Pierre (Peter) Auguste D'Orville

Pierre (Peter) Auguste D'Orville was a chess composer.

Born: 15 May 1804greg. in St. Petersburg; Died: † 11 November 1864 in Regensburg

His life
Peter  (Pierre) August d'Orville came from a family of merchants who emigrated from Valenciennes to Antwerp and what is now Germany in the 16th century. Eight generations of the family lived in Frankfurt am Main. Pierre d'Orville (* 24 July 1778 in Offenbach; † 4 June 1829 in Regensburg) took over a snuff factory in Offenbach am Main before his son Peter August was born. He later moved to St. Petersburg, where on 22 May 1802 he married Dorothea Amburger (* 10 November 1783 in St. Petersburg; † 21 January 1809 in Offenbach), also from a merchant family, as his second wife and took over a tobacco factory. Peter August d'Orville was born there.

Peter (Pierre) August d'Orville also became a merchant and lived in Antwerp for a long time. His uncle was the Offenbach mayor Peter Georg d'Orville.

A family tree of the family is on display in the local history museum of the Offenbach History Society

Together with Horatio Bolton, Peter August d'Orville is regarded as one of the founders of modern chess composition, which replaced the style of the Mansubes with economic representations, including in the demand. He also emphasised the mating pattern for the first time. It is also possible that he was the first to show quiet draw-in sacrifices

D'Orville's chess problems appeared from mid-1836 in the chess magazine Le Palamède. In 1842 he published a collection of 250 of his own chess problems. After 1850, d'Orville's problems were only rarely published.

On the website of ARVES by editor Peter Boll, there are 5 chess studies presented.

Source: arves.org