Question:
Paul Charles Morphy b.1837 d.1884
I had read Morphy's cause of death was never fully explained, but that he was found dead in his bath, with women's shoes circling the tub, and probably died of a stroke after taking a long walk in the hot Louisiana climate. Most authorities say he had exhibited the signs of insanity prior to his death.
Below are sites that 1. has an interview with Alekhine speaking excellent English (audio) and 2. show, among others, a photo of the dead Alekhine in his hotel room in Estoril, Portugal. Macabre but interesting photo
http://www.bobby-fischer.net/AlekineInterview.html
http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=3005
--------------------------------------
Originally Posted by Cognoscento
This same guy went cuckoo a few years later; he was an airline passenger, and when the plane started to descend, he ran into the cockpit and tried to take the controls. The plane went into a dive, but the crew managed to restrain the guy and land the plane safely.
They questioned him in police custody, and he claimed that the KGB was chasing him, and that he had to stop them. Maybe it's just as well I gave up tournament play - I could have gone bipolar!
Dave Interesting you bring that up! I seem to remember that the young Mexican Grandmaster Carlos Torrre in the early decades of the 20th century, was found on a bus apparently having taken off all his clothes. I understand he was subsequently found to be insane and institutionalized although I am not positive of this as fact.

Answer:
copied from wikipedia:
Morphy's final years were tragic. Depressed, he spent his last years wandering around the French Quarter of New Orleans, talking to people no one else could see, and having feelings of persecution.
Morphy passed away at the age of forty-seven on the afternoon of July 10, 1884. He was found dead in his bathtub by his mother. The doctor said Morphy had suffered congestion of the brain (stroke), brought on by entering cold water after being very warm from his long midday walk. In 1891, the family sold the mansion, which is today the site of Brennan's restaurant.
I read a book from the library on chess history: there was a player and I can't remeber his name (can't remember nouns) who was known to always push a certain pawn a certain amount of squares in every one of his openings for white. When he was invited to the club to play a casual game and found his pawn had been nailed to the board he left the room and was found moments later in a chair crying inconsolably.

Answer:
I also recall reading in one chess book or another about a mediocre chess player who, in the days of snail-mail postal chess and no computers, challenged a west coast master to a game of chess, giving him the white pieces, offering the master $100.00 if he won but asking $200.00 if he beat or tied this master, who, knowing the players tournament record and how weak this player was, accepted the challenge.
Meanwhile, this same low-rated player had given a similar challenge to a well know east coast master, same odds and all, but had insisted the master play black in the game. This master also had accepted.
So...all this patzer did was receive the move from master #1 and relay it, as his own move, to master #2 and then relay master #2's reply as his own move to master #1 and so on. This at a time when $100.00 was a goodly sum of money and with this setup the patzer was assured to win at least $100.00 after all was said and done.
At a national tournament held somewhere about the time both these games were being played into the late middle game, both these masters happened to be entered as contestants, and in casual conversation one told the other about how this low-rated player they both knew was giving him such a hard time in a postal game. The jig was up... The story didn't say what happened after they found out about the scam though.

Answer:
Originally Posted by fredricktoo Byrne played Fischer and I believe annotated the "famous game" for the New York Times. The last game which he lost in their match together. Grandmasters didn't understand Fischer's continuance of a game where he had clearly blundered. None of them except Fischer seeing that his sacrifice won. I think Fischer was still in his teens. Sad that even by the time he played Spassky he was already becoming unhinged.
Morphy died young as an alchoholic, Alekin it was rumoured was still sleeping with mom in his adulthood. He admitted to practicing in her bed.
Yes, but I think all of that was topped by Wilhelm Steinitz when he challenged God. When God failed to materialize for a game, he had the added audacity to offer Him odds of a pawn and a move.
Granted, the first world champ was off his rocker by then. Still, one must concede his megalomania had a certain panache.
I'm a patzer whose highest rating was 2065-- 'expert' in the USA and 'candidate master' in Europe. Both euphemisms for: " You may be bright but you ain't got no talent. "
( For non-players, 2200 is master, where serious chess BEGINS. )
*sigh*
My favorite champions have been Capablanca (hmm...wonder why?) Petrosian--(love his positional masterpieces) Fischer (god of my youth) and Tal.
I had the luck, many moons ago, of playing Tal in a simul. Beat the crap out of me, of course. He looked like a mad scientist, which I suppose in a way, he was. Very witty man. Had the interpreter cracking up.
Cheers,
(before Deep Blue takes over the world)
Mario.

Answer:
Originally Posted by Mario Justiniani Yes, but I think all of that was topped by Wilhelm Steinitz when he challenged God. When God failed to materialize for a game, he had the added audacity to offer Him odds of a pawn and a move.
I had the luck, many moons ago, of playing Tal in a simul. Beat the crap out of me, of course. He looked like a mad scientist, which I suppose in a way, he was. Very witty man. Had the interpreter cracking up.
(before Deep Blue takes over the world) Mario,
You're a man of many talents! 2065 is a patzer? Jesus, you guys are too rich for my blood. Too bad you're not over here on this coast so you could drop by and have fun kicking my ass!
You played freakin' Tal?? Wow!! (it takes a lot to get me to say "freakin" in a forum unless I'm being ironic). I always admired his bold, risk-taking, dazzling combinational style, such a contrast to my methodical, peculiar positional game.
I like those anecdotes (which I like to call "antidotes"). Alekhine once threw Grunfeld out of a window during a match. I like the term defenestration, and that's a beautiful example. I once wrote an article including this factoid and other bizarro chess tales. After the article was published in a New York newspaper, John Collins let me know that he was put off by my implication that chess players were crackpots. Not that they actually were, or anything.
Dave

Answer:
AH! Tal!! What a treat that must have been. Had he only stayed healthy...
Steinitz did meet Morphy late in Morphy's life, but if I recall the description of their conversation, it didn't touch on chess, as by then Morphy has deteriorated to the point where he had become paranoid and suspicious and set that as a condition of their meeting. I also recall he had previously denigrated Steinitz' play ("His gambit isn't good"--or something similar) but I think chess theory as espoused by Steinitz had passed him by already. Too bad these two giants couldn't have played each other when both were at full strength! I think of Steinitz as more of a Paulson-type of player, but with far more playing strength and more advanced chess theory under his hat, and also think he would have beaten Morphy in a match setting, but not necessarily in a tournament where they would only play each other once or twice.
edit:
The following link is an interview with Steinitz about his meetings with Morphy. It doesn't definitely state they talked chess but alludes to that as a fact.
http://sbchess.sinfree.net/Steinitz_on_Morphy.html

Answer:
from ChessBase.com
Complexity and Beauty in the Game of Chess
03.03.2007 Artist Justin Michael Jenkins has a style that some have compared to Escher, Bosch and Dali, with his own unique flair that borders on the a psychedelic style of surrealism and pop art. Justin has completed a collection of chess drawings that attempt to dissect the elements of the game and portray them in connection with life itself.
http://chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=3705