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| Perhaps the greatest of all time - Paul Morphy |
Paul Morphy
“A popularly held theory about Paul Morphy is that if he returned to the chess world today and played our best contemporary players, he would come out the loser.
Nothing is further from the truth!
In a set match, Morphy would beat everyone today.
He was the best-read player of his day, which means he would be up on the lastest theories and tactics, and his natural talent would be more than sufficient enough to vanquish the best twentieth century players.
Morphy was the most accurate chess player who ever lived. He had complete sight of the board and never blundered, in spite of the fact that he played quite rapidly. He rarely took more than 5 minutes to make a move, while his opponents – before chess clocks – often took hours.
I played over several hundred of Morphy’s games and am continually surprised and entertained by his ingenuity. It has taken me 20 to 30 minutes to find the proper response to one of his moves!
Morphy always fought on in bad positions and still found winning possibilities. In addition, he had very fine endgame technique.
Perhaps his only weakness – and it is most apparent in his match with Anderssen – was in closed games like the Dutch Defense. But even then, he was usually victorious because of his resourcefulness.
As is well known, Paul Morphy gave up chess in 1859. His disillusionment was more with chess players, than chess itself.”
960 Tournament Monday:
Vince V had to withdraw, so here are the new pairings for the 3rd round Monday (first name has the White pieces):
1. Jason M – Tim R
2. Scott M – Tom H
3. Americo M – Aaron J
4. Zade K – Gene M
5. Don J – Marcello M
6. Luca M – Ken L
7. Zach R – Gabe T
8. Joshua T – Luigi M
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