Chess players moved there en masse around 1740. The clientele included amateurs, such as Voltaire, Rousseau, Robespierre, Benjamin Franklin and Napoleon. The leading professionals, Deschapelles, La Bourdonnais, Verdoni and Philidor, were there every day when they were in Paris. Staunton played his match against Saint-Amant there; Paul Morphy played there in 1858, including his match with Anderssen. The café was moved in 1855. The chess room was finally closed in 1916.