Did you know the legendary Napoleon Bonaparte was a Chess player? If you’re just discovering this, I’m sure you’re not surprised. He was one of the best, most successful strategists in the history of mankind, of course he played Chess.
Profiles
This article is purposed to reveal the authenticity of Napoleon Bonaparte in playing a chess game; well, here’s his profile!
Full name: Napoleon Bonaparte
Born: August 15th, 1769
Place of birth: Ajaccio, Corsica, France
Ratings
ELO: 1809
Biography
Napoleon Bonaparte was born in Ajaccio, France, in 1769 In 1799, he coordinated a coup d’état and became the Emperor of France He was termed an avid chess player who showed love and persistence in engaging in chess all through his life Due to his emperor duties, he simple lacked time to dedicate to Chess and become a what would be the equivalent to a Chess Grandmaster with over a 2500 FIDE rating. For more information on FIDE and ratings, see the step-by-step guide on how to get a FIDE rating.
There has only been an account of three games that associate to him. Although some researchers have doubted the correctness of some or all of these games in a Quora thread that asked how good Napoleon was in chess, somebody answered, saying: “Perhaps one or two are correct One of Napoleon’s old friend called, General Bertrand, had noted in his memoirs that Napoleon poorly engaged in chess At one time, before they played, he asked Napoleon to point to one of the chess pieces that he would mate with his The general claims to have triumphed against Napoleon, saying that he was not good at chess reason being he at all times wanted to copycat battlefield tactics.
Napoleon was humorous, a precept that sounds important for chess players today. Some of the comic chess players today are grandmaster Aman Hambleton. He becomes entertaining, thus alluring more followers on his Twitch Channel.
This avid chess player came up with an unreliable chess opening. It has been evaluated as a weak opening. This is because it unfolds the white queen too early, thus exposing it to attack. It denies the white kingside knight of its best-established square.
The Beginning
Napoleon learned the rules of chess when he was a student at Military School in Brienne between the years 1770 to 1784 In those days mastering chess was seen as one of the traits that society considered essential for a young man As he grew up and crowned an Emperor of France, he lacked, or instead he did not create time to study the game better Neither did he look into the chess treaties that were lately published, which contributed to being beaten easily And because he was not the person who quickly agreed to be downcasted, he developed cheating against his challenger.
He was easily irritable, and when his opponent would take too long to make a move, he tended stamping his foot or hitting the table This was a way to disarrange the chess pieces and have them organized his way This attitude was evident even when he played against the Turk Therefore, this character depicted him as a lousy chess player He loved this game but not even once did he emerge a top player Following his defeat in 1815 at waterloo, he was exiled to the remote island of St. Helena, where he stayed the last years of his life Napoleon spent his days reading books, dictating his memoirs, and engaging in chess His challenger was his aide de cam General Bertrand His chess set, whose material is a natural and red stained ivory, is exhibited in the Library at the Biltmore House.
Achievements
Despite Napoleon being depicted as a lousy chess player, he has made quite some remarkable achievements in chess. He is the most noticeable great captain who proved to be a chess lover. There are many references to his love for the game. However, some seemed fictitious Earlier, when he engaged in chess, Napoleon triumphed against General Lazare Hoche with an admiring audience observing. Most of the played games by the emperor, as mentioned, do not have any reliable proof except for the defeat by the Mechanical Turk by Kempelen.
Napoleon is believed to have attained other winnings while in Egypt, he played against Jean Baptiste and Amedee Jaubert. He engaged in the game against Murat, Bourrienne, and Berthier in Poland. Some of the assumed victories of Napoleon in chess have been created to polish his reputation for being imperative, clever, and intellectually brilliant Chess players felt that they were likely to win in their games if they got associated with Napoleon.
Napoleon was the founder of the city La Roche-Sur-Yon and as a section of their yearly jubilee celebrations, the city planned for a Blitz Chess match and included a Napoleon theme. This match comprised of seven Blitz gameplays played with different formats. It was also inclusive of two chess960 games and two games played using the Napoleon opening. Additionally, as the Emperor of France, the country was the dominant chess superpower, equating to its military power.
Notable Games
There are only a few games Napoleon played that have been recorded. The following are real games of Chess that Napoleon himself played.
These three games exhibited as Napoleon’s played games are: The first one between him and Bertrand (a Scotch Game) held in St Helena. It was first published in Capt. Kennedy’s Reminiscences in the Life of Aug. Fitzsnob in 1862 is believed to have been up. The second game involved Napoleon and Mme von Rémusat, which took place on 29th March 1804.
Madame De Remusat vs Napoleon Bonaparte (1802)
Paris, France (1802)
Alekhine Defense: Maroczy Variation (B02) · 0-1
The year was 1802, Napoleon played this game, against Madame De Ramusat in Paris, France.
Napoleon Bonaparte vs Madame De Remusat (1804)
Two years later in 1804 on March 20th, they sat across from each over the Chessboard once again and played this game. Napoleon played a reversed Nimzowitsch, a variation of the Van Geet (Dunst) opening (ECO: C41) and won the game.
Napoleon Bonaparte vs The Turk (Automaton)
The third game that is quite notable is the one he played against the Mechanical Turk Automaton in Vienna. He thought it absurd for a machine to engage in chess and defeat him, which proved to be right In 1809, he toured the Schonbrunn Palace in Vienna where he encountered the Mechanical Turk transversely with the chessboard The Turk was invented by Wolfgang von Kempelen with the purpose of pleasing Empress Maria of Austria Inside the machine was a human master concealed, which took over 200 years to discover this deception of it being a robot Napoleon was known to be a cheater while playing the game because he was not the type of person who could readily concede to defeat.
In 1809 in Vienna at the Schoenbrunn Palace Exhibition, Napoleon played this game against the first of all Chess engines, The Mechanical Turk where Napoleon played a variation of the King’s Pawn Game now known as the Napoleon Attack (ECO C20).
The game against the Turk turned chaotic because the Turk could discern a cheater Reports given by the present audience said that in their first game, Napoleon made the first move Afterward, he tried a wrong move to test the machine’s expertise to recognize He persisted in doing so until the machine swept off its arm banging all the chess pieces off the board In Napoleon’s second attempt to engage in the chess game, the Turk was victorious when he finished at nineteen moves.
Napoleon Bonaparte vs Henri Gatien Bertrand
It would be another decade before another game played by Napoleon was recorded. This game was played in 1820 at St. Helena where the variation of the Scotch Game, now known as the Napoleon Gambit (ECO: C44), was seen on the board. The gambit did work because Napoleon won this game.
Did you enjoy learning about the Chess career of Napolean Bonaparte? If you did, you might be interesting in reading other player profiles such as Hikaru Nakamura, Emanuel Lasker, and Paul Morphy.
Sources
- https://www.thearticle.com/napoleon-the-chess-player
- https://www.quora.com/How-good-was-Napoleon-at-chess
- https://www.chess.com/forum/view/game-showcase/napoleons-bonaparte-chess
- https://www.blitmore.com/blog/the-emperors-chess-set/
- https://www.thevintagenews.com/2017/12/10/the-turk-chess-automation/?andro=1