Alexander McDonnell
Notable Games

Alexander McDonnell

10 celebrated games · 47 in the full archive
Player Index ◈ Biography 47 CURATED GAMES

Notable Games

  • 1830 McDonnell, Alexander vsNN 1-0 King's Gambit Accepted: McDonnell Gambit 18 moves MacDonnell Casual games London, 1830 — the King's Gambit line that carries McDonnell's name, 5.Nc3 against 4…g4. He gives the knight on f3, then the bishop on f7, and the black king is walked up the board to be mated on d6, 18.Bf4#.
  • 1830 McDonnell, Alexander vsNN 1-0 King's Gambit Accepted: Bishop's Gambit, Bogoljubow Variation 15 moves MacDonnell Casual games London, 1830 — fifteen moves of pure Romantic chess: 11.Nxd5 and 13.Nxf7 rip open the black king's corner, and 14.Bh6+ Kg8 15.Qg5# finishes it with every white piece still pointing at the king.
  • 1834 McDonnell, Alexander vsDe Labourdonnais, Louis Charles Mahe 1-0 Sicilian Defense: McDonnell Attack 45 moves Match Labourdonnais-McDonnell(1)+15-6=4 First match, London 1834 — the Sicilian line 2.f4 that is still called the McDonnell Attack. This is the deliberate, hour-per-move McDonnell his contemporaries described: he builds the kingside bind with h4-h5-h6 and Bf6-g7, and grinds La Bourdonnais down over forty-five moves.
  • 1834 De Labourdonnais, Louis Charles Mahe vsMcDonnell, Alexander 0-1 Bishop's Opening: Lopez Variation 38 moves Match Labourdonnais-McDonnell(1)+15-6=4 First match, London 1834 — McDonnell defends a ferocious kingside attack, gives up the exchange with 25…Rxg5, and turns the tables completely. La Bourdonnais gets a new queen with 38.f8=Q and it changes nothing: 38…Nc2# is mate.
  • 1834.07 McDonnell, Alexander vsDe Labourdonnais, Louis Charles Mahe 1-0 Italian Game: Evans Gambit, Lasker Defense 34 moves Match Labourdonnais-McDonnell(2) +4-5=0 Second match, London 1834 — the one match of the six that McDonnell actually won, 5–4. An Evans Gambit in which 16.Qg7 traps the black king on e7 and wins the exchange back with interest; the rook endgame is technique from move twenty-five on.
  • 1834.07 McDonnell, Alexander vsDe Labourdonnais, Louis Charles Mahe 1-0 Sicilian Defense: McDonnell Attack 51 moves Match Labourdonnais-McDonnell(2) +4-5=0 Second match, London 1834 — fifty-one moves, and the longest fight to appear on this page. McDonnell's own 2.f4 Sicilian again, this time decided by the queenside storm a4-a5 and b4-b5-b6 and the pawn that lands on a7 with check, 29.bxa7+.
  • 1834.08 De Labourdonnais, Louis Charles Mahe vsMcDonnell, Alexander 0-1 Queen's Gambit Accepted: Central Variation, McDonnell Defense 36 moves Match Labourdonnais-McDonnell(4) +8-3=7 Fourth match, London 1834 — Reuben Fine called this the first great immortal game of chess. McDonnell lets his queen be taken on e7 for two minor pieces, 13…Nxd5 14.Bxe7 Ne3+, and the knights and bishops that remain simply overrun the white position.
  • 1834.08 McDonnell, Alexander vsDe Labourdonnais, Louis Charles Mahe 1-0 King's Gambit Accepted: McDonnell Gambit 19 moves Match Labourdonnais-McDonnell(4) +8-3=7 Fourth match, London 1834 — the McDonnell Gambit again, and nineteen moves is all it takes: 9.Bxf7+ Kxf7 10.Qh5+ drags the king to g7, and after 18.Rxe6+ the knight check 19.Nf6+ wins the queen outright.
  • 1834.09 McDonnell, Alexander vsDe Labourdonnais, Louis Charles Mahe 1-0 Italian Game: Evans Gambit, McDonnell Defense, Main Line 25 moves Match Labourdonnais-McDonnell(5) +7-4=1 Fifth match, London 1834 — an Evans Gambit finished with a rook sacrifice: 18.Rc1+ Bc5 19.Rxc5+ dxc5 exposes the black king on c6, and it is hounded back to e7 and mated, 25.Qf7#.
  • 1834.10 McDonnell, Alexander vsDe Labourdonnais, Louis Charles Mahe 1-0 Italian Game: Evans Gambit, McDonnell Defense, Main Line 20 moves Match Labourdonnais-McDonnell(6) +4-5=0 Sixth match, London 1834 — from the series that was abandoned unfinished with McDonnell ahead, and the last of the six. Another Evans Gambit: 15.Nxf7 and 16.Nxe5 wreck the centre, and 20.Nd6+ forks king and queen. McDonnell died the following year, aged thirty-seven.
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