Alexander Cunningham of Block

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Alexander Cunningham of Block (* around 1650/60 in Scotland , † December 1730 in The Hague , Netherlands ), was a Scottish lawyer, scholar and chess player . Confusion with his contemporary, the historian Alexander Cunningham , has often caused confusion. To this day, it has not been finally clarified who of the two originated the Cunningham Gambit .

Life path

Alexander Cunningham was probably born between 1650 and 1660 in Cumnock in East Ayrshire , West Scotland . He was the eldest of six children of Rev. John Cunningham and Elisabeth Cunninghams. He inherited a small property from his father, the name of which - "Block" or "Bloak" - was added to the name of the chess player for better distinction.

After his education, which took place partly in the Netherlands, he probably graduated from the University of Edinburgh in 1676. He then studied Roman law around 1677/78 at the University of Utrecht with Johannes Voet , who praised him as one of his best students. In 1686 he became the private tutor of Lord George Douglas, the youngest son of the Duke of Queensberry . During this time until 1693 Cunningham traveled with his pupil to Germany, France, Switzerland, Italy, Poland and Denmark.

His aristocratic patron, who politically belonged to the Whigs , got Cunningham appointed professor of civil law at the University of Edinburgh in 1698 . The appointment was tied to the parliamentary constituency ("Parliamentary appointment") and was limited in time (until 1709). After the Tories came back to power in London in 1710 , the political situation in Edinburgh also changed in favor of the Tories or the Jacobites , as the Catholic followers of the House of Stuart were called. The university then appointed a successor to Cunningham in 1710.

In this situation Cunningham felt compelled to leave his Scottish homeland and settle in The Hague. Here he lived on a handsome pension, which the Duke of Queensberry granted him, and was able to devote himself entirely to his interest in classical Roman authors and his passion for chess. It was in the latter capacity that he became best known and received numerous visits from leading chess players from all over Europe. His scientific reputation was based primarily on his Horace edition, published in 1721 , in which he dealt critically with his predecessor Richard Bentley .

Cunningham left a valuable library which was later brought to Scotland and dissolved or sold there. He died childless. The block estate remained in the possession of relatives and their descendants for several generations.

Chess meaning

In a biography of the theologian James Wodrow it is said that "Alexander Cunningham of Bloak (sic)" was considered the best chess player in Europe at the time. The philosopher Leibniz once expressed the hope in a letter to the mathematician Thomas Burnet that Cunningham would publish his views on the game of chess. The chess historian HJR Murray assumed that this passage refers to the Cunningham of Block. However, no games or chess details from him have survived.

Some authors attribute the " Gambit of the Three Pawns" to Cunningham , which is now a sub-variant of the Cunningham Gambit . The three-pawn gambit arises after the moves: 1. e2 – e4 e7 – e5 2. f2 – f4 e5xf4 3. Ng1 – f3 Bf8 – e7 4. Bf1 – c4 Be7 – h4 + 5. g2 – g3 f4xg3 6. 0–0 g3xh2 + 7 Kg1-h1. It was first mentioned in a manuscript by a certain Caze from 1706 and then in the chess book by Joseph Bertin , which appeared in London in 1735. Philipp Stamma and Philidor named the Gambit after its "inventor".

However, who the inventor is is controversial. This is where the historian of the same name Alexander Cunningham (1654-1737) comes into play, who also worked as a chess player and (before 1710) stayed in The Hague. He played games with the Earl of Sunderland , to whom the aforementioned Caze manuscript from 1706 was addressed. HJR Murray saw it as proven that the historian tried to popularize the Gambit, but had not invented it. Most chess dictionaries, however, name the historian Cunningham as the author of the Gambit. On the other hand, since Cunningham of Block was at the height of his chess fame between 1710 and 1730, it remains unclear to whom the naming ultimately referred.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ J. Voet: Commentarius ad Pandectas . Leiden 1698–1704, 48, xix, 2.
  2. ↑ John W. Cairns and Hector L. MacQueen: Learning and the Law. A Short History of the Edinburgh Law School ( Memento from October 26, 2012 in the Internet Archive )
  3. ^ Robert Wodrow: Life of James Wodrow . Edinburgh / London 1828, p. 174
  4. ^ A b H. JR Murray: A History of Chess . Oxford University Press, 1913 (Reprint edition 2002), pp. 844-845, ISBN 0198274033
  5. ↑ See representative for others Otto Borik & Joachim Petzold : Meyers Schachlexikon . Meyers Lexikonverlag, Mannheim 1993, p. 58. ISBN 3411088117

literature

personal data
SURNAME Cunningham of Block, Alexander
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Scottish lawyer, scholar and chess master
DATE OF BIRTH between 1650 and 1660
PLACE OF BIRTH Scotland
DATE OF DEATH December 1730
Place of death The hague