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Chess legends series: Francouis-André Danican Philidor

Chess legends series: Francouis-André Danican Philidor

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Chess has become in recent years due to major technological advancements a game filled with precision.Each day we are getting closer and closer to ultimately solving the game.However,things were not always like this.Old masters of the game such as Gioacchino Greco (1600-1634) attempted to create a collected wisdom about chess.All that general advice we now teach to beginners, is deeply rooted within the history of old chess masters.History is filled with players that made themselves immortal in collective memory of chess community.Chess legends that shaped the game as we know it now.In this series we will discover the history of chess legendary players from 18th century to modern, famous players of the game that are popular worldwide.Buckle up, grab your chessboard and enjoy this journey throughout rich past that we have been granted to explore.

Francois-André Danican Philidor (1726-1795)

Arguably the strongest player of 18th century Francois-André Danican Philidor was also one of the founders of what is in French called opera comique. In his youth he visited very famous café in Paris called "Regence" where he learned to play chess from the strongest French player at the time- Sire de Légal-a chess player after whom is named a famous opening trap-Legal's mate.In 1747 he destroyed talented Philip Stamma who created algebraic chess notation and also who wrote a collected chess puzzle book in 1737.Philidor was so strong that he started to give away pieces right from the start, just to make things a bit challenging for him.The pinnacle of his career came in 1749 where he wrote the first chess textbook "Analyse du jeu des Échecs"-which became an outstanding success among chess players.He printed a second edition in 1777 and the third in 1790.His thesis and ideas were based more around positional way of playing.His quote " pawns are the soul of the chess game" is still to this day repeated to students that give away pawns for free.Philidor claimed that on correct placement of your pawn phalanx depends the result of the game.Here is an example of the typical philidor analysis.

Philidor believed that to achieve a win in a chess game, you need to cooperate your pieces as efficiently as possible while being careful with pawn advancements.This way of thinking was many years ahead of his time.Perhaps,too many.Players that attempted to play according to Philidor were not as talented nor that skilled to win in his style-therefore many of the games were just boring endless endgames with no side achieving any winning chances.The chess world was not yet ready to face this very deep analytical mind of philidor and to the late 19th century the Italian romantical school was dominating the chessboard which did enrich chess in a way no other school did.
Philidor's defence
Named after his creator Philidor's defence was in past very popular among decently strong players.Philidor intends to play on early f5 move that allows him to open up the f-file for his rook.Compact pawn chain in this defence is directly connected to Philidor's belief that pawns should be taken care of very carefully-since the result of the game is dependant on their positioning.Nowadays Philidor's defence is already solved and with precise play from white, black is worse. That is why the 
opening disappeared from top level chess however on a club level the opening is still played from time to time.
This is Philidor's defence and its basic planning for opening phase of the game. We could discuss tiring lines of theory for hours but I prefer to let the maestro speak for himself.


Philidor has been a major protagonist of chess mastery in 18th century.His work and dedication to chess and music were not forgotten.His contribution to the development of the game earned him title of a legend.


Philidor playing a blindfolded simultaneous game against 3 players.