Louis-Charles Mahé de La Bourdonnais

Louis -Charles Mahé de La Bourdonnais (* 1795 ( according to some sources in 1797 ) on the island of Réunion, † December 13, 1840 in London) was a French chess master.

Mahé de La Bourdonnais was one of the strongest players of the early 19th century. Because of its unusual combination of talent, he is considered the greatest master that France has had since Philidor.

He came from a wealthy family and spent a lot of time in his youth in Paris's famous chess café Café de la Regence, where he had his own table and played there almost every day from noon to midnight. The Chess fever seized him, and the " Royal Game " was henceforth for him in life. He played against anyone who was willing to risk a little money use. He took classes with Alexandre Deschapelles, the hitherto strongest players of France, whom he ousted from the throne soon.

In 1827 he published the life story of his grandfather Bertrand François Mahé de La Bourdonnais, a famous admiral.

In 1833 he published a chess textbook, Nouveau Traité du jeu des échecs, which was tailored to the needs of chess amateurs. Since there is no more players were in France who could beat him, drove La Bourdonnais in 1834 to London to challenge the local champion and strongest players of Great Britain, the Irishman Alexander McDonnell, for a competition. The first major match in chess history lasted from June to November and included 88 games. La Bourdonnais won 44, lost 30 and played 14 games in a draw. The chess games played yet without were recorded and published.

After the contest win against McDonnell La Bourdonnais was the strongest player in the world. He returned temporarily returned to Paris, where he founded the first chess newspaper Le Palamede, which was later continued by Pierre Saint -Amant.

Shortly thereafter LABOURDONNAIS got dropsy and died on 13 December 1840. Upon his death, a plaster cast of the skull was made, which served as a template for the resulting portrait pictures.

Game

McDonnell - La Bourdonnais

1.e2 -e4 c7 - c5 2.Sg1 -f3 c6 3.d2 -d4 - Sb8 c5xd4 4.Sf3xd4 e7 - e5 - c4 5.Sd4xc6 b7xc6 6.Lf1 Ng8 - f6 - g5 7.Lc1 Bf8 - e7 8 Dd1 - e2 d7 -d5 9.Lg5xf6 Le7xf6 10.Lc4 -b3 0-0 11.0-0 a7 - a5 12.e4xd5 c6xd5 13.Tf1 -d1 -d4 d5 14.c2 - c4 - b6 Qd8 15.Lb3 -c2 Bc8 - b7 16.Sb1 -d2 Ta8 - e8 17.Sd2 -e4 Lf6 -d8 18.c4 c5 - c6 19.f2 Qb6 - LD8 -f3 e7 - f7 - f5 20.Ta1 -c1 - c4 21.De2 Kg8 - h8 22.Lc2 -a4 Qc6 - h6 24.c5 - c6 23.La4xe8 f5xe4 e4xf3 25.Tc1 DH6 -c2 -e3 26.Kg1 -h1 Bb7 - c8 - d7 27.Le8 f3 - f2 -f1 28.Td1 d4 -d3 29.Tc2 c3 - e5 -e4 Lc8xd7 30.c6xd7 31.Dc4 - c8 Be7 -d8 32.Dc8 - c4 De3 - e1 33.Tc3 -c1 -d2 d3 34.Dc4 - c5 Rf8 - g8 35.Tc1 -d1 e4 36.Dc5 -e3 - e3 - e2 c3 De1xd1 37.Tf1xd1

White gave up because the black pawn avalanche ( in row 2) is no longer to stop.

Works

  • Nouveau traité du jeu des échecs, Paris 1833
Game clock Pierre Charles Fournier de Saint-Amant Death mask Pawn (chess) Integrated Authority File
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