Napoleon Marache (June 15, 1818 – May 11, 1875) was a chess player, problem composer, and journalist. He was born in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

and moved to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

at around 12 years of age. He learned the game of

chess Chess is a board game for two players, called White and Black, each controlling an army of chess pieces in their color, with the objective to checkmate the opponent's king. It is sometimes called international chess or Western chess to dist ...

around 1844, and immediately became a devotee. He began composing

chess problem A chess problem, also called a chess composition, is a puzzle set by the composer using chess pieces on a chess board, which presents the solver with a particular task. For instance, a position may be given with the instruction that White is to ...

s and writing about chess the following year. In the mid-19th century, he was both one of America's first chess journalists and one of its leading players. In 1866, he published ''Marache's Manual of Chess'', which was one of the country's first books on chess, and also one of its first books on

backgammon Backgammon is a two-player board game played with counters and dice on tables boards. It is the most widespread Western member of the large family of tables games, whose ancestors date back nearly 5,000 years to the regions of Mesopotamia and Pe ...

. He is perhaps best known today for having lost a famous game to

Paul Morphy Paul Charles Morphy (June 22, 1837 – July 10, 1884) was an American chess player. He is considered to have been the greatest chess master of his era and is often considered the unofficial World Chess Champion. A chess prodigy, he was c ...

Early life; writing

Marache was born in

Meaux Meaux () is a Communes of France, commune on the river Marne (river), Marne in the Seine-et-Marne Departments of France, department in the Île-de-France Regions of France, region in the Functional area (France), metropolitan area of Paris, Franc ...

, France in June 1818, three years to the month after his

namesake A namesake is a person, geographic location, or other entity bearing the name of another. History The word is first attested around 1635, and probably comes from the phrase "for one's name's sake", which originates in English Bible translations ...

Napoleon Bonaparte's final defeat at Waterloo. Marache moved to the United States at around 12 years of age. He learned the game around 1844 and immediately became a serious student of the game.Charles A. Gilberg, ''The Fifth American Chess Congress'', New York, 1881, p. 46 (quoted i
Chess Notes No. 4900
. He learned so quickly that he was able, three weeks after his first lesson, to give his tutor

rook Rook (''Corvus frugilegus'') is a bird of the corvid family. Rook or rooks may also refer to: Games *Rook (chess), a piece in chess *Rook (card game), a trick-taking card game Military * Sukhoi Su-25 or Rook, a close air support aircraft * USS ...

odds Odds provide a measure of the likelihood of a particular outcome. They are calculated as the ratio of the number of events that produce that outcome to the number that do not. Odds are commonly used in gambling and statistics. Odds also have ...

. In 1845, Marache began composing chess problems.Profile of Napoleon Marache
/ref> In 1846, he became the "first chess editor in America","The first American chess magazine, ''The Chess Palladium'', was founded in 1846 under the editorship of Napoleon Marache ... but lasted only a few months."

Arthur Bisguier Arthur Bernard Bisguier (October 8, 1929April 5, 2017), paternal surname Bisgeier, was an American chess player, chess promoter, and writer who held the FIDE title of Grandmaster (GM). Bisguier won two U.S. Junior Championships (1948, 1949), ...

and

Andrew Soltis Andrew Eden Soltis (born May 28, 1947) is an American chess grandmaster, author and columnist. He was inducted into the United States Chess Hall of Fame in September 2011. Chess career Soltis learned how the chess pieces moved at age 10 when he ...

, ''American Chess Masters from Morphy to Fischer'', Macmillan, 1974, pp. 35-36. . publishing the periodical ''The Chess Palladium and Mathematical Sphinx''.Robert John McCrary (editor), ''The Hall-of-Fame History of U.S. Chess'', Volume 1, U.S. Chess Trust, c. 2005, p. 17.Jeremy P. Spinrad
New Stories About Old Players: Chess Disputes

ChessCafe.com ChessCafe.com is a website that publishes endgame studies, book reviews and other articles related to chess on a weekly basis. It was founded in 1996 by Hanon Russell, and is well known as a repository of articles about chess and its history. It ...

. Retrieved on 2009-01-09. At approximately the same time, Charles Stanley started another American chess periodical, ''The American Chess Magazine''. The two publications feuded shamelessly, with Stanley calling Marache's publication "a most ridiculous jumble of unintelligible nonsense" and "sixteen pages of soiled waste-paper". Only three issues of ''The Chess Palladium and Mathematical Sphinx'' were published, dated October, November, and December 1846. ''The American Chess Magazine'' ceased publication in 1847. At various times in the 1850s and 1860s, Marache was the chess editor or chess columnist for the ''

New York Clipper The ''New York Clipper'', also known as ''The Clipper'', was a weekly entertainment newspaper published in New York City from 1853 to 1924. It covered many topics, including circuses, dance, music, the outdoors, sports, and theatre. It had a ...

'', '' Porter's Spirit of the Times'', and '' Wilkes' Spirit of the Times''. In 1865, Marache wrote the chess section for a new edition of Hoyle's guide to games. Shortly after the end of the

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...

, 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. Unfortunately, the book was never published, since prospective publishers "asked that he enrich the collection ... with new games", which Morphy refused to do. In 1866, Marache published ''Marache's Manual of Chess'', one of the first chess books in the United States. At the end of the book, Marache also gave the rules and discussed strategy for

, Russian backgammon, and

dominoes Dominoes is a family of tile-based games played with gaming pieces, commonly known as dominoes. Each domino is a rectangular tile, usually with a line dividing its face into two square ''ends''. Each end is marked with a number of spots (also c ...

. The book was also one of the earliest books on backgammon in the United States. It was still in print in 1928, the publisher's name having since been changed to "Fitzgerald Publishing Corporation", New York.

Play

In 1855–56, in a competition among eight of the leading players of the day, Marache won the championship cup of the New York Chess Club. Later that same winter, he finished first in a sixteen-player

tournament A tournament is a competition involving at least three competitors, all participating in a sport or game. More specifically, the term may be used in either of two overlapping senses: # One or more competitions held at a single venue and concentr ...

. On August 30, 1856, ''

Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper ''Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper'', later renamed ''Leslie's Weekly'', was an American illustrated literary and news magazine founded in 1855 and published until 1922. It was one of several magazines started by publisher and illustrator Frank ...

'' published a challenge issued by Ernest Morphy to "Mr.

Stanley Stanley may refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television * ''Stanley'' (1972 film), an American horror film * ''Stanley'' (1984 film), an Australian comedy * ''Stanley'' (1999 film), an animated short * ''Stanley'' (1956 TV series) ...

or Marache (and we presume any player in the country)" to play a match against his nephew, Paul Morphy. No one accepted the challenge. In 1857, Marache was one of the sixteen leading American players who participated in the First American Chess Congress, Morphy's triumphant first (and only) tournament. Marache defeated Daniel Fiske in the first round, losing his first two games but winning the remaining three. In the second round, he lost to Benjamin Raphael, winning two games, drawing two, and losing three. Marache and Morphy did not meet in the tournament, but played five games in 1857 in which Morphy gave odds of pawn and move, with Morphy winning three and drawing two. In 1859 Morphy, who could successfully give odds of a

knight A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood finds origins in the Gr ...

to almost any player in the country, beat Marache in a game at those odds, after Marache blundered away his extra piece to what is today a well-known trap in the

Max Lange Attack The Max Lange Attack is a chess opening that can arise from several different opening lines, including the Two Knights Defense, Petroff's Defense, Scotch Gambit, Bishop's Opening, Center Game, and Giuoco Piano. Two of the most commonly seen a ...

. In 1858, Marache was one of the players who represented the New York Chess Club in the second game of a two-game

telegraph Telegraphy is the long-distance transmission of messages where the sender uses symbolic codes, known to the recipient, rather than a physical exchange of an object bearing the message. Thus flag semaphore is a method of telegraphy, whereas p ...

match with its

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...

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.

Game against Morphy

Marache is perhaps best known today for losing the following brilliancy against Morphy in 1857, in which Marache played White in an

Evans Gambit The Evans Gambit is a chess opening characterised by the moves: :1. e4 e5 :2. Nf3 Nc6 :3. Bc4 Bc5 :4. b4 The Evans Gambit is an aggressive line of the Giuoco Piano. White offers a pawn to divert the black bishop on c5. If Black accepts ...

: 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 Pawn most often refers to: * Pawn (chess), the weakest and most numerous piece in the game * Pawnbroker or pawnshop, a business that provides loans by taking personal property as collateral Pawn may also refer to: Places * Pawn, Oregon, an his ...

.Irving Chernev and Fred Reinfeld, ''The Fireside Book of Chess'', Simon and Schuster, 1949, p. 355. O-O 11.Bd3 Bf5! Sacrificing an

exchange Exchange may refer to: Physics *Gas exchange is the movement of oxygen and carbon dioxide molecules from a region of higher concentration to a region of lower concentration. Places United States * Exchange, Indiana, an unincorporated community * ...

, for which Black gets three pawns and a strong attack. 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 Queen or QUEEN may refer to: Monarchy * Queen regnant, a female monarch of a Kingdom ** List of queens regnant * Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king * Queen dowager, the widow of a king * Queen mother, a queen dowager who is the mother ...

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. 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

Problem

At left is a chess problem composed by Marache, which he called, "One of the most difficult two-move compositions extant." Edward Winter calls it, "An interesting problem with a ''

Zugzwang Zugzwang (German for "compulsion to move", ) is a situation found in chess and other turn-based games wherein one player is put at a disadvantage because of their obligation to make a move; a player is said to be "in zugzwang" when any legal move ...

'' theme."Edward Winter, ''A Chess Omnibus'', Russell Enterprises, 2003, p. 12. . The key move is 1.Bf7! (see diagram at right).

Notes

External links

*
Photograph and description of ''Marache's Manual of Chess''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Marache, Napoleon 1818 births 1875 deaths People from Meaux French chess players American chess players French chess writers American chess writers American male non-fiction writers French emigrants to the United States Writers from New York City French male non-fiction writers 19th-century chess players Sportspeople from Seine-et-Marne