17
Feb
Fran̤ois-Andr̩ Danican Philidor РFrance
François-André Danican Philidor (September 7, 1726 – August 31, 1795) was a French chess player and composer. He was regarded as the best single chess player of his age, although the title of World Chess Champion was not yet in existence. Philidor’s book Analyse du jeu des Échecs was considered a standard chess manual for at least a century. He is referred to here as André Danican Philidor, the name commonly used during his lifetime.
Philidor started playing regularly around 1740 at the chess Mecca of France, the Café de la Régence. The best player in France at the time, Legall de Kermeur, taught him. At first, Legall could give Philidor rook odds, a handicap in which the stronger player starts without one of his rooks, but in only three years, Philidor was his equal, and then surpassed him. Philidor visited England in 1747 and decisively beat the Syrian Phillip Stamma in a match +8 =1 -1, despite the fact Philidor let Stamma have white in every game.
Philidor astounded his peers by playing three blindfold chess games simultaneously in the chess club of St. James Street in London on 9 May 1783. Philidor let all three opponents play white, and gave up a pawn for the third player. Some affidavits were signed, because those persons who were involved doubted that future generations would believe that such a feat was possible. Now three games would be fairly unremarkable among many chess masters. Even when he was in his late years, when he was 67 years old (1793), he played two blindfold games simultaneously in London, and he won.
In 1749, Philidor published his famous book Analyse du jeu des Échecs. It was such an advance in chess knowledge that by 1871, it had gone through about 70 editions, and had been translated into English, German and Italian. In the book he analyzed nine different types of game openings. Most of the openings of Philidor are designed to strengthen and establish a strong defensive center using pawns. He is the first one to realize the new role of the pawn in the chess game; and his most famous advice was the saying “The pawns are the soul of chess”. It was said that the reason why Philidor emphasized the pawns in the chess game was related to the political background during the eighteenth century of France, and that he regarded pawns as the “Third rank” on the chess board (citizens were regarded as the third rank of the society before the French Revolution started in 1789). He also included analysis of certain positions of rook + bishop v rook, such analysis being still current theory even today. He is most famous for showing an important drawing technique with a rook versus a rook and pawn, in a position known as the Philidor position. The Philidor Defense (1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 d6) is named for him.
Musical career
Philidor joined the Royal choir of Louis XV in 1732 at the age of six, and made his first attempt at the composition of a song at the age of 11. It was said that Louis XV wanted to listen to the choir almost every day, and the singers, while waiting for the king to arrive, played chess to relieve their boredom; this may have sparked Philidor’s interest in chess. From 1750 to 1770 Philidor was a leading opera composer in France, and during his music career produced twenty-one music comedies and one opera. However, when he felt that he was being surpassed by other composers, such as André Ernest Modeste Grétry, Philidor decided to concentrate on chess.
Final years
Philidor was stuck in England when the French Revolution occurred. Because of many of his social connections mentioned above, the Revolutionary Government put him on the banned list. He died on August 31, 1795 in London and was buried in St James, Piccadilly. A few days later, his relatives succeeded in getting his name removed from the list.
Source page: Wikipedia under Wikipedia license
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fran%C3%A7ois-Andr%C3%A9_Danican_Philidor
