In 1753, Paul Morphy's great-grandfather, Michael Murphy (died in 1800), moved from Ireland to Madrid, Spain. Later, he moved to Malaga, Spain. He changed his name to Morphy while living in Spain.
In 1793, Michael Morphy became the American consul to Malaga, appointed by Thomas Jefferson, who was Secretary of State under George Washington.
Michael Morphy married Maria Porro (died in 1813). They had two sons and five daughters. One of the sons, Diego, born in Malaga in 1765, was Paul Morphy's grandfather.
In 1789, Diego Morphy married Mollie Creagh. They were living on the island of San Domingo. They had a son, Diego Morphy, Jr. In 1793, there was a slave revolt in San Domingo. Diego hid his son in a basket, dressed his wife as a market vendor, and had them sent to Philadelphia on an English ship. Later, Diego escaped to Charleston, South Carolina. He got his family back and Diego became Spanish consul to North Carlona, South Carolina, and Georgia.
In 1796, Mollie died. In 1797, Diego married Louisa Peire. They had 2 sons and 3 daughters. The oldest son, Alonzo Michael Morphy (1798-1856), born in Charleston, South Carolina in 1798, was Paul Morphy's father. The younger son, Ernest, was born on Nov 22, 1807 in Charleston, SC.
In 1809, Diego was appointed Spanish consul to New Orleans and moved there. He died there in 1813. Upon his death, Diego, Jr. took over as Spanish consul to New Orleans.
In 1819, Alonzo Morphy became an attorney. He was a congressman from 1825 to 1829. In 1829, he was attorney general for Louisiana. From 1839 to 1846, he was a supreme court justice for Louisiana.
In 1828, Alonzo married Louise Therese Thelcide Le Carpentier.
Paul Charles Morphy was born on June 22, 1837 in New Orleans, Louisiana. He had two sisters, Malvina Morphy Sybrandt (born February 5, 1830), Helena (born October 21, 1839) and a brother, Edward Stephen Morphy (born December 26, 1834). Paul Morphy was born at 1113 Chartes St, New Orleans. The house later became the home of P.G.T. Beauregarde, the famous Confederate General. It was later owned by author Francis Parkinson Keyes.
In 1841, the Morphy family moved to 89 Royal St (later re-numbered to 417 Royal St) in New Orleans. The house remained in the Morphy family until the death of Malvina and John Sybrandt in 1894. Malvina died on June 13, 1894 at the age of 64. John Sybrandt died on September 21, 1894 at the age of 72. The Morphy mansion is today the site of Brennan's, a famous New Orleans restaurant.
From the age of 8 he played hundreds of games against the best players in New Orleans.
In 1845, he witnessed the first US championship contest ever held, a match won by Charles Stanley over New Orleans master Eugene Rousseau.
In 1846, General Winfield Scott visited New Orleans and wanted to play some chess with a stong local player. After dinner, his opponent was brought in. It was 9 year old Paul Morphy. Paul beat the general twice that evening.
In 1850, the Hungarian master Johann Lowenthal visited New Orleans. He played 12-year-old Paul Morphy three games, and Paul won all three games from Lowenthal.
By the time Paul was 13 he was the best chess player in New Orleans and one of the best players in America.
In 1854, Paul Morphy graduated from Spring Hill College in Mobile, Alabama. He stayed an extra year, studying mathematics and philosphy, and was awarded a Master of Arts degree with the highest honors. He then enrolled at the University of Louisiana to study law.
In 1855, at the age of 17, he won 6 games against Judge Alexander Beaufort Meek (1814-1865), who later became the President of the American Chess Congress in 1857. Apart from this, he only faced relatively weak players.
In 1856, his father, Alonzo, died. He received a cut above the eye from a Panama hat worn by a friend. The cut led to congestion of the brain.
On April 7, 1857, he recived an L.L.B. degree from the University of Louisiana. It was said that he had memorized the entire Louisiana Civil Code in preparation for his degree. He was not yet of legal age to practice law.
In October, 1857 Paul Morphy went to New York, at the urging of his uncle Ernest, to play in the first American Chess Congress. The top 16 players in America was invited. Morphy easily defeated them all and won the event on November 10, 1857. He refused the $300 first place money. Instead, he accepted a silver pitcher, four goblets, and a silver tray. He defeated Charles Henry Stanley (1819-1901), the next best player in America, giving him odds of pawn and move. Morphy gave the $100 prize money to Stanley's wife and children. As a mark of gratitude, she named her next daughter Pauline, who was born in December, 1857. Stanley was considered the first chess champion of the United States, when, in 1845, he defeated Eugene Rousseau of New Orleans in a match.
After Morphy's amazing victory at New York, some suggested that a European master should come to America to play him. When the great British master Howard Staunton heard this (Staunton was considered the best player in the world), he wrote in his weekly paper column, "The best players of Europe are not chess professionals, but have other and more serious things to occupy their minds with." Morphy's friends in New Orleans did send a challenge to Staunton to come to America. But Staunton rejected it. He did say that if Morphy came to Europe, he would find him (Staunton) ready.
On March 9, 1858, Paul Morphy wrote a letter to his friend Daniel Fiske in which he referred to a possible match with Staunton. There was a challenge for the stake of $5,000.
On June 6, 1858, Paul Morphy went to Europe to challenge their best chess players. The New Orleans chess club suggested to pay Morphy the amount needed for him to participate in the Birmingham tournament, to be held in England, but Morphy declined the offer, as he did not want to be considered a professional chess player. He sailed from New York on board the S.S. Arabia. He landed in Liverpool on June 21, 1858.
He stayed in England for 3 months trying to arrange a match with Staunton. On August 14, 1858, Morphy wrote to Staunton asking when Staunton's seconds could meet with Morphy's seconds to work out the details of the match. Staunton replied that he needed an extension to finish preparing. He was working on his edition of the complete works of Shakespeare.
On August 21, 1858, Morphy wrote back to Staunton asking when was the earliest opportunity Staunton had for the match.
Without replying back to Morphy, Staunton went to Birmingham, which began on August 24, 1858. Originally, Staunton had declared that he wouldn't enter the tournament. However, once he arrived and found out that Morphy was not going to play in the event, Staunton signed up to play. Morphy had promised his family that he would not play in a chess tournament for stakes. He showed up in Birmingham on August 26, and too late to enter the tournament.
Staunton also continued to smear Morphy in his newspaper chess column, claiming Morphy was chasing money, among other things. In the last letter that Morphy send to Staunton, he writes "Allow me to repeat, what I have constantly declared in all the chess circles I have had the honour to participate. That I have never wanted to make any skill I may possess, a tool for making a profit.".
In November, 1858, Staunton promised to play Morphy.
Morphy went to Paris thinking that the match between him and Staunton would occur. While Morphy was in Paris, Staunton called off the match permanently. Morphy then played and defeated Lowenthal, Harrwitz, and Anderssen within a space of six months. Having defeated Harrwitz, he even rejected receiving the prize of 290 francs. But he was forced to, and later used the money to pay Anderssen's journey to France. His games were played at the Cafe de la Regence in Paris.
When he arrived in Paris to play Anderssen, he was suffering from the flu. His medical treatment consisted of being leeched. He lost four pints of blood and was too weak to leave his hotel bed. Anderssen's friends had told him not to damage the German prestige by travelling abroad and play a match against this young man (Morphy) without official recognition. But Anderssen felt otherwise, and when his friends asked him why he did not play as brilliant as he did in his famous match against Dufresne, Anderssen replied "No, Morphy would not let me." And Morphy himself, was playing the second strongest chess player (Anderssen) in the world from his hotel bed at the Hotel Breauteuil, suffering from the flu, and still won the match with a 7 wins, 2 losses, and 2 draws.
On April 4, 1859, a banquet was held in Morphy's honor in Paris. A laurel wreath was placed over the head of a bust of Morphy, carved by Eugene Lequesne. Morphy returned to London and he was invited to a private audience with Queen Victoria.
On April 20, 1859, Morphy played up to 8 blindfold simultaneous games against the top players of each chess club he visited. The event was held at the St. George Chess Club in London. He won 5 and drew 3 games.
On April 26, 1959, he played 5 masters simultaneously at the St. James Chess Club in London.
On May 25, 1859, a watch was presented to Paul Morphy made by the American Watch Company. Roman numerals were replaced by chess pieces on the watch. The watch was given to him by the testimonial committee of the New York Chess Club as their tribute to his genius and worth in chess.
When Morphy returned to New York, he was greeted by Longfellow, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Samuel Morse, and John van Buren, the former President's son. On May 29, 1859, at the University of the City of New York, John Van Buren toasted Morphy as 'The Chess Champion of the World.' It was the first time that expression had been used.
On May 29, 1859, Morphy visited the American Watch Company in Waltham, Massachusetts. On October 5, 1859, he wrote a letter to the company which was published on October 15, 1959 in the New York Saturday Press. The letter stated that the watch was a most reliable and accurate time-keeper. He kept track of the accuracy of the watch, and fount it to be 32 seconds fast from the time he received the watch to Oct 1, 1859.
In June, 1859 Boston, a banquest was held in Morphy's honor at the Paul Revere House. It was attended by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Professor Louis Agassiz, the mayor of Boston (Lincoln), the President of Harvard (President Walker), Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes, Chief Justice Shaw, and Senator Wilson. Holmes toasted "Paul Morphy, the World Chess Champion." Manufacturers sought his endorsements and a baseball club was named after him.
Morphy was paid $3,000 to write America's first chess column for the NEW YORK LEDGER newspaper. Morphy barely did this for a year, but was fired. The editor, Bonner, was not seeing a return on the inveswtment,
Morphy did not fight for the South during the Civil War and stayed out of the War. He traveled to Cuba, then to Paris in 1863. He returned to New Orleans a year later.
In 1867 his mother persuaded him to go to Paris. Morphy played chess in Paris, but would not play any chess in public. He stayed in Paris for 18 months before returning to his home.
Morphy withdrew from society and suffered delusions of persecution in his later years. According to his niece, he had in a period the strange habit of walking up and down the porch saying "Il plantera la banniere de Castille sur le murs de Madrid, au cri de Ville gangnee, et le petit roi s'en ira tout penaud." In English "He will plant the banner of the Castille on the walls of Madrid, screaming : The city is conquered and the litte king will have to go." Two years before Morphy died, he was asked if it was okay to include him in a book about famous Louisiana citizens because of his achievements in chess. Morphy was outraged by being connected with chess, and answered, that his father, judge at the surpreme court of Louisiana, Mr. Alonzo Morphy, at his death, had left a sum of 146.162 dollars and 54 cents. But that he (Morphy) did not have a profession at all, and thus had nothing to do in such a book. On July 10, 1884 Paul died of a stroke while taking a cold bath. He died at 89 Royal Steet, New Orleans. He was just 47 years old. Paul Morphy's mother died on January 11, 1885.
The Morphys' are buried in an above-ground tomb at St. Louis Cemetery No. 1, in New Orleans, Louisiana. The cemetery is located near the St. Louis Cathedral, a few blocks north of the French Quarter.
Paul Morphy played 227 competitive games during his lifetime, winning 83 percent of his games.
In an interview in former Yugoslavia, International Grandmaster Bobby Fischer commented on Paul Morphy saying "Morphy ... i think everyone agrees.... was propably the greatest of them all."
