Serafino Dubois - Chess Career

Chess Career

Serafino Dubois was born in Rome. His early career coincided with a time when the Italian rules of chess differed from those elsewhere in Europe but he wasn't content with being recognized as the best player in Italy - he needed to prove himself on the European board as well.

During the early to middle part of the nineteenth century chess tournaments were few and far between and many of the top players were limited to playing matches against each other, usually for a substantial purse which was either staked by themselves or by their patrons. From the 1840s to the 1860s Dubois took part in many matches against the top players of Europe and it was rare for him to lose, even when he gave odds of the move and a pawn to his opponents.

In 1846 he played a number of games against Marmaduke Wyvill in Rome, who was one of the finest players in England, and it has been reported that Dubois won 55-26 when no odds were given by either side but lost 39-30 when he gave odds of a pawn plus a move to his opponent.

In 1855 he visited Paris and the famous Café de la Régence, a mecca for the leading French players and enthusiasts from abroad, and he played no fewer than four matches, beating the strong French player Jules Arnous de Rivière by 25-7, Seguin by 5-1, Wincenty Budzyński by 13½-6½ but he did lose 4-1 to Lecrivain.

In 1856 he beat Kowsky 11½-1½ and played another match against Rivière but unfortunately the latter score has been lost. Two years later he played the celebrated Russian novelist Ivan Turgenev in the Cafe Antonini in Rome and won a game in 25 moves giving odds of a pawn and ceding the first move. This game was later published in La Nuova Rivista degli Scacchi in 1880.

His best performance came in the London tournament of 1862 where he came 5th with 9 points, ahead of Wilhelm Steinitz who later went on to become the first official world chess champion. Dubois won £10 in prize-money, now roughly equivalent to £700, and after the tournament ended Steinitz challenged him to a match. The future world champion beat his Italian opponent by 5½-3½, but Dubois did win several other matches that same year against Cornelius Bonetti (11½-1½) and against Valentine Green — the first he won 5-0 and the second 5½-½.