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Francois Andre Danican
Philidor had a chess career that spanned over 50
years. He was born on September 7th, 1726 in Dreux, France
and was the 7th unofficial world chess champion from
1747-1795. He was
from a family of musicians. His father was married twice
and his second wife was was about 50 years younger. Philidor, one of his 20+ children, was one of
the youngest children from the second marriage, so by
the time he was of age, most of his siblings were
already dead as was his father.
Philidor was more or
less on his own his entire life. He started by singing
in a boys choir at age 6. It's said that when his voice
broke and he had plenty of free time, he would hang
around the musicians, many of whom played chess. One of
them needed a chess partner and none was
available, so Philidor, who had never actually played, offered to sit
in. Philidor won the game - then took off running
fearing the wrath of his much oldest opponent.
Philidor was recognized as a musical prodigy,
but the field of music was highly competitive
and at age 14, he went off to Paris to earn a
living by giving music lessons and copying
scores. He started hanging around the Café de la
Regence which was the world's center for chess
at the time. There he met
Legal de Kermeur, considered the best player in the café
(therefore, in Paris, and therefore, possibly
the world). Philidor became so obsessed with
chess that he lost most of his music students
from neglect. After 3 years, Legal was no
longer a match
for him. At that time, in 1744, Philidor gave his
famous simultaneous (2 games) blindfold chess
demonstration. His results were poor, =1 -1, but
the demonstration was considered an
extraordinary display of mental power and
praised throughout the world, making Philidor a
celebrity of sorts.
The next year Philidor took a job organizing a
concert tour that featured the 13 year old
harpsichord prodigy, the daughter of the
producer. While in Holland, the poor girl died
and the tour closed. Philidor was stuck in
Rotterdam without funds. He started playing
chess for money to survive. From here on, chess
became more than just a pastime for Philidor -
it became one of his sources of income.
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"He has no common sense, it is all
genius."
– Source
Unknown (about Philidor) |
When he earned enough money, he took off for
England. In London he played Phillip Stamma, the
noted Syrian chess author whose reputation
exceeded his talent. Philidor beat him
decisively by a score of +8 -2 (but one of the loses was
really a draw, as Philidor allowed any draw to be
considered a loss). This match effectively
ended Stamma's
chess career. He also played against and
defeated (+4 -1) Sir Abraham Janssen whom many
consider to have been Philidor's strongest
opponent.
Returning to Holland in 1748, Philidor wrote his
book, L'analyse du
jeu des Eschecs. This was the
first real book since Greco. His approach was
entirely unique. He wanted to teach principles
rather than moves. No one had ever approached
chess in this manner. He also understood
something about positional play. He wrote the
famous line, "Les pions sont l'ame du jeu" or
"Pawns are the soul of the game", indicating that
pawns are the most static and therefore the most
reliable anchor with which to apply principles. His book was well received.
He played a 3 game blindfold simul in Berlin in
1751, this time winning every one. Except for a
match with Legal in Paris, which he won,
Philidor devoted most of his time to music. It
wasn't until 1771 that he started playing chess
seriously again - and this was in London.
The Parsloe Chess Club members underwrote Philidor's
expenses to come there from February to June
each year and allowed him to earn extra money
teaching and playing side games. Philidor did
this for 20 years and produced very little
musically during this time, so it might be
surmised that chess had become his main source
of revenue.
Philidor started giving blindfold demonstrations
to make a little extra cash. While in Paris, he
had played, and defeated the Turk, the famous
automaton built by Baron Wolfgang von Kempelen
in 1770. Oddly, the Turk also became his prime
competitor for audiences in London.
Philidor republished his book twice. While
successful in it's official releases, it was
even more so in the cheaper rip-offs. It became
a profound influence in chess, particularly in
England. He also designed his own style of
chess pieces that became very popular for a
time.
In 1792 Philidor was accidentally put on a
French list of persona non gratis, thanks to the
French Revolution. He was stuck in England. It
was finally all straightened out after 2 years,
during which he hadn't seen his wife and
children and supported them by sending his
earnings. But before he could leave for France,
he died on August 24th, 1795.
Philidor was buried at St. James in London. Of
the possibly thousands of games he had played,
only 68 were ever recorded and even these games
were only those played in the last eight years
before he died. We'll never fully know the
strength of Philidor in his prime.
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