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Early Discussions

Please reference such vile attacks as he was pyschotic. There was an independent journalist to debunk all these crazy rumors. Please refer to "The Chess Player by Frances Parkinson Keyes before such libel in an encyclopedia —Preceding unsigned comment added by Azzy7 (talk • contribs) 03:26, August 26, 2007 (UTC)

He is by far the winningest chess master in the history of the game.

Is there a source for this? I can't help feeling it's somewhat unlikely to be true, given his relatively short career and playing in a time when a top player's schedule was not as busy as in the 20th century. --Camembert

One source so far: chessgames.com. Morphy's record: +181 -20 =15 (87.3%). I don't see any master with higher percentage.

Ah, percentage - I was taking "winningest" to mean "won the most games". I'll fiddle with the article. (I'm not sure chessgames.com is completely 100% reliable, by the way, so I will state them as the source to cover ourselves) --Camembert

match/tournament results

• Match

• Löwenthal +9 -3 =2
• Owen (P&move) +5 0 =2
• Harrwitz +5 -2 =1
• Anderssen +7 -2 =2
• Mongredien +7 0 =1
• Thompson (Knight) +5 -3 =1

  Tournament

• Thompson +3 0 0
• Meek +3 0 0
• Lichtenhein +3 0 =1
• Paulsen +5 -1 =2

 +52   -11   =12  total=75
 69.3% 14.6% 16%
 
according to Morphy's Games of Chess by Philip W. Sergeant--SBC 

One thing to consider in naming Greco as having the highest percentage of winning games, is that no one knows if Greco's games are real games, or analysis. His games do not have opponents listed; and I think most authorities feel they are not real contests. The games themselves look like they were invented, not played. I also feel that chessgames.com is an incomplete source. There are over 400 known Morphy games. Finally, many of the games are exhibition or casual games played against non-masters, and one can't really judge Morphy on his games against non-masters while other players are judged on their record playing masters. --ChessPlayer

True, Greco and some other players (Ruy Lopez, Polerio, etc.) have the highest percentage of winning games (100%) according to chessgames.com, which does not have complete archive of games to date. However, since Morphy and Greco have dozens of their games already archived by chessgames.com, their winning percentages are significant enough to be calculated and published. After all, no statistic, not even ratings, is 100% accurate. Today's players are judged mostly by their ratings, but great players from centuries ago didn't have the luxury of ratings to compare their strength. Therefore, lacking ratings, Morphy's and Greco's winning percentages are the best statistics we can use. --Giftlite

I've removed mention of Greco from the article. It's silly to talk of him having a 100% record when we don't know whether he actually played any of the games with his name on them, and when many games that he did play must have been lost to posterity. I've left the mention of chessgames.com percentage score for Morphy in, however, as it's sourced and readers can make their own minds up whether they want to take it seriously or not (that said, I wouldn't be too distraught if it was removed, though it is good to have an indication of Morphy's dominance).

There's one more thing to keep in mind when discussing the games of Greco. Whether Greco actually played the preserved games or not is somewhat moot. But what is important is that they don't represent his play as such. Greco was a professional, itinerant chess player who taught chess and played for money. He sold, or presented as gifts, his "secrets", mostly traps, to wealthy benefactors. While in England, he got the idea to not only record openings or positions, but entire games, which he kept on manuscripts. Later, after his death, many of these manuscripts were published as a collection. Since the games were intended to be instructional, even from the start, they only included his successful games (real or created). --SBC

I've also moved mention of Morphy being World Champion out of the intro paragraph into the article proper. To put it in the intro gives it a little too much prominence, I think - Morphy himself didn't like being labelled world champion, and his championship is regarded today as unofficial. I think it could be confusing to readers who see elsewhere that Steinitz is regarded as the first world champion (which he is) to then read here that Morphy was world champion before him. In any case, the suggestion that was in the article that Morphy may have been champion beyond 1859 is mildly odd, as he basically retired after 1859.

I've also fiddled with the score the twelve-year old Morphy had against Lowenthal, changing it from 3-0 to 2.5-0.5. As I said at chess prodigy, I don't have anything definitive to check this against right now, but I'm pretty sure it's correct, and (first paragraph below the second picture) and for example seem to back it up. --Camembert

I am sorry to see that the score between Morphy and Lowenthal has been fiddled with, though I suspected it would eventually, as its incorrectly reported going as far back as 1860, and most works since then have simply repeated the untrue version. Lawson, Morphy's biographer, has a chapter dedicated to telling the story of both Lowenthal's visit, and how the score came to be misreported. I suppose I will have to recount Lawson's chapter in order to support the fact that the true score was 3-0. As the story is too long to include on the Morphy page, I guess I need to create a new page specifically devoted to the history of Morphy's relations with Lowenthal, and how later books simply copied Lowenthal's false claim in his 1860 book that one of the games was a draw.

As for the change in the statement that Morphy was the first pre-eminent American in an intellectual field, the key idea here is "pre-eminent" as opposed to just "eminent". Franklin was perhaps the first American to be regarded as an eminent intellect by Europeans, but they did not regard him as the greatest intellect in the world. They simply regarded him as worthy of inclusion in the list of the world's top men of art and science. Morphy was different. Morphy was universally hailed as better than anyone else. He was pre-eminent.

Finally, it pains me how people want to demote Morphy from the list of world champions. Morphy clearly showed that he was much better than anyone else during his 1858-1859 European tour. If this doesn't mean "World Champion", I don't know what does. The fact that he never went around calling himself world champion, and others did not use the term, was simply cause the state of chess was such that the idea was not like it is today. Steinitz CALLED himself "World Champion"..., and popular opinion supports him as the first World Champion simply cause he was bold enough to proclaim himself so; he also asked for money when he played, and such things where considered vulgar by Morphy. But its fair to look at the match record. Morphy destroyed Anderssen, while Steinitz only defeated him by a very close margin. Similarly, Steinitz struggled in tournament play against his contemporaries, not winning first prizes, while Morphy beat everyone everytime he played. I am not saying that Steinitz, especially after 1884 when Morphy was dead, does not deserve his title. But Morphy was stronger than Steinitz, and to call Steinitz world champion and not say the same about Morphy is to punish Morphy for his genteel behavior and lack of self-promotion. Morphy was a natural genius on the level of a Capablanca, and Capablanca was one of his most devoted admirers --ChessPlayer

On the Lowenthal score - no, you don't need to recount Lawson's story if you don't want to, but where a fact is widely misreported, it is often a good idea to say something along the lines of "contrary to many sources which say the score was X, it was in fact Y, as recounted by David Lawson in Whatever the Book Is" (Pride and Sorrow, I assume - I've not read it). That way, people can be confident the article is correct and check up on sources themselves to confirm it if they're so inclined - otherwise they'll think, as I did, that it was an error.

On the World Championship thing: I agree, of course, that Morphy was very strong, I agree that he was very probably the strongest player in the world in 1859, but the fact remains that virtually no commentators whatsoever consider him to have been an official world champion, so it's completely wrong for us to present him as one. It's mentioned in the article that he's considered an unofficial champion, and I've now added a brief mention of the fact back to the opening paragraph. I hope that's OK for you. --Camembert

Franklin was preeminent in electricity (and meteorology) in the 1750's. He deservedly won the Copley Medal in 1753. --Giftlite

Giftlite: I am not an expert on Franklin, so I will defer to your statement that Franklin was regarded by Europeans as the greatest expert on electricity and meteorology of his day...if you are saying he was universally hailed as more knowledgable than anyone else.

Camembert - You are right that Morphy's score against Lowenthal deserved a footnote. I would have included one, except I didn't know how to do it, and I was more interested in adding new material than going into the fairly long story of how the error got to be. If you or others feel its worthy of inclusion in Misplaced Pages, I will present Lawson's material, in my own words to avoid any copyright infringement - ChessPlayer

Why credit Steinitz with being an "official" champion? There was no officiating body then. Is somebody the "official" champion because they say so and few argue? Is the reason Morphy is not an "official" champion is he didn't announce that he was "world champion"?

Why say that Morphy himself did not like being called World Champion? Its true that he didn't like being called a chess professional, but I don't think he ever disliked being called a world chess champion. I took the liberty of deleting this assertion, and would like to know what its based on if its wanted back. In all my research, I only could find that his only concern was that people didn't equate him with professional chess players, who played for money not love of the game.

About the book that was listed as by Morphy. Does anybody have a copy of it? Is it just a reprint of the book published in 1860 by Löwenthal, or does it have other material added to it from Morphy's sparse other writings, that didn't appear in L's book? That book, which I have, purportedly has an introduction by Morphy, but Lawson has established that Morphy did not actually write it. Instead, he simply "signed" it, as a favor to Löwenthal in order to help him sell the book.

PS - I recognize I am new on Misplaced Pages. I don't know the customs here. I pose some of these questions here rather than simply amending the article, as I am guessing its better to discuss first and change later, and people should be allowed to change their own material, rather than it being deleted for them. I welcome any education from old hands here. - ChessPlayer

ChessPlayer: About the book in question, I haven't read it myself. I got the book info from bn.com. I think it's unlikely Morphy was a co-author because he didn't want to be known as a professional chess player. I agree with you to not explicitly say Morphy co-authored it. --Giftlite

Page looks much nicer now with the image moved right! ChessPlayer 18:25, 29 Feb 2004 (UTC)

    A few points. 

Re: Löwenthal's "Morphy's Games of Chess," Morphy wrote an intro to it (http://batgirl.atspace.com/Morphypreface.html) but didn't contribute directly.

Morphy was, in fact, hailed as World Champion on more than one occasion, the most notable of which was by Martin van Buren's son, John Van Buren, at the New York testimonial banquet on May 25, 1859: "Ladies and Gentlemen, I ask you to unite with me in welcoming with all the honors, Paul Morphy, Chess Champion of the World!"

Morphy didn't defeat all the great players of his day, but he defeated all the players he contended with. I think that's an important distinction. There were quite a few he never had the opportunity (nor, perhaps, the inclination) to play.

I agree that there is no indication that Morphy ever had qualms about being considered World Champion, though he never claimed it outright. --batgirl

Excellent article! Kudos to all who contributed. I have only one criticism, relating to the following snippet of text:

"A match therefore was set up where he was pitted against five of the leading English masters simultaneously. Morphy won two games, lost one, and one game was drawn."

The numbers don't add up: five opponents, but only four results reported... -- Cyan 03:15, 2 Mar 2004 (UTC)

Oops! .... score corrected.. :-) ChessPlayer 05:45, 2 Mar 2004 (UTC)

    A few more nitpicky observations:

"Morphy's mother, Louis Therese Felicite Thelcide Le Carpentier, was the musically talented daughter of a prominent French Creole family."

Louise Thérèse Felicite Thelcide Le Carpentier. Telcide's parents weren't Creoles. That would be impossible by the definition of Creole. However, by the same definition, Telcide herself would have been Creole.

"Staunton later was criticised for failing to meet Morphy."

The main criticism against Staunton was never his failure to play Morphy. As Lord Lyttleton put it:

"In the general circumstances of the case, I conceive that Mr. Staunton was quite justified in declining the match."

His futher statements explain Stauton's failings: "...I cannot but think, that in all fairness and considerate-ness, Mr. Staunton might have told you of this long before he did. I know no reason why he might not have ascertained it, and informed you of it in answer to your first letter from America. Instead of this, it seems to me plain, both as to the interview at which I myself was present, and as to all the other communications which have passed, that Mr. Staunton gave you every reason to suppose that he would be ready to play the match within no long time...."

"When asked about his defeat, Anderssen claimed to be out of practice, but also admitted that Morphy was in any event the stronger player and that he was fairly beaten."

This is false.

From Max Lange:

"...an impartial presentation of facts, devoid of national vanity, can only be in favour of the youthful champion who came off victorious; and, therefore, we will add here a few expressions of Anderssen's, which we can warrant to be authentic. He was asked if the American was superior in coolness and self-possession, and if his play in general had seemed to him superior to his own. The first part of the question was not strictly answered, for Anderssen merely replied to it as follows :— 'I cannot say I believe so; for, in my own opinion, I was quite cool, but still I have overlooked the most simple moves.' The second question was answered without reserve:— 'He did not even in his dreams,' he said, 'believe in the superiority of his opponent; it is, however, impossible to keep one's excellence in a little glass casket, like a jewel, to take it out whenever wanted; on the contrary, it can only be conserved by continuous and good practice.'"

"Prior to his getting home, Morphy had issued an open challenge to anyone in the world to play a match where he would give odds of pawn and move."

All indications seem to put this challenge in January, 1859 from New Orleans (not prior to getting home)

Morphy also refused to play any American at odds less than a knight.

"He lived for a time in Paris to avoid the war"

It might be more accurate, though debatable, to say "to avoid the humiliation of the occupation of New Orleans."

"His principled stance against the war was unpopular in his native South.."

As hinted in the previous paragraph, Morphy's objection wasn't to the war but to secession.

"Chess professionals in the 1860s were looked upon as akin to professional gamblers and other disreputable types"

Is there some source to support this assertation?

"Morphy's final years were tragic. Depressed, he spent his last years wandering around the French Quarter of New Orleans, talking to people no one else could see, and having irrational feelings of persecution."

This seems more than a bit over-dramatic. It's the type of unsupportable statement that contributes nothing to our understanding of Morphy and perpetuates the tabloid-like innuendo of his later life.

--batgirl

Morphy/Staunton Match

It is to simple to state just that Staunton ducked. Althought it is true that Staunton probably no appetite for the match, he had his reasons not to play (he was retired and very busy working on his Shakespeare-works).

See for instance http://www.johntownsend.demon.co.uk/page7.html: Later, Staunton was criticised for failing to meet the American master, Paul Morphy, in a match in 1858, but by then he had effectively retired from competitive chess. But Morphy regarded him as "the man to beat". Staunton was flattered and at first he intended to prepare for a match in which he had little chance of success. There is no doubt that he was a very busy man in 1858, as he was under pressure to produce his edition of the complete works of Shakespeare. These circumstances, together with imperfect health, probably frustrated Staunton as much as Morphy. He should have told Morphy once he had decided not to play a match. He did invite Morphy to play some casual games at his Streatham home.

Other sources: http://markofwestminster.com/chess/staunton.html

Grammar

The latest change, substituting pronouns for nouns has not always been for the better, in my opinion, and in some places has in fact introduced errors of grammar, especially in the paragraph on how Morphy learned chess, where the use of "him" I believe is grammatically incorrect. However, I am not so positive I wish to make corrections, but instead invite anyone strong in grammar to look at this paragraph closely and make changes.

Here is a section that seems to me to be made very unclear by the substitution of pronouns for nouns: "His uncle recounted how Morphy, after watching one game for several hours between his father and him, told him afterwards that he should have won the game. They both were surprised, as they didn't think that young Morphy knew the moves, let alone any chess strategy."

Between his father and "him"? Who is "him"? Morphy? The uncle? Even if this is grammatically correct, it certainly seems to me that its unclear writing.

I hope this doesn't sound harsh to the person who wrote this; if it is in any way offensive, I apologise...my sole interest is in making the text of the article as clear and well written as possible. ChessPlayer 06:20, 15 Apr 2004 (UTC)

Chess Terminology

"Open game"? "Combinative player"? "Positional systems"? I'm not ragging on the article, but is there any possible way non-geeks can play, too?

That stuff is in a section titled "Morphy's cless play". If you don't play chess, you skip that section. Arvindn 06:12, 15 Apr 2004 (UTC)

NPOV

Does this sentence need to be revised? "He was also the first American superstar, acknowledged by the entire world as the preeminent figure in a cultural or intellectual field."

I completely agree, and will change it to be more moderate (and accurate). I mean, really, Ben Franklin was considered pretty amazing overseas 80 years earlier. --tgeller 00:28, 23 February 2006 (UTC)

The original statement is correct. Morphy was the chess champion on both sides of the Atlantic in 1859; the first American to be acknowledged by Europeans and Americans alike as the pre-eminient figure in his cultural field. Ben Franklin was never universally accepted as the world champion of science. --Drogo Underburrow 06:12, 1 March 2006 (UTC)

It is probably also accurate that Morphy was never universally accepted or acknowledged as the preeminent figure of intellectual games (or board games, if you really want to limit the field - it is necessary to make this broad a comparison, as Chess is but one game and 'science', as you use, is many fields). Even in the mid-1700's, it was desperately difficult to become a universal polymath in the sciences (enough to be the preeminent figure in all of the scientific disciplines). It may be accurate, though, that he was the first American 'Superstar'.

Was chess a cultural field back then? I know it is now, but back then it seemed mostly to be a game played for amusement or stakes (would it be right to call roulette a cultural field, even though analysis and strategies have been developed around it?). There is active culture, and then there are 'cultural fields'. 24.16.251.40 02:46, 6 July 2006 (UTC) (Formerly 24.22.227.53)

What about the fact that Franklin was awarded the Copley Medal in 1753? Doesn't that denote recognition as the world's pre-eminent scientist? Anyway, who says Morphy was "the first American to be internationally acknowledged as the preeminent world figure in a cultural or intellectual field"? Rocksong 08:26, 26 September 2006 (UTC)

Morphy's college commencement

I read, years ago, in a novel, that Spring Hill College in its early years had an unusual academic schedule, and held its commencements in the fall, not the spring; can anyone address this question? J S Ayer 23:42, 24 November 2005 (UTC)

You may have more luck in the talk page of the Spring Hill College article or on the Reference Desk. Fetofs 00:11, 24 March 2006 (UTC)

Neutrality

This article is ridiculously flattering. No doubt he was a great chess player, but comments on his general demeanour do not belong in an encyclopaedia. If such material must be included, it must be quoted verbatim and sourced appropriately. Soo 15:48, 11 April 2006 (UTC)

The article is written according to the source..biographer David Lawson. What do you want, "Lawson says" put in front of every sentence? The article is actually balanced. Flattering would be removing the material stating that he was mentally imbalanced and spent most of his life doing nothing. Mostly only chessbooks discuss Morphy, and they are equally "flattering", if not more, as they will omit to discuss his insanity and simply discuss his outstanding chess ability. Your tagging this is unjustified. Drogo Underburrow 16:06, 11 April 2006 (UTC)

If you're going to say things like "his combination of brilliant play and personal modesty made him a welcome guest everywhere" then yes, you need to make explicit who had that opinion, probably with an inline citation. Describing books as "an invaluable resource" and "a great book" is also POV. The fact that some books about him are also biased has no relevance. Soo 16:09, 11 April 2006 (UTC)

There is only one POV expressed in this article, that of biographer David Lawson. If you can find another, be my guest and enter it. NPOV requires that all sides of an issue be given...and Lawson's is the only side you'll find. Seach the literature if you like. You won't find anybody saying that Morphy was not polite to a fault. As to the books, if you feel what is said is not true, then take it out....if you have read the books. Drogo Underburrow 16:17, 11 April 2006 (UTC)

"POV" does not mean "untrue", it means "expressing a personal opinion". Clearly you think the books are great; maybe I would too if I'd read them, but that's still POV. I'll put the article up for Peer Review if you still don't believe me. Soo 16:27, 11 April 2006 (UTC)

Lawson's book is the only full length, carefully researched, biography of Paul Morphy. To call it an "invaluable resource" is to state a fact, in my mind. There is no other resource availible in English, and Lawson is very authoritative, and its doing the reader a service to say so. Again, if you think the book is not all this, then by all means, change the article. But there is no reason to argue or object or change the article if you have not read it. Drogo Underburrow 16:40, 11 April 2006 (UTC)

I've marked the article for Peer Review. Soo 16:55, 11 April 2006 (UTC)

So what? Does that have anything to do with the issue of this article's neutrality? Is there some POV you feel is not being expressed on this page? By all means add it in. Is the article not telling some side of the story? Tell it. The POV tag is not warranted if nothing is being disputed. You are complaining about POV, but offering no clue as to what other side of the story there is. Drogo Underburrow 17:06, 11 April 2006 (UTC)

I'm not getting into an edit war over this. You claim I am not raising any actionable objections and yet I have highlighted specific sentences that show blatant POV, and there are plenty more. However I am not bothering to edit the article if you're just going to revert my edits on the basis that I haven't read these books. I don't think you really understand WP:NPOV or WP:OR, so there's no point arguing any further. Nevertheless I still dispute the neutrality of this article for the reasons already outlined, and the tag is staying on the page until those issues are resolved. Soo 11:07, 13 April 2006 (UTC)

Your objection is that the article is too favorable to Morphy, yet you don't have any sources that give an alternative view. The article is all supported by David Lawson. Numerous editors have over the years visited the page, and you are the only one to have suggested that the article as a whole violates NPOV. I think the problem here is you, not the article. You simply don't like articles that are say good things about people. If you object to material, then put in "Lawson says" in the sentences you don't like, to make clear whose opinion is being expressed. If you don't like that Lawson's is the only POV on the page, then find another. But don't just carp and demand a tag be permanently on the article, that is not the purpose of the tag. Drogo Underburrow 11:19, 13 April 2006 (UTC)

Understand that I'm objecting to the article because I want it to be better, not to annoy you or because I have some kind of pathological aversion to complimentary articles. And I don't want the tag to stay on the article permanently - just until the dispute is resolved, and that certainly is the purpose of the tag. Your combative attitude is not helping resolve anything. Soo 11:35, 13 April 2006 (UTC)

But there is no POV dispute going on. We arn't debating POV's or arguing whose is correct. The fact that only one POV is given in the article does not make the article a POV dispute, nor is it a violation of the NPOV policy. There is nothing in the policy that says one side cannot predominate, if it is the predominate POV. Here it is the ONLY one, cause no other scholar has an opposing view. That is not a POV dispute. Drogo Underburrow 11:40, 13 April 2006 (UTC)

You accuse me of not knowing what the NPOV policy is. Let me quote from the policy page:

The neutral point of view is a means of dealing with conflicting views. The policy requires that, where there are or have been conflicting views, these are fairly presented, but not asserted. All significant points of view are presented, not just the most popular one. It is not asserted that the most popular view or some sort of intermediate view among the different views is the correct one. Readers are left to form their own opinions.

Now, there are no conflicting views about Paul Morphy. The article gives David Lawson's views, such as that his combination of brilliant play and personal modesty made him a welcome guest everywhere. There are no conflicting views about this. I know of no source that disputes this. NPOV is about articles presenting both sides...if there are two sides. Here there is only one side, and until you find another, and editors refuse to allow it in the article, the NPOV tag is unwarranted. Drogo Underburrow 11:31, 13 April 2006 (UTC)

So whose POV is "This is a great book for anyone interested in not only Paul Morphy, but information about the First American Chess Congress"? Is that Lawson speaking again, or is that just you? Soo 11:37, 13 April 2006 (UTC)

I notice you removed the dispute tag yet again. Well, I said no edit war and I'm sticking to that. If removing the tag helps you feel better about this awful article then that's okay with me. Soo 11:43, 13 April 2006 (UTC)

Is that your only objection? Then take it out, or modify it to suit your tastes. Putting up a POV tag indicates an impasse. You've made no edits that anyone has objected to. You can't go slapping tags on every article that has something you don't like. Fix it. Drogo Underburrow 11:44, 13 April 2006 (UTC)

I don't care enough about this article to debate it any longer. I'll hand over to someone who does. Soo 12:12, 13 April 2006 (UTC)

I've done some preliminary removal of POV through the article, but I still don't think it's all gone yet - the tone is still too similar to that of an unencyclopaedic biography. But this is a start, I hope. Jono 12:39, 13 April 2006 (UTC)

Some say Greatest Ever?

The article in its introduction says, "Some chess grandmasters consider Morphy to have been the greatest chessplayer who has ever lived." Really? I know Fischer once put him first, but are there any others who have seriously said that? Without more evidence, I propose removing the sentence. Rocksong 02:15, 12 April 2006 (UTC)

This page used to have a long listing of quotes attesting to Morphy's chess strength, but it was removed and put on Wikiquote. Drogo Underburrow 06:52, 12 April 2006 (UTC)

Thanks for that. But, aside from Fischer, I can't see anyone in that list later than Capablanca calling him the greatest ever. (Soltis calls him the "greatest genius", which isn't the same thing). Rocksong 07:39, 12 April 2006 (UTC)

It is the same thing, since Soltis was refering to his chess play, not his intelligence. Drogo Underburrow 08:03, 12 April 2006 (UTC)

I'm not convinced, but without the context I can't say for sure either way. What I'd really like is rather than it be a single line in the intro, is have a whole section on his standing among the chess greats, because it is a greatly debated and interesting point w.r.t. Morphy. I could get it started but my library on the subject is very small.

I am also unconvinced. No one seriously believes that Fischer thought or thinks that Morphy was a better chess player than Fischer himself. In fact Frank Brady addresses exactly that point in Profile of a Prodigy, because he says he asked Fischer about it. It's really impossible to accurately compare players in different eras, especially since Morphy's career was so short. 24.241.226.16 07:15, 29 October 2006 (UTC)

I have attempted to expand the coverage of the "Greatest Ever" question in order to give a better feel for the range of opinions on this matter. How do people feel about the inclusion of the Fine and Keene quotes and the extra sentence that I added to the introduction? - Louis Blair (October 29, 2006)

The Fine quote is good. In fact I have the book and he has other positive things to say about Morphy. The quote could be expanded to give reasons for what Fine said. I don't care much for the Keene quote, because it is a general comment rather than about Morphy in particular. Although there isn't enough material yet, I'd still like to see Morphy's place in history be a separate section, rather crammed into the introduction and footnotes. Rocksong 03:15, 30 October 2006 (UTC)

I am reluctant to insert more of the Fine quote and risk seeming to give too much space to the opinion of one person, but I certainly would not object if someone else wanted to do so. I thought the Keene quote was of some interest because it represented a certain general skepticism (felt by many, I suspect) about attempts to identify the "greatest ever" chessplayer. Again, I would not object strongly if others felt it was better to remove the Keene quote. By the way, if this discussion goes on much longer, someone will end up making a contribution that

looks

like

this.

- Louis Blair (October 29, 2006)

Prince Galitzine

Why the removal of this colorful story? Drogo Underburrow 12:45, 13 April 2006 (UTC)

It's a good story, but it's a bit out of tone with the rest of the article. I'm sure there were other equally colourful episodes from Morphy's life but they don't necessarily need to be detailed. But mainly it's the tonal issue, which I believe does not befit that of an encyclopaedia. Jono 12:48, 13 April 2006 (UTC)

Yes, encyclopedias must be dry, devoid of all color, written so that they resemble phone books, being a bare recital of facts. If possible, be sure to avoid any connection of those facts so that they make an interesting essay, if two possible ways of saying something, choose the most banal. If the facts are still interesting, delete them entirely and say they are "unencyclopedic". Make bare assertions that someone is famous, rather than give a story illustrating it. Very good, Misplaced Pages no doubt will be more successful this way. Finally, state that in doing this, you are eliminating "POV", as if that is something desireable. Ignore that NPOV is about giving all POV's their say, not about eliminating any of them. Drogo Underburrow 13:00, 13 April 2006 (UTC)

As adept as you are at mercilessly exhibiting the lowest form of wit, I still don't think this trivially pathetic anecdote is worthy of the article at all, really. It's not even that interesting in it's full glory. If it had any significance in terms of his global movements, then that might give me an incentive to keep it in. But it doesn't, just like almost every other unimportant event in Morphy's life. The story adds as much to the article as your frustrated talk page rambling does to the success of Misplaced Pages. Jono 13:18, 13 April 2006 (UTC)

The material you removed from the article:

While in Paris, he was sitting in his hotel room one evening, chatting with his companion Frederick Edge, when they had an unexpected visitor. "I am Prince Galitzine; I wish to see Mr. Morphy," the visitor said, according to Edge. Morphy then stated that he was Mr. Morphy. "No, it is not possible!" the prince exclaimed, "You are too young!" Prince Galitzine then explained that he was in the frontiers of Siberia when he had first heard of his "wonderful deeds." He explained, "One of my suite had a copy of the chess paper published in Berlin, the Schachzeitung, and ever since that time I have been wanting to see you." He then told Morphy that he must go to St. Petersburg, Russia, because the chess club in the Imperial Palace would receive him with enthusiasm.

replacing it with:

While in Paris, Prince Galitzine (having read Morphy chess paper entitled Schachzeitung) told Morphy that his presence would be welcomed at the chess club in the Imperial Palace in St. Petersburg, Russia.

Not only do you shorten it, but you change what it says, toning it down so that its less complimentary to Morphy...and against the facts. Galitzine did NOT say that Morphy would simply be welcomed if he came to St Petersburg; he promised that he would be recieved with enthusiasm. You toned it down. By ommitting the details of this story, you remove the point of it, which is to illustrate the extent of Morphy's fame, that nobles in Siberia where enthusiastic over him, wanting to meet him. You are censoring this information about Morphy, and replacing it with nothing. You don't add alternate material..you simply delete what you don't like to hear said. You do nothing to improve the article, unless improving the article is, in your mind, changing or eliminating the facts given by Lawson and Frederick Edge. Drogo Underburrow 13:30, 13 April 2006 (UTC)

A few remarks: There was nothing like "Morphy chess paper entitled Schachzeitung" ("Schachzeitung" can mean "Chess News" or "chess newspaper" in German) - so the JonONeill's edit replaced a colorful (but perhaps true) story with a nonsense. Similarly it is not true that St Petersburg is in Siberia.

In my opinion, these colorful stories are good for showing how enthusiastic were chess fans about Morphy in 1859 - which is an undisputable fact. They can be cited in the Misplaced Pages article, but they should be cited as examples, sourced, and clearly divided from the normal text of the article. --Ioannes Pragensis 13:47, 13 April 2006 (UTC)

I did the best I could with what was there. But if the story must return, then I agree that it should be divided from the normal text. Jono 13:54, 13 April 2006 (UTC)

By "nobles in Siberia where enthusiastic over him" I was refering to that Prince G. himself was a noble in Siberia, and that he had wanted to meet Morphy. Nobody said that St P was in Siberia. The purpose of the anecdote is to illustrate Morphy's fame, as recommended in the style guide for Misplaced Pages, rather than dryly saying "Morphy was a well-recognized name" which is factually false by way of being an understatement. Drogo Underburrow 14:12, 13 April 2006 (UTC)

As far as I know, the Galitzine family always lived in the western part of Russian Empire, its roots being Lithaunian. In the time, Siberia was populated with prisoners, not with the high nobility :-) -- But I agree with you: to be a good encyclopedia does not mean to be dry and without wit. --Ioannes Pragensis 19:51, 13 April 2006 (UTC)

I have replaced this point of conflict for the time being in an act of appeasement. Hopefully the paragraph will become the best it can be during the Peer Review. Also, I don't appreciate the implication that I am against Morphy adulation ("you simply delete what you don't like to hear said") - he is my favourite chess player. Jono 20:10, 13 April 2006 (UTC)

Supposed odds challenge to the world

The only quote (from Morphy's time) cited as such a supposed challenge is on page 183 of David Lawson's famous biography of Morphy. Rather than get into a lengthy argument over whether or not the quote amounts to a challenge, it is probably sensible to compromise and adopt a wording that reflects what was actually reported: "Paul Morphy had declared that he will play no more matches with anyone unless accepting Pawn and move from him." - Louis Blair (June 21, 2006)

When did he learn Chess?

My understanding is that Morphy didn't learn to play chess until he was 10. This article states that Morphy played Winfield Scott when Paul was 8.AaronCBurke 03:47, 13 August 2006 (UTC)

Skepticism appears to be justified. Lawson reports the encounter as taking place in December of 1846. This would have made Morphy about nine and a half. - Louis Blair (October 22, 2006)

Batgirl link

I have restored the batgirl link. I do not know why it was removed, and I hope that this action will be reconsidered by whatever person took it down. The link has an enormous amount of information, maintained by a person who really seems to care about documentation. I can not imagine why anyone would remove it and leave other links of lesser quality. - Louis Blair (October 14, 2006)

Supposed Steinitz forbearance

I have removed the material about Steinitz's supposed forbearance to claim the title while Morphy was alive. Apparently, this is another myth. As early as the 1870s, there were those who were saying that Steinitz was the world champion. Steinitz himself argued (in 1874) that he had a claim to the title of champion, by noting that he had "not yet lost any set match on even terms" and had "come out victorious in the last two international tournaments". The 1874 Steinitz quote (along with information about where the quote originally appeared) can be found in the Steinitz entry of The Oxford Companion to Chess. An 1866 chess magazine (Chess World) had commented, "as Mr. Morphy no longer considers himself a chessplayer, there is no reason why others should do so." When Steinitz met Morphy in 1883, it was wondered if Morphy would "ever play chess again". See the March 22, 1883 New York Tribune report of an interview of Steinitz. (Reproduced at the batgirl site, by the way.) - Louis Blair (October 21, 2006)

Footnote and link to Jeremy Silman's page on Morphy

http://www.jeremysilman.com/chess_history/grt_plyr_pc_morphy.html

I severely question the value of any link to this page. After examining it, the only value I can see is possibly the annotated Morphy-Andersen game for which Silman is eminently qualified. The rest of the page is a perpetuation of misinformation for which the annotated game doesn't compensate. The "note" claims the page "has comments from Fischer on Morphy." That in itself is a stretch of the imagination. The note and link should unquestionably be removed.

My feeling is similar about the misinformation in the Silman article, but I have a somewhat higher opinion of the value of game annotation. My suggestion would be to keep the link and add a warning about the accuracy of the historical information. I also think it would make sense to direct people somewhere else for information about Fischer's comments. - Louis Blair (November 5, 2006)

Some questionable material

"His principled stance against the war was unpopular in his native South, and he was unable to begin practice of the law after the war. Attempts to open a law office failed due to a lack of clients; if anyone came to his office, it was invariably in regard to chess. Financially secure thanks to his family fortune, Morphy had effectively no profession and he spent the rest of his life in idleness."

I believe there may be some question concerning the extent of the so-called Morphy family fortune after the American Civil War. I'm not so sure the Morphys were so financially secure.

I do not know all the evidence related to this, but one item comes to mind: that response he made to a plan to include Morphy in a book about famous residents of Louisiana. Didn't Morphy say something about having enough money to satisfy his needs? On the other hand, there is that famous story about Morphy agreeing to play chess in exchange for a loan. Perhaps it would be best to replace the sentence with a more moderate wording. Something like: "Morphy's family had enough money to get by." - Louis Blair (November 5, 2006)

"Asked by admirers to play chess again, he refused, considering chess not worthy of being treated as a serious occupation."

This makes no sense. He played chess before retiring without treating it as a serious occupation, so what is the argument?

Perhaps it would be better to say that Morphy no longer wished to be associated with the game which he had never considered to be worthy of being treated as a serious profession. - Louis Blair (November 5, 2006)

"Chess in Morphy's day was not a respectable occupation for a gentleman, but was admired only as an amateur activity. Chess professionals in the 1860s were looked upon as akin to professional gamblers and other disreputable types. It was not until decades later that the age of the professional chess player arrived with the coming of Wilhelm Steinitz, who barely made a living and died broke, and Emanuel Lasker who, thanks to his demands for high fees, managed a good living and greatly advanced the reputation of chess as a professional endeavor."

Since Morphy never was or never contemplated become a professional chess player, what is the purpose of this entire paragraph?

I think it is reasonable to give some sense of how attitudes towards chess were different (and evolving) during Morphy's life. This is not to say that the paragraph does not require improvement. At the moment it strikes me as oversimplifying the way things were and the way things changed. - Louis Blair (November 5, 2006)

"Morphy's final years were tragic. Depressed, he spent his last years wandering around the French Quarter of New Orleans, talking to people no one else could see, and having feelings of persecution."

Not to make light of Morphy's mental problems, I'm not so sure his final years were so tragic. I think this paints a very distorted picture of a man who was brilliant and articulate up to the day he died.

Maybe a Maurian quote would add some balance. Didn't he write something about Morphy being fine as long as certain subjects were avoided? - Louis Blair (November 5, 2006)

Aldrichio's Edits

I've made many edits to the biographical section in an effort to streamline the section, improve the flow and remove extraneous material. Feel free to comment politely.

Aldrichio 18:20, 28 February 2007 (UTC)

Chess Monthly

The article states According to the December 1857 issue of Chess Monthly, "his genial disposition, his unaffected modesty and gentlemanly courtesy have endeared him to all his acquaintances.". While Chess Monthly is an ambiguous title, it is likely this was The Chess Monthly, and according to our article Morphy was an editor of sorts for the periodical. As a result, Chess Monthly isnt an independent source for opinions about Morphy's personality — can someone get a hold of this issue and find out who wrote the article being referred to. John Vandenberg 23:51, 1 August 2007 (UTC)

Review for quality assessment

This article is currently being assessed at Misplaced Pages:WikiProject_Chess/Review, please join the discussion. Voorlandt 07:57, 3 August 2007 (UTC)

The review is now closed and the article is assessed as GA-class. You can find significant hints for improvement in the review at Misplaced Pages:WikiProject_Chess/Review SyG 20:14, 12 September 2007 (UTC)

You can see the archived review hereunder: SyG (talk) 09:03, 1 May 2008 (UTC)

Review of Paul Morphy

This review is done in the scope of the WikiProject Chess and is transcluded from Misplaced Pages:WikiProject Chess/Review/Paul Morphy. The edit link for this section can be used to add comments to the review.

YOu Tube link removal

1 link removed - Clip was animated description of game - No clear indication uploader has rights to footage, However they may be associated with the website mentioned in the clip information. If this can be confirmed link can potentaily be re-instated.Sfan00 IMG (talk) 00:35, 19 November 2007 (UTC)

Does this article over-rate Morphy?

I think it does. I know of commentators who think was not a great strategist and who say he was significantly less effective in slower, more closed games. And he had less impact on how the game was played than Steinitz or even Reti and Breyer, both of whom died prematurely. I know the article says "other writers disagree with the more extreme sessments", but that's just one sentence tagged on at the end.

The whole "Morphy's Chess Play" section is lacking in citations - except, ironically, the one-sentence qualification at the end. Philcha (talk) 12:11, 28 December 2007 (UTC)

I don't agree he was not a great strategist, but yes the article over-rates him in giving serious consideration to him being the greatest of all time. The only cite for considering him "best ever" is Bobby Fischer, but Fischer's top 10 list (which is given at Greatest chess player of all time) is very idiosyncratic and can't really be taken very seriously IMHO. The article should definitely reflect the consensus that he's not really in the running for greatest of all time. Peter Ballard (talk) 12:25, 28 December 2007 (UTC)

As Kasparov has pointed out, the best player of one era will in absolute terms almost inevitably be a stronger player (and thus arguably "greater") than the best player of an earlier era. Players of today, even comparatively weak players, have learned a great deal of chess knowledge that was unknown in Morphy's day. For example, in Morphy's day and for many decades thereafter the Sicilian Defense was an "irregular defense" of dubious reputation, and the idea of Black sacrificing an exchange on c3 was unknown and would probably have been considered absurd. Today, the Sicilian is generally accepted as the strongest defense to 1.e4 and the exchange sacrifice on c3 is a standard idea known even to very weak players.

In absolute terms, Morphy was not as good as Lasker, Capablanca, Alekhine, Tal, Fischer, Kasparov, Karpov, Kramnik, etc. However, that is akin to saying that Newton was not as good a physicist as Einstein, since Newton didn't understand a thing about relativity. As I recall, Einstein himself said, "If I have seen far, it is because I have stood on the shoulders of giants." The same phenomenon applies to chess and every other intellectual endeavor. During his time Morphy towered above the rest of the chess world to an extent rarely, if ever, seen before or since. As such, I think he has a claim to being the "greatest player of all time." Krakatoa (talk) 20:51, 30 December 2007 (UTC)

By that argument Philidor is also a contender for greatest of all time. But "Greatest of all time" generally means who played the best chess. I've seen Capablanca + Alekhine put forward seriously as contenders (at least in the pre-Fischer era), and even recently a study ranked Capablanca moves ahead of all other world champions except for Kramnik (this was pre-Anand's reign) (see Greatest chess player of all time). But I think you'd struggle to find a sane, qualified commentator who'd put Morphy up top by that generally agreed definition. IOW, Morphy is only a contender for "greatest of all time" if "greatest of all time" gets redefined. Peter Ballard (talk) 07:21, 31 December 2007 (UTC)

reviews a CD whose authors argue that Morphy was only a little ahead of his competitors in aspects except the openings, and the reviewer agrees - note that this is not comparing Morphy with modern players. Philcha (talk) 21:18, 1 January 2008 (UTC)

GA failed

I'm sorry, but I cannot pass the article at this time. Here a few things you'll need to take care of before you nominate the article again for GA:

• The article has inadequate referencing. There are entire paragraphs and sections with no citations. Articles need to be fully cited to be a GA.
• The lead is too short. Per WP:LEAD, a lead should summarize all the main points of an article. For an article this size, it should be 2, or possible 3, paragraphs long.
• The subject of an article should not be mentioned in headers. For example, Morphy's chess play should just be Chess play and Morphy is hailed as World Champion should just be World Champion.

Fix these problems, and the article should be ready to be renominated. Thanks. Nikki311 21:00, 10 March 2008 (UTC)

Image

Extracting his face from this image would be better then the existing top image in my view. Morphy is the one middle right. Image currently being used on American_Chess_Congress. SunCreator (talk) 17:44, 20 April 2008 (UTC)

Early life

...has direct sentences from here? Which one was made first? Lab-oratory (talk) 07:03, 1 May 2008 (UTC)

bobby-fischer.net is a Misplaced Pages plagiariser, at least when it comes to the non-Fischer biographies. Look at some of the other articles, e.g. the Topalov article is a snapshot of the Misplaced Pages Veselin Topalov article some time in 2006, and you can see from the article history that the Misplaced Pages article was build incrementally, not copied from an external source. Peter Ballard (talk) 07:44, 1 May 2008 (UTC)

And most of the section in the "Early life" section was already there in February 2004 (see the version here) while the www.bobby-fischer.net website was created on August 2005 (see here). SyG (talk) 07:55, 1 May 2008 (UTC)

I have now listed this site under Misplaced Pages:Mirrors and forks and under Misplaced Pages:GFDL Compliance as a copyright infringer. SyG (talk) 08:26, 1 May 2008 (UTC)

Just looked a bit more: the Topalov article is a direct copy from the 1-Mar-06 Topalov article here. As I said, you can see from the article history that the Misplaced Pages Topalov article was build incrementally. So it's definitely the case that bobby-fischer.net copies Misplaced Pages, not vice versa. And since they haven't acknowledged the source, they have plagiarised. Peter Ballard (talk) 10:26, 1 May 2008 (UTC)

The age of the chess pro

The article currently says "It was not until decades later (after Morphy's retirement) that the age of the professional chess player arrived." That's rubbish: Wilhelm Steinitz and Joseph Henry Blackburne both turned pro in the 1860s, and Blackburne made a good income out of simul and blindfold exibitions. Johann Löwenthal was apparently a pro at least a decade earlier. Philcha (talk) 21:01, 4 May 2008 (UTC)

Sources

• Paul Morphy - NY Times 1899
• June 30, 2005: After the Game see post about Morphy's retirement. If we can get good sources for this stuff, says a lot about M's politics and why he dropped out of chess.
• PAUL MORPHY: HIS LATER LIFE - BY C.A. BUCK
• Morphy's Games of Chess (by P.W. Sergeant) has a bio --Philcha (talk) 23:12, 2 January 2009 (UTC)
• Morphy: More or Less? (reviews by Taylor Kingston) - by 1869 Morphy only played Maurian, giving Knight odds; a few other snippets.
• Paul Morphy and the Evolution of Chess Theory (by Macon Shibut)
• Paul Morphy, the chess champion, by an Englishman (FM Edge) - dl from GB
• Paul Morphy the Chess Champion (FM Edge) - dl from GB
• The exploits and triumphs, in Europe, of Paul Morphy, the chess champion (FM Edge) - dl from GB --Philcha (talk) 23:39, 11 March 2009 (UTC)
• Charles A. Buck, Or, Daring to Contradict Lawson (Jeremy P. Spinrad) - says Buck's account of M's later life was better than Lawson says -Philcha (talk) 07:45, 12 March 2009 (UTC)
• Paul Morphy: Louisiana's Chess Champion --Philcha (talk) 23:09, 12 January 2010 (UTC)

Some more at Talk:The Staunton-Morphy controversy. -- Philcha (talk) 23:07, 20 July 2008 (UTC)

Class C?

While I can see the lead is poor. It seems odd that a previous FA article should slide down through GA, A, B and C while continously improving in it's presentation and contents! SunCreator (talk) 22:40, 2 October 2008 (UTC)

Yes this is a real pity, linked to the general increase in the level of quality required for each various grade, so that what was a FA three years ago is now only C-class ! That being said, because of the poor Lead, in my opinion this article is definitely not B-class. SyG (talk) 19:59, 3 October 2008 (UTC)

the modern rules of chess era

I've never heard that term before. What does it mean? Dlabtot (talk) 17:10, 3 August 2010 (UTC)

It means it's less of romantic attackin style, without long term plan, without pieces coordination, more of planning, opening, strategy format in complete sense of opening, middle, end game! —Preceding unsigned comment added by Chesmorf (talk • contribs)

MOZART OF CHESS

I CANT BELIEVE WIKIPEDIA RULES ALLOW ONE QUOTE, SOME IDIOT REVERTED THAT http://en.wikipedia.org/search/?title=Paul_Morphy&diff=377203608&oldid=377161622 BUT ITS HERE FOR POSTERITY, SUCH IGNORANCE!~SO IF WASHING WAS FATHER OF USA, THEN IF WE SAY FIRST PRESIDENT, THAT'S WRONG! —Preceding unsigned comment added by Chesmorf (talk • contribs) 00:49, 5 August 2010 (UTC)

Please give a citation from a reliable source or it will be removed. Bubba73 , 21:42, 7 August 2010 (UTC)

I removed this - it has been unreferenced for five weeks. If a reliable reference can be found, it should go back in. Bubba73 , 04:25, 9 September 2010 (UTC)

Harrwitz Match

I have read numerous sources that say Harrwitz won 4 games in a row against Morphy, only for Morphy to get serious and win 5 in a row back.

However, the page shows Harrwitz and Morphy having a "match" of a single game which Harrwitz won (nonsense), and then a match which Morphy won with 5 wins, 2 losses, and a draw. At the very least, these two matches should be combined into one, and also, it should be 4 wins for Harrwitz, not 3 wins and a draw.

76.126.237.65 (talk) 14:40, 14 February 2011 (UTC)Lev

This editor is imposing his own personal views and it constitutes vandalism. This is a matter of historical record and not up to debate. It is described in detail in Lawson's book, Pride and Sorriw, p.126. After refusing Morphy's request for a match Harrwitz said he'd be wiling to "play an off-hand game". Only after winning this game he agreed to a match which he lost 5-2=1. It is only this editor's personal view that the first game should be inluded and it is do blatantly incorrect and POV I do not respect this editor's request not to revert.BashBrannigan (talk) 23:41, 27 October 2011 (UTC)

Okay, very well. After further research, there are indeed a wealth of sources that mention the match as +5-2=1 in favor of Morphy. I do recall reading some older sources that mention it as +5-4, but perhaps they were wrong. I only want to add that my long-ago edit was hardly "vandalism"; just what I believed the accurate match score at that time.

ChessPlayerLev (talk) 01:29, 21 January 2012 (UTC)

Pride mentioned, Sorrow censored

I hadn't looked at the Morphy article in a while. I'm startled to see that all mention of his problems with mental illness have been completely removed from the article. He's called "The Pride and Sorrow of Chess" in the lede -- the reason for pride is detailed, but there is zero hint at the sorrow. His mental state in his later years is a famous or notorious aspect of Morphy that any serious biography of him that treats anything beyond his chess games needs to mention. Certainly it should abide by NPOV, and if his problems have been overstated elsewhere some correction to any misperceptions included. Here's a link giving some details from primary sources. -- Infrogmation (talk) 23:52, 17 March 2011 (UTC)

I looked at the link you gave and this doesn't seem convincing as to mental illness. The behaviour described seems more of someone lacking ambition than anything else. Is Morphy's mental problems a myth; a good story? Not wanting to play chess doesn't alone mean you're crazy. I haven't looked at this article's history, but generally it is sparse on references and that could be why it was removed. BashBrannigan (talk) 22:42, 7 August 2011 (UTC)

Infrogmation, I just noticed it was you changed my version of "pride and sorrow". I don't dispute your reasoning, but there is no mention of mental illness in the article. Anyone reading the lead is going to wonder about this. The lead MUST reflect the body. Perhaps, the mental illness was improperly removed, as you say above. However, it still must be added added back in, before being in the lead.BashBrannigan (talk) 23:06, 7 August 2011 (UTC)

• "Morphy's final years were tragic. Depressed, he spent his last years wandering around the French Quarter of New Orleans, talking to people no one else could see, and having irrational feelings of persecution." -- Morphy biography on Bobby-Fischer.net . "He became insane" -- Encyclopedia Brittanica . Many similar citations could be provided. An argument might be made that his problems with mental illness later in life are the second most famous aspect of Morphy's life after his phenomenal prowess at chess. To see an article about Morphy with zero mention of this strikes me as similar to reading a biography of Abraham Lincoln that makes no mention of his life being suddenly ended by assassination. Some mention of Morphy's mental problem needs to be put back into the article. If it is now widely considered a myth, some debunking of it should be included. If it is disputed, some mention of the various sides of the dispute should be mentioned. Since there seem to be some editors active in the article with more detailed knowledge/interest in Morphy than me, I've been hoping someone else would fix this oversight. If no one else does, I'll feel the necessity to do so myself -- and of course finding published citations is no problem. I'd like to see the issue treated with tact and taste, but I think pretending the issue doesn't exist is inappropriate for an encyclopedia article. Infrogmation (talk) 21:00, 8 August 2011 (UTC)

I can't disagree with anything you say. I'm aware myself of reports of Morphy's emotional issues, but I'm not knowledgeable enough to know if they were rumours, or fact. However, even as only rumour, they should be in the article. At some point i can try to add it myself, but if you have the time feel free. Again, when I wrote the lead, I based it upon what was in the article as per WP policy. BashBrannigan (talk) 21:41, 8 August 2011 (UTC)

I agree too. Bash wasn't trying to censor anything, just follow a wikipedia rule/custom that the article lead not contain claims not supported in the article text. I'll start a section at WT:CHESS to see if it draws the attention of anyone who can help with this. Quale (talk) 23:06, 8 August 2011 (UTC)

Morphy's Games of Chess By Philip Walsingham Sergeant, page 27-32. The quote from Buck on pp28-29 about the asylum that he went to but protested against then was taken home again fits nicely I feel. Regards, SunCreator

Fischer, World Champion

OK, let's try to settle this. I personally believe Fischer was a legendary chess player, but this article is about Morphy, not Fischer. Finegold does not come close to being as famous as Fischer, so we shouldn't flatter him at all.Jasper Deng (talk) 18:09, 23 January 2012 (UTC)

What are you talking about, do you mean Fine (and "famed" qualifier)? ChessPlayerLev already withdrew that. On the point of Fischer's qualifier, CPL's point to add one came out in his edit summary, he opposed when the qualifier was stripped off for a couple reasons, this was one: "since Fischer is judging another all-time legend, Morphy. Give his qualifications properly". Okay then, my view is that "Bobby Fischer" is qualification enough, as was the article's original text. If CPL thinks additional qualification is needed in the context of Fischer's evaluations of Morphy, then my view was that "Eleventh World Champion" does not fit that bill very well, as a point of writing. There have been many World Champions, the "eleventh" one is not what makes Fischer's evaluations interesting about Morphy; the fact of Fischer's, and Morphy's, legendary status (e.g. sometimes considered "all-time greatest players", and so on), does. So my dispute with CPL's modifier was nothing more than a point of efficient writing, and, indirectly minimizing that aspect of Fischer by qualifying him as "the eleventh World Champion". Big deal. (CPL asserted that because it is "a fact" it justifies the inclusion. Bad argument. Fischer was 6'2" and that was a fact too. Let's add his eye color while we're at it.) CPL's other argument was that "not everyone knows who Fischer is". Gosh. No player is more a household name than Fischer continues to be. Not only that, the wlink is there to click on. Geez. Ihardlythinkso (talk) 18:51, 23 January 2012 (UTC)

Illustration: do we prefix references to Adolf Hitler in WP articles with "The Xth ruler of Germany Adolf Hitler"? No. But if the context demanded a qualifier, then an appropriate one would be chosen, and it wouldn't be consistent w/ CPL's idea of "properly qualifying", it would be selected driven by the point of context. Ihardlythinkso (talk) 19:09, 23 January 2012 (UTC)

I agree with you on everything. This is a matter of staying on topic and to the point. Yes, I did mean the fame qualifier for Finegold.Jasper Deng (talk) 22:48, 23 January 2012 (UTC)

Yes. Your advise that the article is about Morphy not Fischer is true, but no matter what modifier is added to Bobby Fischer – either "eleventh World Champion" or "legendary" – they work equally in drawing some attention away from Morphy and diverting it to Fischer, by adding add'l text re Fischer. As you know I felt the modifier was unnecessary and the original text without modifier was good, which also avoids any attention-diverting potential. But CPL felt it was essential to "properly qualify" Fischer (plus define who he is/was). Anyway, it seemed to me the burden was on CPL since he wanted to add the additional modifier text, but he tried to turn this around as you can see by commenting in the noticeboard incident: "I thought I was just preserving important information on a page from someone who kept reverting it." And that is a really curious statement to make too, seeing how he just got done reprimanding me in an edit summary over that same (reverted) text: "I don't know what your problem is with edit warring over something so minor." So he should really decide which it is: either "important information" needing protection, or "something minor" that doesn't merit any contention. Cheers, Ihardlythinkso (talk) 00:33, 24 January 2012 (UTC) p.s. The article referred to Fine; Finegold is a different player!

As Ihardlythinkso correctly mentioned, I don't have a problem with not calling Reuben Fine "famous". (He was/is, but it can be interpreted as an unnecessary flourish) And yes, Reuben Fine, a top 10 GM and famous writer from the 1930s and 40s, is quite a bit different from Benjamin Finegold, a contemporary GM who has never cracked the world's top 500. But calling Fischer "legendary" is the same type of flourish as calling Fine "famous", and shouldn't be there. Besides, there have been MANY players in chess history I would personally call "legendary", (GM Fine himself is a borderline case!) and 90+% of them never became world champion. "Eleventh World Champion" is a concrete fact, not a subjective opinion like "Legendary", and furthermore, is actually way more impressive. Anywho, the idea that it's "drawing attention away from Morphy" is silly. It's just three words that properly introduce Fischer to the audience. Believe it or not, not everyone knows who Fischer is, or that he was World Champion. We shouldn't assume, especially when all it takes is three simple words to inform people. Finally, and most importantly, there is significant precedent for calling a player a World Champion in the first mention of him. For instance, look at a Featured Article in the chess section on George Gossip. When Steinitz's opinion on Gossip is mentioned, he is introduced as "the first World Champion"! And this is a featured article in the Chess section. The creme de la creme! There are many other examples on Chess pages. To me, the idea of a chessplayer not knowing who Steinitz is is almost as weird as the idea of someone not knowing Fischer is world champ would be to Ihardlythinkso. But there it is! So yes, let's include those harmless three words that properly introduce Fischer, "Eleventh World Champion". ChessPlayerLev (talk) 00:56, 24 January 2012 (UTC)

This article is about Morphy, not Fischer. People interested in him could simply click the link. I don't see why we should deviate from Morphy here, because it's Morphy's article.Jasper Deng (talk) 01:17, 24 January 2012 (UTC)

Did you click on the Gossip Featured Article I cited above? One can use the same argument there; "Oh, the article is about George Gossip, not Wilhelm Steinitz! People interested in him could simply click the link!" The reason we add in those harmless three words is the same here. Fischer is judging Morphy's chess strength relative to the elite players of Fischer's day, a good 100 years later, in the 60s and 70s. The fact that Fischer was the Eleventh World Champion gives him unique qualifications to make this judgment, and thus, is particularly relevant.ChessPlayerLev (talk) 01:23, 24 January 2012 (UTC)

1. The first world champion title carries more weight, in my opinion, than an 11th world champion title;
2. We don't call Kasparov by his titles in any of the three chess articles I wrote (Rotlewi versus Rubinstein, Levitsky versus Marshall, Botvinnik versus Capablanca, AVRO 1938).Jasper Deng (talk) 01:28, 24 January 2012 (UTC)

Let me answer this;

1. That's your opinion, and one most chess players do not subscribe to. Most World Champions before the FIDE mess of the 90s and 2000s are usually referred to by their number, but that has absolutely nothing to do with the associated prestige. There are few people who would rank the first World Champion, Wilhelm Steinitz, over the second World Champion, Emmanuel Lasker, for instance.
2. Was Kasparov judging the strength of a classic player from many decades ago against the best of his time? A quick glance confirms that he was not in any of those three articles. Meanwhile, look at the Gossip article. Steinitz was a contemporary of Gossip, and judging his chess strength. Thus, Steinitz being "first World Champion" is important, relevant, and included. Here, Fischer, a player from the 1960s and 1970s, is judging the strength of Morphy, whose career spanned mostly from 1857-1863, against the best of his own day. Fischer being "Eleventh World Champion" is thus also very important. ChessPlayerLev (talk) 01:52, 24 January 2012 (UTC)

CPL, your arguments don't make sense. The "three simple words" (and BTW what is the point of that? – I can think of "three simple words" which would get me expelled out of Misplaced Pages immediately and perhaps even permanently) simply are not necessary. No modifying qualifier to "Bobby Fischer" is needed. But you want to put something there. Okay, then choose an appropriate qualifier for the point of context. There have been many world champions, what is "qualifying" about the eleventh? What qualifies Fischer is that he is Fischer. The reason Steinitz has a qualifying modifier explaining who he is when introduced in an article, is because the audience you refer to would probably not know who he is. That's not the case w/ Fischer. I added "legendary" in attempt to satisfy you since *you* suggested that was the point of context responsible for demanding a qualifier when you wrote in an edit summary: "'World Champion' is ESPECIALLY relevant, since Fischer is judging another all-time legend, Morphy." No one asserted that adding a modifier to Fischer draws attention away from Morphy, but Jasper cautioned that it might. I responded to that with observation that *any* modifier would be equal in that respect, if true. The issue isn't what modifier is "more impressive", the issue is whether one is needed at all, and if so, what would fit the point of context. I think no modifier is needed, and by wanting to add text, the burden is on you (a point you described in edit summary as "minor" and not worth contending over, remember?). If you get to say something is "silly", they I get to say your statement, "calling Fischer 'legendary' is the same type of flourish as calling Fine 'famous'", is "bull". Ihardlythinkso (talk) 01:35, 24 January 2012 (UTC)

"What qualifies Fischer is that he is Fischer". While it might be hard to do, imagine that someone doesn't know who Fischer is. In that case, a basic qualification of being "Eleventh World Champion" is very relevant. Also, comparing the relative fame of Steinitz to Bobby Fischer is subjective. They're both World Champions and pioneers of the game. In terms of current pop culture, Fischer is more famous, sure. But that doesn't mean everyone in the whole wide world knows who Fischer is. More importantly, I know many people, chess fans too, who have heard of Fischer, but don't know he was an actual World Champion! If we can describe his fundamental qualifications in three simple words, why shouldn't we do it? Also dude, drop the shit-talking. Your last sentence has no real purpose other than to insult and try to turn an interesting discussion into nonsense. I've noticed you love getting into huge flame-wars when you think you're right, whether it be with Jasper Deng or Ellen of the Road, and the results have been embarrassing to read. I'm not interested in that. I want to resolve this issue and improve the Morphy entry.ChessPlayerLev (talk) 01:51, 24 January 2012 (UTC)

No, 11th world champion is not a big qualification. His mention alone implies that his comment is worthy of mention; we only use good players' comments, so it's implicit, when we include his comment, that he's qualified. We aren't trying to describe Fischer, only Morphy, in this article.Jasper Deng (talk) 01:56, 24 January 2012 (UTC)

"11th world champion" is an ENORMOUS qualification. Not just "big". It's the greatest accomplishment that any chess player could ever hope to achieve. And while the article is not describing Fischer overall, you have to look at that section in context. In context, Fischer is judging Morphy's strength relative to Fischer's own era. Thus, a very brief mention of Fischer's strength is in order. Anyways, I've said my piece, for the most part. Any other active editors, like BrashBrannigan, want to chime in? ChessPlayerLev (talk) 02:03, 24 January 2012 (UTC)

CPL, you accused an established editor of "blatent dishonesty" recently, and you have the gaul to accuse me of loving to participate in "flame-wars"? Wow. Clue for you: "shit" isn't appropriate here. Also, my name is not "dude". Elen also, as Admin, invested in some name-calling sent my way, then used her UK language-culture to defend it. Interesting. Now aren't you happy that you changed the topic on this Talk page to *me*, instead of what the Talk page is for? Your arguments don't make sense, I've explained why, try to deal with those. Your short time on WP has been frought with contentiousness from the start, and IMO you also show a big lack of understanding re consensus-building, but, it is not my job to correct you, the system will. Just keep doing what you're doing.

Jasper, as compromise proposal, I really don't have any problem with some version of "World Champion" or "former World Champion" re Fischer. But the Morphy article is not a place to detail "eleventh" – that lacks purpose, the reader can click on the wlink. Ihardlythinkso (talk) 02:55, 24 January 2012 (UTC)

"Former world champion" may be good, but that's all I might take. I'd wait for a 3rd party's comment on this. Jasper Deng (talk) 03:16, 24 January 2012 (UTC)

CPL, would you agree to "former world champion" or "former World Champion"? Ihardlythinkso (talk) 03:21, 24 January 2012 (UTC)

Yeah, I would be quite fine with "Former World Champion". I don't really want to wade much into the rest, but since you keep repeating everywhere that I called someone "blatantly dishonest", I need to correct that. I stated that "suppressing raw numbers because you think someone might draw the wrong conclusion is blatantly dishonest", but I never said an actual editor was being "blatantly dishonest". In fact, I'm very happy with what said editor has done on the article in question. That's the difference here; I confine myself to statements about arguments, not the person making them. There's a huge difference between saying an argument is "silly" or even potentially "dishonest" (what I've done), and calling editors like Jasper or Elen "asshats", "idiots", etc. (what you've done, repeatedly) Anyways, that's the last I hope to discuss this on here. "Former World Champion" is perfectly fine. ChessPlayerLev (talk) 03:30, 24 January 2012 (UTC)

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