Here are the presentation slides by Mr Jan Løfberg

Lecture given on Friday 28 August 2026 in Copenhagen.

by Jean Olivier Leconte

Following in the footsteps of Sergio Boffa and his excellent book on Philidor (in French) (Le Café de la Régence), I set out to explore in greater depth what he had written about Philidor and the game of draughts. That is the subject of this article.

François-André Danican Philidor went down in history as the greatest chess player of his time. Far less well known is the fact that he also enjoyed a strong reputation as a player of Polish draughts, played on a board of one hundred squares.

How strong was he really at this game? The accounts are numerous and sometimes contradictory. We even have six positions attributed to him. And such was his reputation that, in 1785, a bookseller in Amsterdam did not hesitate to publish under his name… a treatise he had never written.

Here are the presentation slides by Mr Mattias Johansson.

Lecture given on Friday 28 August 2026 in Copenhagen.

Here are the presentation slides by Mr Per Skjoldager.

Lecture given on Friday 28 August 2026 in Copenhagen.

by Claes Løfgren

A rare book. A presentation of the first edition of Philidor’s book in Danish.

by Jean Olivier Leconte

Slides from my presentation on Philidor.

The idea was to present new or little-known facts about Philidor. I plan to explore each topic in much greater depth on my blog. To begin with, here is a detailed article about Philidor’s time in prison (in French): https://lecafedelaregence.blogspot.com/

Here are the presentation slides by Mr Michael Negele.

Lecture given on Friday 28 August 2026 in Copenhagen.

by Georges Bertola

In 2015, I wrote an article devoted to Alekhine and his controversial course during the Second World War.

The Spanish historian Xavier Juncosa kindly sent me several very interesting documents that shed light on this troubled period.

Among them is a letter dated 22 November 1944, sent by the French consulate in San Sebastián to Jacques Truelle, Minister Plenipotentiary and representative in Spain of the Provisional Government of the French Republic in Madrid.

By Jean Olivier Leconte, President of the Art, Culture and History Commission of the French Chess Federation (FFE)

Originally published in French on the website of the French Chess Federation.

This is the story of how the efforts of a small number of people helped save an exceptional object: Philidor’s personal chess set. They deserve to be warmly thanked here.

It all began on Wednesday, February 25, 2026. That day, I received a text message from François Zutter, a member of the Chess History and Literature Society, of which I am also a member, asking whether I had seen that Philidor’s chess set was to be auctioned in Paris on Friday, March 13.

For me, the news came entirely out of the blue. I had no prior knowledge of it whatsoever. And there was something extraordinary about the announcement, especially in this year marking the tricentenary of Philidor’s birth.

I had already had the opportunity to see and photograph this chess set during the exhibition devoted to Philidor at the museum in Dreux in the summer of 2025. A report I wrote on that exhibition can be found on lecafedelaregence.blogspot.com (in french).

by Jean Olivier Leconte - https://lecafedelaregence.blogspot.com/

The end of Lionel Kieseritzky’s life long remained unclear to me, until I discovered several documents that shed light on his final months. What follows is the result of my investigation.

In 1851, Kieseritzky travelled to London for the first major international chess tournament, held during the Great Exhibition. He went there as the leading French player of the time. The event was not a great success for him, but his name would remain forever in the annals of chess thanks to the so-called “Immortal Game” played against Anderssen on the sidelines of the tournament.