Napoleon Marache

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This article uses algebraic notation to describe chess moves.

Napoleon Marache (June 1818 – November 5, 1875)[1] was one of the leading chess players and writers in the United States in the mid-19th century. He was born in Meaux, France in June 1818, three years to the month after his namesake Napoleon Bonaparte's final defeat at Waterloo. Marache moved to the United States "in his 12th year."[2] According to Irving Chernev, "Marache made such rapid strides in assimilating chess that he was able, three weeks after his first lesson, to give his tutor the odds of a Rook!"[3]

In 1845, Marache began composing chess problems. In October 1845, he published The Chess Palladium and Mathematical Sphynx; devoted to the Curiosities of Chess and the Ingenuities of Arithmetic. This was the first American chess periodical, but lasted for only three issues.[4] In 1846, Marache became the "first chess editor in America."[5] David Lawson, in his celebrated biography of Paul Morphy, refers to Marache as having been the Chess Editor of the New York Clipper (as of 1856);[6] the author of a chess column in Porter's Spirit of the Times (as of 1858);[7] and Chess Editor of Wilkes' Spirit of the Times (as of 1861 and 1865).[8] Marache's own 1866 book Marache's Manual of Chess also referred to him as the "Chess Editor of 'Wilkes' Spirit of the Times.'"[9]

On August 30, 1856, Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper published a challenge issued by Ernest Morphy to "Mr. Stanley or Marache (and we presume any player in the country)" to play a match against his nephew, Paul Morphy.[10] No one accepted the challenge.[11]

In 1856, Marache won the championship cup of the New York Chess Club.[12] In 1857, he was one of the sixteen leading American players who participated in the First American Chess Congress, Morphy's triumphant first tournament.[13] Marache defeated Daniel Fiske in the first round, winning three games and losing two. In the second round, he lost to Benjamin Raphael, winning two games, drawing two, and losing three.[14]

Marache and Morphy did not meet in the tournament,[15] but played five games in 1857 in which Morphy gave odds of pawn and move, with Morphy winning three and drawing two.[16][17] In 1859 Morphy, who could successfully give odds of a knight to almost any player in the country, beat Marache in a game at those odds,[18][19] after Marache blundered away his extra piece to what is today a well-known trap in the Max Lange Attack.[20]

In 1858, Marache was one of the players who represented the New York Chess Club in the second game of a two-game telegraph match with its Philadelphia counterpart, which resulted in a win for New York. Marache substituted for Fiske, who had been one of the New York players in the first game, which had ended in a draw.[21]

In 1865, Marache wrote the chess section for a new edition of Hoyle's guide to games.[22] Shortly after the end of the Civil War, Morphy traveled to New York to work on an annotated collection of his games, with Marache acting as secretary and Charles A. Gilberg working closely with Morphy.[23] Unfortunately, the book was never published, since prospective publishers "asked that he enrich the collection ... with new games," which Morphy refused to do.[24]

In 1866, Marache published Marache's Manual of Chess, one of the first chess books in the United States.[25][26] At the end of the book, Marache also gave the rules and discussed strategy for backgammon, Russian backgammon, and dominoes.[27] The book was also one of the earliest books on backgammon in the United States.[28]

Marache is perhaps best known today for losing the following brilliancy against Morphy in 1857, in which Marache played White in an Evans Gambit:[29]

Image:chess zhor 26.png
Image:chess zver 26.png a8 b8 c8 d8 rd e8 f8 g8 kd h8 Image:chess zver 26.png
a7 pd b7 pd c7 pd d7 e7 f7 pd g7 pd h7 pd
a6 b6 c6 d6 e6 f6 g6 qd h6
a5 bd b5 c5 d5 e5 f5 nd g5 h5
a4 b4 c4 d4 nd e4 f4 bl g4 h4
a3 b3 c3 pd d3 e3 f3 g3 h3
a2 pl b2 c2 ql d2 e2 f2 pl g2 pl h2 pl
a1 rl b1 nl c1 d1 e1 f1 rl g1 kl h1
Image:chess zhor 26.png
Marache-Morphy, position after 18...Ncd4
Image:chess zhor 26.png
Image:chess zver 26.png a8 b8 c8 d8 rd e8 f8 g8 kd h8 Image:chess zver 26.png
a7 pd b7 pd c7 pd d7 e7 f7 pd g7 pd h7 pd
a6 b6 c6 d6 e6 f6 g6 qd h6
a5 bd b5 c5 d5 e5 f5 g5 h5
a4 b4 c4 d4 nd e4 ql f4 bl g4 h4
a3 b3 c3 pd d3 e3 f3 g3 nd h3
a2 pl b2 c2 d2 e2 f2 pl g2 pl h2 pl
a1 rl b1 nl c1 d1 e1 f1 rl g1 kl h1
Image:chess zhor 26.png
Marache-Morphy, position after 19...Ng3!!

Marache-Morphy, New York 1857 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.b4 Bxb4 5.c3 Ba5 6.d4 exd4 7.e5? d5! 8.exd6 Qxd6 9.O-O Nge7 10.Ng5? Better was 10.Ba3, although White's attacking prospects would not be enough to compensate for the sacrificed pawn.[30] O-O 11.Bd3 Bf5! Sacrificing an exchange, for which Black gets three pawns and a strong attack.[31] 12.Bxf5 Nxf5 13.Ba3 Qg6 14.Bxf8 Qxg5 15.Ba3 dxc3 16.Bc1 Qg6 17.Bf4 Rd8 18.Qc2 Ncd4 (position at left) 19.Qe4 The alternatives were no better: 19.Qd3 Ng3!! wins the queen for two knights after 20.Qxg3 Ne2+; 19.Rd1 Ne3! 20.Qxg6 Ne2+ 21.Kh1 Rxd1#; 19.Qa4 b5! 20.Qxa5 Ne2+ 21.Kh1 Nxf4 22.Rg1 (or 22.g3 Qc6+ 23.f3 Qxf3+!!) Rd1! 23.g3 Qc6+ and mate next.[32] Ng3!! (position at right) 20.Qxg6 White has no reasonable alternative, e.g. 20.Bxg3 Qxe4 or 20.Qe7 Nde2+ wins the queen. Nde2# 0-1

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Jeremy Gaige, Chess Personalia, McFarland & Company, 1987, p. 267. ISBN 0-7864-2353-6.
  2. ^ Philip W. Sergeant, Morphy's Games of Chess, Dover Publications, 1957, p. 223. ISBN 0-486-20386-7.
  3. ^ Irving Chernev, Wonders and Curiosities of Chess, Dover Publications, 1974, p. 28. ISBN 0-486-23007-4.
  4. ^ Profile of Napoleon Marache
  5. ^ Sergeant, p. 223.
  6. ^ David Lawson, The Pride and Sorrow of Chess, David McKay, 1976, p. 27. ISBN 0-679-13044-6.
  7. ^ Id. at 119-20.
  8. ^ Id. at 265, 283.
  9. ^ N. Marache, Marache's Manual of Chess, Dick & Fitzgerald, 1866, at title page.
  10. ^ Lawson, pp. 44-45.
  11. ^ Lawson, p. 45.
  12. ^ Profile of Napoleon Marache
  13. ^ Lawson, pp. 50, 53, 58.
  14. ^ Profile of Napoleon Marache
  15. ^ Lawson, pp. 58, 61, 65-66.
  16. ^ Lawson, pp. 77-78, 85-86.
  17. ^ Marache-Morphy, New York 1857
  18. ^ Lawson, pp. 221-22.
  19. ^ Morphy-Marache, New York 1859.
  20. ^ After 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 exd4 4.Bc4 Nf6 5.O-O Bc5 6.e5 d5 7.exf6 dxc4 8.Re1+ Be6 9.Ng5, the players reached a position that often arises from the Two Knights Defense by the move order 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.d4 exd4 5.0-0 Bc5 6.e5 d5 etc. Instead of playing the correct 9...Qd5 10.Nc3 Qf5, Black blundered with 9...Qxf6?, allowing 10. Nxe6 fxe6 11. Qh5+ g6 12. Qxc5. This trap is noted in, among other books, Irving Chernev, Winning Chess Traps, David McKay, 1967, p. 84; Eugene A. Znosko-Borovsky, Traps on the Chessboard, Cheltenham Press 1937, p. 73; and E.A. Grieg, One Hundred Pitfalls on the Chessboard, David McKay, "New Edition" (date unknown, First Edition published 1910), p. 68.
  21. ^ Neil Brennen, "New York Vs. Philadelphia: The 1858 Telegraph Match," Chess Life, June 2008, pp. 38-40.
  22. ^ Profile of Napoleon Marache
  23. ^ Lawson, p. 283.
  24. ^ Lawson, p. 285.
  25. ^ N. Marache, Marache's Manual of Chess, Dick & Fitzgerald, 1866.
  26. ^ Marache's Manual of Chess
  27. ^ Marache, pp. 129-56.
  28. ^ See List of Backgammon Books.
  29. ^ Marache-Morphy, New York 1857
  30. ^ Irving Chernev and Fred Reinfeld, The Fireside Book of Chess, Simon and Schuster, 1949, p. 355.
  31. ^ Chernev and Reinfeld, p. 355.
  32. ^ Chernev and Reinfeld, p. 355.

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