Alexandre Deschapelles

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Alexandre Deschapelles

Alexandre Louis Honoré Lebreton Deschapelles (born March 7, 1780 in Ville d'Avray , † October 27, 1847 in Paris ) was the first French chess master to build on the achievements of François-André Danican Philidor .

Deschapelles was the noble son of a marshal. He attended the famous military academy of Brienne that once the young Napoleon Bonaparte had visited. However, due to the revolutionary upheaval, the school was closed and the students fired. While his relatives emigrated, Deschappelles joined the revolutionary army. But as early as 1794, the fourteen-year-old soldier of the Sambre Maas Army was seriously injured in the Battle of Fleurus .

The loss of the right hand dashed hope for a great career; in military service it could only be used in logistics . According to some reports, he nevertheless briefly reached the rank of general at the end of his career.

After Napoleon's fall in 1815, Deschapelles retired and devoted himself to chess, which he said he learned within just four days, the game of whist , a forerunner of bridge , backgammon and billiards .

Alexandre Deschapelles was soon one of the strongest players in the Parisian “ Café de la Régence ”. Described as haughty and proud, he knew he was superior to all of his contemporaries. He is known to have limited himself to handicap games against his opponents. After losing games, he used to increase the handicap and the stake, which his opponents did not always agree to. His real playing strength is therefore difficult to assess. Deschapelles was not a theorist. He did not read any chess books and, unlike Philidor or Saint-Amant, never wrote one. His opening skills were not particularly good, so that he often had to think for a long time on the first few moves and was often worse off.

In 1832 he was arrested on suspicion of being involved in a plot against King Louis-Philippe .

In 1842 he won a match against Pierre Saint Amant 3-2. When Deschapelles could no longer win against his student Louis-Charles Mahé de La Bourdonnais , he withdrew from chess and became an equally successful fruit and vegetable farmer.

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SURNAME Deschapelles, Alexandre
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Deschapelles, Alexandre Louis Honoré Lebreton
BRIEF DESCRIPTION French chess master
DATE OF BIRTH March 7, 1780
PLACE OF BIRTH Ville d'Avray
DATE OF DEATH October 27, 1847
Place of death Paris