He was born on September 12th, 1800 in Monflanquin, France.
He was the secretary to the governor of French Guiana, until
he protested against the slave trade. After that, he tried
his hand as an actor, then became a successful wine
merchant, and was a captain in the National Guard during the
1848 revolution. In 1851, he became a consul to California.
Not much is known about his early chess career other
than the fact that he traveled to England in 1836 and
prevailed against the strongest British players.
Following the death of
Louis de la
Bourdonnais
in 1840,
Saint-Amant had the reputation of being France's best
chess player and many went as far as to label him the
best in the world, earning him the title of unofficial
world chess champion by many sources.
He played two matches against his closest competitor,
Howard Staunton in 1843. The first match was in London,
which Saint-Amant won 3.5-2.5. The two players then had
a return match just before Christmas of the same year in
Paris at the renowned Café de la Regence, which Staunton
handily won by a score of 13-8.
Saint-Amant vs Staunton in
1843
at the Café de la Régence.
Saint-Amant seemed to disappear from the chess scene
after his defeat at the hands of Staunton, turning his
attention to his other afore mentioned career choices.
Later, when
Paul Morphy visited Paris in 1858, Saint-Amant
attended a banquet in honor of the American player and
quickly recognized that he was far from the level of
Morphy. They privately played several games of which
the results were unfortunately not recorded. The
score of only one game is known, a win by Morphy.
In 1861 Saint-Amant moved to
Algeria to spend his retirement years. He died there
in 1872 after an accident.
