Serafino Dubois
Encyclopedia
Serafino Dubois was an Italian
chess
player. He was known for his writings on the game and for his promotion of chess in Italy.
. His early career coincided with a time when the Italian rules of chess differed from those elsewhere in Europe
but he wasn't content with being recognized as the best player in Italy - he needed to prove himself on the European board as well.
During the early to middle part of the nineteenth century chess tournaments were few and far between and many of the top players were limited to playing matches against each other, usually for a substantial purse which was either staked by themselves or by their patrons. From the 1840s to the 1860s Dubois took part in many matches against the top players of Europe and it was rare for him to lose, even when he gave odds of the move and a pawn to his opponents.
In 1846 he played a number of games against Marmaduke Wyvill in Rome, who was one of the finest players in England
, and it has been reported that Dubois won 55-26 when no odds were given by either side but lost 39-30 when he gave odds of a pawn plus a move to his opponent.
In 1855 he visited Paris
and the famous Café de la Régence
, a mecca for the leading French players and enthusiasts from abroad, and he played no fewer than four matches, beating the strong French player Jules Arnous de Rivière
by 25-7, Seguin
by 5-1, Wincenty Budzyński
by 13½-6½ but he did lose 4-1 to Lecrivain.
In 1856 he beat Kowsky 11½-1½ and played another match against Rivière but unfortunately the latter score has been lost. Two years later he played the celebrated Russian novelist Ivan Turgenev
in the Cafe Antonini in Rome and won a game in 25 moves giving odds of a pawn and ceding the first move. This game was later published in La Nuova Rivista degli Scacchi in 1880.
His best performance came in the London
tournament of 1862 where he came 5th with 9 points, ahead of Wilhelm Steinitz
who later went on to become the first official world chess champion. Dubois won £10 in prize-money, now roughly equivalent to £700, and after the tournament ended Steinitz challenged him to a match. The future world champion beat his Italian opponent by 5½-3½, but Dubois did win several other matches that same year against Cornelius Bonetti (11½-1½) and against Valentine Green — the first he won 5-0 and the second 5½-½.
in April 1863 and reputedly stayed for about two years. However he couldn't get used to the climate and returned to Rome where he concentrated on his writing and his promotion of the Italian rules of the game.
From the late 1850s to the early 1870s Serafino Dubois corresponded regularly with French and Russian masters about how to achieve unity in the rules of chess. In particular he was an avid supporter of free castling which was permitted under the Italian rules of the game but not elsewhere in Europe. Under free castling the King
and Rook
, after jumping over each other, could go to any square up to and including the other's starting point, provided neither piece attacked an enemy piece.
There were other significant differences in the Italian rules too: taking a pawn
"en passant
" was forbidden and, interestingly, pawns could only be promoted into pieces captured during the game. There was an added twist to the latter rule - if a pawn reached the eighth rank before any piece of its colour had been captured, it had to wait there 'suspended' until a piece was captured, at which time the promotion was possible.
Dubois discussed these issues in his writings of the time. In 1847 he became the editor of the first Italian chess column, L'Album in Rome and by 1859 he was co-editor with Augusto Ferrante of the chess journal La Rivista degli Scacchi which was also based in his home city. He published a three volume work on the differences in the rules between the Italian and French versions from 1868-73 in which he tried hard to defend the practice of free castling.
However by the 1880s Italy toed the line and adopted the normal European laws of chess although it wasn't until the end of the century that the new rules were widely accepted throughout the country.
web-site. According to chessmetrcis, Dubois was ranked no.1 of the world between March 1856 and August 1858, until he was replaced by Paul Morphy
. He may well have been a stronger player under the Italian rules of the game.
He was very influential within the world of Italian chess and, not surprisingly, chess politics played a big part in his later life. In addition he wrote many articles on the openings and a line of the Vienna
, the Dubois Variation of the Hamppe-Muzio Gambit (C25), is attributed to him as well as the Dubois-Reti Defence in the Scotch Gambit (C44). However he was not a keen fan of the French and commented 'This is the most monotonous and annoying play you can imagine - rarely it gives rise to combinations of some interest'. Dubois died on January 15, 1899.
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
chess
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...
player. He was known for his writings on the game and for his promotion of chess in Italy.
Chess career
Serafino Dubois was born in RomeRome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
. His early career coincided with a time when the Italian rules of chess differed from those elsewhere in Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
but he wasn't content with being recognized as the best player in Italy - he needed to prove himself on the European board as well.
During the early to middle part of the nineteenth century chess tournaments were few and far between and many of the top players were limited to playing matches against each other, usually for a substantial purse which was either staked by themselves or by their patrons. From the 1840s to the 1860s Dubois took part in many matches against the top players of Europe and it was rare for him to lose, even when he gave odds of the move and a pawn to his opponents.
In 1846 he played a number of games against Marmaduke Wyvill in Rome, who was one of the finest players in England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, and it has been reported that Dubois won 55-26 when no odds were given by either side but lost 39-30 when he gave odds of a pawn plus a move to his opponent.
In 1855 he visited Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
and the famous 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...
, a mecca for the leading French players and enthusiasts from abroad, and he played no fewer than four matches, beating the strong French player Jules Arnous de Rivière
Jules Arnous de Rivière
Jules Arnous de Rivière was the strongest French chess player from the late 1850s through the late 1870s. He is best known today for playing many games with Paul Morphy when the American champion visited Paris in 1858 and 1863.Born in Nantes to a French father and an English mother as...
by 25-7, Seguin
Seguin
-First name:Seguin is a French and Gascon name. It is of Germanic origin...
by 5-1, Wincenty Budzyński
Wincenty Budzyński
Wincenty Budzyński was a Polish politician agent and Polish–French chess master.Born into a Polish noble family in Volhynia, he graduated from the Liceum Krzemienieckie. Then he fought against Russians in the November Uprising in 1831...
by 13½-6½ but he did lose 4-1 to Lecrivain.
In 1856 he beat Kowsky 11½-1½ and played another match against Rivière but unfortunately the latter score has been lost. Two years later he played the celebrated Russian novelist Ivan Turgenev
Ivan Turgenev
Ivan Sergeyevich Turgenev was a Russian novelist, short story writer, and playwright. His first major publication, a short story collection entitled A Sportsman's Sketches, is a milestone of Russian Realism, and his novel Fathers and Sons is regarded as one of the major works of 19th-century...
in the Cafe Antonini in Rome and won a game in 25 moves giving odds of a pawn and ceding the first move. This game was later published in La Nuova Rivista degli Scacchi in 1880.
His best performance came in the London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
tournament of 1862 where he came 5th with 9 points, ahead of Wilhelm Steinitz
Wilhelm Steinitz
Wilhelm Steinitz was an Austrian and then American chess player and the first undisputed world chess champion from 1886 to 1894. From the 1870s onwards, commentators have debated whether Steinitz was effectively the champion earlier...
who later went on to become the first official world chess champion. Dubois won £10 in prize-money, now roughly equivalent to £700, and after the tournament ended Steinitz challenged him to a match. The future world champion beat his Italian opponent by 5½-3½, but Dubois did win several other matches that same year against Cornelius Bonetti (11½-1½) and against Valentine Green — the first he won 5-0 and the second 5½-½.
Dubois and Italian chess
Dubois moved to the NetherlandsNetherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
in April 1863 and reputedly stayed for about two years. However he couldn't get used to the climate and returned to Rome where he concentrated on his writing and his promotion of the Italian rules of the game.
From the late 1850s to the early 1870s Serafino Dubois corresponded regularly with French and Russian masters about how to achieve unity in the rules of chess. In particular he was an avid supporter of free castling which was permitted under the Italian rules of the game but not elsewhere in Europe. Under free castling the King
King (chess)
In chess, the king is the most important piece. The object of the game is to trap the opponent's king so that its escape is not possible . If a player's king is threatened with capture, it is said to be in check, and the player must remove the threat of capture on the next move. If this cannot be...
and Rook
Rook (chess)
A rook is a piece in the strategy board game of chess. Formerly the piece was called the castle, tower, marquess, rector, and comes...
, after jumping over each other, could go to any square up to and including the other's starting point, provided neither piece attacked an enemy piece.
There were other significant differences in the Italian rules too: taking a pawn
Pawn (chess)
The pawn is the most numerous and weakest piece in the game of chess, historically representing infantry, or more particularly armed peasants or pikemen. Each player begins the game with eight pawns, one on each square of the rank immediately in front of the other pieces...
"en passant
En passant
En passant is a move in the board game of chess . It is a special pawn capture which can occur immediately after a player moves a pawn two squares forward from its starting position, and an enemy pawn could have captured it had it moved only one square forward...
" was forbidden and, interestingly, pawns could only be promoted into pieces captured during the game. There was an added twist to the latter rule - if a pawn reached the eighth rank before any piece of its colour had been captured, it had to wait there 'suspended' until a piece was captured, at which time the promotion was possible.
Dubois discussed these issues in his writings of the time. In 1847 he became the editor of the first Italian chess column, L'Album in Rome and by 1859 he was co-editor with Augusto Ferrante of the chess journal La Rivista degli Scacchi which was also based in his home city. He published a three volume work on the differences in the rules between the Italian and French versions from 1868-73 in which he tried hard to defend the practice of free castling.
However by the 1880s Italy toed the line and adopted the normal European laws of chess although it wasn't until the end of the century that the new rules were widely accepted throughout the country.
Legacy
Dubois was Italy's best player during the 1850s and 1860s. He has been retrospectively rated at 2642 in January 1857 by the ChessmetricsChessmetrics
Chessmetrics is a system for rating chess players devised by Jeff Sonas. It is intended as an improvement over the Elo rating system.-Implementation:...
web-site. According to chessmetrcis, Dubois was ranked no.1 of the world between March 1856 and August 1858, until he was replaced by 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...
. He may well have been a stronger player under the Italian rules of the game.
He was very influential within the world of Italian chess and, not surprisingly, chess politics played a big part in his later life. In addition he wrote many articles on the openings and a line of the Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
, the Dubois Variation of the Hamppe-Muzio Gambit (C25), is attributed to him as well as the Dubois-Reti Defence in the Scotch Gambit (C44). However he was not a keen fan of the French and commented 'This is the most monotonous and annoying play you can imagine - rarely it gives rise to combinations of some interest'. Dubois died on January 15, 1899.