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Paul Morphy – Ahead of His Time, Inspiring Generations

We proudly present a special tribute issue dedicated to this legendary historical American player, whose life and chess legacy has had a major impact on future generations.

Our presentation of the unique chess genius that was Paul Morphy, begins with an expert roundtable of strong American players – Anthony Saidy, Andy Soltis, Yasser Seirawan, David Brodsky, and John Burke – who express their personal views on Morphy’s life and legacy and the impact it has made on their respective generations. For all those who are not so familiar with Paul Morphy, we also provide a timeline which will serve as a brief guide through Morphy’s life and chess achievements.

          Then, ACM multiple award-winning author, GM Sarunas Sulskis, dissects Morphy’s brilliancy from 1858 against the English gentleman Henry Edward Bird – in which the American legend first sacrifices a whole rook, before executing a magnificent queen swing along the third rank to hunt down his opponent’s king.

          Our readers and subscribers then share their fascination for Morphy, and we have gathered their thoughts and impressions on how they see his place in chess history.

By combining a scientific approach with personal assessments and excerpts from various published sources, Dr. Corey Butler analyzes Paul Morphy’s personality from a psychological perspective, through the Five-Factor model and its relevance to his chess play.

          GM Spiridon Kapnisis directs the spotlight on Morphy’s opening choices and his approach to this phase of the game. Morphy stands out as the pioneer of numerous ideas that future generations developed further by treading the same path to meet the requirements of contemporary play. In addition, GM Illia Nyzhnyk deals with Morphy’s middlegame technique, with clear agreement that his opening ideas are very closely linked to his superior understanding of concepts that his peers were unable to grasp. The common denominator in both these articles is Morphy’s dynamic play – gambit-like openings based on the sound principles of quick development and aggressive striving for the initiative, followed by virtually impeccable technique to punish even the slightest inaccuracy by the opponent.

          Morphy’s innovative concepts are usually assigned to his opening and middlegame play. However, his contribution to endgame technique is perhaps of even greater significance – as ACM endgame expert, GM Alex Fishbein, confirms by means of instructive examples of Morphy’s handling of unequal material, exemplary rook play, inventive zugzwang, and even study-like brilliance.

          As our tribute issue coincided with the release of The Real Paul Morphy by American FM Charles Hertan, we interviewed the author to learn about his personal perspective which has guided him throughout the writing process. In an exclusive interview, Hertan reveals how he came up with the idea of his book, which sources he used and what were the most striking novelties that he was able to reveal in his work.

          As a fresh viewpoint, we also reached out to FM Macon Shibut, the author of Paul Morphy and the Evolution of Chess Theory in 1993. Shibut details the impact of his book on a worldwide audience and its fascination with Morphy, whilst also expanding on his own previously published work.

          To round-up this ever-intriguing theme, a long-time admirer of Morphy and a respected book collector, Brian Karen reviews his five favorite books on Morphy’s life and games.

In addition to all the above material, we have added a selection of Morphy’s games and several chess problems that were composed in Morphy’s era. To complete our cover declarations, Ed Yetman provides explanations to help readers distinguish fact from fiction in his essay “Paul Morphy’s Christmas Present” which was published in American Chess Magazine issue #36.

          The most significant contemporary chess event has been the 45^th Chess Olympiad in Budapest. GM John Burke reports on the Open section in which the USA Open team eventually won silver thanks to Wesley So’s decisive victory in a last-round clash against China. Burke also reflects on the dominance of Team India and the performances of their striking duo, Gukesh and Erigaisi, as well as at the challenges that faced the world’s best players – most notably Carlsen’s defeat to Fedoseev.

          WIM Zoey Tang overviews the 2024 U.S. Girls’ Championship where 14-year-old Alice Lee successfully defended her title, despite a slow start to eventually finish half a point ahead of 15-year-old Rose Atwell. Both the winner and runner-up here share their insights on the tournament and their own future plans, in respective interviews conducted by Zoey.

          Since this event was held simultaneously with the U.S. Junior Championship and the U.S. Senior Championship, GM Sarunas Sulskis has dissected two more games won by the respective winners – Christopher Yoo and Vladimir Akopian.

FM Dylan McClain this time deals with goods and bads in planning and organizing major chess events. There are different challenges that require different solutions which places a great deal of responsibility on the organizers to maintain accessibility and visibility of their events in the future.

          For those who enjoy statistics, our Features Editor, FM Grayson Rorrer, has prepared an extensive overview of the most significant tournaments played in the U.S. over the past couple of months, as well as from tournaments abroad where American players were successful. Grayson’s work is enriched by several games he has personally annotated.

To conclude this issue, our guest in “5x5” is now a successful coach, after being a former member of the Greek national team for almost two decades, GM Stelios Halkias.