Alexander Cunningham

Alexander Cunningham of Block (1655–1730) was a Scottish jurist and chess player. As a classical critic, he was known as an opponent of Richard Bentley.

Life The son of the Rev. John Cunningham, minister of Cumnock in Ayrshire, and proprietor of the small estate Block, was born there between 1655 and 1660. He was probably educated both in the Netherlands and at Edinburgh, and was selected by William Douglas, 1st Duke of Queensberry to be tutor to his son, Lord George Douglas. Through the Queensberry influence he was appointed by the Crown to be professor of civil law in the university of Edinburgh about 1698.

In 1710, when the Duke of Queensberry was out of favour with the other Whig leaders, the magistrates of Edinburgh asserted their ancient right and ousted Cunningham from the professorship to make way for their own nominee. He then left Scotland, and established himself at The Hague, where he lived on a pension granted him by the Duke of Queensberry, devoting himself to chess and the study of the classical authors and of civil law. The e7 Black bishop threatens a check on h4 that can permanently prevent White from castling.