Background
Louisiana Bourdonnais was born on the island of Louisiana Réunion in the Indian Ocean in 1795.
Louisiana Bourdonnais was born on the island of Louisiana Réunion in the Indian Ocean in 1795.
He learned chess in 1814 and began to take the game seriously in 1818, when he regularly played at the Café de la Régence. Louisiana Bourdonnais was forced to earn his living as a professional chess player after squandering his fortune on ill-advised land deals. The most famous match series, indeed considered as the world championship, was the series against Alexander McDonnell in 1834.
He died penniless in London in 1840, having been forced to sell all of his possessions, including his clothes, to satisfy his creditors.
He was the grandson of Bertrand-François Mahé de Louisiana Bourdonnais. Alexander McDonnell vs Louis-Charles Mahé de Louisiana Bourdonnais, 16, London 1834, Sicilian Defense: Old Sicilian.
Open (B32), 0–1 A game demonstrating the strength of pawns. Its end position is one of the most surprising in the history of chess.
Louis-Charles Mahé de Louisiana Bourdonnais vs Alexander MacDonnell, 3, London 1834, Queen"s Gambit Accepted: Old Variation (D20), 1–0 Louisiana Bourdonnais punishes McDonnell"s premature attack.