The Duke and I

Jaquie vs. Duke of Wellington

This is a game I played against a player called ‘The Duke of Wellington’ – just his nickname. Of course, with a much lower rating than this Duke, I lost the game, but thought it was a good game and good experience. You can play through the game where I played white by clicking on the above link.

I have also discovered that Napoleon played also chess! He played a game against the Duke of Wellington though he was not the only person to play chess against Napoleon. Both the Duke of Wellington and Napoleon Bonaparte where gentlemen chess players – Napoleon had a higher rating.  Chess just before battle of Waterloo – Night 17th June 1815.

The whole art of Chess consists in getting at what is on the other side of the board.
Duke of Wellington

Lord Uxbridge: By God, sir, I’ve lost my Queen!
Wellington: By God, sir, so you have.

Wellington describing Napoleon Game Play. Source – chess.com

Image – google images

Johann Baptist Allgaier (June 19, 1763 – January 3, 1823) was a German-Austrian chess master and theoretician. He was also the author of the first chess handbook in German – Neue theoretisch-praktische Anweisung zum Schachspiel.

This is a game played by Napoleon vs the Turk, alias Johann Allgaier.

https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1250610

Three games purporting to be played by Napoleon are in existence. One of these (a Scotch Game) said to have been played in St Helena between Napoleon and Bertrand, and first printed in Capt. Kennedy’s Reminiscences in the Life of Aug. Fitzsnob (Waifs and Strays, 1862), is certainly fictitious. The second game, said to have been played with Mme von Rémusat, 29 March 1804, and a third game (I.L.N., 1844, 352), played against the Automaton in Vienna, are also of very doubtful authenticity.’ from H.J.R. Murray’s A History of Chess. – Source: chess.com

During this game, the Turk was operated by Johann Allgaier
The automaton was a chess playing machine known as the Turk. It was invented by a Hungarian baron called Wolfgang van Kempelen in 1770. However, the machine did not really play chess. It was a trick. The automaton was a large box, large enough for someone to hide inside and it was this person who played the game. In 1809 Napoleon played against the Turk.
(1)e4e5 (2)Qf3 Nc6 (3) Bc4Nf6 (4) Ne2Bc5 (5) a3d6

(6) O-OBg4 (7) Qd3Nh5 (8) h3Bxe2 (9)Qxe2Nf4

(10)Qe1Nd4 (11)Bb3Nxh3+ (12)Kh2Qh4 (13) g3Nf3+

(14) Kg2Nxe1+ (15)Rxe1Qg4 (16) d3Bxf2 (17) Rh1Qxg3+

(18) Kf1Bd4 (19) e2Qg2+(20) Kd1Qxh1+ (21) Kd2Qg2+

(22) Ke1Ng1 (23) Nc3Bxc3+ (24) bxc3Qe2#0-1

[Event “Malmaison Castle”]
[Site “Malmaison Castle”]
Date 1804
[White “Napoleon I”]
[Black “Madame de Remusat”]
[Result “1-0”]
[ECO “C41”]
Source: Chessbase

1.Nc3 e5 2.Nf3 d6 3.e4 f5 4.h3 fxe4 5.Nxe4 Nc6 6.Nfg5 d5 7.Qh5+ g6 8.Qf3 Nh6 9.Nf6+ Ke7 10. Nxd5 Kd6 11. Ne4+ Kxd5 12. Bc4+ Kxc4 13. Qb3+ Kd4 14. Qd3# Napoleon 1-0 Madame de Remusat