Saying Paul Morphy was not a strong chess player is like saying Archimedes was not a good Mathematician.

"All 2100 players give blindfold simuls." I love this guy.

Never censor Ben.

Abusing audience: OK Random tangent: Censored

Why did you cut out the random rambling? It's not like we're here to learn chess. Everyone who watches these videos knows that their chess is hopeless, so we're here just for the rambling, which you cut out. Terrible!

Morphy was literally finding moves that engines can only find with a depth of 31, and he was making these calculations in less than 15 minutes. Enough said.

Fischer said Morphy was the most accurate chess player in history Strong endorsement from another chess genius

No one can evaluate Morphy's level properly against today's standards. To pretend it can be done is beyond absurd. Morphy learned the game as a child just by watching his father and uncle play. By 9 he was the strongest player in New Orleans. He also *retired* at the age of 22 (!!!) after playing occasionally at a time before any of the chess theory that came in the last 150 years (!) He was undoubtably the strongest player in the world in his time. That was one incredibly unusual *talent*.

The only reason I'm subscribed to this channel is Ben Finegold

Paul Morphy may have been the #1 most advanced player to ever play chess; furthermore, Morphy may have been the most beautiful chess artist ever, and it was 8th World Champion Tal that said "Chess, first of all, is art."

So much of Ben's random rambling cut out... terrible

THANK YOU BEN FINEGOLD for defending the honor of the great Paul Morphy! Saying Morphy would lose to an average player today is like saying Newton couldn't pass a current physics exam. There have been developments in Physics since Newton's time so he would have to spend some time LEARNING them in order to pass the test. But once he learned them, he would blow the doors off the average physics student. If Paul Morphy came up today and had the same tools and research available to him that others players do, his undeniable genius would soon show and he would be one of the best if not the best. Ben is actually the best! Love your commentary, and your common sense!

The rambling is the best part of these. Love the chess, love Ben! Leave it uncut :)

I love your comments about Morphy. It amazes me how people can downplay a guy who probably had more natural talent and creative genius than many of the players even in the 2000 range

Morphy was a great, great talent. If he lived today he would make use of all the tools that other current players use and that is the only fair way to think about it.

Sounds like Ben is getting censored every time he makes a Trump statement.

For sure don't edit Ben Finegold.. Every Finegold moment is a good moment. Hey Ben Simon: HATEYA

I hate that Grand Master Finegold was censored. I love his videos and love his humor!

lots of weird edits. very suspicious.

Ben Finegold is an awesome chess teacher. He is probably the only one I can listen too for longer than half an hour. Very interesting person

Boooo for mister censor who ever did that

Finegold proves that chess and comedy are a perfect match!

YES!!!!!!! FRIDAY FRIDAY! Woot, Friday with ben, Life can't get any better. What creates happiness? "A good bank account, good digestion, and GM Ben Finegold". BTW, don't ever edit what ben says or does. Ben is my chess guru, and his word his law. I am subscribed because of ben + chess... not chess by itself.

These are super instructive games. Hard to believe these occurred so long ago and there is any doubt how great Morphy was.

Really enjoying these videos. My chess has gotten much better as well. Thanks much, keep cranking them out!

why there are so many edits, we like ben's trash talking !! please don't remove them

Nice moving around, Ben. I especially liked your hands.

Thank you Mr Finegold for the video and thanks to the team who produced it.

As Always Superb! Thanks GM Ben Finegold for another OUTSTANDING lesson!~ I enjoy All of your videos, you are GREAT!

Obviously, Morphy had a fotographic memory, playing blinded 8 players simultaneous like this! Incredible!

What people need to understand is Morphy a lot of times played troll openings and moves, like this game, on purpose. He was so far ahead of everyone else, he simply could do anything he wanted to. Against much tougher opposition, he'd adjust his moves according.

Simply amazing! One of the best lessons of Ben! He was really in the mood ^) THANKS!!

Your comments are insightful They Insight Violence lol... Always love Ben Finegold lectures.

literally went to grab a beer as ben said someone at home went for a drink ben truly is a wizard KING BEN

Good to see you back. Please upload more Morphy games.

Ben makes the most entertaining chess lectures. I don't hate when it happens.

I like how well he analyses games and combines it with a nice bit of humour

Im sooooo happy he's back!!!!!

defend morphy all you want, but i know a game where morphy was spotted a knight and got checkmated in 18 moves. it was Alonzo morphy, but still

What's up with the weird cuts?

It’s refreshing to see and hear a spontaneous, real, non-pc presenter who doesn’t sweet talk his audience.

Another excellent video, Ben. Thanks for using your wit, sarcasm, and charm to the fullest to lay waste to such a silly idea. Excellent presentation, in general. Cheers!

the kids must be so mind fucked half the time listening to ben haha

i've seen a lot of paul morphy games n find that his strategy was excellent way beyond his time.. the way he blocks his opponents frm developing then using his strongly developed pieces to crush the kings defences are awesome.. many players of today readily agree to a draw.. rather than go all out for the kill..

Love your lectures learning a lot keep it up 👍🏻

Great lecture, Morphy's games are amazing. Thanks

Suggestion for future videos: Karpov's Caro Kann (not necessarily karpov variation, but games where karpov plays the caro).

To say Morphy was bad isnt even funny as part of a joke. Back in those days, every move after-say move 5 was like entering the frontier. Or, like my countryman Nansen, going towards the north pole on a pair of wooden skis having 500.000km^2 ahead of him nobody knew shit about. And Morphy does it blindfolded in a simultane game. As blindfolding and simu games mattered to him. That guy was just incredible. On an equal footing he would problably crush every GM today also

Since Ben says he reads the comments.. Please, reupload your great videos that you had on your channel!

Wtf I want to see ALL the video! let Ben say what ever he wants to say! please stop editing

You're the best-est, Ben! Loved the video. :)

Wow! never seen Ben Simon work so hard, it was like watching zombie Finegold!

Love these videos!!! Go Ben!!!

When does the director's cut with the bonus footage come out?

More Ben Finegold videos. Because he aint boring.

Morphy formation (Nd2) popular after 75-80 years later

What's with all the cutting of the video?, terrible!

I enjoy all your videos Ben....really! Paul Morphy is inspirational...as are you!

Ben is epic and best ever. I would like to see 1 O'clock class with Ben

These videos are really instructive. I learned what the Dennis Miller Ratio was.

Excellent lecture! Paul Morphy was a beast! Surely he had to be a strong GM even by today's standards.

I think Josh might have been echo-ing a statement by Bobby Fischer where Fischer said that if you brought Paul Morphy into the modern age he would be destroyed by a master. however you have to take this into context. Fischer at the time hated modern chess because he believed it was all memorize memorize memorize, play opening get advantage in the opening win. Chess had become so mechanical that there was no room for imagination. And because of this he wanted to use Paul Morphy as a surrogate to prove his point. In other words, opening theory was so important even a mere master could beat Paul Morphy because a master would gain an edge in the opening and win from it. Of course if you think this is true then you obviously haven't played through the game Capablanca Marshall, 1918 New York, with the original Marshall gambit. It's a fantastic game where Frank Marshall had been holding on to this gambit idea for a long time, ten years maybe in order to spring it on Capablanca and Capablanca fell right into it. Marshall from the opening had a good initiative but once they went into the middle game Capablanca simply out calculated out planned, out played Marshall so much so that if you go back and play over the game it's incredibly difficult to even see where Marshall went wrong. If the nay sayers are right (I'm including the great Bobby Fischer here) that means that Capablanca should have lost to Marshall. Capablanca even played the terrible h3 weakening his king's safety and almost a hundred years later we have to let the powerful chess engines run all day in order to look for improvements for Marshall's play. That's how Morphy would treat mere GM's that tried to beat him with opening prep. The same way Capablanca ruined Frank Marshall.

Ben is Awesome and a great speaker 🙌🙌🙌 And a worthy Grandmaster 😋

Ben's at it again! Hell yeah

Who's this messing with the edit? Don't mess with mah Finegold

Ben, good to know you read the comments!! nice. I learn a lot and have fun also with your videos!! :))

Well done the game helped me to understand the middle game

I LOVE YOU BEN FINEGOLD. You are the funniest chess commentator/videomaker on the whole internet. NEVER CHANGE

Imagine rising to the top of the chess scene, absolutely destroying every other master without the luxury of engines or even another master to train you, and then people start talking about how bad you are. No wonder Morphy quit chess.

Great games! Thanks! the 2nd Will help my Center Game theory

Ben, please don't pay attention to what some people say. Your lectures are always very instructive mixed with sharp humour... So, keep up a good work!!! BTW, I entirely agree with you, Paul Morphy was the greatest player ever lived.

The saltiness is real! I love it! Welcome back, GM Finegold! :D

Who edit this video, Mike Kummer, Ken West?

Ben defends again with a Morphy lecture and GM Friedel is no longer rooming with him - we'll be back next week with the Real House-GMs of St. Louis.

Thank you so much Mr Finegold. I have watched all of Finegold's lectures which are available on KZfaq. I look forward to see more and more. I have learnt a lot from him. I think most of the GM agree with him that Morphy's games are important to study and if he was a live today his rate was around 2700.

to say "morphy would be a 2100 player today" is about as phenomenally stupid as saying "ty cobb would be a double-A player today."

Ben rules, more lectures please!

Best Finegold's video ever.

not even 30 minutes, very risky

There should be a video with just a compilation of the cuts.

This is Ben's best video

Damn straight GM Finegold. Morphy would destroy any master in a match. I laugh when people say, "Morphy would have trouble beating a master these days because today the masters know a lot of opening theory." My reply, "The problem with that logic is that not knowing theory would benefit Morphy because he would quickly take the modern master out of his book. Morphy's excellent chess talent plus his ability to coordinate his pieces and see tactics would soon dismantle a modern master. The superior player will win a match against any booked up player because the booked up player soon runs out of book moves and will play like a patzer compared to a player like Morphy."

Pun Master Finegold ! Loved the star wars one, also great lesson !

Ben is the most entertaining chess teacher on the internet. Truth hurts!

So glad Ben is back. The (chess) world is a very cold place without him.

Don't worry about comments bro I find your chess lessons helpful keep it up Ben Finegold

Ben, your sarcasm is top-notch

Grandmaster Ben Finegold - thank you for your shows. I feel that you are my mentor, as when I study Chess with interests for Friendship.

Don't stop 🛑 your videos are always great 👍

No Trump jokes?! Very suspicious! ;)

ty ben finegold i love you.

The Wright brothers weren't very good airplane builders or the best pilots, either. But at the time they were simply the best.

Interesting and instructive games by Morphy. He was the 19th century's version of Alekhine or Kasparov -- innovative and relentless. It would have been interesting to learn how a chess engine rated Morphy's moves and what alternatives it offered.

I love your videos Maan!!!

You censored the best entertainer you have. Shame on you, Saint Louis.

Do you remember crossing the border into Canada, with your father and brother, in the late 70s or early 80's? You played in weekend tournaments, at the downtown YMCA? We met at one of those tournaments.

He's Back!!!!!!!!!

Show 'em Ben! Put those contrarians in their place! Nobody questions the great Morphy, nobody! Aside from the humor, this is one of the finest videos of the game in the 'net. Finegold is an engaging teacher and lecturer. The second game in particular is awe-inspiring and highlights Morphy's genius.

i enjoyed this video as a teen. e6! in the blindfold game, for outpost knight

EXCELENTE MAESTRO