Alexander McDonnell (chess player)

Alexander McDonnell (1798–1835), sometimes spelled MacDonnell,^[a] was an Irish chess master, who contested a series of six matches with the world's leading chess player Louis-Charles Mahé de La Bourdonnais in 1834.

The son of a surgeon, Alexander McDonnell was born in Belfast in 1798. He was trained as a merchant and worked for some time in the West Indies. In 1820, he settled in London, where he became the secretary of the Committee of West Indian Merchants in which role he advocated strongly on behalf of slave-owning sugar plantation owners.^[1] It was a lucrative post that made him a wealthy man and left him with plenty of time to indulge his passion for chess. In his politics, McDonnell was a committed Whig.^[2] No confirmed image of McDonnell is known to exist.^[3]

In 1825, he became a pupil of William Lewis, who was then the leading player in Britain. But soon, McDonnell had become so good that Lewis, fearing for his reputation, simply refused to play him anymore.

Around 1825–1826, McDonnell played Captain Evans, while the latter was on shore leave in London. McDonnell was beaten with what is now regarded in chess circles as the creation of the Evans Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.b4).^[4]

In 1831, along with George Walker, he became a founding member of the Westminster Chess Club and was acclaimed as England's best player.^[5]

At that time, the world's strongest player was the French aristocrat Louis-Charles Mahé de La Bourdonnais. Between June and October 1834, La Bourdonnais and McDonnell played a series of six matches, a total of eighty-five games, at the Westminster Chess Club in London. McDonnell won the second match, while La Bourdonnais won the first, third, fourth and fifth. The sixth match was unfinished.

In the first game of the third match, McDonnell successfully introduced a new variation in the King's Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.f4 exf4 3.Nf3 g5 4.Bc4 g4 5.Nc3), known today as the McDonnell Gambit.

McDonnell was suffering from Bright's disease, a historical classification of nephritis, which affects the kidneys. In the summer of 1835, his condition worsened and he died in London on 15 September 1835 before his match with La Bourdonnais could be resumed.

When La Bourdonnais died penniless in 1840, George Walker arranged to have him buried in London's Kensal Green Cemetery, near where his old rival McDonnell is buried.^[6]

• Louis-Charles Mahé de La Bourdonnais vs. Alexander McDonnell, 04, London 1834, Queen's Gambit Accepted: Central Variation. McDonnell Defense (D20), 0–1 The first immortal game of the history of chess, according to Reuben Fine. A purely positional sacrifice of a queen for two minor pieces.
• Louis-Charles Mahé de La Bourdonnais vs. Alexander McDonnell, London 1834, Bishop's Opening: Lopez Variation (C23), 0–1 An interesting encounter with chances and errors on both sides, ending with a nice two-knights mate.
• McDonnell versus De La Bourdonnais, Match 4 (16), London 1834 A classic game demonstrating the power of a mobile central block of pawns.

Bibliography

• Walker, George (1850). Chess and Chess-Players. London: C. J. Skeet.

• Alexander McDonnell player profile and games at Chessgames.com
• 1834 Labourdonnais - McDonnell Matches match scores from Mark Weeks' chess pages
• Chess and Chess-Players by George Walker