1837.
Soon no one dared play the boy from New O.
In a short-lived blaze of glory, he defeated opponents in an atmosphere that encouraged gambling, drinking and often led to duels for honor.
At twenty-one he was knighted world champion after defeating the great European masters-the English and Germans-in New York at the First American Chess Congress.
Paul Morphy was born into a wealthy Creole family in the French Quarter of New Orleans and became infamous for his fast and positional chess game. 1837