|
Born to a distinguished New Orleans family, Paul
Morphy is considered by many to be the greatest chess player who ever
lived. His meteoric rise to fame in 1858 and sudden departure from the
game just a few years later prompted one contemporary to dub him "The
Pride and Sorrow of Chess." He was a child prodigy, and a Creole
aristocrat, a charismatic gentleman fluent in four languages, and, in
his final years, a paranoid recluse dependent on his mother's care. The
play depicts Morphy's futile struggle to escape from the prison of his
own phenomenal talent.
|
