On 9 October 1809 at Schonnbrunn Castle in Vienna, Napoleon, angry and disrespectful because hehad just returned from the debacle suffered on the chessboard, left the room. The ‘Little Corporal’, chess player defined as mediocre according to the magistral canon, had challenged the ‘Turk’, skillful rival guarded by the automaton. The trickster device (the man controlled the machine) designed by the Hungarian inventor Wolfgang von Kempelen for the Empress Maria Theresa of Austria, dates to 1769 and ends up in the fire that exploded at the Peale Museum in Philadelphia (5 July 1854). This passion superior to talent has been invincible to the collective memory: the strategist of decisive victories (Rivoli, Marengo, Ulma, Austerlitz, Jena, Friedland, Wargram) on the battlefield had to conduct the strategic dance of pawns to the relentless checkmate against anyopponent.
The duel will be repeated at the international cultural hub of Marengo by thirty-two chess playersexpected at the auditorium at the tournament in the category “Promozione Piemonte” set up by the Alexandrian chess club from September 30 to October 2. The location is appreciated by the chessplayers already landed last year (bicentenary from the death of Napoleon): the event strengthens the cosmopolitan liaison hatched at the Marengo pole.
The visit to the museum of the battle (14 June 1800) will enliven the break to the exhausted rivalsfrom the assiduous meditation and indispensable to elaborate every irrevocable move on the chessboard of 64 clear and dark pictures.