Before World Championships, before FIDE, before ELO even existed, chess was still going strong.
Let's travel back in time to the 1800's when Paul Morphy was deemed to be the "greatest chess master of his era".
Born in New Orleans to a wealthy family, Paul made the best of it and learned #chess on his own. By the age of nine, Morphy was considered one of the best players in New Orleans.
In 1846, General Winfield Scott visited New Orleans and asked to play against the strongest player in the city. The chess pieces were set up and a young Morphy was brought in.
Scott was at first offended, thinking he was being made fun of. He consented to play after being assured that his opponent was a "chess prodigy" who would prove his skill.
Morphy easily won both of their two games, the second time announcing a forced checkmate after only six moves.
After his studies, he received an invitation to participate in the First American Chess Congress which is now known as the US Chess Championship. Morphy went on to win and was hailed as the US chess champion.
Paul traveled all over Europe to challenge the leading players at that time, beating them all by large margins.
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 far ahead of his time and is recognized as one of the best to ever play. Praised by GMs such as Fischer, Anand, Euwe, Kasparov - the latter even stated that Morphy is considered both the "forefather of modern chess" and "the prototype of the strong 20th-century grandmaster".
Even though Paul retired at a young age, his legacy will live on forever.
The Queens Gambit even mentions him as Beth Harmon's favorite player and his matches are often used by chess teachers to demonstrate how to use tempo, develop pieces, and generate threats.
Today's setup comes from a famous game against the Duke of Brunswick and Count Isouard at the Italian Opera House in Paris, 1858 known as "The Opera Game".
This game is considered to be Morphy's best game ever played. Read about it here.
Play the setup in our demo today!
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1803410/Checkmate_Showdown/