The Chess Players — Frances Parkinson Keyes

A novel of New Orleans and Paris.
Time Period: Civil War

The Chess Players a highly fictionalized biography of Paul Morphy, the world chess champion who was born in New Orleans.

Tata continued to murmur, but she did his bidding and, when Paul went to his father, forty minutes later, he was immaculately turned out. The judge was pacing up and down, his arms folded across his breast. As he turned toward his son, Paul saw that his expression was ominous. His face had become more highly colored as he grew older, and anger reddened it still further; his long straight nose quivered. It actually seemed to Paul that even Alonzo's thick wiry hair, brushed forward over the ears, was bristling with rage.