LEGENDARY MORPHY ARTIFACT FOUND IN VIRGINIA

by John T Campbell

Shorty after the onset of the American Civil War, in October 1861, Paul Morphy visited Richmond. It has long been assumed that Morphy, recently returned from his chess triumphs in Europe, came to the Confederate capital to offer his services to General Pierre G T Beauregard, a family friend (although Morphy had previously espoused some pro-union sentiments).

It is known that Morphy visited the Richmond Chess Club on October 24, winning eight of ten games at knight odds. Some years later, State Chess Association of Virginia president Gilbert R Frith related that Morphy also attended a dinner with other local players at the Richmond home of a Reverend R R Howison, and that during the meal Morphy's attention was drawn to a picture on the wall of a young man playing chess versus Mephistopheles. The youth had the White pieces (styled as Virtues) in a desperate-looking position. The Devil was depicted as gloating behind a perceptibly greater Black (Vices) army. Nevertheless Morphy, after studying the position, declared that he could take the young man's side and win. The consensus of those present was that not even Morphy could retrieve White's game, but when a board and pieces were produced he made good on his boast.

The tale is well-circulated. David Lawson's authoritative Paul Morphy, The Pride & Sorrow of Chess gives an account of Morphy's visit to Richmond (pp 267-269), including this anecdote. Bradley Ewart presented a detailed study in Chess Life ("The Devil and Paul Morphy", June 1984). However, the whole affair has been long dismissed as apocryphal in the absence of corroborative evidence. Thus historian Frank Skoff stated flatly in the November 1992 Chess Life: "The anecdote re the famous Retzsch etching is mythical (Man is a myth-making animal)."

However, with a small amount of historical detective work several years ago, I unearthed the actual picture and its connection with the Howison family. Recently I retraced my investigation for the purposes of this article. The picture, which is reproduced here, resides in a private home in Virginia. It is in fact a lithograph, a variant of an original painting by Moritz Retzsch. The owners have verified that they are descendants of Rev Howison, that the Morphy story is familiar to them as part of their family lore, and that theirs is indeed the actual graphic upon which Morphy gazed. They request that their privacy be honored, that their name or address not be made public at this time; however, they provided several photographs of the lithograph including closeups of the board and pieces. 

I plan to present mounted enlargements of the photographs to the US Chess Hall of Fame at the US Chess Center, Washington, DC. There, scholars will be able to examine them in detail. The owners have ruled out a public display of the actual lithograph. 

The version of the tale accepted within the Howison family differs slightly from the popular legend. Rather than "defending the young man's position", Morphy is said to have played several games from a position based upon the lithograph as a form of handicapping. That is, as a change of pace from his usual custom of conceding rook, queen or other material odds versus amateur opponents, Morphy simply concocted a starting position resembling that in the picture. Then his fellow dinner guests took turns trying out the Black (superior) side against the champion. There is no indication how Morphy performed win/loss -wise against this handicap. 

Through the years, scholars have offered differing interpretations of the chess position in the Retzsch original. It's no easy task because the pieces are stylized and not readily equated to regular chess pieces, plus the view angle makes it hard to be certain which squares they occupy. The discovery of the 'authenticated' Morphy lithograph could rekindle speculation, although the issue loses much of its significance if we accept the Howison family version of the tale, there being no claim that Morphy defended a position directly from the picture. In any case, the now-established fact that Howison family descendants possess such a lithograph argues that the "Devil and Paul Morphy" legend has its basis in truth. 

Editor's Note: This article originally appeared in the November/December 1994 edition of Virginia Chess Newsletter.