Many players disliked the idea of individual chess games being played for money;
they didn't want chess to be confused with gambling, which was controversial in
many countries at the time. Morphy went further than any serious player in
seeming to disapprove of matches played for a stake. Staunton was derided by
some other players for his later position against "professional chess"; I don't
have the exact quote, which appeas in MacDonnell's book, but one player said
something to the effect that he knew Staunton when he was very glad to play for a
shilling? a game.

Exactly where Morphy's attitude comes from is unclear. Lawson sometimes seems to
say that it came from his family, but at other times seems to think that he took
this more strictly than his family did, since they approved of some earlier money
matches. The New Orleans chess club was happy to back him in matches, showing
that it was not an attitude of New Orleans society in general.

I do not plan to respond to Louis' comments on my post, not because I think that
they are beneath comment, but because we simply come down to a different view of
the existing facts. I find Morphy's behavior quite odd, while Louis does not; it
is hard to say more on this.

The one clarification I would make is that I feel Morphy certainly had
opportunities in lawand business as well as chess, if he cared to use his
celebrity as a chess player. People wanted to be seen with Morphy, and all things
being equal would like to have him as a lawyer. Many people would be charming,
tell some chess stories, and make everyone happy; that doesn't seem to be
Morphy's reaction when the subject of chess came up.

This is just my view, but (outside of Morphy telling people, perhaps) the view
that Morphy was hurt in business by being a celebrity in chess is stated by many
people, and does not seem to have any more solid basis than my opposing view.

Jerry Spinrad

In article , "John Townsend" writes:
| Louis Blair wrote in message
| t.com...
|
| Again, I see nothing remarkable here. Morphy had grown
| up with the attitude (common in his day) that disapproved
| of earning money by such things as playing chess. Morphy
| had a history of avoiding the appearance of earning
| money in this way, arranging to give away the money that
| he won ...
|
| Did Morphy grow up with the attitude, or did he acquire it?
|
| I have wondered whether this aversion to chess in a professional capacity
| could have originated from Staunton. Staunton spent time talking to Morphy
| in 1858 - I think he entertained Morphy at his home in Streatham - and I can
| imagine Staunton projecting himself as a gentleman scholar and disapproving
| of the amount of time Morphy seemed to find for chess, to the detriment of
| any more serious pursuits such as Staunton was engaged in. (Staunton, of
| course, was "poacher turned gamekeeper"!)
|
| Staunton claimed at one stage that the stake money had been a barrier to
| their match taking place - a position from which he was forced to retreat -
| so I suppose Louis Blair is probably right that Morphy's attitude was one
| which he had grown up with. All the same, it seems at least possible that
| Staunton reinforced it for him.
|
| Incidentally, I don't believe for one moment that Morphy's mental illness
| was the result of blindfold chess. It seems to me more likely the result of
| psychological problems, but we really need a psychiatrist at this point.
|
| Best wishes,
|
| John Townsend
| Howard Staunton research project:
| http://www.johntownsend.demon.co.uk/page7.html
|
|
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