Jules Arnous de Rivière (4 May 1830,

Nantes Nantes (, , ; Gallo: or ; ) is a city in Loire-Atlantique on the Loire, from the Atlantic coast. The city is the sixth largest in France, with a population of 314,138 in Nantes proper and a metropolitan area of nearly 1 million inhabita ...

– 11 September 1905,

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

) was the strongest French

chess Chess is a board game for two players, called White and Black, each controlling an army of chess pieces in their color, with the objective to checkmate the opponent's king. It is sometimes called international chess or Western chess to disti ...

player from the late 1850s through the late 1870s. He is best known today for playing many games with Paul Morphy when the American champion visited Paris in 1858 and 1863. Born in

to a French father William Henri Arnous-Rivière and an English mother Marie Tobin, he awarded himself the

nobiliary particle A nobiliary particle is used in a surname or family name in many Western cultures to signal the nobility of a family. The particle used varies depending on the country, language and period of time. In some languages, it is the same as a regular p ...

"de". Arnous-Rivière finished 6th of 13 in the 1867 Paris international tournament organized in conjunction with the Exposition Universelle. Although he finished well below the strongest foreign masters, he was ahead of fellow Parisian, Polish-born,

Samuel Rosenthal Samuel Rosenthal (7 September 1837 – 12 September 1902) was a Polish-born French chess player. Chess historian Edward Winter wrote, "He dedicated his life to chess-playing, touring, writing, teaching and analysing. Despite only occasional pa ...

. Arnous-Rivière had success in some minor tournaments in Paris: 3rd in 1880, 2nd= in 1881, 2nd in 1882–3, and 3rd in the Café de la Régence tournament of 1896. Arnous-Rivière fared poorly in his casual games against Morphy, but did well in more formal match play. He lost to

Serafino Dubois Serafino Dubois (10 October 1817 – 15 January 1899) was an Italian chess Master and chess writer. Dubois was certainly among the strongest players in the world during the 1850s. He was known for his writings on the game, and for his promotion o ...

(+8-21=3) in 1855, and

Gustav Neumann Gustav Richard Ludwig Neumann (15 December 1838 – 16 February 1881) was a German chess master. Neumann was born in Gleiwitz in the Prussian Province of Silesia. In matches he lost to Louis Paulsen (+3 –5 =3) at Leipzig 1864, and defeate ...

(+3-7=2) in 1864, but he drew with

Ignatz von Kolisch Baron Ignatz von Kolisch (6 April 1837 – 30 April 1889), also Baron Ignaz von Kolisch (German) or báró Kolisch Ignác ( Hungarian), was a merchant, journalist and chess master with Jewish roots. Kolisch was born into a Jewish family in Pr ...

(5:5) in 1859, and defeated

Thomas Wilson Barnes Thomas Wilson Barnes (1825–1874) was an English chess master, one of the leading British masters of his time. Chess history Barnes was one of the leading British chess masters at the time of Paul Morphy's visit to the UK in 1858. Barnes had ...

in London (+5−2=0) and

Paul Journoud Paul Journoud (January 1821, Lyon – December 1882, Paris) was a French chess master and editor. He was a member of the ''Café de la Régence'' chess club in Paris, and one of leading French masters in the 1850s/1860s. Journoud lost all games t ...

in Paris (+7−2=1) in 1860, and Johann Löwenthal (+2−0=0) in Paris in 1867. He also lost a close match to

Mikhail Chigorin Mikhail Ivanovich Chigorin (also ''Tchigorin''; russian: Михаи́л Ива́нович Чиго́рин; – ) was a Russian chess player. He played two World Championship matches against Wilhelm Steinitz, losing both times. The last great ...

by +4−5=1 in 1883. Arnous-Rivière's writings included several

chess column The earliest known chess column appeared in the '' Lancet'' in 1823, but due to lack of popularity disappeared after less than a year. Historical development The first column to establish itself was that of George Walker in ''Bells Life'' in 1834 ...

s and books on billiards and

roulette Roulette is a casino game named after the French word meaning ''little wheel'' which was likely developed from the Italian game Biribi''.'' In the game, a player may choose to place a bet on a single number, various groupings of numbers, the ...

. He also invented many games. He married 27 October 1858 to Joséphine de Coulhac Mazérieux (1834–1921) and had three children: William Arnous-Rivière (1860–1904), Hélène Arnous-Rivière (1862–?) and Jacques Arnous-Rivière (1874–1919). Hélène Arnous-Rivière married Baron Christian-Hubert von Pfeffel; her great-grandson is British politician Stanley Johnson, father of

Boris Johnson Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (; born 19 June 1964) is a British politician, writer and journalist who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2019 to 2022. He previously served as F ...

. Arnous-Rivière died in Paris in 1905. Morphy-De Rivière, Paris 1858

References

* *. (Seems to have typos in a couple of the years, as it lists the date of death as 11 September 1906 and sets the Chigorin match in 1885.) *

External links

* *
Obituary of de Rivière
{{DEFAULTSORT:Riviere, Jules Arnous De 1830 births 1905 deaths Sportspeople from Nantes French chess players 19th-century chess players