Louis-Charles Mahé de La Bourdonnais
Louis-Charles Mahé de La Bourdonnais (1795–December 1840) was a French chess master, possibly the strongest player in the early 19th century.
Louis de La Bourdonnais | |
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The only known likeness of La Bourdonnais. | |
Full name | Louis-Charles Mahé de La Bourdonnais |
Country | France |
Born | 1795 France |
Died | 1840 (aged 44–45) |
Early life
La Bourdonnais was born on the island of La Réunion in the Indian Ocean in 1795. He was the grandson of Bertrand-François Mahé de La Bourdonnais. He learned chess in 1814 and began to take the game seriously in 1818, regularly playing at the Café de la Régence.[1] He took lessons from Jacques François Mouret, his first teacher,[2] and within two years he became one of the best players of the Café.
Chess career
La Bourdonnais was forced to earn his living as a professional chess player after squandering his fortune on ill-advised land deals. He played in an era before a World Chess Championship was established, but was considered to be perhaps the strongest player in the world from 1821 — when he became able to beat his chess teacher Alexandre Deschapelles — until his death in 1840. The most famous match series in that time was the series against Alexander McDonnell in 1834.
Death
He died penniless in London in December 1840,[3] having been forced to sell all of his possessions, including his clothes, to satisfy his creditors. George Walker arranged to have him buried just a stone's throw away from his old rival Alexander McDonnell in London's Kensal Green Cemetery.[4][5]
Notable games
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- Alexander McDonnell vs. Louis-Charles Mahé de La Bourdonnais, 16, London 1834, Sicilian Defense: Old Sicilian. Open (B32), 0–1 A game demonstrating the strength of pawns. Its end position is one of the most surprising in the history of chess.
- Louis-Charles Mahé de La Bourdonnais vs. Alexander MacDonnell, 3, London 1834, Queen's Gambit Accepted: Old Variation (D20), 1–0 La Bourdonnais punishes McDonnell's premature attack.
Notes
- The Oxford Companion to Chess – David Hooper and Kenneth Whyld (1992) p. 56
- Le Palamède edited by Saint-Amant (1847) p. 211
- Crescendo of the Virtuoso: Spectacle, Skill, and Self-Promotion in Paris during the Age of Revolution. Paul Metzner, Berkeley: University of California Press, c1998 1998.
- Philip W. Sergeant, A Century of British Chess, David McKay, 1934, p. 39.
- Walker, George (1850). Chess and Chess-Players. London: C. J. Skeet.
References
- World chess champions by Edward G. Winter, editor. 1981 ISBN 0-08-024094-1
External links
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Louis-Charles Mahé de La Bourdonnais. |
- Louis-Charles Mahé de La Bourdonnais player profile and games at Chessgames.com