It became law that able-bodied persons could not receive assistance unless they entered a workhouse and authorities would no longer try to identify fathers of illegitimate children in order to try and recover support from them.
The de la Bourdonnais vs. McDonnell matches were a series of six matches in 1834 between Louis-Charles Mahe de la Bourdonnais of France and Alexander McDonnell of Ireland. de la Bourdonnais was considered the world's leading player starting in 1821 and these matches confirmed that he still was.
They were the first matches of importance and the games were annotated and discussed by all over Europe. Both players introduced several opening innovations.
After each game, McDonnell would return to his room exhausted while de la Bourdonnais remained downstairs until long after midnight, smoking cigars, drinking punch and gambling.
The two were fairly evenly matched in ability, but their styles differed greatly. de la Bourdonnais was known for the rapidity of his play, often replying to his opponent's moves within seconds, whereas McDonnell sometimes took two hours to make a move. Even so, his play was usually reckless and he often made wild, ill-considered attacks whereas de la Bourdonnais' play was cautious.
Their personalities also differed. de la Bourdonnais was friendly and outgoing; he was talkative and affable when winning, but when losing he "swore tolerably round oaths in a pretty audible voice." Winning or losing, McDonnell was taciturn and imperturbable and betrayed little emotion at the board.
In the first match of the series McDonnell's lack match experience told against him and he was heavily defeated, but recovered and won the second match.
de la Bourdonnais won the third, fourth and fifth matches. The final match was abandoned under obscure circumstances with McDonnell leading 5-4. Apparently de la Bourdonnais was forced to return to France to deal with his creditors.
According to British writer Harry Golombek the games were generally of low quality, but there were some instances of brilliance. Technique, especially in the endgame, was poor. For example, in one game McDonnell had a R+2Ps against a R, but didn't know how to win it. To make matters worse, he even blundered away his Rook and lost!! For his part, de la Bourdonnais was bad, but not as bad as McDonnell, in the endgame but he was weak in the opening.
There were relatively few draws, mostly due to McDonnell's poor defensive technique which meant he lost games he could have drawn
Still, as long as one is not too critical, the games were entertaining in an way that we amateurs can appreciate. Here's an example.
Louis de la Bourdonnais–Alexander McDonnell1–0D203rd Match5London ENG1834Stockfish 15
Queen's Gambit Accepted 1.d4 d5 2.c4 dxc4 With this capture black
surrenders the center and white will try to seize space there and use it to
launch an attack. Black will have counterchances if he can weaken white's
center Ps by playing ...c5 and ...cxd4 at some stage and thereby gaining an
endgame advantage. In some cases, white gets an isolated d-Pawn which can lead
to sharp middlegame play. If white recaptures on d4 with a piece then the
center is liquidated and a fairly even game ensures. 3.e3 This seemingly
passive move aimed at the immediate recovery of the P had a harmless
reputation for a long time because of the reply 3...e5. However, it was
discovered that is has more bite than originally thought because the open
positions that result are not easy for black to play in practice. 3.e4
This logical followup in which white tries to establish a strong P-center is
an old move that became popular again in the 1990s. The result of 3.e4 is an
increase in strategic and tactical complexity. e5 Trying to defend the P
with 3...b5 is highly risky. Popular is 3...Nf6 trying to provoke white into
advancing in the center Ps and then attacking it is frequently seen, but the
text is a highly theoretical system. 4.f3 exd4 5.xc4 Black can now
continue with either 5...Bb4+ or 5...Nc6 3...e5 Black can, if he wishes,
play 3...e6 transposing into less critical lines. 3...b5 The dangers of
trying to hang onto the P with this move were pointed out by Alessandro Salvio
way back in 1604. 4.a4 c6 Two question marks for this which fatally opens
the a8-h1 diagonal. Trying to defend the P with 3...Be6 allows white too much
positional compensation. 4...b4 is best, but after 5.f3 c6 6.xc4
white is better. 5.axb5 cxb5 6.f3 wins a piece. c6 7.xc6+ d7 4.xc4 exd4 5.exd4 f6 6.c3 e7 7.f3 0-0 8.h3 White could also play 8.O-O bd7 9.e3 The opening play has been surprising modern and my database has
several games which have reached this position. The text is aimed at setting
up a solid, if somewhat passive, position. 9.0-0 b6 10.b3 Also playable
is 10.Bd3 bd5 11.e1 Marshall,F-Napier,W Cambridge Springs 1904 saw 11.Bg5 e6 12.g5 xc3 13.bxc3 xb3 14.xb3 h6 a draw was agree in Vaganian,R
(2550)-Tal,M (2605) Moscow 1982 9...b6 10.b3 c6 11.0-0 fd5 12.e2
White need not fear 13...Nxe3 14.fxe3 which only strengthens his center. f5
This horrible move is typical of McDonnell's reckless style. Correct was 12...
a5 with equality. 13.e5 f4 This is totally unjustified. 13...f6
keeps the damage caused by his last move to a minimum. 14.a4 a5 15.xd5 xd5 16.fe1 and white can only claim that he stands slightly better. 14.d2 g5 McDonnell shows fallacious pluck. In this position 14...g5 is probably as
good a move as any. 15.ae1 g7 16.xd5 16.xc6 is clever and also quite
good. bxc6 17.xd5 xd5 18.xd5 cxd5 19.xe7+ xe7 20.xe7+ with a
winning position. 16...xd5 16...cxd5 was no better. 17.c2 Intending
Qh5 f5 18.xf5 xf5 19.g4 f8 20.f3 The threat is Rxe7+and Qxf5 f7 21.xe7 It still works! The K gets caught in a crossfire from white's pieces.
xe7 22.e1 f6 23.xg5 f8 24.e6 f5 25.xh7+ xh7 26.b4+ e7 27.xf4+ 17.xc6 bxc6 18.xd5 xd5 Only marginally better was
taking with the P. Either way black is dead lost. 19.xe7+ f7 20.b4
de la Bourdonnais finishes up the game quite efficiently. f5 21.e5 d7 22.d5 cxd5 23.d4 h6 24.h4 e6 25.fe1 e8 26.xg5 ef8 27.e5 It's a moot
point, but white missed a mate in 6. 27.xf4 g4 27...xf4 28.xe6+ 4f6 29.xf6+ xf6 30.xf6# 28.e5 f5 29.xf5+ g6 30.g5+ h6 31.xg4+ xf4 32.g5# 27...g4 Losing outright, but it's too late to salvage anything. 27...f5 28.xe6+ xe6 29.xe6+ 5f6 30.xf6+ xf6 31.xd5 wins easily. 27...d8 28.h5+ g6 29.xe6+ g7 30.c3+ mates in 7 moves at most. d4 31.xd4+ f6 32.g5+ h6 33.xf6 xf6 34.g4 g6 35.e7 f7 36.xf7 xg5 37.xg5# 28.h5+ xh5 29.g5# Not a badly played game at all,
especially by de la Bourdonnais. 1–0
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