 The best player in France at the time, Legall de Kermeur, taught him.At first, Legall could give Philidor rook odds, a handicap in which the stronger player starts without one of his rooks, but in only three years, Philidor equaled and then surpassed him.Philidor visited England in 1747 and decisively beat the Syrian Phillip Stamma in a match +8−1=1, although Philidor let Stamma have the first move in every game and scored all draws as wins for Stamma.