Pierre Charles Fournier de Saint-Amant (12 September 1800 – 29 October 1872) was a leading French chess master and an editor of the chess periodical '' Le Palamède''. He is best known for losing a match against

Howard Staunton Howard Staunton (April 1810 – 22 June 1874) was an English chess master who is generally regarded as the world's strongest player from 1843 to 1851, largely as a result of his 1843 victory over Pierre Charles Fournier de Saint-Ama ...

in 1843 that is often considered to have been an unofficial match for the

World Chess Championship The World Chess Championship is played to determine the world champion in chess. The current world champion is Magnus Carlsen of Norway, who has held the title since 2013. The first event recognized as a world championship was the 1886 match ...

Chess career

Saint-Amant learned chess from Wilhelm Schlumberger, who later became the operator of The Turk. He played at the

Café de la Régence The Café de la Régence in Paris was an important European centre of chess in the 18th and 19th centuries. All important chess masters of the time played there. The Café's masters included, but are not limited to: * Paul Morphy * François ...

, where he was a student of Alexandre Deschapelles. Anne Sunnucks, ''The Encyclopaedia of Chess'', St. Martin's Press, 1970, p. 419. For many years he played on level terms with Boncourt, a strong player, and received

odds Odds provide a measure of the likelihood of a particular outcome. They are calculated as the ratio of the number of events that produce that outcome to the number that do not. Odds are commonly used in gambling and statistics. Odds also have ...

of pawn and two moves from Deschapelles and

Louis-Charles Mahé de La Bourdonnais Louis-Charles Mahé de La Bourdonnais (1795 – December 1840) was a French chess master, possibly the strongest player in the early 19th century. Early life La Bourdonnais was born on the island of Réunion in the Indian Ocean in 1795. He w ...

. In 1834–36, he led a Paris team that won both games of a correspondence match against the Westminster Club, then England's leading chess club. After La Bourdonnais' death in 1840, he was considered the country's best player. David Hooper and

Kenneth Whyld Kenneth Whyld (6 March 1926 – 11 July 2003) was a British chess author and researcher, best known as the co-author (with David Hooper) of ''The Oxford Companion to Chess'', a single-volume chess reference work in English. Whyld was a str ...

, ''

The Oxford Companion to Chess ''The Oxford Companion to Chess'' is a reference book on the game of chess written by David Vincent Hooper and Kenneth Whyld. The book is written in an encyclopedia format. The book belongs to the Oxford Companions series. Details The first e ...

'' (2d ed. 1992), pp. 350–51. . In December 1841 he revived ''Le Palamède'' (at its inception in 1836 the world's first chess periodical), which ran until 1847. He played two matches against Staunton in 1843. The first, in London, he won 3½–2½ (three wins, one draw, two losses), but he lost a return match in Paris just before Christmas 13–8 (six wins, four draws, eleven losses). This second match is sometimes considered an unofficial world championship match. In 1858, Saint-Amant played in the

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1. ...

tournament A tournament is a competition involving at least three competitors, all participating in a sport or game. More specifically, the term may be used in either of two overlapping senses: # One or more competitions held at a single venue and concentr ...

, a event. He won in the first round, but lost in the second by a 2–1 score to

Ernst Falkbeer Ernst Karl Falkbeer (June 27, 1819 – December 14, 1885) was an Austrian chess master and journalist. Life and chess career Falkbeer was born in Brünn, a town that in 1819 belonged to Habsburg Austria, and which today is known as Brno in the C ...

. Returning to Paris, he witnessed the adulatory reception accorded

Paul Morphy Paul Charles Morphy (June 22, 1837 – July 10, 1884) was an American chess player. He is considered to have been the greatest chess master of his era and is often considered the unofficial World Chess Champion. A chess prodigy, he was c ...

at the

. The score of one game between them is known, a 22-move rout by Morphy of Saint-Amant and his consultation partner, given as "F. de L." or "F. de L'A".

Outside of chess

Saint-Amant became a government clerk in Paris at an early age. Philip W. Sergeant, ''A Century of British Chess'', David McKay, 1934, p. 54. He then served as the secretary to the governor of

French Guiana French Guiana ( or ; french: link=no, Guyane ; gcr, label=French Guianese Creole, Lagwiyann ) is an overseas department/region and single territorial collectivity of France on the northern Atlantic coast of South America in the Guianas. ...

from 1819 to 1821. He was dismissed from that appointment after he protested against the

slave trade Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...

that still existed in that colony.

Harry Golombek Harry Golombek OBE (1 March 1911 – 7 January 1995) was a British chess player, chess author, and wartime codebreaker. He was three times British chess champion, in 1947, 1949, and 1955 and finished second in 1948. He was born in Lambeth to ...

(editor), ''Golombek's Encyclopedia of Chess'', pp. 283–84. .

Reuben Fine Reuben C. Fine (October 11, 1914 – March 26, 1993) was an American chess player, psychologist, university professor, and author of many books on both chess and psychology. He was one of the strongest chess players in the world from the mi ...

, ''The World's Great Chess Games'', Dover Publications, 1976, p. 9. . After that, he tried his hand as a journalist and actor, then became a successful wine merchant. He was a captain in the

French National Guard The National Guard (french: link=no, Garde nationale) is a French military, gendarmerie, and police reserve force, active in its current form since 2016 but originally founded in 1789 during the French Revolution. For most of its history the ...

during the

1848 revolution The Revolutions of 1848, known in some countries as the Springtime of the Peoples or the Springtime of Nations, were a series of political upheavals throughout Europe starting in 1848. It remains the most widespread revolutionary wave in Europe ...

. For his role in saving the

Palais des Tuileries The Tuileries Palace (french: Palais des Tuileries, ) was a royal and imperial palace in Paris which stood on the right bank of the River Seine, directly in front of the Louvre. It was the usual Parisian residence of most French monarchs, ...

from destruction by the mob, he was made its Governor for a few months. In 1851–52, he was the French

consul Consul (abbrev. ''cos.''; Latin plural ''consules'') was the title of one of the two chief magistrates of the Roman Republic, and subsequently also an important title under the Roman Empire. The title was used in other European city-states throu ...

to California. He visited during this period the Territory of Oregon, witnessed a period of transition for the early settlements and wrote one of the few records available on this period. Upon returning to France he spent some years writing well-regarded works on the French colonies, and a treatise on the wines of

Bordeaux Bordeaux ( , ; Gascon oc, Bordèu ; eu, Bordele; it, Bordò; es, Burdeos) is a port city on the river Garonne in the Gironde department, Southwestern France. It is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the prefect ...

. In 1861 Saint-Amant retired to

Algeria ) , image_map = Algeria (centered orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Algiers , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , relig ...

. He died there in 1872 after being thrown from his carriage.

Notable games

writes that although Saint-Amant lost his epic match against Staunton, in the 13th match game, playing

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White o ...

, "he at least had the satisfaction of winning the most brilliant game." :1. d4 e6 2. c4 d5 3. e3 Nf6 4. Nc3 c5 5. Nf3 Nc6 6. a3 Be7 7. Bd3 0-0 8. 0-0 b6 9. b3 Bb7 10. cxd5 exd5 11. Bb2 cxd4 12. exd4 Bd6 13. Re1 a6 14. Rc1 Rc8 15. Rc2 Rc7 16. Rce2 Qc8 17. h3 Nd8 18. Qd2 b5 19. b4 Ne6 20. Bf5 Ne4 21. Nxe4 dxe4 22. d5 (first diagram) exf3 22...Bf4! was essential.Fine, ''The World's Great Chess Games'', p. 10. 23. Rxe6! Qd8 (second diagram) Of course not 23...fxe6 24.Bxe6+, winning the

queen Queen or QUEEN may refer to: Monarchy * Queen regnant, a female monarch of a Kingdom ** List of queens regnant * Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king * Queen dowager, the widow of a king * Queen mother, a queen dowager who is the mother ...

. 24. Bf6 gxf6 25. Rxd6! Kg7 If 25...Qxd6, 26.Qxh6 forces mate. Black could resign here. 26. Rxd8 Rxd8 27. Be4 fxg2 28. Qf4 Rc4 29. Qg4+ Kf8 30. Qh5 Ke7 31. d6+ Kxd6 32. Bxb7 Kc7 33. Bxa6 Rc3 34. Qxb5 In the 9th match game, Saint-Amant had pulled off a swindle that grandmaster

Andrew Soltis Andrew Eden Soltis (born May 28, 1947) is an American chess grandmaster, author and columnist. He was inducted into the United States Chess Hall of Fame in September 2011. Chess career Soltis learned how the chess pieces moved at age 10 when he ...

considers the greatest ever perpetrated in match play.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Saint-Amant, Pierre 1800 births 1872 deaths French chess players French editors French male non-fiction writers 19th-century chess players

Chess career

Outside of chess

Notable games

See also

References

External links