Paul Morphy: A Modern Perspective

by Valeri Beim

In 1857, a soft-spoken genius from New Orleans burst upon the chess scene. Paul Morphy dazzled the chess world with breathtaking combinations that seemed to arise from thin air. In his brief chess career, he was universally recognized as the best in the world. International grandmaster Valeri Beim takes a close look at the play of the mid-19th century champion, putting his games under a modern, 21st-century analytical microscope. The result is a fresh and instructive look at the strategy and tactics of the American legend, and their relevance to the modern approach to the royal game. It is a very interesting book and may well change the reader’s preconceived ideas in the same way. Game annotations are the main component but there is also background information on Morphy. -- John Saunders, British Chess Magazine, October 2005

Genres: Chess

164 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2006

Reviews

[Alberto · Rating 3 out of 5]

Beim doesn't seem to have much to say about Morphy, despite the lofty introduction. His analysis is uninspired and unoriginal, sometimes lifting entire games from Kasparov's book. His comments on Morphy's play are banal and repeated ad nauseam. Yes, we get it, Morphy's relative weakness was static features of play such as pawn structures. You can only say that so many times.

[Nickvisel · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a decent collection of games from Paul Morphy, arranged in chronological order and in two parts. The first part covers Morphy's career in America. The second part covers Morphy's tour of Europe.

The point of this book is to give a critical view of Morphy's play from the perspective of a modern-age grandmaster, so it's not as much a tour of Morphy's "best hits" as it is a look at how Morphy triumphed over his opponents, and also his limitations.

This was my first Morphy game collection book, but I'm not sure it should have been. The analysis is very thick, and Beim profusely quotes Kasparov's infamous very-computer-heavy lines from "My Great Predecessors". It's not that I think earlier players (especially of the Romantic era of Chess) are above criticism, just that I think sometimes this criticism misses the point from a historical perspective. The fact that Morphy played like he did with competition like he had makes it inexplicable how he became so strong, but this book seems to miss the point.

I do think the games themselves, however, are very good and instructive, and there are some worthwhile critiques to take away -- you can really see the gap between Morphy as the premier positional exponent of the Romantic School and what would come later from Steinitz. Morphy disrespects pawns a lot, and his plans in closed positions were rather limited to full frontal assaults ASAP: in this sense he definitely represents the worst impulses of players who have learned from the Open Game to rely on tactics to solve all problems immediately.

I still think this is a worthwhile read, but the level of analysis is rather dense for any neophyte trying to distill actual lessons from Morphy's play for the first time. I wouldn't read this unless you're around 1600 USCF or chesscom (maybe 1800 lichess). If you're under that, find something else. First Book of Morphy is one suggestion. Morphy: Move by Move, might be another.

[Robert · Rating 5 out of 5]

The author's of beginner's book like to use Morphy's game for their instructional value. GM Valeri Beim shows that Morphy is also a very interesting player to analyze, even at the GM-level. Instead of writing just another book packed only with Morphy's spectacular victories, Beim is not reluctant to analyze some of Mophy's defeats. One of them happened after the next weird opening moves (Morphy vs Barnes): 1. e4 f6?! 2. d4 e6 3. Bd3 (much better was 3 c4!) 3...Ne7 4. Be3 d5. After missing some nice opportunities White resigned at move 50. What to say, everybody can have a bad day.
All in all, although this book contains only 63 games (compared to typical 100-games collection-books), Beim has probably written the most important book about the legendary American player.