author
Alexander McDonnell
1798–1835
A leading chess master of the early 1800s, he became famous for his dramatic 1834 matches with Louis-Charles Mahé de La Bourdonnais, contests often treated as the first great showdown of modern chess. Born in Belfast and later active in London, he helped fix competitive chess in the public imagination.
1 Audiobook
Compulsory manumission : or, An examination of the actual state of the West India question
by Alexander McDonnell
About the author
Born in Belfast in 1798, Alexander McDonnell was an Irish chess master who rose to prominence in the early nineteenth century. Sources agree that he is best remembered for a celebrated series of matches against Louis-Charles Mahé de La Bourdonnais in 1834, when the two were regarded as among the strongest players in the world.
McDonnell was not a full-time professional player. Biographical sources describe him as a successful businessman who spent years in Demerara in the West Indies and later worked in London, where he developed his chess seriously and became one of the strongest players in Britain. His games were widely studied afterward, and his attacking style helped make those match records enduring classics.
He died in 1835, only a year after the matches that secured his reputation. Even with a short life, he remains an important figure in chess history, especially in Ireland and Britain, because his rivalry with La Bourdonnais is still seen as an early landmark in top-level match play.