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Louis-Charles Mahe de La Bourdonnais
of France is considered by many to be the 9th unofficial
world champion, following
Alexandre Deschapelles as the chess champion
of France and likely the world. Bourdonnais defeated
both his former mentor (Deschapelles) with 6 wins and 1
loss, and John Cochrane with 7 wins in a
triangular chess contest outside of Paris in 1821.
Deschapelles soon retired afterwards. Unlike Deschapelles,
who lorded over the Café de la Régence and played all
comers, Bourdonnais actively sought out the strongest
opponents during his reign from 1821-1840.
Having already beaten Deschapelles
and Cochrane, he traveled to London in 1823 and
played William Lewis (winning 5-2-0) who
himself had supplanted Jacob Henry Sarratt as the strongest player in England.
Two years later he returned to London, beat all
comers, including Lewis again, and and married
an English girl while he was there.
In 1833 he wrote a book, Nouveau Traite du Jeux
des Echecs, trying to recoup from his
disastrous
financial reverses caused by bad investments.
But it was 1834 where he finally reached the
apex of his chess career.
Bourdonnais accepted the challenge from the
Irish player, Alexander McDonnell, considered at
the time to be the best player in England.
Unlike other matches of those days that were
usually short and quick, this match, arranged by
George Walker, was really a series of six
matches. They played a total of 85 games. The
moves were recorded by William Greenwood Walker,
the Secretary of the Westminster Chess Club
where the matches were held. Bourdonnais won 45,
McDonnell won 27, and 13 were drawn. Not only were the moves recorded, but they
were published in newspapers and periodicals so
that the public could follow, which it did with
great excitement and anticipation.
The final match was suspended when Bourdonnais
had to take care of some business in Paris and
McDonnell took sick. McDonnell died before the
match could be resumed and was buried at
Kensal Green in London. William Greenwood Walker,
the recorder, also died at the conclusion of the
match.
Bourdonnais suffered a stroke in 1838. In the
last three weeks of his life, he and his
wife were supported financially through George
Walker's efforts. Bourdonnais passed away
on
December 13, 1840. He was buried at Kensal Green
in London, along with his great rival, Alexander
McDonnell. |
