The magnificent American master had the most extraordinary brain that anybody has ever had for chess. Technique, strategy, tactics, knowledge which is inconceivable for us; all that was possessed by Morphy fifty-four years ago. - Jose R. Capablanca Paul Charles Morphy (June 22, 1837 - July 10, 1884), an American chess player, is considered to have been the greatest chess master of his era. This book unveils the life of this chess prodigy, knew as "The Pride and Sorrow of Chess" because he had a brilliant chess career but retired from the game while still young. Garry Kasparov maintained that Morphy can be considered both the "forefather of modern chess" and "the first swallow - the prototype of the strong 20th century grandmaster."