The Struggles of Morphy #chess #shorts

IM David Pruess shares why Morphy may be the worst chess master ever.

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[Jonathan-db]

The video title is not supported by its content. Morphy was an amazing chess master for his time.

[kylen]

His opinion that chess could only be an amateur past time is very much a product of his environment. That’s what chess was.

In late 1800s many also said that baseball teams would go bankrupt because not enough money and interest was in the sport.

[ChessHoodie]

From what I read:
1) He was very sensitive to what his mother thought about chess, and she hated chess. According to my sources she believed that chess was equal to some sort of activity. She put a lot of pressure on him in that regard, and if it wasn't for his grandfather ( her father) he wouldn't even had played that little chess that he did.
2) Before leaving for Europe he made a promise to her that he will never play for money. In the matches he did play for money, he found a way to give the money back to the loser ( Loewenthal is the prime example, when Morphy upon hearing that Loewenthal planned to use the possible win money for updating his furniture, payed for refurbishing of his home furniture with money won, understanding that the guy just wouldn't accept it any other way). The newspapers didn't report this accurately, and his mother scolded him upon him returning home, accusing him of breaking the promise etc.
3) When he returned to US, he was welcomed gloriously ( In the North!, since the ship docked somewhere there, probably NY, I am not sure), and the Northern media hyped it, which was devastating for him in the upcoming years, just before the civil war. When he started his law practice, people just boycotted him, since he was the hero of the North in their eyes. From what I've read, his office was mostly empty with no clients giving him a chance, and he had to switch to other job after the war.
4) There was a man named Alisson, who asked Paul's father judge Alonso Morphy for a favor - to make a ruling against the law for someone rich for a handsome fee. The most fair and respectable judge of Louisiana, Alonso Morphy was a highly honorable man ( like his son), and declined to make a ruling against the law, and in the end lost his position at the court, because Alisson was very rich and powerful and pulled his strings to destroy the man. After losing his position and status he soon fell ill, and died. Morphy had a crush/ was in love with the daughter of the same man that ruined his father's life - May Alisson. His semi-unreturned love had a big hit on him, too.

5) Just before leaving Europe, there was a banquet in England in his honor, and many people made speeches. Most of them spoke nicely, but towards the end, there was a guy ( I forgot his name) who made a a speech in which he claimed that Morphy had no chance against the great Staunton, WHICH WAS FOLLOWED BY A BIG APPLAUSE IN THE VENUE!. This hurt Morphy extremely, since he did everything he could for the match to be played, and Staunton did the opposite, trying to avoid the match at every cost ( even breaking a word several times)

It is hard to put all this in a you tube comment, but in essence, Morphy had many obstacles that hindered his genius ( from what I've learned). Also, I have obviously not witnessed all of the things I mentioned, but I've read it in a fabulous book by Zagoryanski. Now, is that all true? I don't know, nor do I have the way to find out if it is. The book was so magnificent that I decided to believe it.

[AlmazKojaxmet]

He was sick like Tal sacrifices bro too much)

[czechpirc]

Morphy was the most naturally brilliant of all the great players past and present imo, he couldve accomplished anything he wanted in any field had he gotten help for his severe mental heath issues which was sadly not available in his day

[GOATWaitzkin]

His family taught that "Dont play chess for money"

[eddied]

Morphy's prime playing days came before the Confederacy existed.

[jk]

I think this video somewhat misrepresents Morphy's. Morphy went to Cuba and played the masters there during the civil war. Also, it's not that he didn't have aspirations but he was known as the strongest chess player in the world and his career in law was hindered by that fact (he said that people thought he only knew about chess and nothing about law and it made him further resent the game of chess because at that time people looked at chess kind of like a game of gambling, so he was frustrated that people that came to his law firm were there only to talk about chess). I'm just glad notation exists so we can appreciate his brilliant games almost 200 years later

[taber]

I read that his failure as a lawyer was because he was thought of as a chess. player.

[KaninTuzi]

Confucius famously said that spending a lot of time playing board games is a waste of talent and not a productive way to spend your way, and therefore ultimately immoral

[metterklume]

was there not prize money in the Morphy-Andersen match?