..
I don't know how much evidence we have that Morphy did indeed pass the
Bar exam with perfect score, at the same time memorizing the entire
Louisianna civil code.


This sounds like a gross exaggeration to me: where is the "proof"? Any fool
can *say* that somebody did something -- and very often they do! Heck, at the
age of two years, I was already giving pawn-and-move to my famous Uncle,
Nomorechess I (a master of wide renown). At three, I "solved" the game of
checkers, and became Whist champion of Timbuckto and greater Siberia.


But still: If all the champions were reborn and
were given a year's time to study modern chess, and then all were
placed on the books in Las Vegas at pick 'em odds... then I would take
a flyer on Morphy.


And you would likely lose your money, since one year just isn't enough time
for a genius to get up to speed, and compete on even terms.




Once again, I really am not qualified to have an opinion,


Anyone can have an opinion -- there is no qualification for that. But you
might want to note that it is relatively easy to find factual errors on the
website to which you referred. One super-easy to spot blunder is where he
stated that, apart from Anderssen, there was nobody anywhere near Morphy's
class -- completely overlooking the great Baron von der Lasa. What a clutz.
Many other such statements are made without real support. Beware the misuse of
statistics.


"There are lies. Damn lies. And statistics."
-- S.L.C.