PAUL MORPHY: A MODERN PERSPECTIVE

Author: Valeri Beim

Russell Enterprises (2005)

www.chesscafe.com

164 pages

$17.95

Reviewed by John Donaldson

PAUL MORPHY: A MODERN PERSPECTIVE by Valeri Beim, is the latest book by the author of the well-received HOW TO PLAY DYNAMIC CHESS, LESSONS IN CHESS STRATEGY and CHESS RECIPES FROM THE GRANDMASTER’S KITCHEN. It’s also the first book in almost ten years that look at Paul Morphy’s career in a comprehensive fashion (a revised edition of Macon Shibut’s excellent PAUL MORPHY AND THE EVOLUTION OF CHESS THEORY, originally published in 1993, did appear with an addendum in 2004, and the primer A FIRST BOOK OF MORPHY by Frisco del Rosario also came out the same year).

Beim, a player noted for his expertise in closed openings, is quite taken with his subject, and his enthusiasm shows. His aim in this book, which looks solely at Morphy’s serious (non simul/ non blindfold) games, is to show that Morphy was the first modern player. Beim writes that his initial impression of Morphy was that of a player who developed his pieces rapidly and had great combinative skills. Later, after examining his games carefully, Beim realized that this was hardly all that Morphy had to offer and offers the analogy of Akiva Rubinstein, a great strategist, but one who is probably best remembered for his brilliant attacking game against Rotlewi (Lodz 1907). This was hardly a typical effort for the great Akiva.

PAUL MORPHY: A MODERN PERSPECTIVE examines approximately 60 of Morphy’s most important games to make the claim that Morphy was the first modern. The games are well annotated in a way that is highly readable without backing off from a concrete approach when required. Quite coincidentally, this book has appeared at the same time as Mihail Marin’s SECRETS OF CHESS DEFENCE (Gambit 2005) where the Romanian GM has come to the original conclusion that Adolf Anderssen was the first modern player. This is curious for many reasons. Who could have suspected that two leading GMs would both analyze at length game six of a match played in 1858 in 2005! Also while Marin sees Anderssen as the first modern, Beim quotes Anderssen as bestowing this distinction on Morphy! No doubt these two books are going to provoke some discussion.

I think Beim might have strengthened his argument by including one non-tournament effort, a blindfold game between Morphy and Paulsen, in which they were playing other blindfold games simultaneously. Probably the odd conditions for this game caused other Morphy authors like Ward and Shibut, as well as Beim and Marin, to discount or overlook it. To be fair to Beim, he points out on page 36 the move 23.Rg1 (Morphy-Paulsen, New York 1857) and compares it with the exhibition game Fischer-Andersson from 1970. He then writes, “Later on we will meet the game’s immediate predecessor.” Beim does not make it clear, but I assume he is making reference to the next game in the book (page 37) where Morphy is Black against Paulsen and advances his kingside pawns.

The game I am referring to, played on October 10, 1857 in New York, sees Morphy, in a position  somewhat analogous to those arising from some Hedgehog and Najdorf, play ...Kh8 , ...g5 and ...Rg8. Reinfeld and Soltis, in MORPHY CHESS MASTERPIECES, cite this game as evidence that Morphy was a modern player and that this was inspiration for Garcia-Fischer, Havana (ol) 1966, often given as the first game to employ this plan. I think Soltis gets credit for this find as MORPHY CHESS MASTERPIECES was not published until 1974 and Reinfeld died ten years before.

PAUL MORPHY: A MODERN PERSPECTIVE is that rare chess book that is both instructive and fun to read. The author’s involvement with the book comes through on almost every page.

Recommended

Click to Buy (or get more information on) PAUL MORPHY: A MODERN PERSPECTIVE

Click to Buy (or get more information on) FIRST BOOK OF MORPHY