Hi Agadmator, greetings from Paris. According to a book I read, the Café de la Régence was created in 1681 and closed in 1916. The building is now used as a Moroccan tourist office. The cafe you showed in the video has nothing to do with chess, they simply took the same name. Nowadays, the most prestigious place to play chess in Paris is the Jardin du Luxembourg.
Had it been kept alive, it would have been the oldest café in Paris (the Procope was founded in 1686, but was not opened continuously since), it is really a shame we French, weren’t able to save such a place, which greeted the likes of Napoleon, Ben Franklin and Paul Morphy ;)
In the 19th century American south (Morphy was from Louisiana), wealthy, prominent families controlled the local militias and generally had sons serving as officers in the U.S. Army.
@@jamierife7789 Only deeply corrupt states allow local militias to be used as private armies, without lawful authority being involves. See also the Huey Long quote.
@@ianwhitchurch864 No, it was the 19th century and a much looser Union during that of pre-Civil War period. Huey Long was a creature of the 1920s and 1930s, after World War I. After the American War for Independence, the militias were the backbone of the country's defense, written into the Constitution via the 2nd Amendment and into American law via the Militia Act of 1792, since the Founders feared a large standing Army like Britain and France's. They did operate under lawful authority. And those militias were officered by the most prominent men in their communities, primarily the big landowners, lawyers, judges, and former Army officers. They maintained order and carried out police functions, in a time when there were few professional police departments in America. The regular Army in the meantime was used mostly as engineers and maintained outposts on the western frontier, and to fight the occasional Indian or foreign war, like the Seminole War in Florida and the Mexican War, both times backed by the militia. During the Civil War, the militias of both southern and northern states were turned into Volunteer state regiments and fought in the Confederate and Union armies before they were disbanded in 1865 and returned home. With all of that said, the various state militias were re-organized into the National Guard via the Militia Act of 1903. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Militia_Act_of_1903
@@filippopioltino6264 it's an inside joke here on agadmator channel. Many times he says something like " this is the game you wanna show your friend in the bar and library ". So as he said it's the most famous bar, he joked that maybe they even have a library
@@azer6303 Yeah, he doesn't even blink. That's why I always have the feeling that I missed something, every comment he does might be an insider I am unaware of.
@@Josipinho it's a running joke where whenever there's a cool tactic played he says "maybe you can show this to your friends at the bar or the library"
I went de the "café de la régence" after reading the morphy book and discovered, sadly, that it was not the same café anymore. The original one was transfered, to make place for the rivoli street, and then closed down definitively in 1910. The new café de la régence is not a chess bar, but just a regular one
Wow, Morphy just beat the best player in France at the time in 17 moves. Morphy was just that good for his time. I mean I think his skill level was about 2650 or so if he were to comeback today, which is just insane. He was probably like 600+ rating points above everyone. What a genius.
Agadmator - the current guardian of the history of chess not allowing the past giants of the game to fade into obscurity. Strangely, Morphy always insisted on being known as an amateur of chess and not as a chess professional. He went to great lengths to prove that he made no money from chess and always conveyed that his family fortune allowed him to indulge in his chess career .
It's that moment when your favorite RU-vidr posts a couple of games played by your favorite player in 1 single day and you are like - "Yeahhh, that's the good stuff".
I was actually a bit anxious that he posts them too fast and that the Morphy Saga will end too soon. Let's face it, the number of known Morphy games is limited. As eager as I am to finally see games against Staunton, but since he is kind of the end boss of this saga, those games will probably be the last one of the saga.
Hey Antonio, perhaps throw in some Staunton games to build the tension on the board, for those that aren’t aware of the outcome that is. Good to see you doing well, God bless you.
So basically if Morphy lost a match with money on the line his family would literally send mercenaries across an ocean to drag him home. Has there ever been a more “just don’t lose”
The fact that Agadmator gave us such a rich history before starting the match shows just how short the match actually was. He added a free history session along with the match for us because without this the video would have been short enough for an Instagram Reel or something XD
The last name "Journoud" would be pronounced "joornoo" (in english) or - if I'm not too rusty - "žurnu" - in slavic language... You were very close ! Congrats on the awesome video !
I read about his life and what happened to him at the end.. Its so sad he ended up the way it happened.. Such a legendary player and didnt have the chance to go full potential.. Rest in piece
7:18 to 7:34, I like that way of talking about your own failures..it connects the audience really well..something I often do in my training sessions 👍👌
Watching the entire MorphySaga for a second time after reading The Pride and Sorrow of Chess. Thanks for the great book recommendation. Please make a shirt about "the bar and the library"!!!!
Hi Agadmator, Morphy's father passed away in 1856, months before winning US Championship in 1857, so his Mother was his only parent. Also, Morphy had financial backers for the stakes, so neither he or his family was at risk. His father was alive during the first Lowenthal match, not sure if there was money involved in this match since Paul was 12yrs old. You may be thinking of, Paul having a match with Stanley where he won money and quickly gave the money to Stanley's wife, who was pregnant, and named the baby after Paul, Paulina. So Morphy's mother did not like gambling, and impressed upon Paul that it was not gentlemanly like to wager, because in those days, it would give you a bad reputation. Morphy's brother-in-law eventually went to Europe to bring Paul home, not an army. I have read books on Morphy, Edge and Lawson.
I'm actually reading Lawson's book right now and just finished the part where he played eight blindfolded games at the Cafe / bar (no mention of a library). The eight match set went on for 10 hours and the author reports that during this time, Morphy did not eat or drink anything. He simply sat in a big chair with his back to the crowd crossing his legs from time to time. It is also worth noting that Morphy was not feeling well during the match which he attributes to the water in France. He was nervous that he would have to leave the match due to being ill and his abrupt departure would be viewed as a way to strategize the games versus being sick. When the match began Morphy called out "E4" for all eight boards and 10 hours later all games were complete. From Lawson's book, "During the entire exhibit, which lasted ten hours, Morphy sat with his knees and eyes against the bare wall, never once rising or looking toward the audience, nor even taking a particle of drink or other refreshments. His only movements were those of crossing his legs from side to side, and occasionally, thumping a tune with his fingers on the arms of the chair. He cried out his moves without turning his head. Against 1, 2, 3, and 6 and 7, who were not up to the standard of the other three players, he frequently made his moves simultaneously after receiving theirs. He was calm through out, and never made a mistake, nor did he call a move twice. It must be collected, moreover, that Mr. Morphy played "against the field" - in other words, that around each of the eight boards there was a large collection of excellent chess players, who gave their advice freely, and who had eight times longer to study their play in than the single player. He played certainly against 50 men, and they never ceased for a moment making supposed moves and studying their games most thoroughly during the long intervals that necessarily fell to each board. And yet Morphy, who out of sight of these eight boards, saw the game plainer on each than those who surrounded them! I could scarcely have thought the thing possible if I had not seen it. At the end of the games there was shout from the three hundred throats present, which made one believe he was back again in Tammany Hall! The fact is there was a considerable number of Englishmen and Americans present (among the latter was Prof. Morse, who took a deep interest in these extraordinary games), but much the larger number were French. Morphy did not seem at all fatigued, and appeared so modest that the frenzy and admiration of the French knew no bounds."
Wow- just wrote on your last video "Yay- look forward to his trip to France" and literally the same day it comes out. A long time ago I checked out a book from the library on Morphy's life and his trip and Europe- it had a whole chapter dedicated to the coffee house drama between him and Harwitz.
Morphy is the tsami that washes away all opposition. Once there was a thriving chess club full of members who thought they played Chess quite well. Afterwards there was just a group of people who had meet and lost to Morphy. Such is life.
As Etienne C. said, the Cafe de la Regence is now the Office National Marocain du Tourisme at 161 Rue Saint-Honoré, 75001 Paris. The doorway has been altered slightly ; otherwise, the building is the same.
@Agadmator : In fact, Le "café de la Régence" in Paris was rebaptised in 1718 but it was created earlier, in 1681 with the name "café de la place du Palais Royal". In 1848, it was moved to the rue Saint Honoré and it was at this time that Morphy came. Your photo is not the original café de la Régence and the café does not look like this nowadays. It became a restaurant (that still exists) in 1910 which ended the chess salon here.
#Suggestion RU-vid has a new “shorts” feature. Perhaps try and see if you could put the shortest recorded chess game? I think it might be a cool game, and a way to try shorts.
That would be Fischer-Panno, which went, 1. c4 1-0 Panno refused to play Fischer (he was protesting) and never showed up. Fischer, a lifelong 1. e4 player, played 1. c4 as a small joke, knowing Panno wasn't going to show.
Agadmator is a classical guy...he dont like editing videos...he just sit and tell us chess stories.... He dont care about ..shorts and long ...neither he want to attract people with shorts...nor he ask much to subscribe.... He is agadmatro...
A café famous for chess reminds me of this quote. An Austrian official, AFASR it was the forreign minister: "Revolution in Russia? Who is going to make that? The mr. Trotskij who plays chess at Café Zentral?"
Hello Agadmator! You are not only a great chess commentator, but also an interesting historian, sharing all these nice backgrounds and stories of the chess world with us. Thank you.
Cool video, really love those, as for the pronunciation, anything in french has to be pronounced without emphasis, without intonation, and it's pronounced as is written so Jour-noud in english it would look like Joor-nhood. Cheers all.
hey Antonio, I'm not French but "Régence" for example would be pronounced with a soft 'g' sound and soft 'e' at the end, like 'Rezhense', not 'Regensa'
So it seems the café was moved multiple times, and now the place known as café de la régence (pronounced ré jans) is just a regular restaurant at the very center of paris. (I've been there once). Here's what wikipedia says: "It was opened as the Café de la Place du Palais-Royal near the Palais-Royal, Paris in 1681. By the 18th century it was known as the Café de la Régence ("Regency Café"). In 1852 the café moved temporarily to hôtel Dodun, 21 Rue de Richelieu. In 1854 the Café de la Régence moved to 161 Rue Saint-Honoré and remained there until it became a restaurant in 1910. The chess players moved to the café de l'Univers in 1916 and the Office national marocain du tourisme (National Moroccan Tourist Office) took over the site in 1918." So it seems that the original place was at palais royal, which is where the louvre museum is today, since I live in paris I'll try to go there and check it out, though I doubt there will be any remaining things on place palais royal, It could be fun to go explore.
