The Exploits and Triumphs, in Europe, of Paul Morphy, the Chess Champion Part 10

CHAPTER IX.

THE MATCH BETWEEN MORPHY AND HARRWITZ.

Sat.u.r.day came, and so did Harrwitz. We found him a little man, of about forty, with finely-developed head, and large, piercing black eyes. In conversation, he is exceedingly witty and "cool," and many are the good things told of him. Some of my readers will remember the rebuke he gave Mr. Staunton, when playing his celebrated match with that gentleman.

Harrwitz had made a move which caused much reflection to his opponent, who rolled about on his chair and stroked his forehead energetically, as only Mr. Staunton can do, giving spectators the impression that his brain was in an agony of labor. He examined the position, and re-examined it; but, the more he looked, the less he liked it. Savage at being balked, he exclaimed--"Well, I've lost a move," and thereupon played a piece.

Harrwitz coolly rises from his seat, rings the bell frantically, and gives the following order: "Waiter, look about for a move; Mr. Staunton has lost one."

[Ill.u.s.tration: HERR ANDERSSEN. M. SAINT AMANT. HERR HARRWITZ.]

There is probably no man living who plays so much chess as Herr Harrwitz. All great chess players I know of, are great _lie-a'beds_, and he is no exception to the rule. His night-gear and he part company many hours after sunrise, and he starts forthwith for the Cafe de la Regence, where he plays, with only a slight intermission for dinner, until he goes home to bed again. His opponents are generally visitors to the cafe, not the habitues; for these last have taken great dislike to his very offensive manner, and will not contend with him. They say, too, that he evinces an improper desire to win, and, in consequence, will only give the odds of p.a.w.n and move, when he could well afford p.a.w.n and two, and the knight instead of the rook. In my character of historian, I am bound to state that the feeling was very intense at the Regence in favor of Morphy, and many the prayers (_French_ prayers) that Harrwitz might succ.u.mb to him.

The two celebrities shook hands together, and Morphy immediately asked if he would consent to play a match. The fact is, the young Paul meant mischief. Everybody in England was loud in praise of Harrwitz's skill, and prophesied a tough encounter. There was reason in this; for the Prussian player has given himself up, body and soul, to the game. Staunton's literary avocations now permit him but an hour or two weekly for chess, although formerly he lived in the London Divan, as Harrwitz in the Regence, and was so rabid about Ca.s.sa, that he actually wore s.h.i.+rts with kings, rooks, p.a.w.ns, etc., printed over the bosoms and tails. Saint Amant was never a professional chess player, merely regarding it as a pastime.

Lowenthal's duties as chess editor and a.n.a.lyst, prevent his giving much time to play, and, although he devotes a certain period weekly to the contests at the London, St. George's, and St. James's Clubs, he seldom contends for any stake. Anderssen is absorbed in mathematics at the Breslau Gymnasium; Heyderbrandt's diplomatic career engages nearly his entire attention; Buckle has forgotten his former love; Boden, Bird, Medley, Walker, Mongredieu, Slous, Kipping, De Riviere, Laroche, are engaged in mercantile pursuits; Lowe is getting rich with his hotel; Horwitz is painting; Kling is a professor of music; and so on with nearly all European players. Harrwitz is the only man I know of who seems to live for chess, and we can, therefore, easily understand why Morphy was so desirous of playing him.

To our hero's question, Harrwitz gave a reply so non-committal, that Morphy said, aside, to me, "He won't play a match." A crowd had collected around us, and the Prussian, thinking it an admirable opportunity for display, asked Morphy whether he had any objection to an off-hand game. Of course he had not. Harrwitz had the move, and played an Allgaier Gambit, which, after a hard fight, he won. Morphy was somewhat excited, made a mistake in the opening, by which he lost three p.a.w.ns for nothing at all, and yet fought the battle with such determination, that the number of moves was not far short of a hundred. His antagonist was delighted with his victory, thought he was sure of Morphy, and engaged to settle the preliminaries of a match on the following day.

The next morning Harrwitz arrived at his usual hour--noon. He informed Morphy that his friends were desirous of backing him, but that the stakes were not made up yet. Morphy replied that that would be no objection, as he would accept any bets that might be offered during the match, and they could therefore begin at once. But another difficulty stood in the way.

Morphy, in pursuance of a settled plan, had chosen his seconds from the enemy's camp, and had requested De Riviere and Journoud to act as his friends in this contest. Harrwitz chose to regard these gentlemen with feelings of enmity, and stated that, "if there were any seconds, there would be no match." Morphy was thus placed in a very equivocal position.

Without being aware of any dispute existing between his future antagonist and the gentlemen in question, he had chosen them as his representatives: how could he now ask them to back out, because Mr. Harrwitz demanded it?

However, on my representing the case to them, Messrs. De Riviere and Journoud resigned their office in the most kindly and willing manner, so desirous were they of seeing the match come off.

Shortly afterwards Monsieur Lequesne arrived. This gentleman, the pupil and worthy successor of Pradier, is now the first of living French sculptors, and the peer of Marochetti, Crawford, and Gibson. He is also a strong chess player, and the most active man in France for arranging matches, tournaments, &c. He immediately adjourned with Harrwitz, Morphy, and myself to a private room, to settle preliminaries, and, if I recollect rightly, Dr. Grosboulogne was of the party. Harrwitz expressed his dislike to any thing like ceremony, and objected to their being seconds or umpires in the affair; sorry were Morphy, Lequesne, and H.'s own backers, afterwards, that he carried the day on that point. The only arrangements made were, that Morphy was to accept all bets offered, that the winner of the first seven games should be esteemed the victor, and that the play should take place on four days in the week; and, finally, at Harrwitz's express stipulation, the match was to be played in the public cafe.

All this being agreed upon, the two champions came forth, and went at it.

On drawing for the move, Harrwitz was again successful, and played, as he always does in matches, _p.a.w.n to queen's fourth_. This opening, and _Philidor in defence_, as second player, you could no more drive him away from, than you could induce Great Britain to give up Gibraltar. _p.a.w.n to queen's fourth_ served Harrwitz's turn once, and so did _Philidor in defence_, but only once, and I do not think it would then, if Morphy had been in good condition.

The night before the commencement of the match, Morphy had been sight-seeing until a very late hour; and we only got into bed between two and three o'clock in the morning. He laughed at me for reminding him of his approaching contest, and the necessity for _mens sana in corpore sano_, which I said would be seriously interfered with by his not taking sufficient rest. The next day his appearance verified my prognostics, and he failed to show that impa.s.sibility which ordinarily characterizes him.

He says, however, that Harrwitz beat him because he (H.) played the best moves; and he would not admit to me that want of rest at all interfered with his own play.

Throughout the first game, Harrwitz displayed the most rollicking contempt for his antagonist, and, at the conclusion, when Morphy resigned, he rose from his seat, stretched across the table, and taking the latter by the hand, he felt his pulse and declared to the crowd--"Well, it is astonis.h.i.+ng! His pulse does not beat any faster than if he had won the game." Everybody was disgusted at such a contemptuous proceeding, but Morphy took it all as quietly as though it were a part of the match.

Our hero pa.s.sed that evening with some friends. Towards eleven o'clock I said to him, "Now, Morphy, you really must not have a second edition of last night; let us get home in good time;" but he replied, "Oh, don't be frightened, I've got the move to-morrow;" and, in spite of all I could say or do, we did not get to bed until nearly four o'clock. Well, what was the consequence? After getting a magnificent position in the second game of the match, bodily fatigue came upon him, and Harrwitz was again victor.

The Prussian came out in greater glory than ever, rolling about in his seat, talking loudly to persons about the board, and smiling sardonically at his opponent, as much as to say, "Oh, it takes very little trouble to beat this fellow." Many leading players in the cafe, especially De Riviere and Journoud, were very savage at such conduct, but I told them--"Mark my words, Mr. Harrwitz will be quiet as a lamb before the end of next week."

The result of the play with Harrwitz had shaken the faith of the French players in Morphy. But as we left the cafe, he said laughingly to me, "How astonished all these men will be if Harrwitz does not get another game."

And he did not. At dinner, I reasoned the matter with him, saying that the first requisite for any man engaged in a chess match, was rest for the brain; and that he ought, by this time, to be convinced of the absolute necessity of keeping early hours. And I wound up by exacting a promise from him that he would never be out of bed after midnight, during the match.

In the evening we went to the Opera Comique, and witnessed a very unsatisfactory performance of "La Part du Diable." Morphy has a great love for music, and his memory for any air he has once heard is astonis.h.i.+ng.

Mrs. Morphy is renowned in the _salons_ of New Orleans as a brilliant pianist and musician, and her son, without ever having studied music, has a similar apt.i.tude for it, and it is believed that he would have become as famous therein as in chess, had he given his attention to it. "La Part du Diable" was a new opera, and Morphy, after leaving the theatre, hummed over many of the airs to me, which he had just heard for the first time, with astonis.h.i.+ng precision.

The next day we took a long drive among the "lions," and, in the evening, dined at the residence of that chess veteran and friend of Deschappelles and Labourdonnais, Monsieur Doazan. Harrwitz was of the company, and, for the nonce, acted Jupiter Triumphans in superb style. I felt indignant at such conduct towards a man so inoffensive and modest as Mr. Morphy, and I observed: "I am sorry, Mr. Harrwitz, you have not yet found Mr. Morphy in good fighting trim. The fact is, he has been preparing to meet you by not going to bed until common men are about to rise, but he has promised to retire early in future, and you will then find in him a very different antagonist." It was merely a hint, but the gentle Harrwitz did not like it. The following morning, Morphy said to me at breakfast, "If I beat Harrwitz to-day, you will say it is because I went to bed at eleven o'clock;" to which I replied, "Perhaps; but I do say that you lost the first two games because you went to bed at four."

The third and fourth games Morphy scored in beautiful style. The latter, Staunton declared, "would have excited the admiration of Labourdonnais,"

and the effect upon Harrwitz was interesting. During its progress, his conduct was quite gentlemanly, with the exception of a violent shaking consequent upon nervous excitement. There was cause for this. On the other side of the board sat Morphy, looking, in his peculiar way, like a block of impa.s.sible, living marble, the very embodiment of penetration and decision. No hesitancy or excitement there, but all cool, calm action, knowing where it must end; and, as he rose from his seat, everybody congratulated him on the score now standing two to two, and a.s.sured him they were confident what would be the result. We laughed heartily at these men who, but a few days previous, had looked woefully chopfallen, fearing that Harrwitz was too strong for Morphy.

The fifth game was played on the following Monday, and the Prussian lost it, although he had the move. Harrwitz felt uncomfortable, plainly feeling that his present antagonist was, as he expressed himself to a friend, "very much stronger than any he had ever met." We now had several days'

intermission from play, the plea being "ill health;" and, finally, Morphy received a letter from his opponent, asking for a respite of a week or ten days, to which a reply was returned granting the request, on condition that, when the match was resumed, a game should be played daily, Sundays alone excepted. At the termination of ten days, Harrwitz lost the sixth game, so that the score now stood--Morphy, four; Harrwitz, two; drawn, none. And the latter, in spite of the agreement, was again absent from the battle-field for some days.

CHAPTER X.

MORPHY'S GREATEST BLINDFOLD FEAT.

Awaiting the return of his antagonist, Paul Morphy announced his intention of playing eight blindfold games, simultaneously, in the public cafe. It is needless to a.s.sure my readers that the mere announcement produced the greatest excitement; the newspapers heralded the fact throughout the city, and crowds of strangers came pouring into the Regence, and asking particulars of the _habitues_ in relation to the approaching performance.

Harrwitz had already asked Morphy to join him in a public display of the same description, to which the admission was to be five francs, and Morphy felt embarra.s.sed in answering him; but the good offices of Mr. Lequesne arranged the difficulty, without hurting any one's _amour propre_, and the proposed exhibition was set on one side. Morphy has an intense dislike to money-fingering in connection with chess; and he made it a _sine qua non_ that, if he played blindfold at all, the _Cafe de la Regence_ should be open to any one who chose to walk in. The proprietor, Monsieur Delaunay, was only too glad to accede to this; not merely foreseeing that the exhibition would attract crowds to his establishment, and be an admirable advertis.e.m.e.nt, but also from a friendly feeling for our hero. The frequenters of the place used to say that Delaunay would give Morphy half his cafe, if he asked him for it.

The blindfold struggle was publicly announced to commence at noon; but, at an early hour, the crowd was already considerable. The billiard-tables in the further room were sacrificed to the exigencies of the occasion; I requested the waiters to put a thick cord round them, so as to rail off a s.p.a.ce for Morphy, and a large easy-chair, placed in the _enceinte_, made the whole arrangements as comfortable for him as could be wished. He, however, was not up to the mark, as regards bodily health. Morphy is a water-drinker, and Paris water would cure any Maine Liquor Law bigot of Teetotalism in a week. Since the outset of the match with Harrwitz, he had been ailing, but he preferred playing to making excuses. His own expression was, "Je ne suis pas homme aux excuses"--(I am no man to make excuses,) and he was always ready for Harrwitz, although obliged to ride to the cafe. Nothing proves so satisfactorily to me Morphy's wondrous powers in chess, as his contests in France, laboring, as he constantly did, under positive bodily suffering. A man's brain will often be more than ordinarily active and clear when the body is weak from late illness; but it is not so when there is pain existing. At breakfast, on the morning fixed for this blindfold exhibition, he said to me, "I don't know how I shall get through my work to-day. I am afraid I shall be obliged to leave the room, and some evil-minded persons may think I am examining positions outside." Yet, in spite of this, he sits down, and, during ten long hours, creates combinations which have never been surpa.s.sed on the chess-board, although his opponents were men of recognized strength, and, as a collective body, p.a.w.n and Two Moves stronger than the Birmingham eight.

The boards for Morphy's antagonists were arranged in the princ.i.p.al room of the cafe, numbered as follows:--

No. 1. Baucher, 2. Bierwirth, 3. Bornemann, 4. Guibert, 5. Lequesne, 6. Potier, 7. Preti, 8. Seguin.

Nearly all these gentlemen are well known in contemporaneous chess, and formed such a phalanx that many persons asked whether Morphy knew whom he was going to play against. Monsieur Arnoux de Riviere called the moves for the first four, and Monsieur Journoud for the others; and, all being prepared, Morphy began as usual with "p.a.w.n to King's Fourth on all the boards."

Things went on swimmingly and amusingly. It was as good as a volume of _Punch_ or the _Charivari_ to hear the remarks made by the excited spectators; more especially when the "openings" were past, and the science of the combatants came out, in the middle of the game. There was the huge "Pere Morel," hands in his pockets, blowing clouds from an immense pipe like smoke from Vesuvius, threading his way between the boards and actually getting fierce when anybody asked him what he thought of it. Seeing him seated at the end of the room towards evening, and looking as though dumbfoundered at the performance, I said to him,--"Well, Mr. Morel, do you believe now that Morphy can play against eight such antagonists?" He looked at me in an imploring manner and replied,--"Oh, don't talk to me; Mr. Morphy makes my head ache." It is related of Pitt that, making a speech in Parliament on a certain occasion, whilst under the influence of sundry bottles of Port, the doorkeeper of the House of Commons declared that the son of the great Chatham made his head ache, so violent was his language, and so loud his tone. This coming to Pitt's ears, he said--"Nothing could be better; I drink the wine, and the doorkeeper gets the headache." Monsieur Potier rises from his table to show on another board how Morphy had actually seen seven moves in advance; and Signor Preti gets quite nervous and agitated as our hero puts shot after shot into his bull's-eye; and I had much difficulty in a.s.suring him that no absolute necessity existed for his playing on, until Morphy mated him; but that when he found his game was irretrievably lost, he would be justified in resigning. Monsieur Baucher was the first to give in, although one of the very strongest of the contestants; Morphy's combinations against this gentleman were so astonis.h.i.+ng, and the finale so brilliant, that Mr. Walker declared in _Bell's Life_--"This game is worthy of being inscribed in letters of gold, on the walls of the London Club."

Bornemann and Preti soon followed, and then Potier and Bierwirth; Messrs.

Lequesne and Guibert effecting drawn battles; Monsieur Seguin alone was left. It was but natural that he should be the last, as he was the strongest of the eight combatants, and, truth to tell, he did not believe it possible for any one to beat him without seeing the board; but this Morphy finally effected in some beautiful p.a.w.n play, which would have tickled Philidor himself.

Forthwith commenced such a scene as I scarcely hope again to witness.

Morphy stepped from the arm-chair in which he had been almost immovable for ten consecutive hours, without having tasted a morsel of any thing, even water, during the whole of the period; yet as fresh, apparently, as when he sat down. The English and Americans, of whom there were scores present, set up stentorian Anglo-Saxon cheers, and the French joined in as the whole crowd made a simultaneous rush at our hero. The waiters of the Cafe had formed a conspiracy to carry Morphy in triumph on their shoulders, but the mult.i.tude was so compact, they could not get near him, and finally, had to abandon the attempt. Great bearded fellows grasped his hands, and almost shook his arms out of the sockets, and it was nearly half an hour before we could get out of the Cafe. A well-known citizen of New York, Thomas Bryan, Esq., got on one side of him and M. de Riviere on the other, and "Le Pere Morel,"--body and soul for our hero--fought a pa.s.sage through the crowd by main strength, and we finally got into the street. There the scene was repeated; the mult.i.tude was greater out of doors than in the cafe, and the shouting, if possible, more deafening.

Morphy, Messrs. Bryan and De Riviere and myself, made for the Palais Royal, but the crowd still followed us, and when we got to the guardhouse of the Imperial Guard, _sergeants de ville_ and soldiers came running out to see whether a new revolution was on the _tapis_. We rushed into the Restaurant Foy, up stairs, and into a private room; whilst, as we subsequently learned, the landlord made anxious inquiries as to the cause of all this excitement. Having done our duty to a capital supper, we got off by a back street, and thus avoided the crowd, who, we were informed, awaited our reappearance in the quadrangle of the Palais Royal.

Next morning, Morphy actually awakened me at seven o'clock, and told me, if I would get up, he would dictate to me the moves of yesterday's games.

I never saw him in better spirits, or less fatigued, than on that occasion, as he showed me, for two long hours, the hundreds of variations depending on the play of the previous day, with such rapidity that I found it hard work to follow the thread of his combinations.

Harrwitz was in the cafe for about an hour during blindfold play, and he actually had the a.s.surance to say to me, "You can tell Mr. Morphy, that I will continue the match to-morrow." I replied: "I feel satisfied that Mr.

Morphy will be willing to do so, but I shall most certainly object, and all that lies in my power will be done to prevent his seeing a chess-board until he has had at least twenty-four hours' rest." And I added: "You had better not let it be known that you have made the proposition, or you will be badly received in the cafe, depend upon it."

The evening after his blindfold feat, Morphy very inconsiderately took a nap in his sitting-room, with the window open. On my arrival I awoke him, and he complained of feeling cold. Next morning he was feverish, and in any thing but a fit state to meet Harrwitz. Nevertheless I could not induce him to keep his room; he said to me: "I would sooner lose the game, than that anybody should think I had exhausted myself by a _tour de force_, as some will do if I am absent at the proper hour." And he rode to the Regence in a state only fit for a hot bath and sweating powder. Well might Saint Amant call him the "chivalrous Bayard of Chess."

CHAPTER XI.

CONTINUATION OF THE MATCH WITH HARRWITZ.

Morphy was at the Regence to the minute, but Harrwitz was not forthcoming.

At last we received a message from him that he objected to play any longer in the public cafe, and requested Morphy to come up stairs into the rooms of the Chess Club. It would be difficult to describe the excitement caused by this announcement. Harrwitz's backers, of whom there were eight or ten, were very angry; more especially as it was at his own particular desire that the match was played in the cafe. The _pretext_ was, that the warm atmosphere and noise of the crowd interfered with his game; the _real fact_, because everybody, even the aforementioned backers, were favorable to Morphy. What was to be done? Our hero, with his clear reasoning, soon found the correct reply, and he sent back word that "The Chess Club being a private a.s.sociation, it would be an impertinence on his part to use their apartments without their permission." Harrwitz would not show himself, and the entire affair was near being put a stop to, when certain members of the _Cercle_ kindly opened the doors of their Club, and Morphy went up stairs.

The two princ.i.p.als being again face to face, Harrwitz commenced with his "same old two-and-sixpence" p.a.w.n to queen's fourth, and before he had got past the twentieth move, Morphy had the attack, position, and every thing.

But, in process of administering the _coup de grace_, Morphy's feverish state told upon him, and he committed an oversight which lost him a rook, when within a move or two of winning. It was so stupid a mistake, that he immediately burst out laughing at himself. Harrwitz picked off the unfortunate rook with the utmost _nonchalance_, as though it were the result of his own combinations, and actually told me afterwards, "Oh, the game was a drawn one throughout." Morphy got a perpetual check upon him, and it was the only "draw" in the contest.