Editing Paul Morphy (section)

===Childhood victories===
By 1846, the nine-year-old Morphy was considered one of the best players in New Orleans. That year, General [[Winfield Scott]] visited the city while on his way to the [[Mexican–American War|war with Mexico]]. He informed his hosts that he wanted to spend an evening playing chess against a strong local opponent. While he only played infrequently, Scott enjoyed chess and considered himself to be a formidable player. The arrangements were made, and a game was set up after dinner. When Morphy was brought in, Scott initially took offense to a child being offered as his opponent, believing he was being made fun of. However, after being assured that his wishes had been scrupulously obeyed, and that Morphy was a chess prodigy who would prove his skill, Scott agreed to play. Morphy easily defeated Scott in both of the games they played, ending the second game by {{chessgloss|announced mate|announcing a forced checkmate}} after only six moves.{{sfn|Lawson|2010|pp=13-14}}

During 1848 and 1849, Morphy competed against the leading players in New Orleans.{{sfn|Lawson|2010|p=18}} He played at least fifty games against [[Eugène Rousseau (chess player)|Eugène Rousseau]], considered to be the strongest of Morphy's opponents during this era, and lost at most five.{{sfn|Lawson|2010|p=20}} In 1850, Hungarian chess master [[Johann Löwenthal]] visited New Orleans. Löwenthal, a refugee of the [[Hungarian revolution of 1848]], had visited various American cities and competed successfully against the best local players. He accepted an invitation to Judge Morphy's house to play against Paul, now twelve years old.{{sfn|Lawson|2010|p=21}} Löwenthal soon realized he was facing a formidable opponent: each time Morphy made a good move, Löwenthal's eyebrows shot up in a manner described by Ernest Morphy as "{{lang|fr|comique}}".{{sfn|Lawson|2010|p=22}} Löwenthal played three games against Morphy during his stay in New Orleans, with sources recording him as either having two losses and one [[draw (chess)|draw]], or as losing all three games.{{efn|One of the games was given as a draw in Sergeant's ''Morphy's Games of Chess'' (1957), taken from Löwenthal's collection of Morphy's games (1860), but Lawson (1976) considers that the correct score was that published by other sources, such as the ''New York Clipper'', in 1856, as submitted for publication by Ernest Morphy.}}