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CHESS PLAYER

Paul Morphy

1837 - 1884

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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 is often considered the unofficial World Chess Champion. A chess prodigy, he was called "The Pride and Sorrow of Chess" because he had a brilliant chess career but retired from the game while still young. Read more on Wikipedia

Since 2007, the English Wikipedia page of Paul Morphy has received more than 1,513,613 page views. His biography is available in 52 different languages on Wikipedia (up from 50 in 2019). Paul Morphy is the 15th most popular chess player (up from 18th in 2019), the 700th most popular biography from United States (up from 794th in 2019) and the 2nd most popular American Chess Player.

Paul Morphy is most famous for being the first world champion of chess, and for being a chess prodigy.

Memorability Metrics

  • 1.5M

    Page Views (PV)

  • 64.38

    Historical Popularity Index (HPI)

  • 52

    Languages Editions (L)

  • 5.97

    Effective Languages (L*)

  • 4.13

    Coefficient of Variation (CV)

Page views of Paul Morphies by language


Among CHESS PLAYERS

Among chess players, Paul Morphy ranks 15 out of 374. Before him are Nona Gaprindashvili, Max Euwe, Tigran Petrosian, Garry Kasparov, Anatoly Karpov, and François-André Danican Philidor. After him are Samuel Reshevsky, Vasily Smyslov, Adolf Anderssen, Paul Keres, Viktor Korchnoi, and Vera Menchik.

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Contemporaries

Among people born in 1837, Paul Morphy ranks 14. Before him are Fredrik Bajer, Cosima Wagner, Adam Opel, Marie François Sadi Carnot, Tokugawa Yoshinobu, and Pedro V of Portugal. After him are Prince Philippe, Count of Flanders, Louis IV, Grand Duke of Hesse, John Newlands, Ivan Kramskoi, Georges Ernest Boulanger, and Francis, Duke of Teck. Among people deceased in 1884, Paul Morphy ranks 5. Before him are Gregor Mendel, Bedřich Smetana, Maria Anna of Savoy, and Marie Taglioni. After him are Elias Lönnrot, Johann Gustav Droysen, Marie Bashkirtseff, Prince Leopold, Duke of Albany, Jean-Baptiste Dumas, Alfred Brehm, and Allan Pinkerton.

Others Born in 1837

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Others Deceased in 1884

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In United States

Among people born in United States, Paul Morphy ranks 700 out of 18,182. Before him are Donald Knuth (1938), Victor Fleming (1889), Jamie Lee Curtis (1958), Roy Orbison (1936), Margaret Hamilton (1936), and Thomas Harris (1940). After him are Carl Lewis (1961), Philip Johnson (1906), Robert E. Howard (1906), Matthew C. Perry (1794), Jules Dassin (1911), and Charles Taze Russell (1852).

Others born in United States

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Among CHESS PLAYERS In United States

Among chess players born in United States, Paul Morphy ranks 2. Before him are Bobby Fischer (1943). After him are Frank Marshall (1877), Reuben Fine (1914), Harry Nelson Pillsbury (1872), William Lombardy (1937), Jackson Showalter (1860), Isaac Kashdan (1905), Arnold Denker (1914), Robert Byrne (1928), Nick de Firmian (1957), and Fabiano Caruana (1992).

American born Chess Players

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