Pierre St. Amant
Encyclopedia
Chess
Chess is a two-player board game played on a chessboard, a square-checkered board with 64 squares arranged in an eight-by-eight grid. It is one of the world's most popular games, played by millions of people worldwide at home, in clubs, online, by correspondence, and in tournaments.Each player...
master
Chess master
A chess master is a chess player of such skill that he/she can usually beat chess experts, who themselves typically prevail against most amateurs. Among chess players, the term is often abbreviated to master, the meaning being clear from context....
and an editor of the chess periodical Le Palamède
Le Palamède
Le Palamède was the world's first periodical devoted to the game of chess. It was founded in France in 1836 by Louis-Charles Mahé de la Bourdonnais, who is often considered to have been an unofficial world chess champion. It ceased publication in 1839, but was revived in December 1841 by Pierre...
. He is best known for losing a match against Howard Staunton
Howard Staunton
Howard Staunton was an English chess master who is generally regarded as having been the world's strongest player from 1843 to 1851, largely as a result of his 1843 victory over Saint-Amant. He promoted a chess set of clearly distinguishable pieces of standardised shape—the Staunton pattern—that...
in 1843 that is often considered to have been an unofficial match for the World Chess Championship
World Chess Championship
The World Chess Championship is played to determine the World Champion in the board game chess. Men and women of any age are eligible to contest this title....
.
Saint-Amant learned chess from Wilhelm Schlumberger, who later became the operator of The Turk
The Turk
The Turk, also known as the Mechanical Turk or Automaton Chess Player , was a fake chess-playing machine constructed in the late 18th century. From 1770 until its destruction by fire in 1854, it was exhibited by various owners as an automaton, though it was exposed in the early 1820s as an...
. He played at the Café de la Régence
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' masters include, but are not limited to:* Paul Morphy...
, where he was a student of Alexandre Deschapelles
Alexandre Deschapelles
Alexandre Deschapelles was a French chess player who, between the death of Philidor and the arrival of Louis de la Bourdonnais, was probably the strongest player in the world...
. For many years he played on level terms with Boncourt
Boncourt (chess player)
Boncourt was one of the leading chess player in France in the years between 1820 and 1840.-Short biography:Although he was one of the leading players of his time, not much is known about his life. His first name remains unknown, and the dates of his birth and death can only be estimated...
, a strong player, and received odds
Chess handicap
A handicap in chess is a way to enable a weaker player to have a chance of winning against a stronger one. There are many kinds of such handicaps, such as material odds, extra moves A handicap (or "odds") in chess is a way to enable a weaker player to have a chance of winning against a stronger...
of pawn and two moves from Deschapelles and Louis-Charles Mahé de La Bourdonnais
Louis-Charles Mahé de La Bourdonnais
Louis-Charles Mahé de La Bourdonnais was a French chess master, possibly the strongest player in the early 19th century.- Early life :...
. In 1834-36, he led a Paris team that won both games of a correspondence chess
Correspondence chess
Correspondence chess is chess played by various forms of long-distance correspondence, usually through a correspondence chess server, through email or by the postal system; less common methods which have been employed include fax and homing pigeon...
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. 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
Howard Staunton
Howard Staunton was an English chess master who is generally regarded as having been the world's strongest player from 1843 to 1851, largely as a result of his 1843 victory over Saint-Amant. He promoted a chess set of clearly distinguishable pieces of standardised shape—the Staunton pattern—that...
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 tournament
Chess tournament
A chess tournament is a series of chess games played competitively to determine a winning individual or team. Since the first international chess tournament in London, 1851, chess tournaments have become the standard form of chess competition among serious players.Today, the most recognized chess...
, a knock-out event. He won in the first round, but lost in the second by a 2-1 score to Ernst Falkbeer
Ernst Falkbeer
Ernst Karl Falkbeer was an Austrian chess master and journalist.-Life and chess career:Born in Brno, Bohemia, Falkbeer moved to Vienna to study law, but ended up becoming a journalist...
. Returning to Paris, he witnessed the adulatory reception accorded Paul Morphy
Paul Morphy
Paul Charles Morphy was an American chess player. He is considered to have been the greatest chess master of his era and an unofficial World Chess Champion. He was a chess prodigy...
at the Café de la Régence. 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. He then served as the secretary to the governor of French Guiana
French Guiana
French Guiana is an overseas region of France, consisting of a single overseas department located on the northern Atlantic coast of South America. It has borders with two nations, Brazil to the east and south, and Suriname to the west...
from 1819 to 1821. He was dismissed from that appointment after he protested against the slave trade that still existed in that colony
Colony
In politics and history, a colony is a territory under the immediate political control of a state. For colonies in antiquity, city-states would often found their own colonies. Some colonies were historically countries, while others were territories without definite statehood from their inception....
. 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
National Guard (France)
The National Guard was the name given at the time of the French Revolution to the militias formed in each city, in imitation of the National Guard created in Paris. It was a military force separate from the regular army...
during the 1848 revolution. For his role in saving the Palais des Tuileries from destruction by the mob, he was made its Governor for a few months. In 1851-52, he was the French consul
Consul (representative)
The political title Consul is used for the official representatives of the government of one state in the territory of another, normally acting to assist and protect the citizens of the consul's own country, and to facilitate trade and friendship between the peoples of the two countries...
to California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
. 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
Bordeaux is a port city on the Garonne River in the Gironde department in southwestern France.The Bordeaux-Arcachon-Libourne metropolitan area, has a population of 1,010,000 and constitutes the sixth-largest urban area in France. It is the capital of the Aquitaine region, as well as the prefecture...
.
In 1861 Saint-Amant retired to Algeria
Algeria
Algeria , officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria , also formally referred to as the Democratic and Popular Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of Northwest Africa with Algiers as its capital.In terms of land area, it is the largest country in Africa and the Arab...
. He died there in 1872 after being thrown from his carriage.
Notable games
Reuben FineReuben Fine
Reuben Fine was one of the strongest chess players in the world from the early 1930s through the 1940s, an International Grandmaster, psychologist, university professor, and author of many books on both chess and psychology.Fine won five medals in three chess Olympiads. Fine won the U.S...
writes that although Saint-Amant lost his epic match against Staunton, in the 13th match game, playing White
White and Black in chess
In chess, the player who moves first is referred to as "White" and the player who moves second is referred to as "Black". Similarly, the pieces that each conducts are called, respectively, "the white pieces" and "the black pieces". The pieces are often not literally white and black, but some...
, "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 O-O 8.O-O 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! (see diagram at left) exf3? 22...Bf4! was essential. 23.Rxe6! Qd8 Of course not 23...fxe6 24.Bxe6+, winning the queen
Queen (chess)
The queen is the most powerful piece in the game of chess, able to move any number of squares vertically, horizontally, or diagonally. Each player starts the game with one queen, placed in the middle of the first rank next to the king. With the chessboard oriented correctly, the white queen starts...
. (see diagram at right) 24.Bf6!! gxf6 25.Rxd6! Kg7 If 25...Qxd6, 26.Qxh6 forces mate
Checkmate
Checkmate is a situation in chess in which one player's king is threatened with capture and there is no way to meet that threat. Or, simply put, the king is under direct attack and cannot avoid being captured...
. 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 1-0
In the 9th match game, Saint-Amant had pulled off an extraordinary swindle
Swindle (chess)
In chess, a swindle is a ruse by which a player in a losing position tricks his opponent, and thereby achieves a win or draw instead of the expected loss. It may also refer more generally to obtaining a win or draw from a clearly losing position. I. A. Horowitz and Fred Reinfeld distinguish among...
, which grandmaster Andrew Soltis
Andrew Soltis
Andrew Eden Soltis is a chess Grandmaster, author and columnist.He won at Reggio Emilia 1971–72 and was equal first at New York 1977. He was awarded the International Master title in 1974 and became a Grandmaster in 1980...
considers the greatest ever perpetrated in match play.