Paul Morphy: Part 2, Lecture by GM Ben Finegold

Check out Ben's Chessable courses here! www.chessable.com/author/BenF... Part 2 of 4 of the Paul Morphy Lecture Series by GM Ben Finegold. This lecture focuses on four of Morphy's games playing the Evan's Gambit.
Living before chess had a formal world championship, Morphy was widely acknowledged to be the greatest chess master of his era. He won the tournament of the First American Chess Congress of 1857, winning matches with each opponent by lopsided margins.
02:30 - Paul Morphy - Theodore Lichtenhein, New York 1857
12:56 - Paul Morphy - Johann Löewenthal, London 1859
20:13 - Paul Morphy - Jules de Rivière, Paris 1863
28:08 - James McConnell - Paul Morphy, New Orleans 1852
35:35 - Augustus Mongredien - Paul Morphy, Match 1859
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[@CokeVoAYCE]

can we give a second to recognize bill wei. this series was much more exciting than i thought it would be. good idea to sponsor this

[@emericgarcia9325]

Thanks daddy.

[@MrSupernova111]

Sounds to me like you just begging for likes.

[@vigilante8374]

I wonder how much money one would need to give Ben to get him to stand up, strike a pose and yell "it's Morphy time!" every time he has a winning mating attack.

[@diamondhyena5631]

Majority of it would be to get him to stand up

[@thomasghanem867]

Get up Ben! But stay there

[@robert6533]

If GM Finegold sees this comment, you're gonna have to pay him to stop him from doing that.

[@vigilante8374]

@@robert6533 I was gonna ask if he's ever even seen an episode of the Power Rangers but given Spencer's age, the answer is probably yes.

[@FlourescentPotato]

It's Morphin time

[@RW-xf6wh]

It's a shame that Paul Morphy is not considered to be the first world champion instead of Steinitz, because he sure was considered to be the world champion in his time. In the US, UK, and France, he was hailed as the "champion of the world" in all the newspapers. Esp., considering that there was nothing "official" about Steinitz beating Zukertort in 1886. Steinitz is simply a self-proclaimed world champion and everybody still buys into it today. In fact, Steinitz had already beaten Zukertort in a match in 1872, but he didn't consider himself world champion because Morphy, albeit retired from chess, was still considered to be the best player in the world (even by Steinitz himself). The reason Steinitz finally thought it appropriate to call himself world champion after his second match win against Zukertort in 1886 was because it was after Morphy's death in 1884. That's the true story.

[@timothysoar1321]

Hi And now we should just be happy we have a new Chinese World Champion, even though Carlsen sits undefeated

[@user-yc3tf4wz2x]

@@timothysoar1321 yea congrats on Ding

[@JimmyLundberg]

"During his 1850 visit to New Orleans, Löwenthal played Paul Morphy on two separate occasions, losing a total of three games straight. He was one of the first masters to play a match against Morphy after the latter's arrival in London in 1858. Morphy won with a score of nine wins, three losses, and two draws. "...I am convinced that I was vanquished by superior strength," Löwenthal said about the match, as reported by an English writer named Frederick Edge, who wrote extensively about Morphy and other famous players in a book called The Exploits and Triumphs, in Europe, of Paul Morphy, the Chess Champion. No doubt aware that chess was Löwenthal's only source of livelihood, and conscious to not be considered a professional player himself, Morphy, after winning the match stakes of £100, presented Löwenthal with a gift of furniture valued at £120 for his new house." - Wikipedia

[@griffinbur1118]

That’s a true class act.

[@12jswilson]

​@@griffinbur1118 it was also for religious reasons. It was viewed by Morphy and his family as gambling, which was prohibited. So he never kept any of his winnings. He donated it or gave it back in some way.

[@RingsLoreMaster]

I think all super GMs should read that and donate anywhere from 25 to 80 percent of their salary. Some of them get paid enough to donate 80%.

[@danjeory3659]

My goodness. That's actually astonishing generosity. Just to put it in context, £120 is worth around £20,000 today.

[@Eidenhoek]

"Here's a chair because you need to sit the **** down."

[@coachmcguirk6297]

Everyone is trying to compare him to modern contemporaries but if he were born in 2014 Paul Morphy would have quit chess by age 6 and would be a full time minecraft streamer by age 9.

[@cf2851]

Or maybe he would be a chess player because practicing law is unbecoming of a gentleman? 🤔

[@natalieharris3869]

You know who doesn't think Morphy is a 2000 player? Literally any 2000 player who looks at his games. Morphy would crush us all so hard lol

[@MrSupernova111]

I was thinking the same. I'm probably about 2100 OTB (2300 online) and I might find some of those beautiful sacrifices on occasion but surely not with the consistency that Morphy found beautiful sacrifices and combinations. Anyone who thinks Morphy was a 2000 (OTB) player is delusional.

[@robertomariani626]

Indeed, and a thing people underestimate is that they say most GM nowadays would beat him because they know more theory etc., but it's wrong to compare morphy with what he knew in the 1850 with what the best players know in 2023: if morphy had the opportunities with technology and such that people have now, he would be even stronger and potentially could match or beat carlsen, hard to say because there's quite some gap between the level he was able to achieve back then and what he could have achieved now.

[@kevinmalone3210]

​@@robertomariani626I thought the same, Morphy today would've been in the top 10 of all chess players if he was given the assistance of computers and human coaches from an early age.

[@askthepizzaguy]

Man, Morphy's games are like the origin of all of Ben's rules. It's almost like Ben studied Morphy a lot and all the stuff Morphy did was really good and Ben learned how to sum up Morphy's genius in one-liners that are jokes, but also true most of the time.

[@glenncooper3524]

I think you may be on to something. Morphy was epic and his chess was too. Ben sees how extraordinary Morphy was. Ppl like to say Morphy wasn't as good as he was. He didn't always play the best moves but he played alot of ppl that weren't very good and he wouldn't think as hard against them. If he were alive today it wouldn't take long for him to see and study up to today's level and be even more epic.

[@mauer1]

@@glenncooper3524 he had fun playing chess. thats why he stopped. but just winning long boring games against his friends or people that brag about their strength is boring. gotta destroy them fast.

[@gmatsue84]

Did Morphy always played bishop f1? Did Morphy always play Kb1? You just got the basics of chess as it is today and which became standard in the 100 years or so before Ben was born and he learned from this father, then noticed Morphy was already doing that before everybody else. Most likely, he read somewhere that Morphy did it.

[@KancerKowboy]

Looking at Morphy Games in the 1980s was what got me hooked on chess. I still suck but love the game and respect the old school approach to the game.

[@chanky1000]

Find yourself someone who loves you as much as Ben loves Morphy - seriously though, my favorite Ben videos are his morphy ones - they're both fun and educational

[@beethoven4ever]

"If my student plays G4, I'd quit teaching. Guess what: I quit teaching." Hilarious!

[@granthallee1953]

This Morphy series is amazing!

[@RingsLoreMaster]

Morphy, as with Fisher, was both a genius on the board and psychologically crippled at a very young age. His story is a very sad one.

[@user-ts2co4ov5h]

Some 10 years ago chess life magazine used Rybka 3 to analyze 20 best games of famous players after the opening....as far as ACCURACY ,Morphy was #1, followed by Capablanca and Fischer....Fischer once said in 1964 that Morphy was the most ACCURATE player that ever lived...And he was right

[@Puschit1]

I don't like Fischer much but I'll give him that - he always acknowledges other great minds. And Fischer openly admits that Morphy could have been better than him. Now, that is class.

[@Blaisem]

That knight retreat against Lichtenhein was the cherry on top of a gorgeous mating net. God damn I didn't know Morphy was so good.

[@RingsLoreMaster]

That move you mentioned is indicative of super world class board awareness.

[@MrSupernova111]

The crazy thing is that Morphy had to find those combinations in advance to justify his sacrifices. Truly spectacular!

[@Gush27]

I could watch Ben talk about Paul Morphy for days.

[@Sevenigma777]

People should respect the mid to late 1800s chess world because imo it was the last time pure chess was played at a high level. The early 1900s were ravaged by one disaster after another that took more than a half of century to recover going right into the age of the computer. Those late 1800 games was the last high calibur chess environment where it was calculated all by a human

[@twistedsilver01]

Fun fact about Johann Löewenthal, he invented the standard vertical chess teaching board that most chess teachers use if they don't have a digital display, which is the only other thing I know about him outside of his Morphy anecdotes.

[@JimmyLundberg]

That's cool! I assume he pioneered the Löwenthal variation of the Sicilian. 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 e5 It's a pretty clever defense if your only concern is having a pawn on e5 (because white always has a pawn on e4 but often meets 1...e5 with an eventual d4). And I guess that's pretty much how deep your opening theory needed to be in the 1800s.

[@zackarysemancik5491]

​@@JimmyLundberg this is a common misconception! It was actually pioneered by Mr Sicilian and Mr Variation!

[@pschneider1968]

Morphy's games are just amazing. This man was a genius!

[@kevinmalone3210]

I only looked at one of Morphy's game, which was the opera house game, where he played against two members of European royalty, a Duke and a Count at the same time, and wiped them off the board in a pretty impressive style.

[@askthepizzaguy]

That bishop and those knights around black's king in the first game were basically worth more than black's queen and rook. They were on some prime real estate, and those major pieces black was defending with were little more than meat shields. Piece value sure does fluctuate depending on where the pieces are.

[@a_doggo]

Absolutely fantastic lecture about my absolute favorite player. Thanks Ben, this is awesome!

[@timothysoar1321]

I never grow tired of Morphy

[@Compassiron1]

Dear Ben. I personally would watch this content more than recaps etx. Levy, Agad etx all do that but i love the lectures and stories of great players and great games. Even if you’ve done them before..: I think this content is your forte and niche

[@Michelt007]

Ben is at his best when showing Morphy's games!

[@AG-ld6rv]

Morphy would definitely be at a minimum a strong GM if he played these days - likely a 2700-2800 one in fact. I recall one time you said you showed a Morphy tactic to a room of 2000 Elo players and no one saw it. It was some kind of knight sacrifice resulting, as always, in a swift checkmate.

[@user-yc3tf4wz2x]

Morphy be making half of chess puzzles

[@kevinmalone3210]

If Morphy would've also gotten coaching from computers, and also from human players at an early age, who knows, he may have ended up becoming world champion. The guy was brilliant when playing chess.

[@Sevenigma777]

Out of all the dream matches one could have in chess Morphy vs Fischer would be the ultimate

[@iamrichaf1616]

That was an amazing session!

[@JimmyLundberg]

Yay! Part deux is here! Go Ben!

[@MrSupernova111]

Phenomenal games! Thanks!!

[@yosefcohen483]

Thank you, Bill and Ben.

[@joeysabourin1971]

Fantastic commentary!

[@olivershank4014]

Thanks Bill...

[@konigsrustung8115]

This series is great

[@jtdavis62]

Thanks, Ben! Thanks, Bill!

[@danjeory3659]

This is without doubt the best KZbin video on Paul Morphy's games in the Evans gambit I've seen this week.

[@davidbatchelder85]

Ben, you are so funny on how you explain all things. Amazing

[@eugenechadwell8557]

Thanks for the lecture! GO BEN! and etc. (mainly)

[@discoveryintothenatureofse9152]

If one studies Morphy's games along with Fischer seriously, one probably will not make any mistakes like blunders, and at the same time, one might become a very good chess player. Thank you GmFinegold for your valuable materials, you should keep on uploading lots of Morphy's games. The only Engine I can consider is Wasp650 which can help one study and analyze critical games.

[@RingsLoreMaster]

In what way is Wasp360 Superior to shredder? I hope it's not as expensive. At least, shredder has the reputation of being expensive.

[@Puschit1]

Don't underestimate my ability to blunder

[@andress4780]

why wasp over stockfish?

[@LiamHdProductions]

Great video

[@paulgreen7906]

Morphy is the greatest player. He was a genius. To all those GMs who have engines and an extra 150 years of theory...bring Morphy to now let him study the theory and use engines. Then on a level playing field play...casual of course. Morphy would obliterate them. Yes even Magnus. Morphy would be the first human over 3000 rated. Here endth the lesson.

[@Puschit1]

Not Magnus. He might ultimately win a duel but he would certainly not "obliterate" him. For one, Magnus just stopped being world champion because he was basically bored with his competitors. But if he faced Morphy, he would know it'll be a true challenge and his thirst would be reignited. More importantly, Magnus is a beast regarding endgames and endurance. Morphy on the other hand used to calculate quickly and make his moves quickly. He was always annoyed by the rules of the time without no time limits and he occasionally made mistakes because of that. He still won so much because it was sufficient against his contemporaries. But playing Magnus is like playing a relentless machine. Maybe Morphy would do well against him in Blitz but in Classic?

[@user-yc3tf4wz2x]

@@Puschit1 Morphy would be asleep in classical

[@user-yc3tf4wz2x]

@@Puschit1 but to be fair, Morphy was good enough without an engine, now with an engine thats a different story, he would learn modern ideas and overall refine his play.

[@Puschit1]

@@user-yc3tf4wz2x maybe. Or maybe he was already close to his peak and wouldn't learn much from engines because he was already close to them.

[@jamesnix4556]

Thank you for this lecture.... thank you for the sponsor.... just thanks.... Fischer said Paul Morphy could beat anybody anywhere anytime....I believe him....these lectures show it and prove it....I think Morphy would love to play Alekhine Capablanca Fischer Carlsen.... Morphy is like 30.... while the rest of the world is 8..... thank you again for your time and entertainment

[@trelospanakispanakoturopit6294]

Working on our k(night) moves ;).well played sir

[@josefserf1926]

No one played like Morphy because no one could.

[@caesarsailor4051]

Hooray for Deux, and Ben!

[@petrutarabuta5617]

Thanks GM Finegold, and Bill Wei for sponsoring! Extremely instructive. GM Finegold's lectures, and the section about Morphy in Kasparov's My Great Predecessors Part I book, convinced me that Morphy was a supertalent and would have been one of the best players in the world today, if not the best, given time (maybe a year or two) to learn and familiarise himself with all the opening and endgame theory developments. I believe that if brought back to life today, with no time to familiarise himself with the latest developments, Morphy would have been strong enough to achieve the GM title today. Like GM Finegold mentioned in Part 1 of this lecture series, Morphy would have likely clearly defeated Steinitz, the first official world champion. Morphy defeated middle-aged Adolf Andersen much more clearly than Steinitz defeated a much older Andersen.

[@jeffreyfisher3115]

“Thinking about it” is the first step to trying

[@rickdynes]

maybe the best series on KZbin

[@DarkSideChess]

I'm pretty sure Morphy was just an average patzer who travelled from the future and had an engine on him.

[@tellahsage6477]

lmao

[@pnutbutrncrackers]

"Dancing Queen" is a GREAT name for that game against de Rivière. Come on, Ben, give 'em some props. That's clever!👸 BTW, for what it's worth, Wikipedia states that de Rivière was THE strongest French chess player from the late 1850's through the late 1870's.

[@NelsonBoy2734]

Go Ben Love Morphy!! and I can't wait to see the rest of the lecture series.

[@user-or1vh5wf5j]

Genius!

[@askthepizzaguy]

The last time I was this early I got Scholar's Mated.

[@sarcastaball]

That's actually quite funny

[@danielgautreau161]

At 18:55 many players would grab the pawn : Rxg7, which might win, but Morphy played the best Ra7, indirectly protecting the pawn on e4, as you said.

[@ofurhieraphael7633]

"pretending to take the bishop because pretending is fun" 😂

[@davidbatchelder85]

Thank you Bill Way, thank you May Jesus bless your entire family, Amen

[@monkeygrip2412]

I love Paul Morphy!

[@ryleyspencer822]

Poison pawn is my new favorite term

[@951genni]

Paul Morphy reminds me of me except for one thing

[@_nemo174]

Frankly, terrible.

[@user-wj8nb3nc5d]

when he said "in case you just started the lesson 5 seconds ago, which is unlikely but possible" well, it happened to me, I started it 5 secs before

[@user-yn9jg1lc2q]

Mr. Finegold I really enjoy your commentary and content. Especially the Bob Seager reference "he's working on his knight moves". Thank you for the entertaining and educational content, from a WANNA BE Chess player

[@streifffaro6227]

13:01 the name is Johann Löwenthal or Johann Loewenthal

[@peterstans]

In the last game, the opponent has to move his queen around. Morphy makes one queen move and the opponent resigns😄

[@TheNameOfJesus]

Ben, @6:12 - that's thinking outside the barks.

[@letsmakeit110]

Augustus Mongredien gotDAMN did men have some proper names back then.

[@DarkSideChess]

Good NFL player name!

[@Sevenigma777]

That whole thing about Morphy's opponents not defending well is a bit of a hyperbole. Sure the game was played different 150 years ago way before computers but also ive seen many Morphy games where his opponent did defend correctly, not fall for traps but Morphy's ability to attack with so many pieces with so many back up plans that i think many games his offense was so great it made his opponent look like his defense was terrible.

[@pnutbutrncrackers]

26:07 -- LOL Reminds me of: "Bob Gibson is the luckiest guy in the world. Whenever he pitches the other team never scores any runs!"😂

[@BGM669]

I like the way his making justice to Paul Murphy 😂

[@BottleOfCoke]

The chair is not shaking. The truth does not hurt.

[@pawnpusher]

Maybe I'll start playing the Evans Gambit from now on.

[@roberthauck5546]

I'm curious when Ben said he likes his black knights on g6 and f6, if the white knights on g3 and f3 are used as often for similar attacks or defense? I've seen some white openings like that or I tried it some. I wonder whats the difference for black?

[@peterflom6878]

If Morphy was brought back to life and given a year with engines and databases, he might be 3000 strength in slow chess. I think only Fischer would be close

[@RingsLoreMaster]

Yo! Fisher stated that Morphy was the most accurate player in the history of chess. So one GM agrees with Ben. And I don't choose to argue with Robert James Fisher.

[@giriiyer3968]

And to think that Morphy wasn't even interested. Against de reviere,this was 1863. Morphy had stopped playing for almost four years then. He was in France during the civil war in 1863. You see after louisiana was sold to USA in 1805 his family was well connected to the high and mighty in France. He was most probably on a business trip to canvass support for the south army. But at the insistence of his good friend de reviere he played a match with him,rather reluctantly, I believe,and yet took de reviere to the cleaners. De rivieri was said to be the strongest player in France 1850-1870. The final score was, I believe 14-5 in morphy's favour. This,after he was out of chess for almost four years!!!! The g.o.a.t, what more can one say about Morphy.

[@RMF49]

Maybe Morphy’s world-level opponents play bad moves because they see they’re losing so they lash out with moves they know are bad in hopes of getting counter play. Even modern super GM’s often opt for that over passive defense.

[@Amer1kop]

“So he had a lot of family in New Orleans that played chess. *smacks lips* So that’s good.” Lmao

[@dank2476]

I wonder how much did Bill sponsor for the Morphy series.

[@mandotherapper2586]

lol this dude is the dryest lecturer on youtube but might be my new fave, just found him, late to the party🎉

[@johnsonbra2004]

This guys un love w pawl morpy

[@knightrider585]

Haha "Seize the defensive!"

[@salvadorsabateromero2258]

4:05

[@edboldt3769]

Mr. Finegold, I agree, Morphy is the greatest. The truth may lie in his losses. What did it take to beat him?? Maybe and idea for a lecture. You and I have a mutual friend btw

[@user-yc3tf4wz2x]

Morphy in one game blundered a draw cause he waited so long for his opponent he mixed up the move order

[@onionbud]

16:12 ln my life , it is the first time, i made an engine move faster than engine. Rb6 !!

[@salvadorsabateromero9707]

14:11

[@planezero]

"Where is my compensation .. is it on the floor?" 😂

[@broken1394]

Morphy the Rimbaud of Chess.

[@HT-xt4cn]

Morphy is a boss

[@GymChess]

Knife f5. Lol By the way, is it safe according to Dustin Hoffman?😅

[@thedilletante4401]

"Two knights beats two bishops only when it's morphy" is wrong. Ivanchuk did the same thing to Kasparov. Geniuses roll like that.

[@kantifields3916]

Morphy could dominate today playing Fischer Random chess.

[@humanrightsadvocate]

Checkmate ‒ when a king is in check and there are no legal moves. Stalemate ‒ when no king is in check and there are no legal moves. Forced move ‒ when there is only one legal move available. Only move ‒ when there are multiple legal moves available but only one of them is not losing. Losing move ‒ when a move favors the opponent.

[@yotoober1]

There goes Ben knocking us 2000+ "rated experts" again!! 🤣 It's all good fun and besides aren't "rated experts" better than 65-75% of all chess players?? Not too bad for a days work...😏

[@kapa1611]

👍👍👍

[@kmarasin]

According to records, it was possible for Morphy to lose. How? Someone out calculated him?

[@MattyNiceZM]

When is the Paul Morphy movie coming out?

[@RingsLoreMaster]

Have you read about the end of Morphy's life?

[@MattyNiceZM]

@@RingsLoreMaster it would make a great movie

[@ceejayarby1225]

When i feel like I've finally matured a bit... and then end up laughing when he says "penissimo" 😂 dammit...

[@danielszczypka6977]

Do Kramnik, he deserwe it.

[@kevinstrand4596]

I wonder if Morphy was relatively weak at endgames because he didn't get much practice in them, always mating his opponent in the middlegame lol

[@robertomariani626]

Definitely a good possibility

[@lollycopter]

If he can calculate so well in the middlegame, wouldn't he have also done exceptionally well with endgame calculation?

[@kevinmalone3210]

​@@lollycopterFor sure. This guy was a calculation machine when it came to chess.

[@lollycopter]

@@kevinmalone3210 Looks like Part 3 in this series covers some more endgame stuff.

[@Rubrickety]

I wonder what Morphy's endgame skills were like. He never seems to have an endgame to speak of.

[@Rubrickety]

Aaaand I learn why you shouldn't comment before you've watched the whole video. 😂

[@kennethkakande]

Have you watched the whole video?

[@pietekoo5559]

Why was he "obviously" born in New Orleans?

[@AG-ld6rv]

Thanks for donating knowledge to the world. The only thing that would be sweeter is if you used Lichess as well! Go free chess! For FREEDOM! I guess you do the next best thing and ruthlessly talk down to chessc employees. Corporate America, f the system, maaan.

[@rainerausdemspring3584]

Löwenthal, not Löewenthal.