AAugust 14, 1889
The Gazette Montreal, Quebec, Quebec, Canada Wednesday, August 14, 1889 - Page 7 “The First Great American Chess Congress” — The First Great American Chess Congress. — In the beginning of the year 1857, Mr. Daniel W. Fiske, M. A., editor of the Chess Monthly, suggested the idea of a National Tournament. The feeling in favor of such a project became immediately so strong that the officers of the old New York Chess club felt justified in taking the initiatory steps to carry it into execution, and a committee, consisting of Colonel C. D. Mead, president of the club, Frederick Perrin, W. W. Montgomery, James Thompson, and D. W. Fiske, was appointed to issue a formal proposal for a general assemblage of American players. A circular having been issued and the responses thereto being favorable, it was finally determined to hold the first American congress in the city of New York, on the sixth day of October 1867, under the following. Committee Of Management. Messrs. Charles D. Mead, Charles H. Stanley, Theodore Lichtenhein, James Thompson, W. W. Montgomery, Frederic Perrin, Daniel W. Fiske, of the New York Chess club; Daniel L. Roberts, and Thomas Frere, of the Brooklyn Chess club. On the day appointed a large assemblage took place, in extensive apartments in Broadway, known as Descombes rooms, specially fitted up and elegantly decorated for the occasion.
The congress was called to order by Colonel Mead, and the following gentlemen, were elected officers of the first American Chess congress:
President: The Honorable A. B. Meek, Alabama; Vice-presidents George Hammond, Massachusetts, Albert R. Galletin, New York, Hiram Kennicott, Illinois, and Prof. Henry Vethake, Pennsylvania. Secretary; Mr Daniel W. Fiske, M. A., New York; Assistant Secretaries Messrs Thomas Frere, Brooklyn, Frederic Edge, New York, Robert J. Doyle, New York, and William C. Millen, Jersey city. Marshals; Messrs. Denis Julien, and L. Heilbuth. New York. The following players entered the lists of the Grand Tournament: W. L. Allison, Minnesota, Hiram Konnicott, Illinois, Hubert Knott, New York, Theodore Lichtenhein, New York, N. Marache, New York, Hon. A. B. Meek, Alabama, Paul Morphy, Louisiana, Louis Paulsen, Iowa, Frederic Perrin; New York, Dr. B. I. Raphael, Kentucky, Charles S. Stanley, New York, James Thompson, New York, H.P. Montgomery, Pennsylvania, W. J. A. Fuller, New York, H. P. Montgomery, Pennsylvania, Daniel W. Fiske, New York, S. R. Calthrop, Connecticut. The method of play was as follows :— The sixteen players were paired off by lot, and commenced their games simultaneously. The eight players winning three out of five games were declared victors in the first section of the tournament, and the eight losers excluded from all further share in the contest. The eight, winners were then paired off as before, the four winners of the first three games being victors in the second section, and entitled to the four prizes. To determine the order of the prizes the four prize bearers were then paired off against each other as before, each couple playing the best of five games. The two winners then played a match for the two highest prizes, the winner of the first five games taking first prize. This old and unsatisfactory method of one player contesting a match with another player in each section, continued up to the 10th of November, when the match between Morphy and Paulsen, for first and second prizes, was concluded, and brought the tournament to an end with the following result: First prize, Paul Morphy, New Orleans,La.; second prize, Louis Paulsen, Dubuque, Iowa; third prize, Theodore Lichtenhein, New York, fourth prize, Dr. B. I. Raphael, Louisville, Ky. Thus came prominently to the front, Paul Murphy, the greatest chess player of his day. He was born in New Orleans, La., June 22nd, 1837, his father, Alonzo Morphy, Judge of the Supreme court of Louisiana, being of Spanish descent, whilst his mother was French. His father, his uncle Ernest Morphy, and his grandfather on the maternal side, Joseph B. Le Carpentier were all fond lovers of the game, and Paul from the practice he enjoyed in the home circle, was able at the age of twelve to contend on even terms with the ablest amateurs of the Crescent City. Having proved by his play in the Congress, and afterwards, that no American player could contend with him on equal terms his friends were naturally desirous of seeing him matched against the ablest players of Europe; and a committee of the New Orleans club invited Mr. Staunton to visit New Orleans to play a match for $2,500 a-side, offering $1,000 out of the stakes for his expenses should he lose. The challenge was not accepted. Morphy then determined to meet, if possible, the European players on their own ground, and set sail for England, where he landed on the 21st June, 1858. Arrived in London, he encountered and defeated in off-hand play Messrs. Barns, Bird, Boden, Medley, Mongredien, Owen, Hampden and Lowe. His first regular match was played with his old Hungarian friend, Lowenthal, with the result: Morphy, 9; Lowenthal, 3; drawn, 2. On the 27th of August, at Queen's college, Birmingham, he played eight simultaneous blindfold games, the greatest feat of the kind ever attempted in Europe up to that date. His next great triumph took place in France. He reached Paris on the 3rd of September, and his first antagonist was Mr. D. Harrwitz, one of the finest players of Europe, who won the preliminary contest. A match was then commenced for the first winner of seven games. When the score stood Morphy, 5; Harrwitz, 2; drawn, 1; Harrwitz, alleging indisposition, requested a postponement, but Mr. Morphy having at a previous stage acceded to a similar demand, declined to permit another violation of the terms of the match, and Harrwitz resigned. The greatest victory in his chess career came next. On the 20th of December play commenced in his match with Professor Anderssen, the victor in the great International tournament at London, in 1851. The result of this encounter, which terminated on the 28th of December, gave Morphy, 7; Anderssen, 2; Drawn 2. He then encountered Mongredien, with a final score, Morphy, 7; Mongredien, 0; Drawn, 1, which terminated his match play in Europe. It is well known that Morphy, undertook this campaign, more at the urgent request of friends than from any desire of his own. He never manifested a disposition to make chess more than a recreation after the more arduous duties of life. Shortly after his return from Europe, at one of the magnificent fetes organized in his honor, he spoke as follows: “Chess never has been and never can be aught but a recreation. It should not be indulged in to the detriment of other and more serious avocations—should not absorb the mind or engross the thoughts of those who worship at its shrine; but should be kept in the background and restrained within its proper province. As a mere game, a relaxation from the severe pursuits of life, it is deserving of high commendation.” From that period, whether from lack of foemen worthy of his steel, or otherwise, Morphy played very little chess. Immediately after the close of the civil war, in 1865 he visited New York with the purpose of preparing an edition of his games; for publication, and at that time, Mr. Gilberg says, “it would have been a freak of the maddest folly to have discredited his complete possession and control of that finely balanced intellectual organism which six years before had carried him triumphantly through his severest ordeals.” So long as the mind of man requires intellectual amusement, and so long as our royal sport remains one of these amusements, so long will the votaries of Caissa play and admire the games of Paul Morphy,
“The pride and the sorrow of Chess.” Read More
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“The happiness of “the Bohemian Caesar,” as Steinitz fondly called himself, was not unalloyed. Paul Morphy was his bête noire. He attempted to undermine the pedestal upon which Morphy's glory is everlastingly established. But he did not succeed. If Blackburne makes a brilliant combination, he calls it a “bit of Morphy.” But no one ever heard anybody call a brilliant finish a bit of Steinitz…”
Poison Pen Blackmail and Defamation of New Orleans Lawyer Paul Morphy: These articles were part of 1860s-80s campaign of stalking. Attempts by friends of Morphy vouching for his sanity & to stop such false rumors (New Orleans Republican 11/21/1875; Tennessean Nashville, 5/05/1877, “The Truth About Mr. Paul Morphy. He has Never been Insane”; Detroit Free Press 11/30/1880, etc). 1884 at age 47, Mr. Morphy “suddenly died”. The stalker's press release claimed ‘due to a bath on a hot day.’ Forensic toxicology was still in its infancy and no investigation ever performed. |
