* In Italy we can find both forms, Filidoro and Filidori, as a family name

** Filidori was an Italian musician from Siena

*** Philidor's ancestor adopted the new surname as a title, and the link to Filidori is well fundamented - his family name was Danican

The Greek word PHILOKHRESOS ("one that loves gold") would be a logical choice if it were to use a term of classical inspiration: it's registered in the litterature (Luc. Gal. 13 and Sp.) - source: Pappe, Brunswick 1871 -

The explanations that mixes different languages are, as a rule (there's not "law" in such matters), so -frequently - a posteriori ones; hence what i called "fanciful"

We can find different forms of referring to a family in the Romance languages: in Portuguese i'll hear "one from the Silva (familly)" or "from the Silvas" (same sense) - Also among the Italo-brasileiros (by the way, i reside near a village founded by immigrants from Veneto, named Santa Felicidade, today a kind of Italian quarter from a great city) - and find here also, alternating freely, the forms of referring to one or various members from some family as (say): dos Fulano, dos Fulanos, dos Fulani - the coexistence of different ways to express the same notion would not alter the origin or/and meaning of the surname! (But perhaps explain the existence of variations in the spelling, regardless of the reigning 'cult' or 'official' manner)

Our fellow CGmate <SBC> has created an excellent set of webpages which showcase blindfold games of Philidor that may never have appeared on the Web before. She has converted three of these games into the MistyBeach "click-and-play-through" format, with four more in the pipeline.

In addition to the games, you'll find images of old Chess notation (from the year 1813) that is based on square numbers (1-64), something I had not seen until recently.

I have a collaborative role in all this (which is described on the pages), but <SBC> has done the presentation in her increasingly (and justly) famous style.

If you'd like to see the main page, here it is:

http://batgirl.atspace.com/forgotte...

And you can click to the three games now available at the bottom. Here's the first:

http://batgirl.atspace.com/XCII.html

There's also a nice biographical snippet on Philidor (among the "Anecdotes") from the 1813 book that bears his name:

http://batgirl.atspace.com/ChessAne...

Very nicely done! An enjoyable foray into the world of Chess just beyond the year 1800!

(: ♗ Bishop Berkeley ♗ :)

<"The Forgotten Philidor">

Perhaps a better title might have been "The Phildor Phenomenon" as demonstrated by further Ecclesiastical research into the spirituality of Chess:

A very nice parallel presentation! Very nice indeed!

I suspect our erudite Ecclesiast would wish to consult with Cardinal Fritz over the course of a larger number of games before embracing the Apologia in toto, but the main precepts are certainly worth consideration!

I believe the Ecclesiast will be running more experiments of the kind shown here in coming days, some may even run overnight.

After sufficient time for reflection and dialogue, the Ecclesiast may issue a Definitive Statement of Theological Opinion from the Bishop's Throne (which is much like this one: http://www.100bestwebsites.org/alt/... )

In the meantime, be constant in prayer and pious living....

(: ♗ Bishop Berkeley ♗ :)

<Wow! You are FAST, Sister Sarah!>

Hence, my logo -
=faStARAH

An Easy Introduction to THE GAME OF CHESS

containing the rules, the movement of the pieces and the laws governing the proper execution of the Game.

Bridging the 18th and 19th centuries (published in 1813, containing works of 18th century authors, most notably Philidor), the text gives us a snapshot of the state of chess at the time of Philidor through Bourdonnais and Surratt.

<bishopberkeley> has provided us with the opportunity and pleasure to look inside this antique book at http://batgirl.atspace.com/EI_index...

The Title Page, Table the Contents and links to the inside can be found at http://batgirl.atspace.com/forgotte...

Here is a CD which contains music from three great composers: Mozart, Beethoven, and Philidor! (I'd say he's in good company!)

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/t...

Philidor's contribution to this CD is the "Ariette ajoutée au devin du village, for soprano solo". His name here is "Francois-Andre Danican Philidor".

Much more of his music can be found by searching for "Philidor, Andre Danican" at Amazon.com:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/c...

I wonder if this is the CD you own?

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/t...

What I've heard so far, I've really enjoyed.

Welcome aboard!

http://sbchess.sinfree.net/EI_index...

I find it quite interesting to note the small differences between the rules in 1813 and today (for example, a stalemate was a LOSS to the one stalemating!! I won't mention any others, so that you can sift through them and discover them for yourself.)

One interesting point: beginning with the fourth image, we find the "Rules for Playing". Now, these are not the "Laws of Chess" that are presented earlier. These are recommendations on strategy for winning. So these "Rules for Playing" give us a nice glance of Chess theory in the time of Philidor.

Also interesting: on the fourth image (page 6) we find the curious valuation of the Chessmen in Philidor's time:

Knight ... 9 1/4 [points]
Bishop ... 9 3/4
Rook ..... 15
Queen .... 23 3/4

King ... "invaluable"
but as an attacking
piece .... 6 1/2

Pawn ... 2 (at the start)
... 3 3/4 as it
approaches the adversary's
royal line

Now, if we take these numbers, divide them by three, and round to one decimal place, we get the following:

Knight ... 3.1
Bishop ... 3.3
Rook ..... 5
Queen .... 7.9

King ... "invaluable"
but as an attacking
piece .... 2.2

Pawn ... 0.7 (at the start)
... 1.3 as it
approaches the adversary's
royal line

Rather close to the modern valuation. (If I recall correctly from my childhood reading, Robert James Fischer assigned the value of 3 to the Knight and 3.25 to the Bishop in "Bobby Fischer Teaches Chess", closer to 1813 valuation.)

Thank you, Sarah, aka Ms. <SBC>, for this valuable contribution to Chess online!

(: ♗ Bishop Berkeley ♗ :)

Hommage à Philidor
~Abbé Roman~

I have not Roman's dates "Feu LÁbbé" is not "Fire of the Priest" as perhaps a machine translation would register, but simply indicates that he already had deceased ("Feu") when the 1807 Edition appeared...

There's an identity in authorship between both passages? - The question is not answered - some elements:

* O. Koch, the 1916 "Bilguer" refers to an 'unknown Poet' as the Author (of the first passage)

** The Decameter is not the more current form for French Poems of this kind - i'll dare to assert it's even somewhat rare compared to the Alexandrine form , from which we can read a sample, by Delille, also inspired by the Muse Caïssa:

<"... L'amour du jeu rêveur qu'inventa Palamède, / Sur des carrés égaux, différens de couleur, / Combattant sans danger, mais non pas sans chaleur, / Par cent détours savans conduit à la victoire / Ses bataillons d'ébène et ses soldats d'ivoire. / Longtemps des camps rivaux le succès est égal. / Enfin l'heureux vainqueur donne l'échec fatal, / Se lève, et du vaincu proclame la défaite. / L'autre reste atterré dans sa douleur muette, / Et, du terrible mat à regret convaincu, / Regarde encor longtemps le coup qui l'a vaincu. »>

<Pawn ... 0.7 (at the start) ... 1.3 as it approaches the adversary's Royal line >

<"Feu LÁbbé" ... simply indicates that he already had deceased ("Feu") when the 1807 Edition appeared> Equivalent to the english "late", as in the expression: "the late John Smith".

I tried to find out more on Abbé Roman, but came up totally blank. Thanks for the extra input.