22 jun 1837 ano - Birth (1837)

Descrição:

Paul Charles Morphy (June 22, 1837 – July 10, 1884) was an American chess player. He is considered to have been the greatest chess master of his era and is often considered the unofficial World Chess Champion.

A chess prodigy, he was called "The Pride and Sorrow of Chess" because he had a brilliant chess career but retired from the game while still young.

Morphy was born in New Orleans to a wealthy and distinguished family. He learned to play chess by simply watching games between his father and uncle.

"He won the First American Chess Congress in 1857, becoming the second official U.S. Champion. In 1858, having passed the Louisiana bar exam at an age too young to practice law, he moved to Europe, where he proved his superiority by defeating some of the continent’s best players. During his time across the Atlantic, he was hailed as the world chess champion, though no formal competition yet existed to determine the title.

He returned home in 1859 an acclaimed national hero, with baseball clubs and cigars being named after him. Inexplicably, however, Morphy did not play serious chess again.

At a time when chess was considered an amateur activity rather than a professional career, he turned his attention to his ultimately unsuccessful law practice, then lived off his family fortune until his death in 1884.

His mental state deteriorated dramatically during his years in seclusion; decades later, Morphy’s incredible talent and eventual downfall would be mirrored in the life of Bobby Fischer."

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