Pierre Charles Fournier de Saint-Amant

Pierre Charles Fournier de Saint-Amant (12 September 1800 – 29 October 1872) was a French chess master and an editor of the chess periodical Le Palamède. He is known for losing a match against Howard Staunton in 1843 that is often considered to have been an unofficial match for the World Chess Championship.

Chess career Saint-Amant learned chess from Wilhelm Schlumberger, who later became the operator of The Turk. For many years he played on level terms with Boncourt, a strong player, and received odds of pawn and two moves from Deschapelles and Louis-Charles Mahé de La Bourdonnais. After La Bourdonnais' death in 1840, he was considered the country's best player. which ran until 1847.

He played two matches against Staunton in 1843. The first, in London, he won 3½–2½ (three wins, one draw, two losses), but he lost a return match in Paris just before Christmas 13–8 (six wins, four draws, eleven losses). This second match is sometimes considered an unofficial world championship match. Returning to Paris, he witnessed the adulatory reception accorded Paul Morphy at the Café de la Régence. The score of one game between them is known, a 22-move rout by Morphy of Saint-Amant and his consultation partner, given as "F. de L." or "F. de L'A".

Outside of chess

In the 9th match game, Saint-Amant had pulled off a swindle that grandmaster Andrew Soltis considers the greatest ever perpetrated in match play.