The Exploits and Triumphs, in Europe, of Paul Morphy, the Chess Champion Part 12

Our hero was now wavering, and the game was in my hands, he not at all sorry if I could win it. I had one final resource: a pretty little check-mate with a medical man and a certificate. The doctor, calling on our patient one day, learned from him that he was about returning home, whereupon he informed him that in the then state of his health a winter voyage across the Atlantic was not precisely beneficial, and wrote his opinion accordingly. This I took, and inclosed with other matter to his friends in New Orleans, and Morphy seeing no way out of the difficulty, ultimately surrendered, and I had the satisfaction of hearing him declare that he should pa.s.s the winter in Paris. There was only one person dissatisfied with this. Meeting Harrwitz shortly after, I informed him with a benignant smile, "You will be happy to hear that Morphy has decided to pa.s.s a few months longer here." Harrwitz replied, with a smile that was not benignant, "Then Mr. Morphy _is not a man of his word_."

CHAPTER XV.

MORPHY AND ANDERSSEN.

The first week in December, Monsieur de Riviere received a communication from Herr Anderssen, announcing his approaching arrival in Paris. A week prior to this Morphy had been laid up in bed with a severe illness. The rigors of a first winter in northern climates had told upon him, and I feared much for the result. He was leeched, and lost a great quant.i.ty of blood--I told him three or four pints; to which he replied, "Then there's only a quart left." He was kept very low during a fortnight, and having to lift him out of bed only four days before the match with the great Prussian master, I found him too weak to stand upon his legs, although in bed he did not feel so helpless. For two months he had had an antipathy to chess, and I had experienced the greatest difficulty in inducing him to go to the Regence at all. When I would ask him at breakfast what he was going to do with himself during the day, his immediate reply would be, "I am not going to the Regence," and he declined invitations if he thought he should be obliged to play chess.

When I brought him the news that Anderssen had left Breslau, Herr Mayet having written me to that effect, Morphy said to me, "I have a positive chess fever coming over me. Give me the board and pieces, and I'll show you some of Anderssen's games." And with his astounding memory, he gave me battle after battle with different adversaries, variations and all. How he dilated on a certain game between him and Dufresne, in which, though under the mate, he first of all sacrifices his Queen, and after seven or eight moves forces his opponent to resign. "There," said Morphy, "that shows the master."

What wonderment he has caused with his omnipotent memory! I have seen him sit for hours at the Divan and the Regence, playing over, not merely his own battles, but the contests of others, till the spectators could scarcely believe their senses. It will be remembered by many of my readers, that when Mr. Staunton published the eight blindfold games played at Birmingham, he omitted some twenty or thirty of the concluding moves in the game with the Rev. Mr. Salmon. When we had been two months in Paris, Herr Lowenthal wrote me to request that I would forward him the remaining moves, as there was a desire to have the _partie_ complete. It was nearly midnight, and Morphy had gone into his bedroom after dictating me some games played during the day, and, mindful of Herr L.'s request, I called to him, asking whether he was coming back, when he replied that he was already in bed. I said I should be obliged if he would let me bring him a board and light, in order that he might dictate me the required moves, when he answered "There's no necessity for that: read me over what Staunton published, and I'll give you the remainder." He called over the omitted moves as fast as I could write them down.

Going into Morphy's bedroom one morning at ten o'clock, whom should I find sitting there but Herr Anderssen? He had arrived by a late train the night previous, and his first visit was to his young challenger, whom he was indeed sorry to find ill in bed, especially as his absence from Breslau was limited to two weeks. Morphy a.s.sured him that he should be well enough to play the following week; but Anderssen replied that he should not like to commence a match until Morphy was in a fit state to undergo the fatigue. They then agreed that the match should consist of thirteen games; in other words, he should be victor who first scored seven; and, as neither of them desired any stake but honor, the preliminaries were quickly arranged. From that we got to talking on various subjects, and Anderssen informed us, greatly to our surprise, that the German papers had published a statement to this effect: "Mr. Morphy has finally decided on remaining in Europe until spring, in consequence of the pressing solicitations of his friend, Herr Harrwitz." How we roared!

This was Anderssen's first visit to the French metropolis, and I immediately offered to show him some of the lions. So forth we sallied. He was desirous of going to the Regence; but two hours would elapse before anybody would be there, and in the mean time he could see a few public buildings. The first place I took him to was, of course, the Louvre, and, as it had rained copiously the night before, I walked him across the _Place du Carrousel_, in order to soil his boots with the mud. Most of his attention was taken up with keeping that portion of his attire clean; but, when that had become no longer possible, his leisure was entirely devoted to sight-seeing. Of course, we could not altogether avoid talking about the main object of his visit; he told me he had only seen a few of Morphy's games, and asked me what was the opinion of the Regence in reference to his style of play. I replied that it was the opposite of what they thought in England and America, characterizing it as sound rather than brilliant; but that there was a reason for this, inasmuch as the French players persisted in playing close openings. He replied, "No wonder; no man would willingly expose himself to Morphy's thundering attacks," [attaques foudroyantes.]

On returning to the Regence, we found Harrwitz, who, by-the-bye, is a fellow-townsman of Anderssen, and they were at the same school together.

The latter knew that Harrwitz stated that he beat him the majority of games, and he was most desirous of proving the fallacy of the a.s.sertion, and immediately proposed an encounter. This was accepted, and out of six games, played on five different occasions, Anderssen won three, Harrwitz one, and two were drawn. After that, little doubt existed as to which was the stronger player, and when, just before leaving Paris, Anderssen was complimented on this result, he said, "Oh, there is but one Morphy in the world."

On the day of Anderssen's arrival, Morphy told his medical adviser that he must get him well enough to commence the match on the following Monday.

The doctor said it all depended upon his feeling sufficiently strong to undergo the fatigue, when his patient replied, that what he feared was a hard battle exhausting him too much to continue the struggle next day. On the doctor's advice, he consented to play the match in the hotel, so as not to undergo the fatigue of moving, and it was arranged that only such as were specially invited should be present, but that the moves should be forwarded every half-hour to the Regence.

The Sat.u.r.day before the commencement of the match, Harrwitz performed his feat of playing eight blindfold games simultaneously at the rooms of the Cercle, only subscribers of five francs or upwards being admitted. Herr Harrwitz had fixed upon seven o'clock in the evening as the time for commencing; and I, like many others, had advised him to choose an earlier hour, or he would not get through till long past midnight. He replied that he should finish in from four to five hours; "he knew this positively because he had been rehearsing for the occasion;" but the result proved how much he was mistaken, as he did not get through till near sunrise. His antagonists were mainly rook or rook and knight players, Signor Preti, the weakest of Morphy's blindfold opponents, being incomparably the strongest.

Herr Anderssen, who was present, a.s.sured me that many of the players left pieces _en prise_, as though designedly, and that, beyond the fact of seeing the boards in his mind's eye, Harrwitz proved nothing by his exertions. The strangest affair in connection with this display is, that although Harrwitz edited a chess column in the _Monde Ill.u.s.tre_ he never gave a single one of his blindfold games, nor would he permit any to be made public.

Mr. Harrwitz was perfectly in his right mind when endeavoring to emulate Paul Morphy. But the folks at the Regence ridiculed what they called aping his superior, and many were the squibs got off at his expense. One, the most popular of all, was as follows:--

"Tu veux singer Morphy, joueur phenomenal; Jeune imprudent, tu forces ta nature.

En vain tu te poses en original, Tu n'en es que la caricature."

In plain English prose--"You wish to ape Morphy, the phenomenon; imprudent young man, you strain yourself. It is useless to put yourself forward as an original; you are merely a caricature."--Not complimentary, certainly.

On Monday morning, I got Morphy out of bed for the first time since his illness, and, at noon, a.s.sisted him into the room where the match was to come off. No time was lost in getting to work, and, within five minutes of his entering, as many moves had been played. Our hero had first move, and ventured the Evans' gambit, which he lost after seven hours' fighting, and upwards of seventy moves. I noticed that he was restless throughout the contest, which was only to be expected after having been so long in bed, and without nourishment.

Morphy was charmed with Anderssen's defence throughout, and has frequently cited it as an admirably conducted strategy. It proved to him that the Evans' is indubitably a lost game for the first player, if the defence be carefully played; inasmuch as the former can never recover the gambit p.a.w.n, and the position supposed to be acquired at the outset, cannot be maintained.

He did not appear much fatigued after his exertions, and next morning he had visibly improved in appearance. Anderssen, now having the move, played out his king's p.a.w.n and knight, and Morphy supposed he too was going to have a turn at the Evans'. No such thing; he played that disgusting arrangement, the Ruy Lopez; but it only came to a drawn game, our hero believing he himself could have won it, had he played properly at the end.

The third day, Morphy looked himself again, his complexion being clear, and his eyes sparkling with all their Creole brilliancy. He thought he should like to have a turn at the Ruy Lopez also, and dashed away at such a furious rate, that Anderssen resigned in a few minutes over the hour, some twenty-one moves having been played. Anderssen immediately asked if he would commence another game forthwith, and Morphy consented; this fourth contest being also a Ruy Lopez, but ending likewise in the discomfiture of the Prussian champion. And this _partie_ was the last we saw of R. L. during the struggle.

Morphy now scored the fifth, sixth, and seventh games, thus having won five consecutively. The eighth was a draw; the ninth he carried off in seventeen moves; the tenth, played immediately after, Anderssen marked in seventy-seven. As the Professor was leaving, he said to me in his quiet, funny way, "Mr. Morphy wins his games in Seventeen moves, and I in Seventy. But that is only natural." The eleventh _partie_ Morphy scored, thus winning the match; having only lost two games and drawn two.

Immediately after each day's play, Herr Anderssen would walk straight to the Regence for the purpose of expediting reports of the same to his friends in Leipsic and Berlin. There were always crowds to meet him, and to a.s.sure him he could have won, and ought not to have lost; but the Professor smiled at them incredulously. I have heard him tell them, "Dites cela a M. Morphy," (Tell that to Mr. Morphy,) over and over again. One individual, who from the beginning, had questioned Morphy's superiority,--though he had been beaten by him in the proportion of 7 to 1--told the Professor in the presence of a crowd of amateurs: "You are not playing any thing like as well as with Dufresne."--"No," replied Anderssen, "Morphy won't let me;" and he added, "It is no use struggling against him; he is like a piece of machinery which is sure to come to a certain conclusion." On another occasion he said: "Mr. Morphy always plays, not merely the best, but the very best move, and if we play the move only approximatively correct, we are sure to lose. n.o.body can hope to gain more than a game, now and then, from him." And, in reply to a question of Monsieur de Riviere, he said in my hearing: "It is impossible to play chess better than Mr. Morphy; if there be any difference in strength between him and Labourdonnais, it is in his favor."

I have never seen a n.o.bler-hearted gentleman than Herr Anderssen. He would sit at the board, examining the frightful positions into which Morphy had forced him, until his whole face was radiant with admiration of his antagonist's strategy, and, positively laughing outright, he would commence resetting the pieces for another game, without a remark. I never heard him make a single observation to Morphy complimentary of his skill; but, to others, he was loud in admiration of the young American.

After the match was over, the two antagonists played six off-hand games, all gambits, Anderssen winning one, and Morphy five. These also came off at the Hotel Breteuil, and were rattled away inside of three hours.

The gallery of spectators who witnessed this great contest between the champions of the Old World and the New, was select, if not numerous. There were present, almost constantly, Saint Amant, De Riviere, Journoud, Carlini, Preti, Grosboulogne, Lequesne, and one or two others, and amongst the occasional visitors were Counts Casabianca and Bastorot, M. Devinck, the Paris correspondent of the N. Y. Times, and any of our hero's countrymen who desired to be present. One night, after the day's battle was over, Morphy and I were sitting in our room, chatting together, when an immense stranger appeared and announced himself as follows: "I am Prince Galitzin; I wish to see Mr. Morphy." Morphy looked up from a fauteuil in which he was buried, and replied, "I am he." The Prince answered, "It is not possible! you're too young;" and then he seated himself by Morphy's side and told him, "I first heard of your wonderful deeds on the frontiers of Siberia. 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." And he told our hero that he must pay a visit to St. Petersburg; for the chess club in the Imperial Palace would receive him with enthusiasm. I did not hear Morphy promise to go, however.

But to return to Anderssen. The Professor came and went away in a hurry, his vacations only lasting two weeks. As he wished us good-bye, he said slyly to Morphy, "They won't be pleased with me at Berlin, but I shall tell them, 'Mr. Morphy will come here.'"

After the conclusion of the match, I pointed out to Herr Anderssen certain remarks on his play in the _Ill.u.s.trated London News_, in which the writer observed, "This is not the play of the victor of the Tournament of '51."

He replied--"Oh, we know Mr. Staunton; in 1851 his opinions of my play were not very high, and he lost not by my skill, but because he was ill.

Mr. Staunton always has two meanings, one which he writes, and one which he keeps to himself."

[Ill.u.s.tration: MR. LEWIS. MR. GEORGE WALKER. MR. MONGREDIEU.]

CHAPTER XVI.

MORPHY AND MONGREDIEU.

After Anderssen's departure, Paul Morphy declared he would play no more even matches, and, certainly, his resolve was justified by the unheard-of manner in which he had walked over all opponents. There are but two players who do not confess the inutility of contending against him on even terms--Messrs. Staunton and Harrwitz--but then the former would not fight, and the latter fought and ran away, so that their opinions, with regard to themselves and Morphy, are somewhat damaged by circ.u.mstances. The opinions of these two gentlemen are, in fact, peculiar one towards the other; Mr.

Harrwitz declaring that he can give Mr. Staunton the odds of p.a.w.n and move; and Mr. S., that he also can afford the same advantage to the Prussian player. But no man in his senses believes either of them.

Morphy now determined to offer the p.a.w.n and move to Herr Harrwitz, and forthwith challenged him to the contest, but the latter respectfully declined, on the grounds that he considered himself quite as good a player as his challenger. Modest, was it not? especially just after their late match, and the _sauve qui peut_ manner in which the Prussian had shown his heels before its conclusion? Morphy felt so much desire to play this proposed match, that he even offered to find stakes to back his antagonist, but all to no purpose. One or two croakers expressed their opinion that Morphy would scarcely get a game if the affair came off, when our hero replied--"If I do not beat him, he will at all events have to work hard for the odd game."

Harrwitz having declined all further risk, there now remained little to be accomplished, and Morphy forsook the Regence and seemed to have taken a positive aversion to chess. There was, however, one more adversary to be overcome; one, who, like Anderssen, sought out our hero in the French capital, and threw down his gauntlet, which was immediately taken up. Mr.

Mongredieu, the President of the London Chess Club, made the journey to Paris expressly to remind Paul Morphy that before his departure from England, he had promised to play a match with him, and he now announced himself as ready for the encounter. Mr. Mongredieu had no idea of vanquis.h.i.+ng his youthful foe, but in addition to the pleasure of a tilt with him, he was desirous of seeing by how much Morphy could beat him.

The contest came off at Mr. Mongredieu's rooms in the Hotel du Louvre, Messrs. St. Amant and De Riviere being the only strangers present. The first game admirably played by Mr. M. resulted in a draw, and then Morphy scored seven _parties_ one after the other, which const.i.tuted him victor.

The third game, beautifully managed throughout by Mr. Mongredieu, slipped from his grasp after nine or ten hours' struggle; because of his not playing _the very best move_, Morphy stepped in at the lucky moment and the day was his. I can easily understand that Mr. Mongredieu was exhausted after so many hours' intense application; Morphy never tires, and no amount of continuous sitting will ever influence his play. I have seen him sit down, in New York, at 9 A. M., and beat one antagonist after another until past midnight, for many successive days, yet without weakening his play in the least; and when Paulsen would take half an hour on a move, an hour over the succeeding one, and on a certain occasion reached the unparalleled limit of two hours, Morphy sat calmly looking on, without the slightest evidence of impatience. Before Mr. Staunton declined Morphy's challenge, I was frequently amused by gentlemen who knew the former well, but knew little of the latter, expressing the opinion that the English player would tire out his youthful challenger, and win by playing "a waiting game." I laughed heartily at their fears, for I knew Morphy could sit out Staunton and the late Mr. Williams one after the other. And I think my readers must also be satisfied of this, remembering Morphy's _ten hours' blindfold play at Paris, without taking even a gla.s.s of water, and in bodily pain, too_.

CHAPTER XVII.

TROPHIES.

And now that the battles are over, and the campaigns of this "Attila the destroyer" concluded, let us count the killed and wounded.

IN ENGLAND.

MATCH GAMES (EVEN.)

Morphy, 9. Lowenthal, 3. Drawn, 3.

p.a.w.n AND MOVE.

Morphy, 5. Rev. J. Owen (Alter), 0. Drawn, 2.