"
"Likewise in playing without seeing the board I have overcome
most opponents, nor had they the power to cope with me. I the
humble sinner now addressing you, have frequently played with
one opponent over the board and at the same time I have carried
on four different games, with as many adversaries, without seeing
the board, whilst I conversed freely with my friends all along,
and through the Divine favour I conquered them all. Also in the
great chess, I have invented sundry positions as well as several
openings, which no one else ever imagined or contrived."
Notwithstanding the accounts and allusions to Blindfold Chess
here referred to, it would seem to have been generally unknown
to us at the time when Philidor performed his intellectual feat of
playing two games blindfold, and one over the board, on several
occasions at the St. James Street Chess Club, about a century ago.
The club which was held at Parsloes Hotel, was formed in 1770,
and its members comprised many prominent, celebrated, and
distinguished men: Pitt, Earl of Chatham, C. J. Fox, Rockingham,
St. John, Mansfield, Wedderburn, Sir G. Elliott, and other
well-known names are recorded among the visitors and spectators there.
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