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< Earlier Kibitzing · PAGE 12 OF 12 ·
Later Kibitzing> |
| Sep-07-17 | | The Kings Domain: The true father of modern Chess. |
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| Jan-26-18 | | Kaspablanca: His name was Francois Andre Danican, Danican was his last name whereas Philidor was his nickname. |
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Jan-27-18
 | | offramp: <Kaspablanca: His name was Francois Andre Danican, Danican was his last name whereas Philidor was his nickname.> Yes. It is from the French <Philo d'or> which means <lover of gold>. He really liked gold, apparently. |
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| May-26-18 | | zanzibar: What's in a name? (golden put-ons or otherwise...) <
You have, of course, heard of the great French chess-player, Philidor. He got his Italian name in a curious way. In the Chapel Royal at Versailles there was an orchestra of musicians that took part in the religious services. Among them was an Italian named Philidor. It happened that this man fell ill and died, and his place was supplied by a Frenchman named Danican. One morning the king, Louis XIV., on passing the orchestra on his way to his seat in the chapel, mistook Danican for Philidor, and nodding to him said, "I am glad to see you back in your place, Philidor!" Now it was a point of etiquette in the French court not to allow the king to make a mistake. When he was a child, he said one day, "Portez mon carrosse!" He ought to have said, "ma carrosse," since the word is of the feminine gender, but the polite French at once adopted the royal infant's change of gender, and the word remains to this day masculine. In like manner Danican became Philidor, and to this odd circumstance the great chess master is indebted for his name. The ante-room to the Royal Chapel was occupied by the musicians in the intervals of the services, and being so near the sacred precinct they were not allowed to play games of chance, but chess was allowed. The boy Philidor frequently accompanied his father to the chapel, and was fond of watching the chess, and soon became himself a good player. One of the most skilful chess-players among the musicians was a man named Legalle, who frequently played with young Philidor. Now the only game of Legalle's that has been preserved is one in which he gives the odds of the Q R; ... >
tBOP v13 N642 (May 2, 1891) 495/527 (17)
Of course this story of the origin is slightly at odds with CW, but has anybody traced the sourcing of the CW? (I have, maybe will post it later to possibly compare notes) I do like this story though. |
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| May-26-18 | | zanzibar: Oh, and a word about the source:
<By Prof. Tomlinson, F.R.S.[Professor Charles Tomliiison, F.R.S., who is now the oldest writer in chess living, for he was born in London on November 27, 1808, and among whose works his "Amusements in Chess" (London, 1845) is unsurpassed by any other book of the kind, has forwarded us the following capital short article.]> Capital, indeed. |
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| May-26-18 | | zanzibar: What's in a name (II)?
And lest you begin wondering what F.R.S. adds to a name... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fello... |
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Apr-17-19
| | offramp: Philidor wrote music for Masonic rituals.
The first performance of his <Carmen Saeculare> was performed at Freemasons' Hall in London in 1779. He was a member of the renowned Parisian Lodge <Les Neuf Soeurs>. This Lodge had an allied society for musicians, called the <Société Apollonienne.> |
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| Apr-17-19 | | ChessHigherCat: Lots of good stuff about Philidor as a "coffee-shop player" in Diderot's "Le Neveu de Rameau". The last sentence will teach us all some valuable new information: <If the weather is too cold or too rainy, I take refuge in the Regency Café. I like to watch the games of chess. The best chess players in the world are in Paris, and the best players in Paris are in the Regency Café. Here, in Rey's establishment, they battle it out--Legal the Profound, Philidor the Subtle, Mayot the Solid. One sees the most surprising moves and hears the stupidest remarks. For one can be an intelligent man and a great chess player, like Legal, but one can also be a great chess player and a fool, like Foubert and Mayot.> French original:
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/13862
English translation:
http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks07/07... |
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Dec-24-20
| | offramp: There is a nag running today named <Philidor>. The odds are better at the racecourse so I am heading down to the Hipódromo Chile in the municipality of Independencia, in the Santiago Metropolitan Region of Chile. The race is at 19:30 Greenwich Mean Time, 24/12/2020.
This wizened old geegee currently has odds of 9/2. I intend to do it as a double with <The Undertaker> winning Wrestlemania 2021. Good luck to everyone who has a punt. I'll post the result here later. |
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Dec-24-20
| | offramp: The buck-toothed sack of gristle finished 5th out of 14. Race won by #13 Me Voy En Barco at 11/1. I tore up my virtual betting slip in disgust. |
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| Jun-16-21 | | Judah: <<offramp>: Yes. It is from the French <Philo d'or> which means <lover of gold>. He really liked gold, apparently.> Actually, as <von Krolock> pointed out earlier in these pages*: a) the etymon you suggest would be not French, but a chimera of Greek and French, which would cast considerable doubt on the suggestion even if nothing positive were known of the provenance of the name <Philidor> and b) in fact, it appears to derive from the Italian surname <Filidoro>/<Filidori>, meaning <cloth [lit. threads] of gold>. *François André Philidor (kibitz #59) and
François André Philidor (kibitz #44) |
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Jul-22-21
 | | Gottschalk: [Event "18th century"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "1780.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "NN"]
[Black "Philidor"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C20"]
[PlyCount "56"]
1. e4 e5 2. c3 d5 3. exd5 Qxd5 4. d3 f5 5. f4 e4 6. d4 Qf7 7. Be3 Nf6 8. Nd2
Nd5 9. Bc4 c6 10. Qb3 Be6 11. Bxd5 cxd5 12. Ne2 Bd6 13. O-O h6 14. Qc2 g5 15.
g3 g4 16. b3 Nc6 17. c4 O-O-O 18. cxd5 Bxd5 19. Nc4 h5 20. Nxd6+ Rxd6 21. Bf2
h4 22. b4 Rdh6 23. b5 e3 24. Be1 hxg3 25. Bxg3 Rxh2 26. Bxh2 Rxh2 27. Kxh2 Qh5+
28. Kg1 Qh1# 0-1
Source: http://heritageechecsfra.free.fr/
old pgn section |
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Jul-22-21
 | | Stonehenge: Thanks, it's here now:
NN vs Philidor, 1780 |
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| Jul-22-21 | | Z truth 000000101: Ugh.
. |
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Jul-24-21
| | Gottschalk: <Stonehenge>
it looks like i have no luck! Good try, thanks. |
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| Jul-26-21 | | Z truth 000000001: <Gottschalk> - sorry, but I'm indirectly responsible for your submission being bounced. I suppose it's due to the valid criticism I made about both its sourcing and historical accuracy (specifically the date, but also its representation as an actual game vs an analysis). Even at my sharpest, believe it or not, I'm trying to be constructive. I think the game should be included in the <CG> db, with proper notes and attributes. For the record, here's essentially my original comment from the now deleted gamepage... * * * * *
<
Ugh.
Sourcing: http://heritageechecsfra.free.fr is almost as good as sending one generically to www.chessbase.com, maybe even worse. [I also noted the date is almost certainly wrong] (Another ugh. When one space won't do. <CG> alert - collapsing space in front of links. Ah, the wonders of auto-magic.)
>
* * * * *
I'll try to return tonight with what I think are the primary sources from Philidor himself. And maybe a comment or two about process. Of course, as I was unable to find the secondary source on the French Heritage cite - I'd like to ask <Gottschalk> for the working link he used to grab the game, if one is still possible. * * * * * |
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Feb-27-24
| | Gottschalk: The sources for Philidor's games , in addition to the well-known books "Analysis of the Game of Chess"- by Philidor himself- and many others by George Walker, are the George Atwood's notebooks.
The Scottish physicist annotated most of the games played by the
French genius in England.
Philidor traveled to Great Britain in 1788-year of "Great Starvation"- and decided to take up residence in London, because the news he received from the continent was worrying. |
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| Jul-27-24 | | generror: I have begun to actually read the <Analysis of the Game of Chess>. And I totally get why this book was such a classic -- he does a great job of explaining each move, and he doesn't just give the opening, but full games where both player actually play fine. It's not like in Greco etc. where you feel that a strong club player just crushes a patzer like me, he actually does his best to let both sides play as well as possible. And I'm impressed about the positional insights this guy already had. It's not just the importance of pawn play and center control, but also some pretty advanced stuff like putting your pawns onto squares of opposite colors from your bishop, not attack and overextend too early, situations that justify exchange sacrifices, importance of tempi, blockade of passed pawns, etc... Of course it's all very rudimentary from today's point of view, and some of his stuff is just plain wrong. But (just like Morphy) it's just impressive that he managed to have these insights all by himself. I always thought he was just a clever businessman who was able to sell himself and his book, but no -- this guy probably was one of those chess geniuses that are only born once every century, who just soak up chess and create new insights and deeper understanding. And, unlike Morphy and Fischer, he was able to share these insights. |
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Aug-06-24
 | | MissScarlett: Philidor was buried at St. James' Gardens Burial Ground in London, but it's recently been excavated and built over due to the HS2 rail project expansion of Euston station. The work started in 2017, although part of the grounds had already been disturbed during the rebuild of the station in the 1960s. https://wellcomecollection.org/arti... https://mediacentre.hs2.org.uk/news... |
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| Oct-10-24 | | YoungEd: Here's a non-chess Philidor fun fact: according to "Music Alive!'s Percussion" by Daniel Glass, Philidor composed the first timpani duet in 1685, "March for Two Pairs of Kettledrums." I wonder whether Philidor's fame during his lifetime was more as a musician or a chessplayer. |
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| Oct-10-24 | | FM David H. Levin: <YoungEd: Here's a non-chess Philidor fun fact: according to "Music Alive!'s Percussion" by Daniel Glass, Philidor composed the first timpani duet in 1685, "March for Two Pairs of Kettledrums."> Might that have been 1785, or perhaps a different "Philidor"? That aside, reading this kibitz prompted me to play the CD <Wonderful World of Percussion> by Emil Richards. |
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| Oct-11-24 | | YoungEd: <FM David H. Levin>: Thanks for the correction. The Glass book refers to Francois-Andre Philidor and I jumped to an erroneous conclusion. Apparently, a different Andre Philidor (with his brother Jacques) wrote the march a century before our chess-playing hero. Oops and sorry! |
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| Jan-17-25 | | FM David H. Levin: <<generror>: I have begun to actually read the <Analysis of the Game of Chess>. And I totally get why this book was such a classic -- he does a great job of explaining each move, and he doesn't just give the opening, but full games where both player actually play fine.> I agree, and I've started creating a PGN version (with the author's "notes" embedded as "comments") of the 1790 English translation found at <books.google.com>. But before I get too far, is anyone aware of this task's already having been tackled? |
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| Mar-10-25 | | FM David H. Levin: <<FM David H. Levin>: < [...snip...] I've started creating a PGN version (with the author's "notes" embedded as "comments") of the 1790 English translation found at <books.google.com>.> The PGN (about 100 KB) I created can be downloaded from my website (davidlevinchess.com). The article's title begins with "Transcription" and appears under the "Instruction" category. Kindly advise of any typos you find. Thanks. |
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Mar-10-25
| | MissScarlett: <CHAPTER 19- THE GAINSBOROUGH PHILIDOR?? In BCM 1969 p.218 of Quotes and Queries by D.J. Morgan is No.1985 :- We once read that Staunton in Volume 1 of the ‘Chess Player’s Chronicle’ stated that a portrait of Philidor by Gainsborough was in existence and said to be in the possession of
a Mr. Holford. Has anyone any knowledge of such a painting and its present whereabouts? There are some very good ‘Notices to Correspondents’ in CPC Vol.1 1841 [...] and on p.185:-
G.S.Chesterfield-We know nothing of the portrait alluded to. A correspondent informs us
that there are two portraits of Philidor, one by Gainsborough and the other by Zoffany;
the former, we understand is in the possession of a Mr. Holford. By way of other masters:-p.315-IEB-We are not aware of the existence of a portrait of M.
De la Bourdonnais or one of our countryman, Mr. M’Donnell. And p.347 Beta, Norwich-
Madame De la Bourdonnais is not now in England.
There were 25 ‘Notices to Correspondents’ and perhaps others were on the covers which
were removed in binding.
It seems clear that the portraits of Philidor by Gainsborough and now Zoffany exist
today. Where they are is a mystery to be solved. The Gainsborough Philidor was probably owned by Robert Stayner Holford (1808-1892)
(English Collections of Books and Manuscripts 1530-1930 by Seymour De Ricci 1930
p.115) but in the Holford Collection at Dorchester House Vol.II 1927 p.x is stated
English portraits of the eighteenth century are strangely absent. Living in the Cotswolds
except when their duties in the Court of Chancery took them to London, the Holfords had
little chance to be painted by Reynolds and Gainsborough , nor did they buy other
people’s ancestors…
The late Ken Fraser of the State Library of Victoria (who provided most of this research)
thought it a bit of a Furphy that Philidor had his portrait painted by Gainsborough but he
was put off by my poor research to which he was responding (13/11/87) that there was
NO mention of this in CPC Vol.1! In 2018 I found the reference plus another painter in
Zoffany. Staunton was rarely wrong but his correspondent could have been. The Holford above descends from Holford of Westonbirt Gloucester (Burke’s Peerage).
In the Chess Amateur March 1909 p.66, John Keeble stated that a J.Holford owned a
perfect copy of the Caxton chessbook. Different Holford’s but a chessic link.
Bob Meadley 24 March 2018.>
https://www.chesshistory.com/winter... p.209 |
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