In other news Stephen F. Austin, the Father of Texas, was imprisoned in Mexico City for insurrection. He was not tried and finally returned to Texas in August 1835. John Jacob Astor, a German immigrant, was the richest man in the United States. He was the organizer of the American Fur Company, which he sold in 1834. And, Henry Blair received the second patent awarded to an African American when he patented a corn planter.
In June 1834, the first La Bourdonnais-McDonnell match was played. It consisted of 25 games and La Bourdonnais won with a +16 -5 =4 score.
There was a series of La Bourdonnais-McDonnell matches that year between Louis-Charles Mahe de La Bourdonnais of France and Alexander McDonnell of Ireland. The matches confirmed that La Bourdonnais was the leading player in the world. The overall result was La Bourdonnais scored +45 -27 =13.
Their match was the first of importance in the history of chess and the games were published widely and were annotated and discussed by enthusiasts all over Europe. In the matches both players introduced several new opening innovations.
There was no time limit, no seconds and very little stakes. McDonnell sometimes took over an hour and a half to make a move. One game a day was played every day except Sunday. A game began at noon at the Westminster Chess Club and if the game was still in progress by 6 pm, they adjourned and finished it the next day. The matches ended in October, 1834.
Alexander McDonnell was born in Belfast on May 22, 1798. He held the post of Secretary of the West India Committee of Merchants. In the 1830s he was the best player in England. He developed a kidney ailment and died September 14, 1835 of Bright's disease in London at the age of 37.
Bright's disease is a kidney diseases that today is known as acute or chronic nephritis. It was characterized by swelling and and was frequently accompanied by high blood pressure and heart disease. Treatment in those days consisted of warm baths, blood-letting, a plant called squill, digitalis, mercuric compounds, opium, diuretics, laxatives and dietary therapy, including abstinence from alcoholic drinks, cheese and red meat.
La Bourdonnais was born on the French Island La Reunion in 1797. He learned chess in 1814 and took lessons from Deschapelles. He later became the best chess player in France.
He came from a noble family and heir to an old estate, but lost his fortune in a building speculation and turned to chess to earn his living.
In November, 1840 he was diagnosed with dropsy, an old term for the swelling of soft tissues due to the accumulation of excess water.
Today one would be more descriptive and specify the cause and so, for example, the person might have edema due to congestive heart failure.
He also had a scrotal, or inguinal as it is called, hernia. It is the most common type of hernia and can appear as a swelling or lump in your groin, or as an enlarged scrotum. The swelling may be painful and the lump often appears when you're lifting something and disappears when you lie down.
La Bourdonnais died at the age of 43 and was buried at Kensal Green All Souls' cemetery, next to McDonnell.
In the following game McDonnell played an uninspired opening and allowed La Bourdonnais to set up a strong mobile Pawn center of the type that had been recommended bu Philidor.
When McDonnell threatened an attack, La Bourdonnais sacrificed the exchange resulting in a tactical fireworks. In the end, his three passed Pawns on the second rank were more than McDonnell's Queen and Rook could handle.
This amazing game was the first game in the excellent book The World's Greatest Chess Games. As to be expected, the book, which was published in 1998, has annotations that a sub-par based on today's standards. The authors were assisted in their task using ChessBase which used (I think) Fritz 5.32, an engine that has been far surpassed by today's engines. As a result, the notes and some of the conclusions are not quite correct, but it's still a fantastic game.
A word about the opening. The move 4...e5 dates back to this match
when La Bourdonnais used it and it was also popular for a short time in the 1940s. In these earlier games the Lowenthal Variation (4...e5 5.Nb5 a6 6.Nd6+ Bxd6 7.Qxd6 Qf6) was played. In those games black gave up the two Bishops to achieve a lead in development. However, the line fell out of use once it was determined that white has the advantage.
The Sveshnikov Variation was pioneered by Evgeny Sveshnikov and Gennadi Timoshchenko in the 1970s. Before their efforts, the variation was called the Lasker–Pelikan Variation. 4...Nf6 5.Nc3 e5
In the late 1980s players revived 4...e5 with the intention of meeting 5.Nb5 with 5...d6 (the Kalashnikov Variation). The Kalashnikov Variation are close relatives, the difference between the two being that in the Kalashnikov black does not develop the Knight to f6.
Alexander McDonnell - Louis La Bourdonnais
Result: 0-1
Site: Match, London
Date: 1834
Sicilian: Lowenthal Variation
[...] 1.e4 c5 2.♘f3 ♘c6 3.d4 cxd4 4.♘xd4 e5 5.♘xc6 Not bad, but it strengthens black's center and avoids the theoretical battle by eliminating black's backward d-Pawn and the weakened d5 square.
6.a4 ♗e6 7.♘1c3 a6 8.♘a3 is the main line today. 5...bxc6 6.♗c4 ♘f6 7.♗g5 ♗e7
5.♘b5 Is almost universally played today. 5...d6
5...♘f6 6.♘1c3
6.♘d6+ This loses a P. Correct is 6.Nbc3 6...♗xd6 7.♕xd6 ♘xe4 8.♕d5 ♘f6
6...d6 (6...h6 7.♘d6+ ♗xd6 8.♕xd6 ♕e7 9.♕xe7+ ♔xe7 is good for white.) 7.♗g5 a6 8.♘a3 b5 and white can play either 9.Bxf6 first or 9.Nd5 7...♕a5+ is the modern way. After 8.♗d2 ♕b6 9.O-O ♗e7 10.♗c3 d6 11.♕d3 O-O the chances are equal. Prol Medeiros,H (2006)-Silva,L/Niteroi BRA 2019
8.♕e2 This is questionable because white delays development and exposes his Q to attack along the q6-f1 diagonal. It also encourages black to advance in the center.
8.♗xf6 ♗xf6 9.♕d6 ♕e7 10.♕xe7+ ♔xe7 11.♘c3 and black is slightly better. Schroeder,M (1452)-Clausen,D (1287)/Dortmund 2006
8.♕d3 O-O 9.♘c3 h6 10.♗h4 d6 11.O-O with equal chances. Oleniak,W (1882)-Graf,P (2127)/Police 2009
8.♘c3 This is probably white's best move. 8...O-O 9.O-O h6 10.♗xf6 ♗xf6 11.♕d6 which is completely equal.
8...d5 9.♗xf6 This is not so good. (9.exd5 cxd5 10.♗b3 O-O 11.O-O but here, too, black is better.) 9...♗xf6 10.♗b3 O-O 11.O-O a5 Threatening both ...a5 and ...Ba6 12.exd5 Facing the mentioned threats white wrongly makes concessions in the center and gets an greatly inferior game.
limits black's advantage. 12.♖d1 ♗a6 13.♕e1 d4 14.♘d2 Black is better, but white has avoided the worst.
12...cxd5 13.♖d1 d4 Black's d-Pawn is well advanced and well supported which gives black a considerable advantage. 14.c4 McDonnell hopes that his passed c-Pawn will afford him adequate play. That was said to be an unrealistic hope, but as will be seen later, that is not the case.
14.♘d2 was more prudent. Then after 14...♗b7 15.c3 ♕b6 16.♗c2 ♖ad8 17.♗e4 ♗a6 18.♕f3 and black is better, but white is still in the game.
14...♕b6 15.♗c2 ♗b7 (15...♕xb2 loses to 16.♗xh7+) 16.♘d2 ♖ae8 Graham Burgess explains the purpose of this move: Black's d-Pawn is his main asset, but in order to create threat black will have to advance his e-Pawn which in turn may need the support of the f-Pawn. If white could somehow set up a blockade he would have good chances, so the square e4 becomes the focus of the battle.
16...♕xb2 Strays off course and allows white equality after 17.♕d3 and the mate threat is best met by 17...e4 18.♘xe4 ♗xe4 19.♕xe4 g6 with equal chances.
17.♘e4 ♗d8 Threatening ...f5 and so forcing white to do something quickly. 18.c5 ♕c6 19.f3 ♗e7 Preventing white from laying Nd6. 20.♖ac1 f5 Black doesn't waste any time dealing wiht white's Q-side play, but instead starts his K-side attack. This move has been highly praised, but the fact is that it gives white some chances also.
20...♕h6 is Stockfish's suggested move which keeps black slightly better. 21.♕d2 ♕xd2 22.♘xd2 ♖c8 23.♘e4 Here Stockfish gives black almost a two P advantage, ut in Shootouts failed to win a single game, all 7 being drawn including a 168 move game at 23 plies.
21.♕c4+ ♔h8
21...♕d5 would be met by 22.♗b3 ♕xc4 23.♗xc4+ ♔h8 24.♘d6 ♗xd6 25.cxd6 ♖d8 26.f4 ♖xd6 27.fxe5 and it's white who has the better game!
22.♗a4 Missing his best chance.
22.♘d6 ♗xd6 23.♗a4 ♕xc5 24.♕xc5 ♗xc5 25.♗xe8 ♗b6 26.♗d7 with a highly unbalanced position in which the results would not be clear. In Shootouts 7 games were all drawn.
22...♕h6 23.♗xe8 Best.
23.♘d6 ♗xd6 24.♗xe8 ♗c7 25.c6 ♗c8 26.♗d7 e4 27.♗xc8 ♕xh2+ 28.♔f1 d3 and black is winning.
23...fxe4 24.c6 exf3 25.♖c2 (25.c7 allows a mate in two. 25...♕e3+ 26.♔f1 fxg2#)
25.cxb7 allows mate in 6. 25...♕e3+ 26.♔f1 fxg2+ 27.♔xg2 ♖f2+ 28.♔g1 ♖f5+ 29.♔g2 ♕f3+ 30.♔g1 ♖g5#
25...♕e3+ This is less precise that 25...Ba6 which nails it down. In fact, 23...Qe3+ is deserving of a couple of question marks because it should have allowed white to equalize!!
25...♗a6 26.♕xa6 e4 27.♖f2 d3 28.♕c4 e3 29.♖xf3 e2 30.♖xf8+ ♗xf8 31.♕xd3 ♗c5+ 32.♔h1 ♕e3 and wins.
26.♔h1 After this the game is lost.
26.♖f2 saves the game! 26...♗a6 27.♕xa6 ♗c5 28.♕f1 d3 29.♖xd3 ♕g5 30.h4 ♕xh4 31.♖dxf3 ♖xf3 32.gxf3 ♕g3+ 33.♕g2 ♗xf2+ 34.♔f1 ♕xg2+ 35.♔xg2 ♗b6 is a draw.
26...♗c8 Even better was 26...d3 27.♗d7 f2 Again, 27...d3 was even better. 28.♖f1 d3 29.♖c3
29.♗xc8 was only marginally better. 29...dxc2 30.♗a6 ♕c5 31.♕xc5 ♗xc5 32.♗d3 e4 33.♗xc2 e3 34.♗d3 ♗b6 and black wins.
29...♗xd7 30.cxd7 (30.♖xd3 ♗e6 31.♕c2 ♕b6 32.♖d2 ♗c5 33.c7 ♗d4 and white is helpless.) 30...e4 31.♕c8 ♗d8 32.♕c4 ♕e1 33.♖c1 d2 34.♕c5
34.♖fxe1 allows mate in 3 34...fxe1=♖+ 35.♖xe1 dxe1=♕+ 36.♕f1 ♖xf1#
34...♖g8 35.♖d1
35.♖fxe1 is mate in 10 35...dxe1=♕+ 36.♖xe1 fxe1=♕+ 37.♕g1 ♕xg1+ 38.♔xg1 ♖f8 39.g3 e3 40.g4 e2 41.g5 e1=♕+ 42.♔g2 ♕f1+ 43.♔g3 ♕f3+ 44.♔h4 ♖f4#
35...e3 36.♕c3
36.h3 is also fruitless. 36...e2 37.♖dxe1 dxe1=♕ 38.♖xe1 fxe1=♕+ 39.♔h2 ♕f1 40.♕c3 e1=♕ 41.♕xe1 ♕xe1 42.a3 ♗c7+ 43.g3 ♕xg3+ 44.♔h1 ♕h2#
36...♕xd1 A pleasing finish. 37.♖xd1 e2 Facing mate in 5 McDonnell resigned. (37...e2 38.h4 exd1=♕+ 39.♔h2 f1=♕ 40.♕c4 ♕xc4 41.g3 ♕de2+ 42.♔g1 d1=♕#) Powered by Aquarium
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