Morphy number: Difference between revisions
→Morphy number 4: GM Chandler, IM Garbett, FM Green, GM Gheorgiu, IM Small, IM Sutton, achieved MN4 by playing Fairhurst |
→Morphy number 4: *Judit Polgár[http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1111037 Judit Polgar vs Vasily Smyslov, Women-Veterans (1992), Aruba, rd 5] |
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*[[Bruce Pandolfini]] |
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*[[Tigran Petrosian]] |
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*[[Judit Polgár]][http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1111037] |
*[[Judit Polgár]][http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1111037 Judit Polgar vs Vasily Smyslov, Women-Veterans (1992), Aruba, rd 5] |
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*[[Susan Polgar]] |
*[[Susan Polgar]] |
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*[[Lajos Portisch]] |
*[[Lajos Portisch]] |
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Revision as of 16:20, 28 August 2019
The Morphy number is a measure of how closely a chess player is connected to Paul Morphy (1837–1884) by way of playing chess games.[1] 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.
The idea is similar to the Erdős number for mathematicians and the Bacon number for actors. 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."[2][3]
As of August 2019, there are very few known living players with Morphy number 3. Examples include Leonard Barden, Melvin Chernev, Borislav Ivkov, Franciscus Kuijpers, Christian Langeweg, Aleksandar Matanović, Friðrik Ólafsson, Jonathan Penrose and Oliver Penrose.[4][5][6]
Many ordinary players have a Morphy number of 6 or more.[2]
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 all of the known links for players with Morphy number 2 go through the following five players.[1][4] Some Irish players could go through the Rev. Dr George Salmon, who played in one of Morphy's blindfold chess simultaneous exhibitions.[1]
Morphy number 2
Everyone in this group played someone in the group above. Some of the most important members of this group follow.[1] Tartakower lost to Mortimer early in his chess career, which spanned beyond WW2, so allowed many younger players to gain a 3.
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.[1] 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. Gligoric also played Tartakover,[12] allowing many Yugoslav players to achieve 4. C.J.S. Purdy played Tartakower,[13] enabling many Australian players to achieve 4. Fairhurst, who played Tartakover,[14] 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.
Morphy number 4
As of 2013[update] many of these players are still alive; a few (such as Short) are still active.[1]
Morphy number 5
As of 2013[update] many of the top grandmasters were thought to be in this group (along with a large number of lower-rated players).[1] However several players initially thought to be in this group were actually MN4s, for instance based on playing Smyslov, who played Tartakower and Bernstein.
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See also
- List of chess players
- Shusaku number, the equivalent for the board game of Go
References
- ^ a b c d e f Your Morphy Number is Up, by Taylor Kingston, PDF
- ^ a b Playing the Morphy Number Game, by Tim Harding, PDF
- ^ Tim Krabbé - see item #67
- ^ a b c Frederick Rhine, Fun with Morphy Numbers
- ^ Barden's comments to Tim Harding, Playing the Morphy Number Game Archived 2011-06-06 at the Wayback Machine, chesscafe.com, 2010.
- ^ Edward Winter, Chess Note 6614, June 11, 2010. Retrieved on September 15, 2010.
- ^ Played James Mortimer in the City of London Championship of 1910/11.
- ^ Played James Mortimer at Ostend, 1907.
- ^ Played James Mortimer at Ostend, 1907.
- ^ Played James Mortimer at Ostend, 1907.
- ^ Played James Mortimer in several City of London Championships from 1906 to 1910.
- ^ Svetozar Gligoric vs Savielly Tartakower, Budapest 1948
- ^ Cecil John Seddon Purdy vs Savielly Tartakower, Australia versus France Radio Match, 1946
- ^ Fairhurst v Tatakower games
- ^ JM Aitken beat Savielly Tartakower at Southsea in 1949
- ^ Čeněk Kottnauer played Tartakower at the Staunton Memorial Tournament, Groningen 1946.
- ^ a b Played Ossip Bernstein at the 1961 IBM Amsterdam tournament.
- ^ 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.
- ^ Played Eugene Znosko-Borovsky at Baam in 1947.
- ^ William Albert Fairhurst vs Lev Isaakovich Aptekar, 83rd New Zealand Ch, 1976
- ^ Walter Shawn Browne vs Paul Keres, Vancouver, 1975
- ^ William Albert Fairhurst vs Murray Chandler, 83rd New Zealand Ch, 1976
- ^ Paul Anthony Garbett vs William Albert Fairhurst, 83rd New Zealand Ch, 1976
- ^ Florin Gheorghiu vs William Albert Fairhurst, Olympiad Qualifying Group 6 (1974), Nice FRA
- ^ Ewen McGowen Green vs William Albert Fairhurst, 83rd New Zealand Ch, 1976
- ^ William Albert Fairhurst vs Vernon Albert Small, 83rd New Zealand Ch, 1976>
- ^ William Albert Fairhurst vs Richard John Sutton, 83rd New Zealand Ch, 1976
- ^ Paul Keres vs John L Watson, Vancouver 1975