FM Charles Hertan on Paul Morphy's Underappreciated Brilliance & Unfortunate Late-life Struggles

[@mikhails5483]

Ben, I love your podcast and listen to every episode. But can you please fix the paintings behind you? They have been misaligned for quite some time now. LOL

[@lastsonofkrypton3918]

I recall a Bobby Fischer interview where he replied to the effect when asked who was the greatest chess player was he replied if he excluded himself for conflict of interest, Paul Morphy had the most natural talent for chess in history.

[@MrSupernova111]

Fascinating! So, if Morphy went to college and had no chess board but had chess books then he must have learned to read them blindfold. That might explain his extraordinary rise! It sounds to me like Morphy might have been an accidental genius. Unreal! I actually bought this book when it was released but I have it on hold until I finish another book that I'm working on. Can't wait read it. Thanks!

[@milankotevski1663]

Some of Morphy's blindfold simuls ( yes, you read that right), were filled with such mind blowing tactical combinations, that you just can't help, but admire his chess prowess. Morphy is at least as good as Fsicher, Carlsen etc. We just have to put things in historcial context. It is pointless to compare players of different eras directly to each other, just like it's pointless to compare, say, race cars from different eras.

[@solomonherskowitz]

The goat of all goats

[@Johnhoward4794]

Charles Hertan is an amazing chess teacher and author. His book “Forcing Chess Moves” has beautiful calculation problems that were expertly picked in a way to help the reader see new chess patterns that they didn’t before notice. You know if you’re buying his books you’re buying something of top tier quality. Truly amazing author.

[@davidblue819]

Another reason Morphy's talent isn't much appreciated now is that a lot of it was displayed in odds games. Chess at odds has died completely. That kind of game is not even thought about.

[@milankotevski1663]

You can't blame Morphy for being significantly stronger than his opponents. It just confirms the fact that he was on another level.