The same year, Philidor played many games with another strong player, Sir Abraham Janssen, who was then the best player in England, and with the exception of M. de Legalle, probably the best player Philidor ever encountered.

In 1754, Philidor returned to France, after nine years of absence spent mostly in Holland and England.

In England, Philidor astounded his peers by playing three blindfold chess games simultaneously in the chess club of St. James Street in London on 9 May 1783.

Philidor, both in England and France, was largely recognized in each of his fields and got a lot of admirers, protectors and also friends, like were the French philosophers Voltaire, Rousseau and the famous English actor David Garrick ( 1717 – 1779 ).

In December 1792, however, when he was age 65, Philidor had to definitively leave France for England.

* Captain Smith vs François André Philidor, London, England 1790, Bishop's Opening: Berlin Defense ( C24 ), 0 – 1 Good sample of Philidor's ideas about pawns ; plus a nice mating combination at the end

Philidor was stranded in England when the French Revolution occurred.

The chess encounter between Legal and Janssen happened, according to aforementioned author, after the match between Philidor and Janssen and, thus, must be collocated after 1747.

Set in 1777, a poor musician is required to beat Philidor at chess before he can win the hand of his sweetheart.

" M. de Kermur, Sire de Legal, at that time about forty years old, reigned supreme in that famous Cafe, and was undoubtedly a player of extraordinary strength ; for Philidor alone was ever able to beat him, and that, too, not until he had developed his entire force by playing with Sir Abraham Janssen and the Syrian Stamma (*).

He was now a much stronger player, having successfully played with opponents of the calibre of Philip Stamma and Abraham Janssen, but, as G. Allen reports in The life of Philidor, it was not until his match with de Legal in 1755 that he can be considered the strongest player in the world.

* 1747-François-André Danican Philidor ( France ) defeats Philipp Stamma ( Syria ) in a London match.

If this is correct, Legal would have played Stamma before Philidor began to attend the Café de la Régence.

But nine years of practice, with a great variety of players, had authorized him to look for neither superior nor equal ; and when, in 1755, a match was arranged between the pupil and his master, who was still at the height of his strength, the result placed the crown firmly and indisputably upon the head of Philidor.

Although Philidor agrees to lose the match to help out, by distraction he nonetheless wins the game, although all turns out well for the lovers in the end.

François-André Danican Philidor won a match against the Turk in Paris in 1793. The Turk began its European tour in 1783, beginning with an appearance in France in April.

Following the sessions at Versailles, demands increased for a match with François-André Danican Philidor, who was considered the best chess player of his time.

Moving to the Café de la Régence, the machine played many of the most skilled players, often losing ( e. g. against Bernard and Verdoni ), until securing a match with Philidor at the Académie des Sciences.

While Philidor won his match with the Turk, Philidor's son noted that his father called it " his most fatiguing game of chess ever!

Thus, Legal was probably the strongest player of the Café de la Régence and probably in the world until 1755 when he lost a match to Philidor.

After his defeat with Philidor in the match of 1755 and up to the time of his death, however, he maintained his rank as the second player of France.

* October 8 – Anne Danican Philidor, composer and founder of the Concert Spirituel ( born 1681 )

* September 1 – François-André Danican Philidor, French composer and chess player ( d. 1795 )

Black can also play 3 ... d6, when 4. d4 transposes to the Philidor Counter-Attack ( 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 f5 !?

In the same web-article, Alterman also noticed, analyzing the game Count Bruehl – Philidor, F, 0 – 1, London 1783, that Philidor understood very well modern concepts like: power of passed pawns ; bad and good pieces ; space advantage ; open files ; pawn structure ; importance of center.

The Philidor Defense ( 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 d6 ) is named for him.

Philidor ’ s book was the very first ( 1 ) that gave detailed annotations on how to play the middlegame, ( 2 ) that presented chess strategy as a whole, and ( 3 ) that presented the concepts of the blockade, prophylaxis, positional sacrifice, and mobility of the pawn formation.

Early critics of the Analyse du jeu des Échecs include those of the Modenese School ( Ercole del Rio, Lolli or Ponziani ), who in contrast to the French, advocated a free piece play, gambit openings and tactical complications ; they also found some of the variations reported in the Analyse to be unsound ( in particular those related with f7 – f5 push in the Philidor Defence 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 f5 ?!).

* François André Philidor vs NN, Unknown 1749, Bishop's Opening: Boi Variation ( C23 ), 1 – 0 This game — possibly a composition by Philidor — demonstrates the value of passed pawns

He revived the almost dormant Bishop's Opening ( 1. e4 e5 2. Bc4 ) with success in 1964 and explored new ways for Black to seek activity in the Philidor Defence ( 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 d6 ).

* C38: 1. e4 e5 2. f4 exf4 3. Nf3 g5 4. Bc4 Bg7 ( Philidor, Hanstein, etc.

In his opening analysis, he suggests that after 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 the reply 2 ... Nc6 is best and 2 ... d6 ( now called the Philidor Defence ) is not as good.

* Philidor's Legacy, a type of smothered mate ( in fact invented centuries before Philidor );

Philidor let all three opponents play white, and gave up a pawn for the third player.

Of the players who encountered Philidor, Sir Abraham Janssens, who died in 1775, seems to have been the best, Mr. George Atwood, a mathematician, one of Pitt's secretaries came next, he was of a class which we should call third or two grades of odds below Philidor, a high standard of excellence to which but few amateurs attain.

These records have survived, among them the last games that Philidor played which were against Atwood at Parsloe's Club in London on 20 June 1795.

This technique is so common as to have its own name: Philidor's Mate or Philidor's Legacy ( after François-André Danican Philidor ).

, there are no top players who employ the Philidor with any regularity, although Étienne Bacrot and Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu have occasionally experimented with it.

According to Philidor, the move 3 ... f5 can also be played after 3. Bc4, which can lead to unique positions such as 3. Bc4 f5 4. d3 c6, possibly followed by f5 – f4, b7 – b5, a7 – a5, and even g7 – g5 and h7 – h5, when all Black pawns have moved before any piece.

I have not only had the honour of contending " on the checquer'd field " with M. Philidor, but I have frequently played at the Cafe de la Regence with M. de Legalle, the master of that distinguished Professor, who, in my younger days, was a better player than his celebrated pupil.

Paul Philidor created what may have been the first true phantasmagoria show in 1722, a combination of séance parlor tricks and projection effects, his show saw success in Berlin, Vienna, and revolution-era Paris in 1793.