This epithet has often been credited to Sheriff Walter Cook Spens, chess editor of the Glasgow Weekly Herald, but it is unclear when it first appeared in print.

Morphy's mother, Louise Thérèse Felicitie Thelcide Le Carpentier, was a musically talented woman from a prominent French Creole family.

Paul grew up in an atmosphere of cultivated, genteel civility, where chess and music were the typical highlights of a Sunday home gathering.

Diligent in his studies, he received a bachelor's degree in 1854 from Spring Hill College in Mobile, Alabama, with his graduating thesis detailing what he saw as the narrow logical limits on justifications for war and secession by the southern states.

[13] He proceeded to spend an additional year on campus studying mathematics and philosophy, and in May 1855 was awarded a master's degree with the highest honors.

Morphy initially declined, but later changed his mind at the urging of Alexander Beaufort Meek, a judge and close family friend.

[19] Also competing was the strong German chess master Louis Paulsen, who was already aware of Morphy's talent, and said openly beforehand that he would be the tournament's victor.

Moreover, while the competition was underway Paulsen repeatedly stated that if Morphy were to visit Europe, he could prove his status as the game's greatest living player.

[21] After his victory, Morphy was immediately hailed as the chess champion of the United States, but he appeared to be unaffected by his sudden fame.

According to the December 1857 issue of Chess Monthly, "his genial disposition, his unaffected modesty and gentlemanly courtesy have endeared him to all his acquaintances.

[25] Early in the following year, he was recruited by Daniel Fiske to serve as co-editor of his Chess Monthly publication, a position he held until the end of 1860.

[27] The American Chess Association, it is reported, are about to challenge any player in Europe to contest a match with the young victor in the late passage at arms, for from $2,000 to $5,000 a side, the place of meeting being New York.

If the battle-ground were to be London or Paris, there can be little doubt, we apprehend, that a European champion would be found; but the best players in Europe are not chess professionals, but have other and more serious avocations, the interests of which forbid such an expenditure of time as is required for a voyage to the United States and back again.

It, therefore, becomes necessary to arrange, if possible, a meeting between the latter and the acknowledged European champion, in regard to whom there can be no scope for choice or hesitation—the common voice of the chess world pronounces your name ... Staunton made an official reply through The Illustrated London News, stating that it was not possible for him to travel to the United States and that Morphy must come to Europe if he wished to challenge him and other European chess players.

If Mr. Morphy—for whose skill we entertain the liveliest admiration—be desirous to win his spurs among the chess chivalry of Europe, he must take advantage of his purposed visit next year; he will then meet in this country, in France, in Germany, and in Russia, many champions whose names must be as household words to him, ready to test and do honor to his prowess.

Although too weak to stand up unaided, Morphy insisted on going ahead with a match against the visiting German master Adolf Anderssen, considered by many to be Europe's leading player.

Anderssen also attested that in his opinion, Morphy was the strongest player ever to play the game, even stronger than the famous French champion La Bourdonnais.

[36] Morphy gave numerous simultaneous exhibitions in both England and France, sometimes while blindfolded, in which he regularly played and defeated eight opponents at a time.

In Paris, at a banquet held in his honor on April 4, 1859, a laurel wreath was placed over the head of a bust of Morphy, carved by the sculptor Eugène-Louis Lequesne.

Hertan notes that it is not easy to determine just when this behavior began, or what might have triggered it, but gives as an example some incidents described in a letter by Charles J. Woodbury to The Hartford Times in 1873.

But in any case, Hertan dismisses the psychoanalytical studies:While Freudian Psychoanalysis still has many adherents, no credible Psychotherapist today ascribes a Major Mental Illness to internal conflicts; the biochemical basis of Psychotic Disorders is too well understood.

The cause of death was described as congestion of the brain brought on by entering cold water after a long walk in the midday heat.

He studied Bilguer's 400-page Handbuch—which consisted partly of opening analyses in tabular form, and also Staunton's Chess Player's Handbook.

Never is a game of chess a mere pastime for him, but always a problem worthy of his steel, always a work of vocation, always as if an act by which he fulfills part of his mission.

[83] Löwenthal and Anderssen both later remarked that Morphy was very hard to beat, since he knew how to defend well and would draw or even win games despite getting into bad positions.

[85] Garry Kasparov posited that Morphy's historical merit lay in his realizing the relevance of three principles that would be vital in later analysis of the game: rapid development, domination of the center, and creation of open files.

[86] World champions Kasparov,[86] Viswanathan Anand,[87] and Max Euwe have stated that Morphy's play was far ahead of its time.

"[91] Morphy is mentioned in Walter Tevis's 1983 novel The Queen's Gambit, as well as in the 2020 miniseries adaptation produced by Netflix, as the favorite player of Beth Harmon, a chess prodigy and the novel's protagonist.

[86][103] During Morphy's stay in Paris, he played a casual game at the Italian Opera House against the Duke of Brunswick and Count Isouard.

While Morphy's opponents were not the strongest, this later became a well-known game due to its beauty and instructive value, often used by chess teachers to demonstrate how to use tempo, develop pieces, and generate threats.