Two Great Players You Never Heard Of - and LCCC Random 960 Final Monday!

 

LCCC will be back at the Buffalo Wild Wings in Brighton, MI this coming Monday March 21, 2022 from 4pm until 10pm. Stop by for some chess! There will be players available for a casual game.

But our Fischer Random 960 Tournament final round will also be played. Here are the final pairings. The first player listed is playing the White pieces;

Board 1 – Paul M – Vince V

Board 2 – Sam T – Pete B

Board 3 – Mike N – Ken T

Board 4 – Jeff S – AJ E

Board 5 – Jim G – Leo B

Board 6 – Frank F – Levi T

Board 7 – Mary B – Charlie S

Thank you to all the participants!

Now a little remembrance article. I like to call out great chess players that faded away from even most of even the most ardent chess players. And there are many of them. Here are just two.

About 188 years ago was the last match between two of the best players of their era – Louis de Bourdonnais of France and Alexander MacDonnell of Ireland. Their matches were a rivalry of styles and of countries. Each nation behind their guy completely.

In all, there were six individual matches over a span of less than 6 months in 1834. 85 games in all. MacDonnell has a variation of the King’s Gambit named after him as he introduced it in these matches.

Match 1: Louis de Bourdonnais 16      MacDonnell 5          Drawn 4

Match 2: Louis de Bourdonnais 4          MacDonnell 5         Drawn 0

Match 3: Louis de Bourdonnais 6        MacDonnell 5          Drawn  1

Match 4: Louis de Bourdonnais   8       MacDonnell 3          Drawn  7

Match 5: Louis de Bourdonnais   7        MacDonnell 4          Drawn  4

Match 6: Louis de Bourdonnais   4          MacDonnell 5          Drawn  0

The sixth match was not completed as MacDonnell was hospitalized with kidney disease and he died. How much the health of the frail MacDonnell played in his losses is open for debate. But both men were considered the two best at that time.

Many impartial chess experts said that MacDonnell was starting to turn the tide in their rivalry, even with his declining health. But posterity seems it was justifiable to heap most of the praise on de Bourdonnais, and that really cannot be argued with the results given.

MacDonnell was buried in London’s Kensal Green Cemetery. When Louis de Bourdonnais died penniless 6 years later in 1840, leading chess players made arrangements for him to be buried near his rival.

If you get a chance to, play over some of the games between them. Two men, the best at their craft at that time, playing mostly for the love of the game.