Alexander Cunningham (jurist)

Alexander Cunningham of Block (1655–1730) was a Scottish jurist, and chess player. As a classical critic, he was known as an opponent of Richard Bentley.[1]

abcdefgh
8
a8 black rook
b8 black knight
c8 black bishop
d8 black queen
e8 black king
g8 black knight
h8 black rook
a7 black pawn
b7 black pawn
c7 black pawn
d7 black pawn
e7 black bishop
f7 black pawn
g7 black pawn
h7 black pawn
e4 white pawn
f4 black pawn
f3 white knight
a2 white pawn
b2 white pawn
c2 white pawn
d2 white pawn
g2 white pawn
h2 white pawn
a1 white rook
b1 white knight
c1 white bishop
d1 white queen
e1 white king
f1 white bishop
h1 white rook
8
77
66
55
44
33
22
11
abcdefgh

Life

The son of the Rev. John Cunningham, minister of Cumnock in Ayrshire, and proprietor of the small estate Block, was born there between 1655 and 1660. He was probably educated both in the Netherlands and at Edinburgh, and was selected by William Douglas, 1st Duke of Queensberry to be tutor to his son, Lord George Douglas. Through the Queensberry influence he was appointed by the Crown to be professor of civil law in the university of Edinburgh about 1698.[2]

In 1710, when the Duke of Queensberry was out of favour with the other Whig leaders, the magistrates of Edinburgh asserted their ancient right and ousted Cunningham from the professorship to make way for their own nominee. He then left Scotland, and established himself at The Hague, where he lived on a pension granted him by the Duke of Queensberry, devoting himself to chess and the study of the classical authors and of civil law.[2]

Works

Cunningham became a friend of Pieter Burman the Elder. In 1711 he discovered from Thomas Johnson, a Scottish bookseller and publisher at The Hague, that Richard Bentley was the author of the criticism inflicted on his friend Jean Leclerc for his edition of the fragments of Menander. In 1721 he published a malevolent Alexandri Cuninghamii Animadversiones in Richardi Bentleii Notas et Emendationes ad Q. Horatium Flaccum. In the same year he published his own critical edition of Horace, as Q. Horatii Flacci Poemata. He also worked at his editions of Virgil and Phædrus, published at Edinburgh after his death, and projected books on the Pandects and the evidences of Christianity. His posthumous works, published in Edinburgh, were:[2]

  • P. Virgilii Maronis Bucolica, Georgica et Æneis, ex recensione Alexandri Cuninghamii Scoti, cujus emendationes subjiciuntur, 1743; and
  • Phædri Augusti, liberti, Fabularum Æsopiarum libri quinque, ex emendatione Alexandri Cuninghamii Scoti, accedunt Publii Syri et aliorum veterum Sententiæ, 1757.

Cunningham Gambit

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8
a8 black rook
b8 black knight
e8 black king
h8 black rook
a7 black pawn
b7 black pawn
c7 black pawn
f7 black pawn
g7 black pawn
h7 black pawn
f6 black queen
d4 white pawn
e4 white pawn
f4 black pawn
g4 black bishop
h4 black bishop
f3 white knight
a2 white pawn
b2 white pawn
c2 white pawn
d2 white queen
e2 white king
g2 white pawn
h2 white pawn
a1 white rook
c1 white bishop
f1 white bishop
h1 white rook
8
77
66
55
44
33
22
11
abcdefgh
Sample position in the Cunningham Defense

It was as a chess-player that Alexander Cunningham was famous at the Hague. He was visited by players from all parts of Europe, and was on good terms with the English ambassadors at The Hague, especially with Lord Sunderland.[2]

In his 1847 Chess Player's Handbook, Howard Staunton published 5 sample lines in the Cunningham Gambit: Kings Gambit Accepted (1.e4 e5 2.f4 exf4), King's Knight's Gambit (3.Nf3), 3...Be7.[3] The e7 Black bishop threatens a check on h4 that can permanently prevent White from castling.

A sample line is 4.Nc3 Bh4+ 5.Ke2 d5 6.Nxd5 Nf6 7.Nxf6+ Qxf6 8.d4 Bg4 9.Qd2 (diagram). White has strong central control with pawns on d4 and e4, while Black is relying on the white king's discomfort to compensate. White did not develop his f1 king's bishop immediately and was forced to play Ke2, which hems the bishop in.

Now more commonly known as the Cunningham Defence (1.e4 e5 2.f4 exf4 3.Nf3 Be7) is tabulated as C35 King's Gambit Accepted, Cunningham Defense in the Encyclopaedia of Chess Openings.[4]

To avoid having to play Ke2, 4.Bc4 is White's most popular response.[5][6] In modern practice, it is more common for Black to simply develop instead with 4...Nf6 5.e5 Ng4, known as the Modern Cunningham.

Notes

  1. Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Cunningham, Alexander" . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 7 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 633.
  2. Stephen, Leslie, ed. (1888). "Cunningham, Alexander (1655?-1730)" . Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 13. London: Smith, Elder & Co.
  3. Staunton, Howard (1847). The Chess Player's Handbook: A Popular and Scientific Introduction to the Game of Chess. London: Henry G. Bohn. OCLC 9171272
  4. Sunnucks, Anne (1970), Encyclopaedia of Chess, New York: St. Martin's Press, ISBN 978-0-7091-4697-1
  5. "Chess Opening Explorer". Chessgames.com. Retrieved 7 June 2016.
  6. Black can play ...Bh4+ anyway, forcing 5.Kf1 (or else the wild Bertin Gambit or Three Pawns' Gambit, 5.g3 fxg3 6.0-0 gxh2+ 7.Kh1, played in the nineteenth century).
Attribution

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Stephen, Leslie, ed. (1888). "Cunningham, Alexander (1655?-1730)". Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 13. London: Smith, Elder & Co.

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