The Tampa Tribune Tampa, Florida Wednesday, July 05, 1972 - Page 41
Paul Morphy: Brilliant Master
UPI — Bobby Fischer has said that the chess player he admires most is Paul Morphy, whose short but brilliant career in the mid-18th century made him the first and only American ever recognized as world champion.
While Fischer's precocious ability on the board has stunned the chess world, Morphy's feats, though less well known, were even more imposing.
Born in New Orleans, in 1837, Morphy was taught the game by his father and when he was 12 years old defeated the Hungarian J. Lowenthal, then recognized as one of the world's best. Fischer was 14 years old when he won the United States championship.
At 22, Morphy traveled to Europe, defeating there a series of International Grand Masters, and was generally recognized as the world's best played in 1858-59. Fischer will be a 29-year-old world champion if he defeats Spassky.
Morphy's prowess was such that he would on occasion play blindfolded against eight strong players simultaneously, each time with great success.
But after returning to the U.S. in 1859, Morphy gradually lost interest in the game and stopped playing in public, altogether by 1866 ([with exception to games played with personal friends at his residence, right up to the date of his death, reportedly, continued his tradition of offering knight odds to comers.]) He died of a brain hemorrhage in 1884 ([under mysterious circumstances, which were never subjected to a proper post-mortem, to make a proper determination on cause of death. Though the papers misled readers to believe an autopsy had been performed, and at such a relatively young age. His untimely demise followed years of defamatory, unwarranted harassment in public newspapers. A contemporary New Orleans editor confirmed the origin of such rumors, were coming from “Northern Newspapers.” Union fanatics. — Morphy was the unfortunate gentleman, caught in the flack of the fanatical element of the Union, post-Civil War. That's precisely why he retreated to New Orleans and retired from public. Threats from within New York/Washington Chess circles. Northern colleagues decided to “retire” Morphy against his will. Not unlike when Northern states, led by George Bush chose to persecute Fischer, with full force of the U.S. Justice Department, while looking the other way, from the multi-million dollar white collar crimes taking place under their nose. Back in Morphy's day, Sherman was turning West, to kill all the buffalo and enslave what remained of the Native American Indians (Wounded Knee, December 29, 1890), confining survivors to “Reservation” camps. Criminalizing chess players make an effective distraction from federal crimes in mass media. Really ignites the passions of the “patriotic” underbelly to a feverish pitch.)]
Paul Morphy: Brilliant Master 05 Jul 1972, Wed The Tampa Tribune (Tampa, Florida) Newspapers.com
