Morphy number

Description

People who played a chess game with Morphy have a Morphy number of 1. Players who did not play Morphy but played someone with a Morphy number of 1 have a Morphy number of 2. People who played someone with a Morphy number of 2 have a Morphy number of 3, et cetera.

, there are very few known living players with Morphy number 3. Many ordinary players have a Morphy number of 6 or more.

The idea is similar to the Erdős number for mathematicians, the Bacon number for actors, and the Shusaku number, the equivalent for the board game of Go.

Origin

Taylor Kingston states that the idea of the Morphy number may have originated in a June 2000 note by Tim Krabbé, who has Morphy number 4. Krabbé wrote "I once played an official game with Euwe, who played Tarrasch, who played Paulsen, who played Morphy."

Morphy number of famous players

These are players who are important in making links for Morphy numbers.

Morphy number 1

Morphy is known to have played about 100 people, but prior to 2010 all of the known links for players with Morphy number 2 went through just four players. A few years after the early lists of Morphy numbers tabulated, it was discovered that a fifth player, James Mortimer, was Morphy's friend and played casual games with him. This gives Mortimer a Morphy number of 1, creating a need to drastically revise those previous lists to include many more players. Mortimer had a very long, if not particularly successful, career, including the Ostende-B 1907 tournament, which enabled many famous younger players to gain a Morphy number of 2, including Mieses, Tartakower, Znosko-Borovsky, and Bernstein, who played beyond WW2, enabling still younger players to gain a Morphy number of 3, and so on.

• Adolf Anderssen
• Henry Bird
• James Mortimer
• John Owen
• Louis Paulsen
• Other opponents

Morphy number 2

Everyone in this group played someone in the group above. The Australian champion Frederick Esling achieved MN2 by beating Anderssen in an offhand game and another Australian champion, Julius Leigh Jacobsen (1862–1916) achieved MN2 by beating Bird in a casual match +4-2=1, enabling many Australian players of the early 20th century to achieve MN3. The following are some of the most important players who have achieved MN2.

• Semyon Alapin

• Ossip Bernstein

• Joseph Blackburne

• Amos Burn

• Mikhail Chigorin

• Eugene Ernest Colman

• Oldřich Duras

• Frederick Esling

• Isidor Gunsberg

• David Janowski

• Emanuel Lasker

• S. Lipschütz

• George Mackenzie

• Frank Marshall

• James Mason

• Jacques Mieses

• Géza Maróczy

• Reginald Michell

• Aron Nimzowitsch

• Harry Pillsbury

• Akiba Rubinstein

• Carl Schlechter

• Edward Guthlac Sergeant

• Jackson Showalter

• Rudolf Spielmann

• Wilhelm Steinitz

• Siegbert Tarrasch

• Savielly Tartakower

• Richard Teichmann

• Sir George Thomas

• Szymon Winawer

• Eugene Znosko-Borovsky

• Johannes Zukertort

Morphy number 3

Most of the masters in this group played several members of the previous group. This group includes some of the most important players for making connections to later generations. Botvinnik and Reshevsky played older masters such as Lasker and Janowski, had long careers, and played many younger players. Najdorf was Tartakower's pupil and they played a number of published games together, and Najdorf played blitz right into his 80s, allowing many younger players to achieve 4. Smyslov and Keres had very long careers, so much younger players achieved MN4 by playing them. Gligoric also played Tartakover, allowing many Yugoslav players to achieve 4. C.J.S. Purdy played Tartakower, enabling many Australian players to achieve 4. Fairhurst, who played Tartakover, was many times champion of Scotland, and later moved to New Zealand, so a number of players in these countries achieved 4 by playing him.

As of April 2025, living players with Morphy number 3 include Leonard Barden, Bernard Cafferty, Owen Hindle, Christian Langeweg, Oliver Penrose, and Jim Walsh.

• James Macrae Aitken

• Alexander Alekhine

• Conel Hugh O'Donel Alexander

• Leonard Barden

• Pal Benko

• Arthur Bisguier

• Efim Bogolyubov

• Fedor Bogatyrchuk

• Isaac Boleslavsky

• Mikhail Botvinnik

• David Bronstein

• Bernard Cafferty

• José Raúl Capablanca

• Martin Christoffel

• Arthur Dake

• Arnold Denker

• Jan Hein Donner

• Marcel Duchamp

• Erich Eliskases

• Max Euwe

• William Fairhurst

• Reuben Fine

• Salo Flohr

• Svetozar Gligorić

• Owen Hindle

• Borislav Ivkov

• Paul Keres

• George Koltanowski

• Alexander Kotov

• Čeněk Kottnauer

• Franciscus Kuijpers

• Christian Langeweg

• Bent Larsen

• Edward Lasker

• Andor Lilienthal

• Aleksandar Matanović

• Vera Menchik

• Stuart Milner-Barry

• Vladimir Nabokov

• Miguel Najdorf

• Friðrik Ólafsson

• Frank Parr

• Jonathan Penrose

• Oliver Penrose

• Arturo Pomar

• Lodewijk Prins

• David Pritchard

• C.J.S. Purdy

• Samuel Reshevsky

• Stewart Reuben

• Friedrich Sämisch

• Vasily Smyslov

• Rudolf Spielmann

• Herman Steiner

• László Szabó

• Wolfgang Unzicker

• Milan Vidmar

• Robert Wade

• Jim Walsh

• Norman Whitaker

• Baruch Harold Wood

Morphy number 4

many of these players are still alive; a few (such as Anand, Adams, Svidler and Ivanchuk) are still active.

• Michael Adams

• Viswanathan Anand

• Ulf Andersson

• Lev Aptekar

• Keith Arkell

• Yuri Averbakh

• Alexander Beliavsky

• Harold Bloom

• Walter Browne

• Donald Byrne

• Murray Chandler

• Maia Chiburdanidze

• Pia Cramling

• Nigel Davies

• Mark Dvoretsky

• Ben Finegold

• Bobby Fischer

• Semyon Furman

• Nona Gaprindashvili

• Paul Garbett

• Efim Geller

• Florin Gheorghiu

• Ewen Green

• Vlastimil Hort

• Robert Hübner

• Vassily Ivanchuk

• Gata Kamsky

• Anatoly Karpov

• Garry Kasparov

• Allen Kaufman

• Alexander Khalifman

• Ratmir Kholmov

• Viktor Korchnoi

• Gary Lane

• Ljubomir Ljubojević

• Sergio Mariotti

• Tony Miles

• Predrag Nikolić

• John Nunn

• Bruce Pandolfini

• Tigran Petrosian

• Judit Polgár

• Susan Polgar

• Ruslan Ponomariov

• Lajos Portisch

• Lev Polugaevsky

• Hans Ree

• Zoltán Ribli

• Ian Rogers

• Valery Salov

• Ortvin Sarapu

• Jonathan Sarfati

• Yasser Seirawan

• Alexei Shirov

• Nigel Short

• Vernon Small

• Boris Spassky

• Peter Svidler

• Richard John Sutton

• Mark Taimanov

• Mikhail Tal

• Jan Timman

• Veselin Topalov

• Anna Ushenina

• Rafael Vaganian

• Hikaru Nakamura

• John L. Watson

Morphy number 5

, many of the top grandmasters were thought to be in this group (along with a large number of lower-rated players). However, several players initially thought to be in this group were actually MN4s; for instance, based on playing Smyslov, who played Tartakower and Bernstein.

• Magnus Carlsen

• Fabiano Caruana

• Boris Gelfand

• Gukesh Dommaraju

• Mikhail Gurevich

• Igor Ivanov

• Rustam Kasimdzhanov

• Sergey Karjakin

• Vladimir Kramnik

• Joël Lautier

• Ding Liren

• Péter Lékó

• Shakriyar Mamedyarov

• Karsten Müller

• Ian Nepomniachtchi

• Levy Rozman

• Jon Speelman

• Artur Yusupov

References

References

1. [https://web.archive.org/web/20060613225534/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/skittles258.pdf ''Your Morphy Number is Up''], Taylor Kingston, The Chess Cafe, 2005
2. [https://web.archive.org/web/20101205210646/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/kibitz166.pdf ''Playing the Morphy Number Game''], [[Tim Harding (chess player). Tim Harding]], The Chess Cafe, 2010
3. [http://www.xs4all.nl/~timkr/chess2/diary_4.htm Tim Krabbé - see item #67]
4. Taylor Kingston, [https://chesscafe.com/the-skittles-room/morphy-numbers-revisited/ Morphy numbers revisited: the Mortimer effect], [[ChessCafe.com]], 1 Oct 2014.
5. [http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1610036 Frederick Karl Esling vs Adolf Anderssen, Casual game (1878), Frankfurt]
6. [http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessplayer?pid=126907 Chesgames.com page on Julius Leigh Jacobsen]
7. [https://books.google.com/books?id=aXjpDAAAQBAJ&dq=Jacobsen+bird+london+chess&pg=PA289 Hans Renette, ''H.E. Bird: A Chess Biography with 1,198 Games,'' p. 245, McFarland, 2016.]
8. Played James Mortimer in the City of London Championship of 1910/11.
9. Played James Mortimer at [[Ostend 1907 chess tournament. Ostend, 1907]].
10. [https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chess.pl?yearcomp=exactly&year=&playercomp=either&pid=&player=Lasker&pid2=&player2=Bird&movescomp=exactly&moves=&opening=&eco=&result=&tid=&eidt= Lasker-Bird games]
11. "James Mortimer vs Frank Marshall (1900)".
12. Played James Mortimer in several City of London Championships from 1906 to 1910.
13. [https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chess.pl?yearcomp=exactly&year=&playercomp=either&pid=&player=Tarrasch&pid2=10343&player2=&movescomp=exactly&moves=&opening=&eco=&result=&tid=&eidt= Tarrasch-Paulsen games]
14. "James Mortimer vs Savielly Tartakower (1907)".
15. Mortimer played Sir George Thomas in the Canterbury 1903 and Brighton 1904 tournaments. Gino de Felice, ''Chess Results, 1901-1920'', McFarland & Co., 2006, pp. 26, 37.
16. [http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1307737 Svetozar Gligoric vs Savielly Tartakower, Budapest 1948]
17. [http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1270333 Cecil John Seddon Purdy vs Savielly Tartakower, Australia versus France Radio Match, 1946]
18. [http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chess.pl?yearcomp=exactly&year=&playercomp=either&pid=10247&player=&pid2=&player2=Fairhurst+&movescomp=exactly&moves=&opening=&eco=&result=&tid=&eidt= Fairhurst v Tatakower games]
19. Frederick Rhine, [https://chicagochess.blogspot.com/2010/09/fun-with-morphy-numbers_21.html Fun with Morphy Numbers]
20. Barden's comments to [[Tim Harding (chess). Tim Harding]], [http://www.chesscafe.com/Tim/kibb166.htm ''Playing the Morphy Number Game'']{{webarchive. link. (2011-06-06 , chesscafe.com, 2010.)
21. [[Edward Winter (chess historian). Edward Winter]], [http://www.chesshistory.com/winter/winter71.html#6614._Lasker_v_M._Chernev ''Chess Note'' 6614], June 11, 2010. Retrieved on September 15, 2010.
22. Hindle played E.G. Sergeant in the 1960 British Championship
23. Jim Walsh played Ossip Bernstein in the 1955 An Tostal Cork tournament
24. JM Aitken beat Savielly Tartakower at Southsea in 1949
25. "Emanuel Lasker vs Fedor Parfenovich Bohatirchuk (1925)".
26. "Groningen (1946)".
27. Defeated Edward Guthlac Sergeant in the 1960 British Championship
28. [https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1095204 Frank Marshall vs Arthur William Dake New York, NY (1931)]
29. [http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1161136 Jan Hein Donner vs Savielly Tartakower, Amsterdam (1950), Amsterdam NED, rd 15, Nov-30]
30. "Tartakower-Ivkov, Bled 1950".
31. "Groningen (1946)".
32. Čeněk Kottnauer played Tartakower at the Staunton Memorial Tournament, Groningen 1946.
33. Played Ossip Bernstein at the 1961 IBM Amsterdam tournament.
34. Boyd, Brian. Vladimir Nabokov: The Russian Years. Princeton University Press, 1990, p. 259.
35. [http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chess.pl?pid=10247&pid2=21930 Miguel Najdorf vs Savielly Tartakower (various games)]
36. [https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1156232 Jonathan Penrose vs Savielly Tartakower Southsea, England (1950)]
37. [https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=2011952 Eugene Znosko-Borovsky vs Oliver Penrose BCF-Premier (1948)]
38. Played Eugene Ernest Colman, Morphy number 2, at least three times, 1947-1953; scores recorded in ''Surviving Changi: E E Colman'' by Olimpiu G Urcan (Singapore, 2007)
39. "Cecil Purdy vs Savielly Tartakower (1946)".
40. "Lasker-Reshevsky, Nottingham 1936".
41. "Groningen (1946)".
42. "Groningen (1946)".
43. [http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1152014 Eugene Aleksandrovich Znosko-Borovsky vs Wolfgang Unzicker, Lucerne (1949), SUI]
44. Robert Wade played Savielly Tartakower twice, in 1951 (Staunton Memorial) and 1953 (Hastings). He also defeated Ossip Bernstein at the IBM Amsterdam tournament in 1961.
45. Played Eugene Znosko-Borovsky at Baam in 1947.
46. "Wade, Robert G - Adams, Michael 2008, 6th Staunton Memorial, London ENG".
47. [http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1018066 Bent Larsen vs Viswanathan Anand, Tournoi de Generations (1989), Cannes FRA, rd 6],
48. [http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1882610 William Albert Fairhurst vs Lev Isaakovich Aptekar, 83rd New Zealand Ch, 1976]
49. Bloom, Harold. The Bright Book of Life: Novels to Read and Reread. Alfred A. Knopf, 2020.
50. [http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1035327 Walter Shawn Browne vs Paul Keres, Vancouver, 1975]
51. [http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1272230 William Albert Fairhurst vs Murray Chandler, 83rd New Zealand Ch, 1976]
52. [http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1285227 Maia Chiburdanidze vs Samuel Reshevsky, Vilnius (1978), Vilnius LTU, rd 4]
53. [https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1127175]
54. [https://chesscafe.com/the-skittles-room/morphy-numbers-revisited/ ''Morphy Numbers Revisited: The Mortimer Effect'', by Taylor Kingston]
55. [http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1000275 Arthur Bisguier vs Benjamin Finegold, World Open (2000), Philadelphia, PA USA, rd 2, Jul-02]
56. [http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1885386 Robert Wade vs Nona Gaprindashvili, Reykjavik (1964), Reykjavik ISL, rd 9, Jan-26 ]
57. [http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1885386 Paul Anthony Garbett vs William Albert Fairhurst, 83rd New Zealand Ch, 1976]
58. [http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1305938 Florin Gheorghiu vs William Albert Fairhurst, Olympiad Qualifying Group 6 (1974), Nice FRA]
59. [http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1272228 Ewen McGowen Green vs William Albert Fairhurst, 83rd New Zealand Ch, 1976]
60. [http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1060024 Vasily Smyslov vs Vassily Ivanchuk, 55th USSR Championship (1988), Moscow URS, rd 9]
61. [http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1066491 Vasily Smyslov vs Gata Kamsky, New York Open (1989), New York, NY USA, rd 7]
62. [http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1073806 Vasily Smyslov vs Alexander Khalifman, 55th USSR Championship (1988), Moscow URS, rd 5]
63. [http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1126833 Vasily Smyslov vs Predrag Nikolic, 6th Vidmar Memorial (1985), Portoroz, rd 3]
64. [http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1111037 Judit Polgar vs Vasily Smyslov, Women-Veterans (1992), Aruba, rd 5]
65. [http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1126584 Vasily Smyslov vs Zoltan Ribli, October Revolution 60th Anniversary (1977), Leningrad URS, rd 15, Jul-16]
66. [http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1305902 Cecil John Seddon Purdy vs Ian Rogers, Sydney International Tournament (1979), Sydney, Australia]
67. [http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1120495 Valery Salov vs Vasily Smyslov, 55th USSR Championship (1988), Moscow URS, rd 4]
68. [http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1269019 Efim Bogoljubov vs Ortvin Sarapu, Oldenburg (1949), Oldenburg GER, rd 10, Jun-26]
69. [http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1123762 Alexey Shirov vs Vasily Smyslov, Keres Rapid Memorial (1996) (quick), Tallinn EST, rd 3]
70. [http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1885380 William Albert Fairhurst vs Vernon Albert Small, 83rd New Zealand Ch, 1976]
71. [http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1127055 Peter Svidler vs Vasily Smyslov, Alekhine Memorial Open (1992), Moscow RUS, rd 4]
72. [http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1879983 William Albert Fairhurst vs Richard John Sutton, 83rd New Zealand Ch, 1976]
73. "Veselin Topalov vs Arturo Pomar Salamanca (1992)".
74. "Anna Ushenina vs Fridrik Olafsson (Snowdrops and Old-hands 2008)".
75. https://www.365chess.com/game.php?gid=3012455
76. [http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1073514 Paul Keres vs John L Watson, Vancouver 1975]
77. https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1964454&comp=1
78. https://www.chess.com/news/view/2023-superunited-croatia-rapid-blitz-day-3
79. [https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1060854 Igor Ivanov vs Anatoly Karpov Moscow (1979)]
80. https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1385670
81. https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1963995&comp=1
82. https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1751201&kpage=2
83. https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=2061638
84. https://www.chess.com/events/2024-battle-of-generations?utm_source=chesscom&utm_medium=article&utm_campaign=battlegenerations2024