Traité des Amateurs is the short name of the chess treatise"The Café de la Régence" by a Chessplayer in Fraser's Magazine, Vol. XXII, 1840 Traité Théorique et Pratique du jeu des Echecs, par une Société des Amateurs, published in FranceSociété des Amateurs, Traité théorique et pratique du jeu des échecs, Paris 1775 in 1786 and subsequently translated into German and English.
A reviewer in 1830 wrote that: The Traite des Amateurs, is one of the best practical works on Chess, extant. It contains a great number of beautifully played games, together with much solid information, and it is matter of regret that the scarcity of the book, prevents its being more generally used by the Chess student.The Bibliographical and retrospective miscellany: Containing Notices Of, And Extracts From, Rare, Curious, And Useful Books, London 1830
Le Traité des Amateurs Le Traité des Amateurs is a chess treatise composed by a "Society of Amateurs" who were contemporaries of Philidor and all frequented the Café de la Régence in Paris. Of these, the strongest players were Bernard, Carlier, Leger and Verdoni. Philidor, who lived in London, took no part in writing the Traité des Amateurs (which embodies many criticisms and comments on his earlier book). George Walker, in his translation of the Traité for the Chess Player's Chronicle in 1846,G. Walker, "The Celebrated Traité des Amateurs" in: The Chess Player's Chronicle, London 1846 states:
In making up the work before us, it is understood that the great masters above named produced most of their games and examples, by playing them over, experimentally and repeatedly, with each other; consulting upon the moves in committee, and noting down the details and variations contingent upon each result. The natural consequence of this develops itself in the practical character of the Treatise; presenting, indeed, fully as much the complexion of a vast collection of first-rate games, played out, mostly even to the closing Checkmate, as that of a general work on the subject of Chess.
The work is divided into six chapters which are in turn subdivided into sections, games and comments. The first three chapters treat entire games, in which odds are supposed to be given; the fourth chapter is devoted to the consideration of "even" games (no handicap); the fifth concerns the endgame and the sixth consists of a selection of critical situations from Stamma,P. Stamma, Essai sur le jeu des echecs, The Hague 1741 upon which PonzianiD. Ponziani, Il giuoco incomparabile degli scacchi, Venice 1812 (1st edition Modena 1769) sarcastically remarked: i quali sono tutti di Filippo Stamma; quando avrebbero potuto più plausibilmente cavarli dal proprio fondo (they found it easier to take positions from Stamma than to compose new ones for themselves)
Another common point with Stamma is the usage of his algebraic chess notation, which was employed in the French editions of the Traité. From the beginning the authors distance themselves from Philidor's Analyse du jeu des Échec,A. D. Philidor, Analyse du jeu des Échec, London, 1749 arguing that the variations reported by the celebrated French master are more instructive than correct. Nevertheless, the games analyzed in the text can be regarded as typical examples of the understanding of chess during the Enlightenment, and the group was much closer to Philidor than to the Italians Ercole del Rio, Lolli or Ponziani of the Modenese school. The Italians (in contrast to the French) advocated free piece play, gambit openings and tactical complications. Because of its practical orientation, the work was published at the end of the 18th century together with the more theoretical textbook of Philidor.
During the Romantic era, the play of amateurs was considered slow and monotonous;Anton Schmid, Literatur des Schachspiels, Wien 1847. however, the modern point of view gives greater consideration to the game of the Romantic period than of the Enlightenment (a good thing, considering the fact that we have the transcription of many more games from the former period than the latter). The most obvious difference between these two ways of playing chess are the respective focus on the dynamic and static factors of the game (giving to the terms "dynamic" and "static" the meanings popularized by Valery Beim in his books).V. Beim, Lessons in Chess Strategy, Gambit Publications, 2003V. Beim, How To Play Dynamic Chess, Gambit Publications, 2004V. Beim, Paul Morphy: A Modern Perspective, Russell Enterprises, 2006 In the introduction to the Traité and in the notes to the games, however, there are some important considerations that can be defined as modern. The authors, in fact, stress the concept that at the beginning of the game the forces stand in equilibrium. Correct play on both sides maintains this equilibrium, and leads to a drawn game; therefore, a player can win only as a consequence of an error made by the opponent. From this perspective there is no such thing as a winning move, and even the most skilled master can do nothing against these "natural laws" of the game. This point of view was later independently developed by Wilhelm Steinitz; today it represents the basis of modern chess theory, but at the time it was proposed by Steinitz it was in strong contrast with the Romantic concept of chess. According to this concept, it was the stronger player's higher imagination and combinative power (or, in other words, his Wille zur Macht) which decided the outcome of the game; this was explained by Richard Réti.R. Réti, Modern Ideas In Chess, 1923 Traité des Amateurs, however, also differs from Philidor—not concerning the general idea of the "natural laws" of the game, but on the evaluation of White's move advantage. According to Philidor (as reported in the Traité), White's initial advantage was enough to guarantee, with perfect play, the win of the first player. The authors of the Traité, on the other hand, disagreed and believed that the advantage derived from the first move would only give (with perfect play) a temporary initiative to the first player; a game correctly played by both sides was always destined to be drawn.
As an example, the introductive section of Chapter IV (Games in which no Odds are given) in G. Walker's translationG. Walker, "The Celebrated Traité des Amateurs" in: The Chess Player's Chronicle, London 1846 states: The combinations being endless, it is clear that the winning or losing of the game, between players equal in point of skill, must depend on the first bad, or what amounts to the same thing, the first lost move on either side; we cannot, therefore, avoid protesting against the erroneous doctrine laid down by Philidor and others, that he who has the first move, ought to win the game in consequence of that advantage. We proceed to prove, from the very games adduced by Philidor in support of his position, these three important points. Firstly, that the move alone can never be considered a sufficient advantage to insure success : Secondly, that he who has not the move, will very soon acquire it, or neutralize its effects; and, Lastly, that supposing each move to be the best that could possibly be played, the game ought to be drawn.
Games from the Traité
The games of the Traité des Amateurs are rare, and cannot be found in common chess databases like ChessBase, 365chess,365chess 365Chess homepage Retrieved 2011-07-20. chessbiteschessbites chessbites.com homepage Retrieved 2011-07-20. or chesslab.chesslab Chesslab.com homepage Retrieved 2011-07-20. Some of them (from Chapter 4, "Games where no odds were given") are reported here, with the original comments.
Game 3 in Chapter 4, Section 1: 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 f5 4. dxe5 If you were to take in f5, he would move e5–e4 and afterwards ...Bxf5 4... fxe4 5. Ng5 d5 6. f4 Instead of this pawn you should move 6.e6, which would compel him to move 6...Nh6; you would then push 7.c4 and have a very fine game 6... Bc5 7. c4 c6 8. Nc3 Ne7 9. h4 You play thus, to avoid having a doubled P. on the rook file, which would be the case were he to push ...h6 and then take in ...Bxh3 after you Kt. retreats 9... h6 10. Nh3 0-0 11. Na4 Bb4+ 12. Bd2 Bxd2+ 13. Qxd2 d4 14. c5 To cut off the communications between his pawns; but as he answers with ...b5 you are forced to take en passant restoring the desired communication 14... b5 15. cxb6 axb6 16. b3 Be6 17. Be2 Nf5! This Kt. controls g3 and will constrain white pieces until Black will prepare his pieces for the final assault to the adverse K., which White cannot avoid 18. Ng1 Ng3 19. Rh2 e3 20. Qb2 d3 21. Bf3 Rxf4 22. 0-0-0 Rfxa4! 23. bxa4 Rxa4 24. a3 Rc4+ 25. Kb1 Rc2 26. Qb4 Na6 27. Qf4 Nc5 28. Qxg3 Ba2+ 29. Ka1 Nb3 Game 7 in Chapter 4, Section 1: 1. e4 e5 2. c4 This is not a good move because it weakens the square 'd4'. 2... Bc5 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Be2 Nc6 5. d3 d6 6. Bg5 0-0 7. Nf3 h6 8. Bxf6 Qxf6 9. Nd5 Qd8 10. 0-0 Nd4 11. b4 Nxf3+ 12. Bxf3 Bd4! He fixes a Bishop in your game, which you will not be able to remove. 13. Rb1 c6 14. Ne3 g6 15. Bg4 f5 16. exf5 gxf5 17. Bh5 Qg5 18. Qf3 Kh7 19. Kh1 a6 This move is necessary to open the way for his Bishop. (This is a very weak move notwithstanding – Note from Staunton in The Chess Player's Chronicle, 1846) 20. Qh3 f4 21. Ng4 Rg8 22. f3 Be6 23. g3 Play as you will you lose; because you cannot prevent his moving Ta8–f8–f5. 23... fxg3 24. Qxg3 Raf8 25. Qh3 Rf5 26. Rg1 Bxg1 27. Rxg1 Kh8! The tyro will observe that if 27...Qxh5 then 28.Nf6+ and it is White that wins. Game 6 in Chapter 4, Section 2: 1. e4 e5 2. f4 exf4 3. Bc4 Qh4+ This check is bad; he should rather have played 3...f5 or 3...g5. 4. Kf1 d6 5. Nf3 Bg4 6. d4 g5 7. Nc3 Qh5 8. h4 h6 9. Kf2 Bxf3 10. gxf3 Qg6 11. hxg5 Qxg5 12. Ne2 (White should have played 12. Bxf4 Qxf4 13. Nd5 with a won game. Note by George Walker in The Chess Player's Chronicle 1846) 12... Nd7 13. Nxf4 Qd8 14. c3 Nb6 15. Bd3 Qd7 16. Be3 0-0-0 17. a4 Kb8 18. a5 Nc8 19. b4 c6 20. b5 (Well played, George Walker, The Chess Player's Chronicle, 1846) 20... cxb5 21. a6 b6 22. Qb3 Nf6 23. Bxb5 Qc7 24. d5 Bg7 25. Bc6 Nd7 26. Nd3 Ne5 27. Nxe5 Bxe5 28. f4 Bg7 29. Bd4 Bxd4+ 30. cxd4 Double pawns here are not a disadvantage, rather the contrary. 30... Qe7 31. Kf3 Rdg8 32. Rac1 Rg6 33. Bb7 Rhg8 34. Rxc8+ Rxc8 35. Bxc8 Kxc8 36. Rc1+ Kb8 37. Qc4 Qd7 38. f5 Rg8 39. Qc6 Qxc6 40. dxc6 Kc7 41. d5 h5 42. Rh1 Rh8 43. Rg1 Rh7 44. Rg8 b5 If Black were to advance ...h4, he would be too late by one move, i.e. 44...h4 45.Ra8 h3 46.Rxa7+ Kc8 47.Ra8+ Kc7 48.a7 h2 49.Rc8+ Kxc8 50.a8=Q+ and checkmate follows in three moves 45. Ra8 Kb6 46. Rb8+ Kc7 47. Rb7+ Kd8 48. e5! You sacrifice this pawn in order to push the 'd' pawn forwards to support the 'c' pawn. 48... dxe5 49. d6 Kc8 50. d7+ Kd8 White forces checkmate in three moves.
La Société des Amateurs