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Event table notes
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| Event data |
| Place: Brussels (?) |
| Start date: 1851 |
| End date: Dec. 1851 |
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| Notes: |
| A report that appeard in the Illustrated London News of 3 Jan. 1852 (p.14) and the Sunday Times of 4 Jan. 1852 (p.7), copied from the Journal du Commerce d'Anvers, says that the match was between 'the British champion, Sir John Deacon' and 'M. Michaels, the Belgian champion'. The term 'champion' probably just means 'representative of their country' here. It seems likely that it was actually 'Frederic Horace Deacon', who had ties with Belgium and frequently visited, and 'P. Michaels' (the initial 'M' probably stands for 'monsieur'). I know of no chess player named 'Sir John Deacon'. Staunton, in the Illustrated London News of 24 Jan. 1852 (p.75), says that the name 'Sir John Deacon' was a joke, and that it 'probably referred to a few games lately played by a young and promising amateur, Mr F Deacon, with a Colonel Michaels, of Brussels'. Neither source states explicitly where the games were played, but since F.H. Deacon was frequently in Belgium, and Michaels' previous matches had been in Brussels, they most likely took place there. Given that the reports in the Sunday Times and Illustrated London News were copied from a Belgian paper, it seems most likely that the series of games was completed in December 1851, though I suppose it is just possible that it finished in the first day or two of Jan. 1852. |
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| References |
| Periodicals |
| [ILN], vol. 20, no. 539, 3 Jan. 1852, page 14 |
| [ILN], vol. 20, no. 542, 24 Jan. 1852, page 75 |
| [ST], no. 1526, 4 Jan. 1852, page 7 |
| [SZ], vol. 8, no. 5, May 1853, page 157 |
| [SZ], vol. 8, no. 8, Aug. 1853, page 249 |
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