Morphy’s play was generally sound and his tactics were based on logic and not rashly played. It was also characterized by factors like rapid development and control of the center.
Morphy was so successful that the players that came after him began to reflect his influence and the Age of Steinitz was ushered in. Although he also produced some brilliant games, Wilhelm Steinitz (1826-1900) was a strong advocate of positional play.
While on a trip to Paris Morphy suffered from a bout of intestinal influenza, also known as stomach flu or viral gastroenteritis, which is still a common illness. Symptoms include nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and stomach pain, and while usually mild, it can lead to dehydration, especially in children and the elderly.
Treatment consists of drink plenty of fluids, especially electrolyte drinks. Also recommended is getting plenty of rest and a bland diet such as crackers, toast, broth, or gelatin. Over-the-counter medications can help with nausea and diarrhea. Of course, in severe cases a doctor should be seen.
In Morphy’s day the medical wisdom was that he be treated with leeches which resulted in his losing a significant amount of blood. As a result, he was too weak to stand up unaided.
Known as leeching or leech therapy, it was popular due to the belief that it could restore balance to the body's humors, the four primary bodily fluids that were believed to determine a person's temperament. Those fluids were blood, phlegm (associated with a calm, sluggish, or apathetic temperament), yellow bile (associated with an easily angered, irritable, and ambitious temperament and black bile (associated with a sad, introverted temperament).
Leeches were applied directly over the area believed to be affected or to a vein. A leech can take out up to half an ounce of blood during feeding which can last between 30 and 90 minutes. The leech's saliva, which contain anticoagulants, can cause the bite to continue bleeding for 10 hours.
In spite of his condition, Morphy insisted on going ahead with a match against Adolf Anderssen, Europe's leading player. Despite his illness Morphy won easily. Anderssen claimed to be out of practice, but also admitted that Morphy was the stronger player. In the following short, sharp game Anderssen got crushed as a result of his lack of development.
Morphy 0 ½ 1 1 1 1 1 ½ 1 0 1 7
Anderssen 1 ½ 0 0 0 0 0 ½ 0 1 0 2
[Event "Match, Paris"]
[Site ""]
[Date "1858.12.27"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Paul Morphy"]
[Black "Adolf Anderssen"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B44"]
[Annotator "Stockfisj 17.1"]
[PlyCount "33"]
[EventDate "1858.12.20"]
[Source "(London) Field, "]
{B32: Sicilian: Lowenthal and Kalashnikov Variations} 1. e4 c5 2. d4 cxd4 3.
Nf3 Nc6 4. Nxd4 e6 5. Nb5 {Rather unusual at this point (white usually plays 5.
Nc3), but it's not bad. The threat of Nd6+ is not especially dangerous to
black.} d6 (5... Nf6 {ignores the threat and attacks the e-Pawn.} 6. N1c3 (6.
Nd6+ Bxd6 7. Qxd6 Nxe4 {simply wins a P.}) 6... Bb4 {White should now play 7.
a3 Bxc3 8.Nxc3 with equal chances.} (6... d6 7. Bf4 e5 {id equal.}) 7. Nd6+ Ke7
{This surprising move equalizes. White can play either 8.Bf4 or 8.Nxf6 with
equal chance.} (7... Bxd6 8. Qxd6 Qe7 9. Bf4 {favors white})) 6. Bf4 {This
compels the advance of the e-Pawn and white hopes to take advantage of the
backward d-Pawn, but black will have suffucuent compensation for it.} e5 7. Be3
f5 {This is a mistake that contains the seeds of defeat.} (7... a6 8. N5c3 Nf6
9. Bc4 b5 {Black has equal chances in the form of Q-side play.}) (7... Nf6 {
This also a good alternative.} 8. Bg5 Be6 {equals}) 8. N1c3 {Black has no
effective way of preventing Nd5.} f4 {There was nothing better.} (8... a6 9.
Nd5 axb5 10. Bb6 Qh4 11. Nc7+ Ke7 12. Nxa8 Qxe4+ 13. Qe2 {White is much better/
Degraeve,J (2525)-Rodrigues,A (2310) Ubeda 1998}) 9. Nd5 fxe3 (9... a6 {
is much worse.} 10. Nbc7+ Kf7 11. Bb6 Qh4 {White is a full R up.} 12. Nxa8) 10.
Nbc7+ Kf7 {As miserable as black;s position is, he is not totally lost.} 11.
Qf3+ {A mistake that lets black off the hook!} (11. Nxa8 {was simple and good.}
exf2+ 12. Kxf2 Qh4+ 13. g3 Qxe4 14. Bg2 Qd4+ 15. Ke1 {Best...white wants to
use the f-file for an attack.} Qxd1+ (15... Qxb2 16. Rb1 Qxa2 17. Rf1+ Nf6 18.
Ra1 Qb2 19. Qh5+ {with a winning attack.}) 16. Rxd1 Nf6 17. Rf1 {with a R vs,
B+P white is better.}) 11... Nf6 12. Bc4 {I';s interesting that one early
annotator, basing his opinion on the game's result commented that white's
attack is now irresistable. It's true that his position looks overwhelming,
but black has a move that results in equality and he found it.} Nd4 {After
this white has only one reply that avoids loss.} (12... Na5 13. Nxf6+ Nxc4 14.
Nfd5+ Kg6 15. Nxa8 exf2+ 16. Qxf2 {and white's position is a winning one.}) 13.
Nxf6+ {Once again black has but a single move that avoids defeat.} (13. Qd1
exf2+ 14. Kxf2 b5 15. Nxa8 bxc4 16. Rf1 Bg4 17. Qd2 Qxa8 {black is winning; he
has three minor pieces for the R.}) 13... d5 {Active defense!} (13... Kg6 14.
Qh5+ Kxf6 15. Ne8+ {and black has to surrender his Q because if} Ke7 16. Qf7#)
14. Bxd5+ Kg6 {[%mdl 8192] This loses.} (14... Ke7 {results in equality after}
15. Qh5 gxf6 16. Nxa8 Nxc2+ {A position with head whirling complications! Five
Shootouts were drawn.}) 15. Qh5+ {Now Morphy is back on track and dinished
cleanly.} Kxf6 {White still has an opportunity to blunder!} 16. fxe3 {By far
the best,} (16. Ne8+ {This hasty move forces black to give up his Q, but after}
Qxe8 $1 {[%mdl 512]} 17. Qxe8 Bb4+ 18. c3 Rxe8 $19 19. cxb4 Nc2+ 20. Ke2 Nxa1
21. Rxa1 {Black is up a R.}) (16. Nxa8 {Keeps the advantage, but allows black
to play on with} Nxc2+ 17. Ke2 Nxa1 {is met forcefully with} 18. f4 {and black
has toi give up material to avoid nate on g5 and if} exf4 19. e5+ Ke7 20. Qf7#)
16... Nxc2+ 17. Ke2 {Black resigned. He has no reasonable continuation.} (17.
Ke2 Nxa1 18. Rf1+ Ke7 19. Qxe5+ Kd7 20. Be6+ Kc6 21. Rc1+ Nc2 22. Rxc2+ Bc5 23.
Qxc5#) (17. Ke2 Qxc7 18. Raf1+ Ke7 19. Rf7+ {wins}) 1-0
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