Philipp Stamma

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Title page of the first Paris edition of Stamma's book (1737)

Philipp Stamma (* around 1705 in Aleppo , Syria ; † around June or July 1755 in London ) was a Syrian chess master . He was the author of one of the most famous older chess books , the Essai sur le jeu des échecs .

biography

Philipp Stamma was born in Aleppo, as he said himself. His first name is spelled differently in European languages ​​and in written documents ("Filippo", "Phillip", "Philippe"). According to more recent information, Stamma is said to have originally been called Fathalla, son of Safar Shtamma and to have belonged to a notable Syrian Catholic family .

Little is known about his life. As a grown man he emigrated to Europe in order to make a living as a translator and chess player. Stamma himself mentions stays in Italy and France in the Paris foreword. According to the (unknown) author of the first German translation, Stamma is said to have "stayed in Londen [ sic ] in 1730 , but stayed in Paris for a long time afterwards".

Stamma dedicated the first French edition of his work, published in 1737, to a patron, the British statesman Lord Harrington . According to the sparse evidence, he then lived mostly in London. There he played chess in "Slaughter's Coffee House". In addition, from July 1739 he worked in the service of King George II as a translator for oriental languages .

Stamma played a match against François-André Danican Philidor in London in 1747 , which he lost. The ten games in question have not been preserved. Philidor is said to have always left the suit to his opponent ; also were drawn games counted as won for Stamma. According to tradition, Philidor won eight games, Stamma two (including a draw according to the rules mentioned).

The will of Stammas (opened on August 28, 1755) was discovered in the British National Archives a few years ago . Accordingly, he died around June or July 1755, leaving behind two sons.

The chess book

Stamma's fame is based on the chess book he wrote, which was distributed in numerous editions in Europe in the 18th century. The first edition in Paris comprised a hundred chess compositions . In 1745 an improved English edition followed in London , The Noble Game of Chess , which also contained 74 game beginnings .

The work continued the tradition of artificial tasks, which had been interrupted two centuries earlier. The imparted “chess game secrets” should enable the learner to be able to free himself from difficult situations with tactical means in the practical game . In Stamma's tasks, some of which were borrowed from older models, mating threats were usually made against the white king. These were then fended off with sacrifices and through a series of chess bids until the end of mate (a typical example of a composition by Stamma can be found in the article on the chess study ).

Among the openings he emphasized the importance of the Queen's Gambit . In his famous textbook, Philidor referred to the opening to Stamma's hometown as the "Gambit of Aleppo". Stamma was rather averse to the gambit openings in the narrower sense, where a pawn is sacrificed. In any case, he criticized his predecessor Gioachino Greco's predilection for the king's gambit : "Nobody plays the gambit unless they want to lose or play against a beginner."

With regard to chess literature , the Syrian master is important for another reason. Stamma was the first author to use algebraic notation with letters and numbers. The success of his book contributed to the popularization of this notation, which is still in use today, especially in Germany. The first German translation was published by Amand König in Strasbourg in 1754 - as an appendix to Philidor's textbook. The opening part, which Amand König published separately as a treatise on Gambit , is also missing in the later German editions. Moses Hirschel then used an improved (detailed) algebraic notation in his Breslau edition in 1784.

In 1856, based on an adaptation by Ludwig Bledow, an edition of the "Hundred Endgames " Stammas based on scientific criteria was published .

New edition of the book by Philip Stamma

In November 2015, a new edition of Philipp Stamma's book from 1737 appeared in modernized French under the title Les cent fins de parties de Philippe Stamma.

Works

Remarks

  1. ↑ A somewhat earlier date around 1700 is also possible . John Roycroft : Philip Stamma . In: British Chess Magazine 124, 2004, p. 603.
  2. ↑ Jean-Fathi Chelhod: Philip Stamma's Assyrian origin , in: British Chess Magazine, 125 (2005), S. 111th
  3. ^ "Translator's Preface" , in the König edition (1754)
  4. ^ John Roycroft : Philip Stamma . In: British Chess Magazine 124, 2004, p. 606.
  5. ^ John Roycroft : Philip Stamma . In: British Chess Magazine 124, 2004, pp. 547f. (with a facsimile of the will) and p. 608.
  6. ^ Analyze du Jeu des Échecs , expanded French edition (London 1777), p. 122 .
  7. ↑ Quoted from the French edition (1737) by JH Sarratt : A Treatise on the Game of Chess , Vol. 1, London 1808, p. XVI .
  8. ^ Philippe Stamma: Les cent fins de parties de Philippe Stamma . Books on Demand, Paris 2015, ISBN 978-2-322-04370-5 .

literature

Web links
personal data
SURNAME Stamma, Philipp
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Syrian chess player
DATE OF BIRTH around 1705
PLACE OF BIRTH Aleppo
DATE OF DEATH uncertain: June 1755 or July 1755
Place of death London