The French Champion. Strongest player in the world in the 1830s. Legendary matches against McDonnell.
One-time purchase · Windows download · UCI compatible · works offline · instant download after purchase
The browser version lets you meet the personality before buying. The installed engine plays locally, in CZUBATRONIC 2400 and your own chess software, with the full personality model.
La Bourdonnais plays the chess of the game's first golden age. Pawns storm forward, pieces head for the enemy king, and material is spent freely whenever the attack justifies it.
Against him, the game is a running fight from early on. Defensive subtlety is not his world; momentum is, and if you let his initiative roll it becomes very hard to stop.
Regular games against La Bourdonnais connect you with the roots of attacking chess. You learn to blunt momentum-based attacks, to count attackers against defenders honestly and to counterpunch when the storm overextends. The strongest player of the 1830s still sets a pace most opponents cannot match.
A single game shows part of the personality. Repeated games reveal more: you begin to recognise familiar structures, recurring plans and the kinds of positions this opponent prefers. That is where the collection becomes interesting, because different personalities put different questions to your chess.
Louis-Charles Mahé de La Bourdonnais was the strongest player in the world from the mid-1820s until his death and is considered the first player deserving of that title in the modern sense. His legendary 1834 series against Alexander McDonnell in London, 85 games across six matches, is one of the most celebrated events in chess history and produced games of extraordinary richness that are still studied today. He ran a famous chess café in Paris, the Café de la Régence, which was the social center of European chess. He died in London in 1840, impoverished, at age 45.
Notable: The La Bourdonnais Gambit in the French Defense is named after him. His 1834 match games are among the earliest systematically preserved in chess history.
| Era | Romantic |
| Years | 1795–1840 |
| Historical rating (estimated) | 2500 |
| Born | Réunion (île Bourbon), 1795 |
| Title | Unofficial World Champion (1820s–1840) |
| Style | Dynamic attacking play, bold sacrifices, romantic chess |
The ChessGate personality of Bourdonnais, reconstructed from the historical player's games, with their own style, their own plans and their own idea of chess. A chess partner with real character, at any level, whenever you like. Play it inside CZUBATRONIC 2400 and the built-in Coach can flag weak moves and show a stronger one. The engine runs offline on your machine, in CZUBATRONIC 2400 and any UCI chess interface.
| File | ChessGate_Labourdonnais.exe · 21 MB |
| Runs in | CZUBATRONIC 2400 (as an external engine) and any UCI chess interface |
| Requirements | Windows 10 / 11, 64-bit; any UCI chess interface; CZUBATRONIC 2400 lists it as an external engine |
| Delivery | Instant download after purchase. Installer, no administrator rights; if CZUBATRONIC 2400 is installed, the personality registers itself there as an engine. |
| Works offline | Yes. No account, no server. |
| Packs | – |
| Collection | Complete Personality Collection |
| In the browser | A lighter version of ChessGate Bourdonnais plays on ChessGate. |