Louis-Charles Mahé de La Bourdonnais

Louis de La Bourdonnais
The only known likeness of La Bourdonnais
Personal information
BornLouis-Charles Mahé de La Bourdonnais
1795
Réunion
Died13 December 1840(1840-12-13) (aged 44–45)
London, Great Britain
Chess career
CountryFrance

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

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

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

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

McDonnell vs. La Bourdonnais
hgfedcba
1h1 white kingg1f1e1d1 white rookc1b1a11
2h2 white pawng2 white pawnf2 black pawne2 black pawnd2 black pawnc2b2 white pawna2 white pawn2
3h3g3f3e3d3c3 white queenb3a33
4h4g4f4e4d4c4b4a44
5h5g5f5e5d5c5b5a5 black pawn5
6h6g6f6e6d6c6b6a66
7h7 black pawng7 black pawnf7e7d7 white pawnc7b7a77
8h8 black kingg8 black rookf8e8d8 black bishopc8b8a88
hgfedcba
Final position after 37...e2

See also

Notes

  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. Skeet.

References

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