A Frenchman on the state of English chess

[John Townsend]

St. Amant visited England in the Spring of 1843. His subsequent account in Le Palamède is interesting, not only because it tells the story of his narrow win in a short match against Staunton, but also because it contains the observations of a Frenchman on the state of English chess, which, he suggested, had been through a period of rapid growth in recent years:

"Le jeu des Echecs, depuis dix ans, s'est multiplié considérablement en
Angleterre. Les bons joueurs y affluent, et je suis obligé de revenir sur
l'opinion que j'avais avancée: il y a réellement plus de bons joueurs en
Angleterre qu'en France. Dans les secondes forces, on ne peut plus les
compter: les divans et les cafés en sont remplis." (Le Palamède, 1843, p. 207)

Just a few months later an Englishman became, in effect, world champion. Predictable?

One could argue that, with or without Staunton, this prevailing healthy state of English chess meant that the end of many decades of French domination was at last in sight. Still, it needed a player of exceptional ability; otherwise, it may still have been years in coming. If Staunton hadn't done it, who would have?

In St. Amant's remarks the amount of chess being played in divans and cafés is particularly striking. Do you think it has any relevance for the health or otherwise of chess in this country today? (We no longer have divans, but we have plenty of pubs and cafés.)

[NickFaulks]

(We no longer have divans, but we have plenty of pubs and cafés.)

I don't know what a divan meant then, in this context anyway. Park bench, perhaps?

[Gordon Cadden]

We still have Simpsons Divan, but the establishment is no longer used exclusively for chess.

[John Townsend]

A divan, in this context, was a smoking-room attached to a tobacconist's shop. Admission was typically about a shilling and perhaps included a cigar, and coffee, or lemonade, sherbet, soda water, etc.. They had newspapers, magazines and reviews, chess, draughts, etc.. Staunton said that Gliddon's Divan, 42 King Street, Covent Garden, "was the scene of his earliest Chess exploits". Gliddon's had the reputation of being the first place of its kind in this country. Gordon mentioned the most famous, Simpson's or Ries's Divan in the Strand.

Staunton also played much at Goode's, a tobacconist's at 39 Ludgate Hill, where some or all of his games against John Cochrane were played, and at the Royal Wine Shades, a pub in Leicester Square. Between the end of 1839 and the Spring of 1843 Staunton did not belong to a chess club, yet by the end of that year he had become, in effect, world champion.

[MJMcCready]

Does he state why he thought the state of English chess had undergone rapid growth?

[John Townsend]

I found this question in its present form somewhat ambiguous as to its meaning.

[MJMcCready]

I meant does he offer his opinion on why English chess had undergone rapid growth.

[Francis Fields]

Does anyone know how St Amant was monitoring English chess whilst living in Paris

[Gordon Cadden]

Believe that St Amant made frequent visits to the United Kingdom, as a representative for a wine company.

[John Townsend]

St Amant had visited England in 1836, 1842 and 1843. He had already commented in 1836 on English chess, noting that England was the country in Europe where there were most chess players, and observing that it was played by many ladies at home.

He had already then remarked on the role of divans:

"Londres est peuplé de divans, espèces d'estaminets où l'on trouve de nombreux amateurs." (Le Palamède, 1836, p. 226)

Compared with France, chess had appealed more to the general population in England in the decade or so prior to 1843. A number of factors might be identified as contributing reasons, including social changes and the De La Bourdonnais v. Mcdonnell games of 1834; chess books became cheaper as William Lewis and George Walker competed in a price war; I wonder also whether the advent of the divans played a part.

There was no formal world championship in those days, but, after the death of De La Bourdonnais in 1840, St Amant was recognised by many as holding the "sceptre of chess", until his defeat in 1843. By 1843, he was also the editor of Le Palamède, so his contacts with the world of chess were both numerous and geographically wide.

Best wishes,

John Townsend,
Author of "Historical notes on some chess players"
http://www.johntownsend.demon.co.uk/ind ... age324.htm