Boncourt, Hyacinthe




Ratings

Year       Rank    Edo    Dev.   Games 
1820  2376 (131) 2
1821  2387 (130) 0
1822  2398 (129) 0
1823  2409 (127) 0
1824  2420 (126) 0
1825  2431 (123) 0
1826  2442 (121) 0
1827  2453 (118) 0
1828  2464 (115) 0
1829  2475 (111) 0
1830  2486 (106) 0
1831  2497 (101) 0
1832  2508 (95) 0
1833  2519 (88) 0
1834  2530 (79) 25
1835  2525 (78) 0
1836  2520 (74) 12
1837  2519 (77) 0
1838  2519 (77) 3
1839  10  2504 (78) 10

Rating table notes

Biographical data
Name: Boncourt, Hyacinthe Henri  
   Also known as: Boncour
Born: 1765
Died: 23 Mar. 1840
 
Notes:
George Walker gives Boncourt's approximate age in many places: 'some seventy years of age' (Bell's Life in London, 19 July 1835); 'seventy years of age' (Bell's Life in London, 22 Apr. 1838); 'some three-score and ten years of age' (Bell's Life in London, 19 Aug. 1838; 'Seventy years and more have passed over him' (The Café de la Régence, 1840); 'Boncourt was past 70 years of age' (Bell's Life in London, 3 May 1840, p.4). These remarks put his birth sometime in the mid-1860's. I am guessing at a birth year of 1865, but this could be in error by a few years. Diggle (quoted by Winter) gives his year of death as 1840, and the query by W.G. Povarov quoted by Winter says that Boncourt played Kieseritzky in Jan. 1840. Some games against Kieseritzky are given in the 4th number of the 1839 volume of Le Palamède (pp.115-116, where Kieseritzky's name is given in error as 'Zekeriski') and they are mentioned in the 3rd number (p.88). Furthermore, Boncourt's death is announced in the 3rd number of this volume (p.91). However, these last issues of Le Palamède were behind in their publication dates (the 3 Nov. 1839 issue of Bell's Life in London says that the first number 'has come to hand'), and Kieseritzky gives a date for one of the games as 20 Feb. 1840 in his 1846 book 'Cinquante Parties...'. Boncourt's death is announced in the 3 May 1840 isssue of Bell's Life in London (p.4). Finally, Dominique Thimognier has found Boncourt's exact date of death (23 Mar. 1840) and his full name.
 
References
Books
   Cornil, Le Café de la Régence, page 18
   Di Felice, Chess Results, 1747-1900, page 222
   Fiske, First American Chess Congress, page 438
   Golombek, Golombek's Encyclopedia, page 327
   Hooper and Whyld, Oxford Companion (1st ed.), page 364
   Kieseritzky, Cinquante Parties, page 40
   Murray, History of Chess, page 877
   Standage, The Turk, page 206
   Walker, Chess and Chess Players, page 122
   Winter, Kings, Commoners and Knaves, page 318
Periodicals
   [BLL], vol. 13, no. 595, 9 Feb. 1834, page 3
   [BLL], 19 July 1835, page 2
   [BLL], 22 Apr. 1838, page 4
   [BLL], 19 Aug. 1838, page 2
   [BLL], 3 May 1840, page 4
   [BLL], 19 July 1840, page 2
   [CPC], vol. 5, no. 12, Dec. 1844, page 397
   [CPC], vol. 9, no. 2, Feb. 1848, page 58
   [NR], vol. 5, no. 1, Jan. 1864, page 4
   [Pal], vol. 1, no. 1, 15 Mar. 1836, page 14
   [Pal], vol. 2, no. 12, 15 Feb. 1838, page 499
   [Pal], vol. 4, no. 3, 1839, page 91
   [Pal], vol. 5, no. 1, 15 Jan. 1845, page 31
   [Pal], vol. 7, no. 11, 15 Nov. 1847, page 503
   [Phil], vol. 1, no. 3, Feb. 1838, page 120
Web
   Harding, Tim.  [The London-Vienna Correspondence Match (Part 1)], page 2
   Kingston, Taylor.  [Spotlight on a Sideshow, or Fattening the Thin Man], page 4
   Spinrad, Jeremy P.  [Collected results, 1836-1863]
   Thimognier, Dominique.  [BONCOURT Hyacinthe Henri]
   Walker, George.  [Excerpt from 'The Café de la Régence']

Match data  (f=formal; c=casual; s=soft)

Deschapelles, A.L.H.L. - Boncourt, H.H. 1820         (c)     1   -   1      Deschapelles, A.L.H.L. gave odds of pawn and two moves
Boncourt, H.H. - de Saint-Amant, P.C.F. 1834         (f)     15   -   10
Boncourt, H.H. - Szen, J. 1836         (f)     6   -   6
Boncourt, H.H. - Walker, G. (1) 1838         (c)     2.5   -   0.5
Boncourt, H.H. - de Saint-Amant, P.C.F. 1839         (c)     4   -   6


Player information updated: 13 Sept. 2023