Neither Morphy nor Fischer wanted psychiatric help. - Morphy's dominant mother was concert pianist, while Fischer's dominant mother wasn't. And Morphy didn't want to play for stakes against Anderssen. At least some karmic balance. But Gambit, Fischer was born 1943, Morphy died 1884. Was there another incarnation in between you are aware of?
Regarding tall players, Klaus Junge may be considered. He had certainly GM strength. Dutch players should be ignored, since they are world leaders in this respect. The average Dutch man is about 2.00 m tall today.
Gambit wrote on 06/17/11 at 22:20:48:
Morphy was 5 feet 4 inches, as stated by Edge. He, being Morphy's personal secretary, knew exactly how tall Morphy was.
Edge was a journalist by profession, and he wasn't free of journalistic exaggerations. Morphy's challenge to the world was seen, in the language of his time, as "David vs Goliath". This motif often returns in reports, in particular when he played against the European masters. One of these reports (not by Edge) describes the ascetic Paulsen as "ox-like".
This comes from Edge again:
Quote:Mr. Morphy's second opponent was Judge Meek. As they took their seats opposite each other, one thought of David and Goliath; [...] there was as much difference in cubic contents between the two antagonists, as between the son of Jesse and the bully of Gath, and in both cases the little one came out biggest. Judge Meek sat down with an evident conviction of the result, and [...] he assured his youthful opponent, that if he continued mating him without ever allowing him the least chance, he would put him in his pocket, [...]
Anyway, I believe that Edge made Morphy shorter than he actually was. I'll post my source on Sunday.
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