Paul Morphy: Playing Style, Openings and Best Games
Paul Morphy of New Orleans was the strongest player of the 1850s and is often called the first unofficial world champion. His style was rapid development and open lines: he got his pieces out fast and attacked before his opponents were ready.
Who is Paul Morphy?
Morphy (1837–1884) won the first American Chess Congress in 1857, then travelled to Europe in 1858 and beat the leading players there, including Adolf Anderssen. He returned home in 1859 and soon gave up competitive chess, still in his early twenties.
Morphy's playing style
Morphy understood something his opponents did not: in open positions, the side with more pieces developed usually wins. He developed quickly, opened lines toward the enemy king, and finished games with clean combinations. Most of his ideas are now basic opening principles, which is why his games are still the best first lesson in attacking chess.
What to copy: develop every piece before you start an attack, and open lines when you are ahead in development.
Morphy's style shape
How strongly each skill shapes Morphy's play, 0 to 100. It shows style, not strength: Chess DNA compares the shape of your own 8 skills with this one.
Morphy's openings
He played the open games of his era: the Evans Gambit, the King's Gambit and other 1.e4 e5 lines. His most famous game was against the Philidor Defence.
Morphy's best games to study
Play through the Opera Game (1858) move by move on this site: the clearest demonstration of development beating material.
Do you play like Morphy?
Chess DNA reads your recent Chess.com or Lichess games, scores the same 8 skills shown above, and compares the shape of your play with all 12 champions. It is a style match, not a strength test: a 900 and a 2200 can both play like Morphy if they lean on the same skills.
The other champions: Magnus Carlsen · Garry Kasparov · Mikhail Tal · Tigran Petrosian · José Raúl Capablanca · Bobby Fischer · Anatoly Karpov · Hikaru Nakamura · Viswanathan Anand · Gukesh Dommaraju · R Praggnanandhaa.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Paul Morphy's Opera Game?
A short win in 1858 at the Paris opera against the Duke of Brunswick and Count Isouard. It is the classic example of fast development and an attack on an uncastled king.
Was Morphy a world champion?
There was no official title then, but he beat the best players of his time and is often called the unofficial world champion.
How do I find out if I play like Morphy?
Enter your Chess.com or Lichess username in the box at the top of this page. Chess DNA analyses your recent games for free and shows which of 12 world champions your style is closest to, with your match percentage.
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