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Alexandre Deschapelles
  
Number of games in database: 7
Years covered: 1821 to 1846
Overall record: +2 -3 =2 (42.9%)*
   * Overall winning percentage = (wins+draws/2) / total games.

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ALEXANDRE DESCHAPELLES
(born Mar-07-1780, died Oct-27-1847, 67 years old) France

[what is this?]
Alexandre Louis Honoré Lebreton Deschapelles was born in Ville d'Avray and lost his right arm in the Battle of Fleurus (1794)*. He was one of the strongest chessplayers of the world in the first half of the 19th century mainly focusing on Pawn+Move odds matches. Some successes were his 6-1 match win over John Cochrane in 1821 (with the latter receiving odds of pawn and 2) and a tied match with Pierre Charles Fournier de Saint Amant (+1 -1 =1) in 1836 after not having played chess for 14 years. In 1842 he managed to beat Saint Amant +3 -2 =0. Deschapelles was the teacher of Louis Charles Mahe De La Bourdonnais.

*Wikipedia article: Battle of Fleurus (1794)

Wikipedia article: Alexandre Deschapelles


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 page 1 of 1; 7 games  PGN Download 
Game  ResultMoves YearEvent/LocaleOpening
1. Cochrane vs A Deschapelles 1-0311821casualC44 King's Pawn Game
2. Cochrane vs A Deschapelles 0-1271821Odds game000 Chess variants
3. Cochrane vs A Deschapelles 0-1251821Odds game000 Chess variants
4. W Lewis vs A Deschapelles 1-0271821Odds game000 Chess variants
5. W Lewis vs A Deschapelles ½-½351821Odds game000 Chess variants
6. W Lewis vs A Deschapelles ½-½441821Odds Match000 Chess variants
7. B Greville vs A Deschapelles  1-0211846Odds game000 Chess variants
  REFINE SEARCH:   White wins (1-0) | Black wins (0-1) | Draws (1/2-1/2) | Deschapelles wins | Deschapelles loses  

Kibitzer's Corner
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Mar-07-12
Premium Chessgames Member
  Penguincw: R.I.O. Deschapelles. Enjoy your 232nd birthday or something.
May-27-12  Caissanist: Like most of the wonderful old material in the Chesscafe archives, the Deschapelles article has been moved and can only be found by searching. Here is the current link: http://www.chesscafe.com/text/spinr... .
May-27-12  Caissanist: Spinrad's piece also mentions that very few of Deschapelles' games have survived, so the five in this database are apparently all that still exist, even though he seems to have played a great deal. The article also lacks a picture of Deschapelles, so it would appear that none of those have survived either.
May-27-12  thomastonk: <Caissanist> A few more games of Deschappelles survived as well as some fragments. As an example I mention a game with Dumoncheau played June 21, 1841, and published in La Palamede 1842.
Aug-02-13  Oliveira: A portrait of Deschapelles: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:A...
Oct-13-14
Premium Chessgames Member
  Bubo bubo: <TheAlchemist: This is a famous game (composition, maybe?) attributed to Deschapelles against La Bourdonnais, where only the spectacular finale is known:>

Theo Schuster's book "Unvergessene Schachpartien" also gives only the final, but moreover claims that this game was played at very strange odds; allegedly Black started with 8 additional pawns, but w/o queen: <"Mit Weiß hatte Deschapelles seinem damaligen Schüler Labourdonnais acht Extrabauern für die Dame vorgegeben.">

I think I've seen the initial setup for this type of odds game somewhere:


click for larger view

Jan-23-15
Premium Chessgames Member
  jnpope: In re: "In 1842 he managed to beat Saint Amant +3 -2 =0" above, it should be mentioned this was a very unusual odds match:

<An extraordinary sensation has been created in the Paris Chess Club, by the sudden re-appearance of the veteran chess monarch, M. Des Chapelles; this gentleman has gratified his friends by playing a match of five games with M. De St. Amant, giving very curious and unusual odds. Des Chapelles proudly proffered to give something like a Pawn and a half in each game, and thus it was arranged. In the first game the veteran gave a Rook, and received in exchange two Pawns and the move; in the second game, St. Amant gave the Rook, and took in lieu thereof, five Pawns and the move; the third game was simply a Pawn-and-two affair; in the fourth party, Des Chapelles yielded up Queen, taking in return six Pawns and the move; and lasty [sic], in the fifth battle, St. Amant gave the Queen, and received nine Pawns and the move. For some elucidation of the curious variety of Chess termed the Pawn game, see Mr. George Walker's pocket volume, called games played by Philidor and his contemporaries, as well as the earlier volumes of the French Chess Magazine, "Le Palamede". These five important games occupied three sittings of about two hours each; Des Chapelles coming off, on the whole, conqueror, winning three of the five games. Are his laurels so brilliant that even his seventy five years may not dim their hue? We say in deep truth and humility, that Des Chapelles could even now, in our opinion, give the Pawn to the proudest spirits of Britain. Of the five about named games, it is matter of regret that one only was taken down [...]> «Bell's Life in London, 1842.12.04»

Jan-24-15
Premium Chessgames Member
  jnpope: That last line should be <Of the five above named games, it is matter of regret that one only was taken down [...]> (my typo)
Jan-26-15
Premium Chessgames Member
  jnpope: Here is the first game from the odds match with St. Amant where Des Chapelles gives up the Queen's Rook for two extra pawns and the move (note: FEN line has the slashes reversed for posting):


click for larger view

[Event "Odds Match"]
[Site "FRA Paris (Paris CC)"]
[Date "1842"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Des Chapelles,ALH"]
[Black "St. Amant,PCF"]
[Result "0-1"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "rnbqkbnr\pppppppp\8\8\2P2P2/8\PPPPPPPP\1NBQKBNR w KQkq - 0 1"] [PlyCount "110"]

1.e4 d6 2.d4 f6 3.f5 g6 4.d5 Bh6 5.f4 c6 6.Bd3 Na6 7.c3 cxd5 8.cxd5 Nc5 9.Bc2 Bd7 10.b4 Na6 11.a4 Nc7 12.Be3 Kf8 13.c4 Na6 14.Qd2 Qc8 15.b5 Nc5 16.g4 a6 17.Nc3 axb5 18.cxb5 g5 19.fxg5 Bxg5 20.Bxg5 fxg5 21.Qd4 Nf6 22.h4 Kf7 23.hxg5 Nxg4 24.g6+ hxg6 25.fxg6+ Kxg6 26.e5+ Kf7 27.e6+ Bxe6 28.Rxh8 Qxh8 29.dxe6+ Nxe6 30.Qxh8 Rxh8 31.Nf3 Rh3 32.Be4 Rh1+ 33.Kd2 Ra1 34.Bd5 Kf6 35.Ne4+ Kf5 36.Ng3+ Kf4 37.Ne2+ Kf5 38.Ng3+ Kf6 39.Ne4+ Kg6 40.Bxe6 Rxa4 41.Kd3 Nf6 42.Nc3 Ra3 43.Nd4 Nh5 44.Kc4 Nf4 45.Bc8 b6 46.Be6 Nxe6 47.Nxe6 Kf6 48.Nc7 e6 49.Na6 d5+ 50.Kb4 Ra1 51.Na4 Rb1+ 52.Kc3 Rxb5 53.Nb8 Ke7 54.Nc6+ Kd6 55.Nd4 Rb1 0-1 «Bell's Life in London, 1842.12.04; Le Palamede, v2, 1842, pp216-219»

Again, the poorly written ChessBase software I have goes bonkers if you save this game in CB format, however, it loads and plays the game just fine from a PGN file.

Jan-30-15
Premium Chessgames Member
  jnpope: So I was messing around with Rybka and checking it's evaluations at 14-ply for the starting arrays in the Des Chapelles v St. Amant odds match (where Des Chapelles was said to be giving roughly one and one-half pawns in odds in each game).

In the first, and only published game, Des Chapelles gives St. Amant the Queen's Rook for two extra pawns (at c4 and f4) and the move. Rybka suggests Nf3 as White's best move with an evaluation of White at -4.31 centi-pawns.

In the second game St. Amant gives Des Chapelles the Queen's Rook for five extra pawns. It is unclear where the pawns are placed, but based on the four and six pawn set-ups published in the literature available to me, it seems that the pawns were placed most likely at c3, c4, f3, f4, and g3 or at b3, c3, c4, f3, and f4. In each case Rybka suggests Nh3 as White's best first move with White at -2.02 and -2.03 centi-pawns respectively.

In the third game St. Amant receives from Des Chapelles Pawn and two moves. Assuming St. Amant's first move as being 1.e4 (the most likely first move in a Pawn and two game) White's evaluation is exactly +1.50 centi-pawns for 2.d4 (and actually a little better at +1.51 for 2.Nf3).

In the fourth game Des Chapelles gives St. Amant his Queen for six additional pawns (traditionally placed at b3, c3, c4, f3, f4, and g3). Rybka suggests 1.d4 with an evaluation of -4.19 centi-pawns for White.

The fifth game has St. Amant giving up his Queen to Des Chapelles for nine extra pawns. I'm guessing the two best possible configurations for the extra pawns to be b3, c3, c4, d4, e4, f3, f4, g3, and g4 or b3, b4, c3, c4, d4, e4, f3, f4, or g3. Rybka suggests 1.b4 at -1.40 centi-pawns for White in the first case and 1.e3 at -1.63 centi-pawns for White in the second case.

We know Des Chapelles lost the first game (giving up roughly 4 pawns and not 1.5), so I'm guessing that he also lost game 4 (the other game at a roughly 4 pawn disadvantage) and that he won games 2, 3 and 5.

It makes me wish we had more games from Des Chapelles to study.

Mar-13-16  TheFocus: <I want to checkmate; I do not want to capture, to defend, nor to attack. I repeat, I want to checkmate, that's all> - Deschapelles.
Jun-19-16
Premium Chessgames Member
  offramp: He was half-American. His Dad was from New Orleans.
Jun-19-16
Premium Chessgames Member
  MissScarlett: Was he the greatest dad in New Orleans?
Jun-19-16
Premium Chessgames Member
  offramp: <jnpope: So I was messing around with Rybka and checking it's evaluations at 14-ply for the starting arrays in the Des Chapelles v St. Amant odds match ... In the first, and only published game, Des Chapelles gives St. Amant the Queen's Rook for two extra pawns (at c4 and f4) and the move. Rybka suggests Nf3 as White's best move with an evaluation of White at -4.31 centi-pawns.>

I am confused as to what -4.31 centipawns means. I believe it means -0.0431 pawns. That is, a very very small advantage to Black.

But logic tells me that <-4.31 centipawns> in fact means -4.31 pawns, a large advantage for Black.

I wonder which it is?

Jun-19-16
Premium Chessgames Member
  jnpope: I have no idea what the conversion is for Rybka's evaluation function to pure "pawns". I based the unit of measure, i.e. the centipawn, on what I found here in regard to Rybka 4.1: http://rybkaforum.net/cgi-bin/rybka...
Jun-19-16
Premium Chessgames Member
  jnpope: I would have to go with the values as being converted to "pawns" in the Arena software I use to harness the Rybka 4.1 engine... so -431 centipawns is probably what Rybka evaluated the position as and it became -4.31 pawns as converted by Arena. So my mistake on bungling the conversion units.
Jun-25-16
Premium Chessgames Member
  dernier loup de T: Talisman; maybe you did not notice that Deschapelles seems to have played only ONE chess game in his life, not four or more...
Jun-27-16  Stalwart: TheAlchemist's post is a beautiful composition. I included it in my book about forced mates of masters.

bterranlong.wix.com/whitemates

http://selz.co/VkVQqyrS$

May-02-18  Cibator: <Aug-02-13: Oliveira: A portrait of Deschapelles: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:A...

Well I wouldn't swear to the authenticity of that portrait. It shows a mature man with bags under his eyes and crows' feet. Age at least early thirties, possibly older. (You can't see the jawline, which could have provided useful confirmation of the age-range.)

Thing is: Deschapelles (b 1780) would have been that age from about 1812 onward. But the hair style shown in the picture - queue at the back, tied with a ribbon - would surely have well out of date by then.

Aug-05-19  Chesgambit: very weak chess player
Oct-27-19  Carrots and Pizza: I've been waiting for many years now for a treasure trove of Deschapelles games to be discovered buried deep in some library in Europe. I actually Google him and his games once every 5 years or so, going all the way back to 1990s.
May-25-20  Marcelo Bruno: <TheAlchemist>, <Needle>: I think if it is possible to restore this game with a retrograde analysis software.
May-06-22
Premium Chessgames Member
  MissScarlett: Ipswich Journal, January 20th 1844, p.3:

<FISCAL SEVERITY IN FRANCE. - The Baron Deschapelles, the celebrated chess player, was tried on Tuesday, before the Court of Correctional Police of Paris, for having in his possession a quantity of snuff and about 20 cigars. The Baron admitted that the tobacco and snuff seized were of foreign manufacture, but declared that he had imported them from England by permission of the Commissioners of Excise, to whom he had paid the legal duty. "I," said the Baron, "an ancient Commissioner of Excise, never would have entertained the idea of defrauding the revenue. I beg to observe, that I consume 1,500f. worth of tobacco in the year, and that what was seized was worth but 1f. 50c. The idea is absurd." The Baron was acquitted.>

May-25-22  Petrosianic: <Chesgambit>: <very weak chess player>

I can tell you put a lot of thought into that evaluation.

May-25-22
Premium Chessgames Member
  perfidious: This life 1200 player agrees with <Petrosianic>.
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