Traité des Amateurs
Traité des Amateurs is the short name of the celebrated book Traité Théorique et Pratique du jeu des Echecs, par une Société des Amateurs, published in France in 1786 and subsequently translated into German and English.
A reviewer in 1830 wrote that:
The Traite des Amateurs, is one of the best practical works on Chess, extant. It contains a great number of beautifully played games, together with much solid information, and it is matter of regret that the scarcity of the book, prevents its being more generally used by the Chess student.
''Le Traité des Amateurs''
Le Traité des Amateurs is a chess treatise composed by a "Society of Amateurs" who were contemporaries of Philidor and all frequented the Café de la Régence in Paris. Of these, the strongest players were Bernard, Carlier, Leger and Verdoni. Philidor, who lived in London, took no part in writing the Traité des Amateurs. George Walker, in his translation of the Traité for the Chess Player's Chronicle in 1846, states:
In making up the work before us, it is understood that the great masters above named produced most of their games and examples, by playing them over, experimentally and repeatedly, with each other; consulting upon the moves in committee, and noting down the details and variations contingent upon each result. The natural consequence of this develops itself in the practical character of the Treatise; presenting, indeed, fully as much the complexion of a vast collection of first-rate games, played out, mostly even to the closing Checkmate, as that of a general work on the subject of Chess.
The work is divided into six chapters which are in turn subdivided into sections, games and comments. The first three chapters treat entire games, in which odds are supposed to be given; the fourth chapter is devoted to the consideration of "even" games ; the fifth concerns the endgame and the sixth consists of a selection of critical situations from Stamma, upon which Ponziani sarcastically remarked:
i quali sono tutti di Filippo Stamma; quando avrebbero potuto più plausibilmente cavarli dal proprio fondo
Another common point with Stamma is the usage of his algebraic chess notation, which was employed in the French editions of the Traité. From the beginning the authors distance themselves from Philidor's Analyse du jeu des Échec, arguing that the variations reported by the celebrated French master are more instructive than correct. Nevertheless, the games analyzed in the text can be regarded as typical examples of the understanding of chess during the Enlightenment, and the group was much closer to Philidor than to the Italians Ercole del Rio, Lolli or Ponziani of the Modenese school. The Italians advocated free piece play, gambit openings and tactical complications. Because of its practical orientation, the work was published at the end of the 18th century together with the more theoretical textbook of Philidor.
During the Romantic era, the play of amateurs was considered slow and monotonous; however, the modern point of view gives greater consideration to the game of the Romantic period than of the Enlightenment. The most obvious difference between these two ways of playing chess are the respective focus on the dynamic and static factors of the game. In the introduction to the Traité and in the notes to the games, however, there are some important considerations that can be defined as modern. The authors, in fact, stress the concept that at the beginning of the game the forces stand in equilibrium. Correct play on both sides maintains this equilibrium, and leads to a drawn game; therefore, a player can win only as a consequence of an error made by the opponent. From this perspective there is no such thing as a winning move, and even the most skilled master can do nothing against these "natural laws" of the game. This point of view was later independently developed by Wilhelm Steinitz; today it represents the basis of modern chess theory, but at the time it was proposed by Steinitz it was in strong contrast with the Romantic concept of chess. According to this concept, it was the stronger player's higher imagination and combinative power which decided the outcome of the game; this was explained by Richard Réti. Traité des Amateurs, however, also differs from Philidor—not concerning the general idea of the "natural laws" of the game, but on the evaluation of White's move advantage. According to Philidor, White's initial advantage was enough to guarantee, with perfect play, the win of the first player. The authors of the Traité, on the other hand, disagreed and believed that the advantage derived from the first move would only give a temporary initiative to the first player; a game correctly played by both sides was always destined to be drawn.
As an example, the introductive section of Chapter IV in G. Walker's translation states:
The combinations being endless, it is clear that the winning or losing of the game, between players equal in point of skill, must depend on the first bad, or what amounts to the same thing, the first lost move on either side; we cannot, therefore, avoid protesting against the erroneous doctrine laid down by Philidor and others, that he who has the first move, ought to win the game in consequence of that advantage. We proceed to prove, from the very games adduced by Philidor in support of his position, these three important points. Firstly, that the move alone can never be considered a sufficient advantage to insure success : Secondly, that he who has not the move, will very soon acquire it, or neutralize its effects; and, Lastly, that supposing each move to be the best that could possibly be played, the game ought to be drawn.
Games from the ''Traité''
The games of the Traité des Amateurs are rare, and cannot be found in common chess databases like ChessBase, 365chess, chessbites or chesslab. Some of them are reported here, with the original comments.- Game 3 in Chapter 4, Section 1:
- Game 7 in Chapter 4, Section 1:
- Game 6 in Chapter 4, Section 2:
''La Société des Amateurs''
La Société des Amateurs was a group of an unknown number of chess masters and players at the Café de la Régence in Paris and authors of the Traité des Amateurs. Only four masters of the group are known: Bernard, Carlier, Leger and Verdoni. Apart from Verdoni, not very much is known about the lives of these masters. Their first names, places and dates of birth or death are generally unknown. However, they appear periodically in the chess literature of the time and consequently it is possible to provide some details on their lives and playing styles. Concerning their games, several of Verdoni's games are known, while only one game of Bernard and Carlier playing together and winning against Philidor survives. Verdoni, Bernard, Carlier and Leger, although not approaching Philidor's level, were considered the best in the world in the years following his death; directly or indirectly, they have disputed each other for the title of Philidor's successor. Since there are no records of their games, it is impossible to assess the relative strengths of each player. Deschapelles, however, reported that Philidor classed Legalle as a player equal to himself, Verdoni as one to receive pawn for the move, and Bernard and Carlier as P and move players.Bernard
Bernard was probably the best chess player at the Café de la Régence around the end of the 18th century, at least until the arrival of Alexandre Deschapelles on the world chess scene in 1798. According to George Walker, Deschapelles noted:
I acquired chess, in four days! I learned the moves, played with Bernard, who had succeeded Philidor as the sovereign of the board; lost the first day, the second, the third, and beat him even-handed on the fourth; since which time I have never advanced or receded. Chess to me has been, and is, a single idea, which, once acquired, cannot be displaced from its throne, while the intellect remains unimpaired by sickness or age.
In 1783, he was among the masters, who played and won against The Turk during the Automaton's European tour in Paris.
Although only one game of Bernard survives, there is evidence in the literature that his play was more brilliant than that of the other amateurs.
Bernard and Carlier initiated Jacques François Mouret in the game; Mouret later become one of the best French players of the early 19th century.
Carlier
While some sources indicate Bernard was the strongest player between the death of Philidor and the arrival of Deschapelles, others prefer Carlier:
M. Bouncourt est contemporain de Philidor; il n'a jamais joué avec ce grand artiste, mais il a fait la partie de ses éléves, Carlier, Bernard et Léger. A cette époque Philidor avait émigré en Angleterre, ou il est mort en 1795, je crois. Carlier, le plus fort d'entre eux, se retira devant M. Descaplelles, qui n'avait point the rival
It is unknown if Carlier's "surrender" is due to a specific event, but the two played together and at one point were "seeded" in the chess life of the French capital:
The Gentleman's Mag., July, 1807, contained an account of a series of games played between two committees headed respectively by Deschapelles and Carlier.
Leger
Other references consider Leger as the successor of Philidor, although he was roughly the same strength as Carlier. In Journoud's Nouvelle régence, for instance, Leger is defined "le fameux Léger, le successeur de Philidor", while Carlier is "l'antagoniste, le rival de Léger". The story continues:
ils ont joué dix ans ensemble, et pendant ces dix ans, ils n'ont fait que dus parties nulles Enfin, il y a six mois que Léger eu gagna une: Carlier prit sa revanche le lendemain.
On the French front, each of the three players had his supporters and some right to consider himself the successor of Philidor and there was never an "official" match among them in order to determine who was the strongest player in France. The same article in the Nouvelle régence continues, saying that after the aforementioned episode Carlier and Leger never played together again.
Depuis ce moment, ils respectent assez leur réputation; il se respectent assez eux-mêmes pour ne plus jouer l'un contre l'autre... Et puis, il y a eu des propos... Des gens mal intentionnés ont rapporté à Carlier que Léger s'était vanté de lui céder le trait Oh ! si nous n'avions étouffé l'affaire, elle eurait eu des suites mais elle s'est fort bien passée; quoique, depuis ce temps, ils ne se parlent jamais.
After Philidor left France for England neither Bernard, Carlier or Leger could enjoy the status of best player in France. As G. Allen explains in his Life of Philidor, Legal attained an advanced old age of nearly 90 years. From his defeat to Philidor in the match of 1755 until his death, he maintained his rank as the second-best player in France. The three were probably inferior to Legal, and only after his death in 1792 could one of them aspire to the throne of the Café de la Régence.
Verdoni
The amateur who moved to England, however, appears to enjoy wider recognition as best player in the country and perhaps the world. The Oxford Companion to Chess reports that Verdoni, Italian, learned chess only in middle age and became a master. After Philidor's death, Verdoni was considered one of the strongest players in the world and took Philidor's place as house professional at Parsloe's. He mentored Jacob Sarratt until he died in 1804. Verdoni was called by Löwenthal "the immediate successor of Philidor upon the English chess-throne", but Philidor was clearly his superior and was used to give to Verdoni the Pawn. Allen and Von der Lasa wrote in The Life of Philidor that Philidor gave the advantage of the Pawn to Verdoni, but he received the Move in exchange.Verdoni is described as the strongest player in the world between 1795 and 1804. An argument cited to support this choice is that Philidor said, " c'est le premier joueur en Europe apres moi".
Both Philidor and Verdoni moved to England during the French Revolution, and they spent the rest of their lives there. Consequently, Philidor was aware of the evolution of the skills of Verdoni but not of Bernard, Carlier or Leger. Secondly, the English chess world is better-documented than the French; British chess players started earlier than their colleagues across the Channel to record and annotate their games. The games played by Philidor and his contemporaries were recorded by George Atwood in a manuscript later found and published by George Walker. Walker took pains to report for posterity many games played in those years, and another Walker transcribed the games of the La Bourdonnais – McDonnell chess matches. In France there was less attention, and the majority of the games of that period are lost. We have many games of Verdoni but virtually none of Bernard, Carlier or Leger. The surviving Philidor games date to the period when the Frenchman lived in London. There are very few games of Deschapelles, and nearly all of them were played against English players. There is the possibility that the presumed dominance of Verdoni over the other amateurs is due to the fact that we have information about his play while Bernard, Carlier and Leger have almost fallen into oblivion.
The other ''Amateurs''
Bernard, Carlier, Leger and Verdoni were not the only amateurs. Walker states clearly that these players were the "chief in skill", but not the only members of La Société des Amateurs. Additionally, in an article first published in The Chess Monthly we can find the following sentence:
With Bernard, Carlier, Verdoni, Leger and the rest of the Amateurs our chess Count stood upon the footing of intimacy
which also indicates that La Société des Amateurs was composed of other players beside those known.
Most of the games in the Traité were actually played by the amateurs and in many of them, one of the players gives an advantage to the opponent. Bernard, Carlier, Leger and Verdoni were approximately of the same strength, and played together on even terms. Consequently, the games "at odds" should have been played with other members of La Société des Amateurs. The names of the other amateurs, however, are lost and cannot be found in the documents of the period. Richard Twiss, however, reports a detail which can help in detecting some of these players. In 1783 a new chess club was established in Paris, and the known amateurs moved from la Régence to this new club. Twiss reports the names of some of these players; there is the possibility that some of them were also part of the original group which collaborated on the Traité. The only player among those mentioned by Twiss who could play on even terms with Bernard, Carlier, Leger or Verdoni was Garnier; then, a list of players used to receive an advantage is reported.
The best players are Mr. Bernard, Mr. Carlier, Mr. Verdoni, Mr. Leger, and Mr. Garnier; who being only of the second class of players, are not able to cope with Mr. de Legalle or Mr. Philidor, without receiving a pawn and the move. Then follow the gentlemen to whom a pawn and two moves are given; the Count de Biffy and Chevaliers de Beaurevoir, de la Pallu and d'Anfelet.
Almost nothing is known about these players. Garnier was one of the subscribers to Phildor's book's second edition. Probably the Chevalier de Beaurevoir is the best-known of the group. A few games between him and Philidor, in fact, survive. G. Walker reported these games with a brief note explaining that De Beaurevoir acquired a reputation in France for his skill at chess. For this reason, he thought while visiting London in 1788 he could play with Philidor at the Pawn and move. Philidor, however, gave him the advantage of pawn and two moves, and won the majority of a series of games played between them. These games were later reviewed by von der Lasa as examples of Philidor's play.