Jacob Henry Sarratt (1772 – 6 November 1819) was one of the top English
chess
Chess is a board game for two players. It is an abstract strategy game that involves Perfect information, no hidden information and no elements of game of chance, chance. It is played on a square chessboard, board consisting of 64 squares arran ...
players of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Sarratt was renowned as a player and author and adopted the title "Professor of Chess". He was the first professional player to teach chess in England. He introduced into England the
chess rule that a
stalemate
Stalemate is a situation in chess where the player whose turn it is to move is not in check and has no legal move. Stalemate results in a draw. During the endgame, stalemate is a resource that can enable the player with the inferior position ...
is a
draw, which was commonly used on the continent of Europe. He coined with his works of 1813 and 1821 the term
Muzio Gambit. He was a pupil of
Verdoni and later the teacher of
William Lewis and
Peter Unger Williams.
In 1803 he met
Camilla Dufour, a singer who was writing for the same publisher. He and Dufour married at
St. Leonard's, church in Shoreditch at the end of 1804. She was his second wife so she inherited his two children. Her new husband became the leading person in chess in London. He would go walking with
Hippolyte de Bourblanc and they would play chess against each other by remembering all the positions and never using actual chess pieces or a board.
Writings
* ''Life of Buonaparte'', 1803 (an attack on the tyrant)
''A Treatise on the Game of Chess''. London 1808 (vol. 1)''The works of Damiano, Ruy-Lopez, and Salvio on the game of chess''. London 1813* ''The Works of Gianutio and
Gustavus Selenus'', 1817
* ''A New Treatise on the Game of Chess''. London 1821 (vol.1)
''A New Treatise on the Game of Chess''. London 1828 (vol.1)
References
Notes
Bibliography
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Sarrat, Jacob
British chess players
British chess writers
1772 births
1819 deaths