Paul Charles Morphy (June 22, 1837 – July 10, 1884) was an American
chess player. He is considered to have been the greatest
chess master of his era and an unofficial
World Chess Champion. He was a
chess prodigy. He was called "The Pride and Sorrow of Chess" because he had a brief and brilliant chess career, but retired from the game while still young.
Bobby Fischer included him in his list of the ten greatest players of all time, and described him as "perhaps the most accurate player who ever lived".