The Mystery of Colonel Moreau Check out these

bestselling titles from

Part Two USCFSales.com:

Part one of this article introduced the biggest loser in chess history,
Colonel Moreau, who lost every one of his twenty-six games at his
only known tournament, Monte Carlo 1903. Besides that event, little
or nothing has been uncovered about his life or what kind of man
Moreau was, until now. Here in part two, we find out just who the
mysterious colonel was, and why he deserves more respect than his
chess record might indicate.

New Stories A search of chess magazines available through Google Books turns up
some earlier references to a player named Moreau. Both the Westminster
about Old Papers and Nordisk Skaktidende of 1878 mention a Moreau playing in a
blindfold simul given by Simon Rosenthal; the longer (and non-Danish) The Life & Games of
Chess account is as follows, from the Westminster Papers of March 1, 1878, Akiva Rubinstein
page 194: by John Donaldson &
Players Nikolay Minev
Mr. Rosenthals Chess sance on the 10th ultimo, when he played
eight games simultaneously, sans voir, was remarkably successful in
Jeremy P. Spinrad several senses. In the first place because the Parisian champion
came out of the melee without the loss of a game, and in the second,
because three hundred spectators actually paid an admission fee of
ten francs, to witness a display of his power of playing Chess
without seeing the boards and pieces. Mr. Rosenthals adversaries
on the occasion were MM. Madrazo de Bourier, Mismer, Vie,
Givot, Bidray [Nordisk Skaktidende calls this player Ridray],
Feisthamel, and Captain Moreau, and he defeated all of them save
MM Bidray and Moreau, whose games were drawn.

The play commenced at nine oclock in the evening, and did not Essays in American
terminate until two in the following morning, the blindfold player Chess History
by John Hilbert
throughout the five hours, dividing his attention impartially between
his eight opponents and his friends, a teapot, a bottle of eau de
Play through and download cologne, a list of the adversaries names, and a well stocked cigar
the games from case.
ChessCafe.com in the
DGT Game Viewer. We thus have at least a possibility that the chess amateur Captain Moreau
of 1878 has been promoted to Colonel by the time of Monte Carlo 1903. I
The Complete wish I had the score of Moreaus game from the Rosenthal simul, to give
him at least a half-point to stand against the ignominious 0-26 record in
DGT Product Line
the databases. Instead, I can only further the embarrassment, with another
Moreau loss.

Common Sense
in Chess
by Emanuel Lasker
 Caf de la Rgence

Echiquier dAix 1884 gives the following game on pages 148-149. It

seems to have been taken from Vie Moderne, and there is only a single
note. A diagram is given of the position before Whites twentieth move,
and a footnote says that after this error White cannot save the game. The
game is given as having been played recently at the famous Caf de la
Rgence.

Moreau-de Rivire, offhand, Paris, 1883?, Kings Gambit (notes by

Taylor Kingston, assisted by Fritz8): 1.e4 e5 2.f4 exf4 3.Nf3 g5 4.Bc4 g4
5.Ne5 Qh4+ 6.Kf1 f3

The Cochrane variation of the Salvio

Gambit, a line that was old even back
then; for example, the first edition of
Bilguers Handbuch (1843) devotes
about nine close-packed pages to it,
analyzing in detail the replies 7.Bxf7+, 7.
Nxf7, 7.g3, 7.gxf3, and 7.d4. A more
modern reference, MCO-13 (1990)
prefers 6Nc6 to the text, giving 7.
Nxf7 Bc5 8.Qe1 g3 9.Nxh8 Bf2 and
Black has a terrific attack.

7.d4 Nh6

Played as far back as Hanstein-Von der Lasa, match, Berlin, 1841,

whereas Anderssen preferred 7Nf6 against Zukertort in 1864.

8.Nc3

So far just as in Riemann-Anderssen, offhand, Breslau, 1878, which

continued 8d6 9.Nd3 fxg2+ 10.Kxg2 Nc6 11.Nb5 Bd7 12.Nxc7+ Kd8
13.Nxa8 Qh3+ 14.Kf2 g3+ 15.hxg3 Ng4+ 16.Kf3 Nxd4+ 0-1.

8fxg2+ 9.Kxg2 d6

10.Nd3?!

Fritz rather likes 10.Nd5!?, giving 10...

dxe5 11.Nxc7+ Kd8 12.Nxa8, which it
rates at +2.00, or 10...Qd8 11.Rf1 dxe5
12.Nf6+ Ke7 13.Bg5 Qxd4 14.Qe2
Qxb2 15.Rad1 (+7.47). Moreaus
habitual lack of aggressiveness probably
hurts him here. The text transposes back
to the Riemann-Anderssen game, which
as we saw did not go well for White.

10...Bg7 11.Be3?

Better was 11.Nf4 to cover h3.

 11...00

Missing 11...Qh3+ 12.Kf2 g3+ 13.hxg3

Ng4+ 14.Kf3 Nxe3 15.Qg1, when Black
can choose either 15Nxc4 16.Rxh3
Bxh3, gaining a rook and two minor
pieces for the queen, or 15...Qg4+ 16.
Kxe3 Nc6 17.Ne2 Qg5+ 18.Ndf4 Bg4
19.c3 000 with good attacking
prospects.

12.Qd2 Nc6 13.Ne2 Kh8

14.Rhg1

To give the king a hiding place at h1, but

better was 14.Rhf1, posting the rook
more actively, or 14.Nf2, bringing a
defender to the kingside and covering
h3. Black now makes the advance he
prepared with his last move.

14...f5! 15.Bg5 Qh3+ 16.Kh1 Qf3+

Even stronger was 16...fxe4 17.Ndf4 e3 18.Qc3 Qf3+ 19.Ng2 d5 20.Bb5

Bd7 21.Bxe3 Rae8.

17.Rg2 Nf7 18.Bxf7

Much better chances for counterplay lay in 18.Be3 Qxe4 19.Ng3 Qe7 20.
Re1.

18...Rxf7 19.exf5

Not much better was 19.d5 Ne5 20.Ng3 f4 21.Nxf4 Nc4 22.Qe2 Qxe2 23.
Ngxe2 Bxb2+.

19...Bxf5 20.Ne1??

The Echiquier dAix was quite correct to

say that after this the game cannot be
saved. What little hope remained lay in
20.Nf2.

20...Qf1+ 21.Ng1

Or 21.Rg1 Be4+ etc.

21...Be4 22.Be3 Raf8 23.Qe2 Qxe2 24.

Nxe2 Rf1+ 25.Ng1 Nxd4 26.Rd1 Nf3
27.c3 Nxg1 28.Bxg1 R8f2 29.a4

29h5

Mate in three was possible starting with

29...Rxe1, but with his opponent
helpless, White is content just to march
the pawn down for the coup de grace.

30.a5 h4 31.a6 h3 32.axb7 Bxg2+ 33.

Nxg2 hxg2# 01

The next connections between Moreau

and chess are from an unusual source, but are crucial to my argument for
identifying the colonel. A captain (later colonel) named C. Moreau is a
frequent contributor to French mathematical journals. Among these
contributions are some related to chess.

First, we have the mathematical solution to a chess problem. The Bulletin

de la Societe Mathematique, volume 19, page 106, 1891, says Colonel
Moreau has solved the problem of counting the number of ways N rooks
can be placed on an N by N chess board, such that no two rooks can take
each other, and (for some reason I cannot fathom) rooks are not allowed
to be placed along two squares by the main diagonal. Moreaus result is
also cited in Edouard Lucas book Theorie des nombres.

Arnous de Rivire

However, the more important ties to the chess world are not through chess
problems, but to a chess player. Moreau is linked several times in the
mathematical literature to Arnous de Rivire, the former opponent of
Morphy who directed the Monte Carlo tournament. Rivire enjoyed
posing mathematical problems about games; for example, in
Lintermediaire des mathematiciens, volume 11 (1904) page 166, Rivire
asks about variants on bishop tours of the chess board. Revue Semestrielle
des Publications Mathematique was a journal that gave a quick overview
of contents of various mathematical journals. In volume 8 (October 1899-
April 1900) pg. 66, there is a summary of an article from Lintermediaire
des mathematiciens volume 6, pg. 257 that reads as follows:

J1c. Arnous de Rivire. (1444) Rapport de trois caracteristiques

dun nombre ecrit dans le systeme binaire. C. Moreau (257).

Unfortunately, while many volumes of Lintermediaire des

mathematiciens are now available via Google Books, this volume is not.
My best guess is that this means that C. Moreau solved a problem that
was posed by Rivire, but this interpretation may be inaccurate. A second
link between the two men is generally accessible, however. Rivire
invented a game called Rouge et Noire (Red and Black), which was
considered to be an interesting twist on some existing games. The journal
Mathesis volume 3 (1893) page 91 summarizes briefly: it says that
Rivire invented the game, and that Colonel Moreau made a deep study of
it and analyzed the probabilities of different methods of play. A much
more detailed description is available in Recreations mathematiques by
Edouard Lucas; Moreaus analysis occupies pages 181-195.

Clearly, Rivire would have been familiar with the mathematician

Colonel Moreau, and the mathematical Colonel Moreau was interested in
games. Moreau was promoted from captain to colonel at the correct time,
so that he could be both the Captain Moreau who drew with Rosenthal
and lost to Rivire, and the Colonel Moreau who played in the Monte
Carlo tournament. The probability that the mathematician and the chess
player are both the same seems very high. There were not very many
Colonel Moreaus in France at the time, and it would at least be quite a
coincidence that Rivire would be associated with two Colonel Moreaus,
both sharing the same first initials, if they are distinct people.

We will use biographical information in the mathematical articles to find

more evidence of Moreaus life, but it is worthwhile to pause and
examine his mathematical contributions.
Moreau published his first mathematical article when he was still a
student at the lyce in his teens (Nouvelles Annales de mathematiques
1857, pg. 16), and continued publishing into his sixties. He published
solutions to problems in geometry, number theory, algebra, games,
combinatorics, and probability. His name is still familiar to
mathematicians in a particular branch of combinatorics (a branch of pure
mathematics described here). Moreaus necklace-counting function is
given in Wikipedia. This is designed to count how many different
necklaces can be created consisting of n beads, each of which is one of k
colors; two necklaces are considered the same if you can rotate the beads
of one necklace to get the same arrangement of colors as the other
necklace. Moreaus paper Sur les permutations circulaires distincts
appeared in Nouv Ann Math vol. 11 (1872), pp. 309-314. I cannot really
summarize Moreaus work, even though it at times is quite close to my
own area.

He was not the sort of person who focused on a single area of research,
instead enjoying solving specific problems, often posed by others, in a
variety of different fields. Thus, I will limit myself to one other
remarkable result. The famous mathematician Legendre had stated a
theorem in 1785, that every relatively prime pair of numbers defines an
arithmetic sequence containing an infinite number of primes. Legendres
proof lacked rigor, in that a step he called obvious was by no means so.
Dirichlet (another extraordinarily famous mathematician) showed that the
truth of this obvious step would in fact imply the truth of a conjecture
that is still unknown today. Dirichlet was able to prove the statement on
arithmetic sequence without using Legendres step, but it was Moreau
who showed that the statement Legendre gave as obvious was actually
false (Nouvelles Annales 1873, pg. 323).

Moreaus mathematical articles give us an indication of where he lived at

different times. In Nouvelles Annales de Mathematiques, to which
Moreau is a frequent contributor in the 1870s, he is general given as C.
Moreau, Capitaine dArtillerie. His location is given as Calais starting in
about 1875. Mathesis 1892 refers to him as Colonel Ch. Moreau. In
Mathesis 1899, he writes as retired artillery Colonel Moreau. Journal des
sciences militaires mentions an 1893 article of Moreaus, saying that at
that time he was an artillery colonel and president of the Commission
dEtudes Pratiques du Tir (roughly, the Commission for Practical Studies
in Gunnery) in Poitiers. We can find Moreau posted at several other
locations, such as Bourges and Constantine, from the mathematical
literature, but the Calais and Poitiers locations will be enough to find
more about Moreau from the military records.

The crucial facts about Moreau can be found in the Revue dArtillerie.
Some of the most interesting results are in the 1873-1874 edition, where
we find that Captain C.P.N Moreau was made a Chevalier of the French
Legion of Honor on November 20, 1872 (p. 47). It is also reported that
Captain C.P.N. Moreau has been named a member of the Commission
dExperiences in Calais. Skipping to 1879, we find C.P.N. Moreau named
Adjutant to the Director for a practical course in Bourges (this
appointment is also in the 1879 French National Almanac). The 1888-89
Revue dArtillerie has Moreau named president of the Commision
dEtudes Pratiques du Tir, and the 1890 Revue gives Moreaus promotion
to Lieutenant Colonel. The importance of this position can be seen from
its description on page 486 of the Livre du Centenaire 1794-1894 of the
Ecole Polytechnique, where they say that the Cours pratique du tir
(practical gunnery course) was created in 1878, and directed successively
by General Barbe, General Andre, and Colonel Moreau.

From this information, I was finally able to find the full name of C.P.N.
Moreau. The Journal officiel de la Republique francaise, 1879, page
3,187, says that Charles Paul Narcisse Moreau, captain in the 29th
regiment, is named director of a cours pratique dartillerie. From this
website, I was able to verify that Charles Paul Narcisse Moreau was a
member of the Legion of Honor, and that he was born September 14,
1837 in Paris.

Eventually, I would like to look to know more about what led to his
Legion of Honor award, and whether his file on the award, which is given
on the website as on library shelf LH/1927/19, has other biographical
information such as parent names, and date and location of death. I fear
that I may have made a serious mistake in my email request on the subject
by posing my questions in English rather than in my garbled French; in
any case, I received no answer. Perhaps some reader in Paris will have an
easier time accessing this information, and could inform either me or
Edward Winter (I am indebted to Mr. Winter for starting me on this quest,
and summarizing the known information on Moreau) of details on its
contents.

I should also discuss a person whom some have thought might be our
Colonel Moreau, but I believe is not. The Westminster Papers of March 1,
1872, citing La Stratgie, describe one C. Moriau of Lyons as a new star
in the chess French firmament. Moriau is listed as being in Lyons 1872-
74. His article on the Bishops Gambit in the Deutsche Schachzeitung
around this time (advocating the line 1.e4 e5 2.f4 exf4 3.Bc4 Nc6)
receives considerable attention. Nordiske Skaktidende January 1875 notes
that Moriau visited the Copenhagen Chess Club; he is said to be from
Lyons, but now living in Hamburg where he is the strongest player after
Alexandre. In 1875, Moriau wins a game from Hoffer in a simul at the
City of London Chess Club. The British Chess Magazine of 1885, page
274, says Moriau is from Lyons when discussing a chess problem he
composed; a Moriau problem in the English Mechanic of September 23,
1892 is highly praised. English Mechanic calls him the City of London
Club champion on December 16, 1892. The same issue describes an
interesting point from a blind simul of Moriau; he plays six boards, and
has two of the games given to him in French, two in German, and two in
English. I believe the multiple languages were used as an aid to Moriau,
to help him from confusing the different games, which is said to be one of
the hardest parts of playing these exhibitions. The English Mechanic says
Moriau scored 4-2 in the simul; the London Times of October 2, 1893
says Moriau (actually, it calls him Morian, but it is almost certainly the
same player) scored 4-1-1 in another blind simul. A game Moriau plays
against Kaiser in the North vs. South of England match of 1893 receives
considerable attention. He appears at various City of London events in
1896. The American Chess Magazine of 1897-1898 lists Moriau as an
officer of the British chess club. The British Chess Magazine of 1898
reports that Moriau is dangerously ill, and that his career is almost
certainly over. Three Moriau games appear at chessgames.com; losses to
Steinitz and Zukertort in London in 1874 and 1875, and a win over
Lasker in an 1891 simul.

Some of the above information on Moriau appeared in Edward Winters

Chess Notes (nos. 2434, 2459, and 2482), in response to a request from
the late Mike Franett (editor of Inside Chess) for information on Colonel
Moreau. However, I believe all we have here are two different men with a
coincidental similarity of names.

There are several reasons I believe Moriau is not Moreau, even

disregarding my identification of the chess player and the mathematician/
military man whose postings can be traced. Most basically, there is the
consistency of the spelling Moria (I leave off the last letter, since the City
of London player is called Morian in several London Times stories) for
one player and Morea for the other. Moriau is never given a military title,
while many of the chess references to Moreau call him a Colonel. Above
all, Moriau was a much better chess player than Moreau. Moriau was the
champion of the extremely strong City of London Chess Club, and able
successfully to conduct six blindfold games at the same time. Even if
Moriau became ill and did not play between the accounts of his strong
play in 1896 and the Monte Carlo tournament in early 1903, I do not think
he would turn into the timid player who goes down without a struggle in
so many games of 1903. It seems far more likely that C. Moriau is a
different player, one whose career actually was ended by the illness
described in the BCM of 1898.

I hate to deprive the chess world of a laughingstock without giving a

suitable replacement. I propose as a much weaker tournament player than
Colonel Moreau, one Mr. Geake, a participant in a very early tournament,
Cambridge 1860. Moreau was at least a decent local club player; he often
seems to lose because he is so afraid of his master opponents that he
trades out into a positionally lost game. Still, you can play over all twenty-
six of Moreaus games and not find one nearly as embarrassing as those
Geake produced. The only reason Geake did not pile up so large a number
of losses was that, mercifully for him, Cambridge 1860 was not a
fourteen-player double-round-robin, but an eight-player knockout event.
He lasted only two games, being knocked out by the GM-strength player
Kolisch in the first round. Geake certainly lost in style; he seems to think
that giving a check to Kolisch (see his brilliant seventh move in the
second game) is some sort of moral victory.

Kolisch-Geake, Cambridge 1860: 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 Bg4?

Oh no! The famously bad defense chosen by the Duke of Brunswick and
Count Isouard against Morphy in the renowned Opera Box Game, played
in Paris just two years earlier! News must have traveled slowly back then,
for Geake not to know this lines reputation, or perhaps he simply didnt
read much chess literature.

4.dxe5 Bxf3 5.Qxf3 dxe5 6.Bc4 Nf6? 7.Qb3

So far exactly as at the opera. Geake

now varies, with even less success than
the Duke and Count enjoyed.

7Qd7? 8.Qxb7 Qc6?? 9.Bb5 1-0

Geake-Kolisch, Cambridge 1860: 1.e4

e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.Nc3 Bc5 5.0-
0 d6 6.d3 Bg4

So far a very ordinary Giuoco

Pianissimo.

7.Bxf7+??

But whats this? Suddenly Geake seems

to think he has a way to win a pawn. But
he doesnt.

7Kxf7 8.Ng5+ Ke8 9.Nf3

One can imagine Geakes thoughts, something like Darn, it turns out that
bishop on g4 was defended after all. I should have noticed that sooner.

9Nd4 10.Bg5 Qd7 11.Nd5??

Once more into the breach!

 11Nxd5

Oh heck, that knights not pinned the

way mine is, now that his queen moved.
I must remember that in the future.

12.exd5 Bxf3 13.gxf3 Qh3

Aha! I can advance 14.f4 and open

lines to attack his king! Oh wait what
to do about 14Nf3+? Darn.

0-1

Geake also lost a game at knight odds to

Kolisch that is given in the Chess
Players Chronicle report on the
Cambridge tournament.

Little is said about Geake, except that he came from London. I would
imagine that he is Edwin Geake, who contributed a number of problems
to the Chess Players Chronicle in 1860. Tim Harding informs me that he
has several Edwin Geake games in his collection, even including two he
won, but I will leave it to readers to ponder the mystery of this man. We
can only speculate whether his success in life was greater than his success
in chess. At least now we can be reasonably confident that such was the
case for Colonel Moreau, who I am now obliged to view with profound
respect.

[ChessCafe Home Page] [Book Review] [Columnists]

[Endgame Study] [The Skittles Room] [Archives]
[Links] [Online Bookstore] [About ChessCafe.com] [Contact Us]

2008 CyberCafes, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

"ChessCafe.com" is a registered trademark of Russell Enterprises, Inc.