The Morphy number is a measure of how closely a chess player is connected to Paul Morphy (1837–1884) by way of playing chess games.
Paul Morphy
Morphy and Löwenthal
Paul Charles Morphy was an American chess player. During his brief career in the late 1850s Morphy was acknowledged as the world's greatest chess master.
Morphy in Philadelphia, 1859
Morphy in 1857, studio of Mathew Brady
Morphy vs. Löwenthal, 1858
Engraving of Paul Morphy by Winslow Homer appearing in Ballou's Pictorial (1859)