Litchfield enquirer., 1858-10-28

THE WONDERFUL CES
 OF WORTHY, THE CHESS-PLAY-
 FER.
 The Paris correspondence of the New York Times gives the following recent illustra- tions of the memory and skill of the great American chess-player :-
 "The astonishing performances of young Paul Morphy have brought the excitement in the chess-playing world of this city up to white heat. On Monday last he played against and beat, blnd-folded, eight of the best players of Paris at one time The Cafe de la Regence, at which the extraordinary feat occurred, has two large rooms on the ground floor. In the first room, which is full of marble tables, were seated the eight adversaries of Mr. Morphy. In the second room, i1 which are two billiard tables, was seated the single player. A large portion of his room including the billiard ta- bles, was shut of from the crowd by cord, and behind the tables, in large armchair, sat Mir. Morphy, with his back nearly directly to the crowd. Two gentlemen, reporting for the press, kept the game, and two other gentle men, Mcssrs. Tournoud and Arnoud de Rivi- ere, cried out the moves, or rather carried them
 
 of Mir. Morphy were Messrs. Baucher, Bier with, BTanemann, Lequesne, (the distinguish ed sculptor Potter, Preti, and Scgun. They were all either old and middIe-aged men, aud superior players, while MT. Morphy was but twenty-one years of age The boards of the eight players were numbered l, ?, 3, etc., in the order in which l have given the namrs of the gentlemen. At l23 o'clock the game con- menced, Mr Morphy playing first. and calling out the same move for all the eight boards, K P2. (The games were conducted in French, Mir. Morphy speaking French perfectly.) At ' o'clock No. was beaten with an unlocked for check-mate. Soon after o'clock, No 6 abandoned the game as hopeless, and half an hour later M. Lequesne, No. 5, played for, and gained draw game. Nos. l, ? and 3, were soon after beaten. At 10 o'clock, No. 4 made the blind player accept a draw game, but it was 1O} o'clock before M Seguin, No 8, very old gentleman, who contended with great desperation, was beaten. Thus he beat six, while two, acted on the defensive, and on- ly sought draw game, effected their purpose, but draw game. under snch circumstances, ought to be considered equivalent to beat.
 During the entire game, which lasted juct ten hours, MT. Morphy sat with his knees aid eyes against the bare wall, never once rising or looking towards the audience, nor even ta- king particle of driuk or other refreshmeut. His only movements were those of crossing his legs from side to side, and occasionally thump- jug tune with his fingers on the arms of the fauteua He cried out his moves without turning his head. Against 1, 2, 3, and and !, who were not up to the standard of the oth- CT three players, he frequently made his moves instantaneously after receiving thelrs. He was calm throughout, and never made mistake, nor did he call move twice. It must be re- collected, moreover, that Morphy played 'against the feld'-in other words, that around each of the eight boards there was a large col lection of excellent cheSs-payers, who gave their advice freely, and who had eight times longer to study their play in than the single player. He played certainly againSt fifty men, and they never ceased for moment ma king supposed moves and studying their game most thoroughly during the long intervals that necessarily fell to each board. And yet, Nor phy, who was out of sight of these eight boards, saw the game palmer on each than those who surrounded them ! 1 could scarce ly have believed the thing possible if l had not seen it. At the end of the game there was shout from the three hundred th7oats present, which made ono heiicve he was back again in old Tammany Hall The fact is, there was considerable number of English men and Americans present, (among the lat ter was Professor Morse, who took deep in- terest in this extraordinary game but much the larger number were French. Morphy did not seem at all fatigued, and appeared so mod est, that the frenzy and admiration of the French knew no bounds He was shaken by the hand and complimented till he hung down his head in confusion. One gray-haired old man, an octogenarian chess-player, stroked his hair with his hands, as he would child of his own, aud showered him with terms of endcar- ment. Morphy has no beard yet, and looks more like school-boy than worlds cham piou He escaped from the excited crowd as soon as possible, and left with some friends to get something to eat. It is not necessary to point out to chess-players the immensity of the intellectual feat every one will admit that it borders upon the miraculous, and as was re- marked by one of his antagonists, M. Le uuesne, such mind never did exist, and, per haps, never will again.
 Yesterday the match between Harrwitz and Morphy was resumed at 3 o'clock in the afternoon but in this instance the players were seated alone np stair, and three boards were kept down stairs on which the progress ot the game was marked out for the benefit of the large crowd in attendance. At ! o'clock the game was drawn-mI-showing that M. Harrwitz had picked up a little since his four successive defeats of last week. The game between them now stands-Harrwitz two Morphy four one drawn. The winner of the first seven games is the victorious party. This afternoon they are to play the eighth game. A large amount of money is staked on this galne, for the friends of Mir. Harrwitz are not wanting in back-bone,' while Mir. Morphy has frieuds with him from New Orleans who are capable and willing to back him in mil 1i0ns if tho occo S;oo offorc n