François-André Danican Philidor
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François-André Danican Philidor | |
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Born | François-André Danican Philidor 7 September 1726 Dreux, France |
Died | 31 August 1795 London, England | (aged 68)
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François-André Danican Philidor (7 September 1726 – 31 August 1795), often referred to as André Danican Philidor during his lifetime, was a French
Musical family
François-André Danican Philidor came from the well-known musical
Music career
Philidor joined the royal choir of
Starting in about 1740, he lived and worked in Paris as a performer, teacher and music copyist. He was the teacher of the Bohemian composer and pianist
For a time Philidor was among the leading opera composers in France, and during his musical career produced over 20 opéras comiques and two tragédies-lyriques. He also wrote secular cantatas and motets.
Philidor also wrote music for masonic rituals.[3] The first performance of his Carmen Saeculare was performed at Freemasons' Hall in London in 1779. He was a member of the renowned Parisian Lodge Les Neuf Soeurs. This Lodge had an allied society for musicians, called the Société Apollonienne.[4]
Chess career
Philidor started playing regularly around 1740 at the chess Mecca of France, the
Philidor visited England in 1747 and decisively beat the
In 1754, Philidor returned to France, after nine years of absence, spent mostly in the Netherlands and England. He was now a much stronger player, having successfully played opponents of the calibre of Philip Stamma and Abraham Janssen, but, as G. Allen reports in The life of Philidor, it was not until his match with Legall (also known as de Legal) in 1755 that he can be considered the strongest player in the world.
When Philidor left Paris, in 1745, although he had for some time been playing even games with M. de Legal ... he had not ceased to recognize his old master as still his master and superior. But nine years of practice, with a great variety of players, had authorized him to look for neither superior nor equal; and when, in 1755, a match was arranged between the pupil and his master, who was still at the height of his strength, the result placed the crown firmly and indisputably upon the head of Philidor.[8]
In 1771 and 1773, Philidor briefly stayed in London to play at the Salopian coffee house, Charing Cross and at the St. James Chess Club. In 1774, Parloe's chess club, on St. James Street in London, was created, and Philidor obtained remuneration as a chess master every year for a regular season from February to June. Philidor stayed faithful to this agreement until the end of his life, and he was replaced by
Henry Bird records:
Of the players who encountered Philidor, Sir Abraham Janssens, who died in 1775, seems to have been the best. Atwood, one of Pitt's secretaries, came next; he was of a class which we should call third or two grades of odds below Philidor, a high standard of excellence to which but few amateurs attained. One of the most interesting features of Atwood as a chess player is that he recorded and preserved some of his games, an unusual practice at that time. These records have survived, among them the last games that Philidor played, which were against Atwood at Parsloe's Club in London on 20 June 1795.[10]
In England, Philidor astounded his peers by playing three
Philidor, both in England and France, was largely recognized in each of his fields and had a lot of admirers, protectors and friends, such as the French philosophers Voltaire, Rousseau and the famous English actor David Garrick (1717–1779).
In December 1792, however, when he was 65, Philidor was forced to leave France for England. He fled the French Revolution (1789–1799) because his name was on the Revolutionary banishment list, established by the Convention nationale. This was not probably due to his ideas (indeed it seems Philidor was rather reserved about his opinions apart from music and chess), but very likely in view of the traditional attachment of his family to the King's family service.[11]
Also interesting is GM Boris Alterman's opinion on Philidor's play:
Five hundred years ago, chess was different from today. Pawns didn't cost as much as they do today. The best players started games with the gambits. Pawns were only a small price to: Open a file or diagonal; Create an immediate attack on an opponent's king. It was the Italian style of chess. All positions of the King's Gambit were very popular. ... The best chess player of his day was Francois Andre Danican-Philidor. ... His published chess strategy stood for a hundred years without significant addition or modification. He preached the value of a strong pawn center, an understanding of the relative value of the pieces, and correct pawn formations. ...[13]
In the same article, Alterman also noticed, analyzing the game Count Brühl–Philidor, F, 0–1, London 1783, that Philidor understood very well modern concepts like the power of passed pawns, bad and good pieces, space advantage, open files, pawn structure and the importance of center.
Jacques François Mouret, one of the best French players of the early 19th century, was Philidor's great-nephew.[14]
l'Analyse du jeu des Échecs
In 1749, Philidor published his famous book Analyse du jeu des Échecs. He printed a second edition in 1777 and a third in 1790.[15] The book was such an advance in chess knowledge that, by 1871, it had gone through about 70 editions and had been translated into English, Spanish, German, Russian and Italian. In it, Philidor analyzed nine different types of game openings. Most of the openings of Philidor are designed to strengthen and establish a strong defensive center using pawns. He is the first one to realize the new role of the pawn in the chess game, and his most famous advice was the saying "The pawns are the soul of chess." More precisely Philidor said:
Mon but principal est de me rendre recommandable par une nouveauté dont personne ne s'est avisé, ou peut-être n'a été capable; c'est celle de bien jouer les pions; ils sont l'âme des Echecs : ce sont eux-mêmes qui forment uniquement l'attaque et la défense et de leur bon ou mauvais arrangement dépend entièrement le gain ou la perte de la partie.[16]
Translation: My main purpose is to gain recognition for myself by means of a new idea of which no one has conceived, or perhaps has been unable to practice; that is, good play of the pawns; they are the soul of chess: it is they alone that determine the attack and the defense, and the winning or losing of the game depends entirely on their good or bad arrangement.
He also included analysis of certain positions of rook and bishop versus rook, such analysis being still current theory even today. He demonstrated an important drawing technique with a rook and pawn versus rook endgame in what is known as the Philidor position. The Philidor Defense (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 d6) is named for him. Philidor's book was the very first to give detailed annotations on how to play the middlegame, present chess strategy as a whole, and present the concepts of the blockade, prophylaxis, positional sacrifice and mobility of the pawn formation.[17]
Early critics of the Analyse du jeu des Échecs include those of the Modenese School (
Notable games
- Captain Smith vs. François André Philidor, London, England 1790, Bishop's Opening: Berlin Defense (C24), 0–1.[18] A good sample of Philidor's ideas about pawns; plus a nice mating combination at the end.
- François André Philidor vs. NN, Unknown 1749, Bishop's Opening: Boi Variation (C23), 1–0.[19] This game—possibly a composition by Philidor—demonstrates the value of passed pawns.
- François André Philidor vs "The Turk".
Final years
Philidor was stuck in England when the French Revolution occurred. Because of many of his social connections mentioned above, the Revolutionary Government put him on the banned list. He died on 31 August 1795 in London, and was buried in St James, Piccadilly. A few days later, his relatives succeeded in getting his name removed from the list.
Chess topics named after him
Philidor's name is used for three well-known chess topics:
- The Philidor Defence, an opening he advocated;
- Philidor's Legacy, a type of smothered mate (in fact invented centuries before Philidor);
- Philidor's position, several endgame positions.
Battez Philidor!
A one-act
Works
Notes
- ^ Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 21 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 376.
- ^ Rushton J. François-André Danican Philidor. In: The New Grove Dictionary of Opera. Macmillan, London and New York, 1997.
- ^ * Hill, Cecil (1980). "Masonic music", in The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, ed. Stanley Sadie, vol. 11, 753–756
- ^ * R. Cotte (1987). La Musique Maçonnique, pp 90–95
- ISBN 0-19-827403-3.
- ^ "Biographical Sketch of Philidor". The Saturday Magazine. Vol. 18–19. 1841. p. 238. Retrieved 6 February 2016.
- ^ Tomlinson, Charles (1 March 1879). "Philidoriana". The Chess Player's Chronicle. Vol. 3. p. 50. Retrieved 6 February 2016.
- ^ G. Allen and T. von der Lasa, The life of Philidor, musician and chess-player, Philadelphia 1865, page 51
- ^ O'Connor, J J; Robertson, E F (February 2005). "George Atwood". st-andrews.ac.uk. University of St. Andrews, Scotland. Archived from the original on 6 July 2008. Retrieved 6 February 2016.
- ^ H. E. Bird, Chess History and Reminiscences (London, 1882)
- ^ Le SCRIBE. "Francois-Andre Philidor (1726–1795)". chess-theory.com. Archived from the original on 29 February 2012. Retrieved 2 February 2016.
- ^ Andrew Soltis, "Tools of the Trade . . .", Chess Life, July 1995, p. 14.
- ^ Alterman, Boris (23 April 2008). "The Soul of Chess". chesslessons.wordpress.com. Retrieved 6 February 2016.
- ^ The Oxford Companion to Chess, David Hooper and Kenneth Whyld (1992), p. 265
- ^ Murray, p. 863.
- ^ This quote first appears on p. xiii of the preface of Philidor's L'Analyse des Echecs, 1749 edition.
- ^ David Hooper and Kenneth Whyld, The Oxford Companion to Chess, Oxford University Press; 2nd edition (November 21, 1996)
- ^ "Smith vs. François André Philidor". Chessgames.com. Retrieved 6 February 2016.
- ^ "François André Philidor vs. NN". Chessgames.com. Retrieved 6 February 2016.
- ^ Soubies A, Malherbe C. Histoire de l'opéra comique — La seconde salle Favart 1840–1887. Flammarion, Paris, 1893.
References
- World Chess Champions by ISBN 0-08-024117-4
- Life of Philidor: Musician and Chess-Player by George Allen, Tassilo von Heydebrand und der Lasa; Da Capo Press; 1971. ISBN 0-306-70075-1
- The World's Great Chess Games by ISBN 0-486-24512-8
External links
- Free scores by François-André Danican Philidor at the International Music Score Library Project (IMSLP)
- Works by or about François-André Danican Philidor at Internet Archive
- Francois-Andre Danican Philidor player profile and games at Chessgames.com
- [1] [2] [3] [4] Philidor at Res musica (in French)
- Philidor at mjae.com (in French)
- Analyse du jeu des échecs (1777 edition, London) at Google Books. (in French)
- Analysis of the game of chess (1790 English edition, London) at Google Books.
- "Philidor: 'Pawns are the soul of chess'" by Edward Winter
- Edward Winter's "François-André Danican Philidor" (Chess Notes Feature Article)