Biography on Wikipedia

Alexander McDonnell (1798-1835) was an Irish chess master, who contested a series of six matches with the world’s leading player Louis-Charles Mahé de La Bourdonnais in the summer of 1834. It was the first match of any importance in the history of chess and is still referred to today as the World Championship of 1834.

The link address is: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_McDonnell