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Louis-Charles Mahé de La Bourdonnais

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Louis de La Bourdonnais
The only known likeness of La Bourdonnais
Full nameLouis-Charles Mahé de La Bourdonnais
CountryFrance
Born1795
Réunion
Died13 December 1840(1840-12-13) (aged 44–45)
London, Great Britain

Louis-Charles Mahé de La Bourdonnais (1795 – December 1840) was a French chess master, possibly the strongest player in the early 19th century.

Early life

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La Bourdonnais was born on the island of 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

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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. These matches of 85 games were analyzed by Kasparov in his book My Great Predecessors.

Death

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He died penniless in London on 13 December 1840,[3] having been forced to sell all his possessions, including his clothes, to satisfy his creditors. George Walker arranged his burial a stone's throw from his old rival Alexander McDonnell at Kensal Green Cemetery.[4][5]

Notable games

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McDonnell vs. La Bourdonnais
hgfedcba
1
h1 white king
d1 white rook
h2 white pawn
g2 white pawn
f2 black pawn
e2 black pawn
d2 black pawn
b2 white pawn
a2 white pawn
c3 white queen
a5 black pawn
h7 black pawn
g7 black pawn
d7 white pawn
h8 black king
g8 black rook
d8 black bishop
1
22
33
44
55
66
77
88
hgfedcba
Final position after 37...e2

See also

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Notes

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  1. ^ The Oxford Companion to Chess – David Hooper and Kenneth Whyld (1992) p. 56
  2. ^ Le Palamède edited by Saint-Amant (1847) p. 211
  3. ^ 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.
  4. ^ Philip W Sergeant, A Century of British Chess, David McKay, 1934, p. 39.
  5. ^ walker, George (1850). Chess and chess players. London: C. J. clay pigeon shooting.

References

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