I have, up to this day, found it impossible to determine upon any definite time for the acceptance of your invitation. In view of this fact and for other reasons, which will readily suggest themselves to you, I feel compelled to decline any public reception in Philadelphia.
I shall, however, avail myself of the earliest opportunity to pay a friendly and unceremonious visit to the members of the Athenaeum.
With high regard,
Paul Morphy.
On receipt of the above letter, the Philadelphia Committee of Arrangements held their final meeting and authorized the return of all money to the subscribers, but they did so with resentment, feeling Morphy had slighted them. The resentment increased with time, becoming most noticeable the following year in a case involving a Mr. Deacon, discussed in Chapter 18.
After a hectic four-month period, Morphy’s time in New York drew to a close. New York’s Porter’s Spirit of the Times of November 5, 1859, described Morphy’s last few days in the city:
Mr. Morphy’s Congé.—Thursday evening, Oct. 27th, was the time appointed for Mr. Morphy to say farewell to the New York Chess-Club, as he is about leaving the city. The Club was crowded to see the great chess-player’s last appearance in our own chess-circles. Mr. Morphy played two games, at the odds of the Rook, with Arthur Napoleon, the great pianist winning both games but the young artist showed the possession of very considerable chess-talent, and the games were highly interesting. On Friday evening a supper was given to the Champion, at Jones’s Hotel, by several of his friends, members of the chess-club. Mr. Morphy will leave behind him, besides the memory of his many extraordinary victories, reminiscences of his kindly manners and courteous conduct.
During Morphy’s stay in New York, two local publishers brought out books about him. Edge’s book, The Exploits and Triumphs in Europe of Paul Morphy, appeared on May 21, and in August, Charles H. Stanley brought out Paul Morphy’s Match Games, of which the frontispiece engraving of Morphy is the finest to be had. Its price was thirty-eight cents.
Earlier in the year, Thomas Frère’s little book, Morphy’s Games (not including those with Anderssen), was published. Still earlier a little booklet had been published by M. M. Couvée in 1858 at Gravenhage’s, Twee Merkwaardige Partijen ( Two Remarkable Games), containing only two games—one of Morphy’s with Barnes and the other Morphy’s fourth match with Harrwitz.*
Morphy left New York on October 30. The next day, on the way back to New Orleans, he stopped in Philadelphia, and that evening he was introduced by Louis Elkin to the members of the Athenaeum Chess Club. The following day he encountered William G. Thomas at Knight odds and lost
both games. They then played two games at odds of Pawn and two moves, and Morphy won both. On November 2, Morphy played Dr. Samuel Lewis, B. C. Tilghman, and others at Knight odds, winning all games.
Apparently Morphy received a testimonial gift of sorts the next day, for it was reported in the Pennsylvania Inquirer of November 4, 1859, that
“the next move Mr. Morphy makes will be to the Brown Stone Clothing Hall of Rockhill & Wilson . . . where he will get himself a new and elegant suit.”
On November 7, Morphy and Thomas again contested at Knight odds, but this time Thomas agreed to play open games, answering Morphy’s P–K4 with P–K4, with the result that Thomas lost both games. On the following Friday, November 11, Morphy departed from his previously announced intention, giving Philadelphia its first blindfold exhibition for the benefit of the Mount Vernon Fund, as told by the Philadelphia Evening Bulletin of November 12, 1859:
On Mr. Morphy’s return from his triumphant foreign campaign, last Spring, it was announced that he had wisely determined to abandon the exercise of his extraordinary gift of blindfold play, regarding it very justly, as injurious in its effects on the brain, and therefore, as we should suppose, likely to weaken the general force of his play.
In departing from this sensible resolution, for a single occasion, and yielding gracefully to the behests of the enthusiastic Vice Regent of the Mount Vernon Association, Mr. Morphy at once testified his practical interest in the noble object of the Association and afforded a rare treat to the chess playing community of Philadelphia.
It was arranged that four blindfold games should be played simultaneously at the Academy of Music. The four gentlemen who offered themselves willingly as victims at the shrines of Caïssa and Mount Vernon were Wm. G. Thomas, Esq., B. C. Tilghman, Esq., Samuel Smyth, Esq., and Samuel Lewis, M.D.
Four of the large Athenaeum chess tables were ranged across the front of the stage, and at a few minutes after six the players seated, and Mr. Morphy was introduced to the audience by Rob’t Rogers, M.D., Dean of the University of Pennsylvania, in a very neat and appropriate manner.
Mr. Morphy then took his seat in a comfortable arm-chair, placed in the middle of the stage, where he could be distinctly seen and heard, and where he could not see the boards.
The games were begun by Mr. Morphy announcing in a clear, smooth voice, which we presume was heard throughout the house, “Pawn to King’s Fourth on all the tables.” His moves were carefully repeated by R. H. Jones, Esq., who deserves much credit for the careful manner in which he super-intended the four games. It will be observed by an inspection of the games below, that Messrs. Thomas and Tilghman, with much more chivalry than prudence, boldly accepted open games, while their more wary if not more successful comrades, played close defenses.
The progress of the games was watched with breathless interest by the spectators. Chess boards were in operation in various parts of the house, and a battery of opera-glasses were leveled at the battle-field. Mr. Morphy’s manner was perfectly quiet and collected—occasionally he paused long over the move, but we were satisfied that he was not engaged in reforming the position before his mind’s eye, but in working out his combinations as he would have to do over the board.
The result will be seen below. Mr. Tilghman first, then Dr.Lewis, then Mr. Thomas, and, last of all, Mr. Smyth went down before the irresistible force of Mr. Morphy’s lance and each in turn gracefully resigned his seat amid the plaudits of the spectators. The whole four games were concluded at about half-past nine o’clock, and the audience retired highly delighted at this remarkable exhibition, and wondering more than ever over the extraordinary mental powers, whose exercise they had just witnessed.
The following Monday, W. G. Thomas, still doubting that Morphy could give him Knight odds and beat him at any opening, played two more games with Morphy. The first was a draw, but Thomas lost the second.
It had been expected that H. P. Montgomery, considered Philadelphia’s strongest chess player, would participate in games with Morphy. He did sit down with Morphy, prepared to play, but when Morphy offered odds, Montgomery refused to accept them, and so no play took place between the two men.
It was not unusual at that time for games and matches to be played at varying odds, and while Morphy was in Philadelphia, the New York Albion published a challenge to Mr. Montgomery to play a match for $1,000 with Mr. Morphy, consisting of an equal number of games at the odds of the Knight, Pawn, and two moves; Pawn and move; and even. The indirect reply, as reported in the Philadelphia Bulletin of November 19, 1859, was that “Mr. Montgomery has never claimed the ability to play such a match, or any other match, successfully with Mr. Morphy, and therefore is not bound to entertain such a proposition.”
Morphy left Philadelphia Thursday morning, November 17, and arrived in Baltimore that afternoon, putting up at Barnum’s Hotel, where he was happily greeted by members of the chess clubs of
the city, and as chronicled in the Baltimore Clipper of November 18, 1859, that night “he visited the Holliday Street Theatre and was quite lionized.”
Friday evening he visited the rooms of the Monumental Chess Club, where he met successfully at Knight odds Messrs. Walters, Nicholson, and Gill of the Baltimore Chess Club, and Dr. A. B. Arnold and S. N. Carvalho of the Monumental Chess Club. The next day he visited the Baltimore Chess Club. The large library rooms of the Maryland Historical Society were put in use for the occasion, Morphy offering Knight odds to Messrs.
Miller, Zimilini, White, Williams, and Drs. Baer and Cohen. About one hundred persons were present to watch the playing.
Over the weekend Morphy sat for S. N. Carvalho for a portrait in oil that is presently owned by the Maryland Historical Society. On Monday afternoon he visited Chapin B. Harris, an invalid who had expressed a desire to see Morphy, and they also played a game. The Baltimore Daily Exchange of November 24, 1859, reported that that evening there was an
“entertainment in honor of Paul Morphy by the Chess Amateurs of Baltimore prepared by Guy’s House,” at which time he announced he would be leaving Baltimore the coming Wednesday.
