El Morro (chess player)

Luigi Mussini (1886): Leonardo da Cutro defeats Ruy López at the court of Philip II in 1575. The mood and ambience at the play by Leonardo and El Morro at the court of Sebastian I in Lisbon must have been similar.

El Morro (also "Il Moro" , with George Walker's translation "the bog" (the Moor )) was a Portuguese chess player of the 16th century. His life dates are not known. He was a chess teacher at the court of King Sebastian I in Lisbon and was considered the strongest player in Portugal until he was defeated by Giovanni Leonardo da Cutro in a competition in 1575 .

Meeting with Leonardo da Cutro

The encounter came after the first international chess tournament in history in 1575 at the court of the Spanish King Philip II in Madrid, when Leonardo da Cutro, together with his companion Giulio Cesare, traveled to Portugal to recover from the loss of his lover recover. In Lisbon, Leonardo got to know a like-minded person who frequented the court of King Sebastian I and knew El Morro personally. They arranged a first meeting in a private atmosphere, at which sharp openings like the King's Gambit or the Queen's Gambit were played. Leonardo did not play to his full strength, so the games ended in a draw. The news that there was an Italian chess player in the country who had the boldness to face the great El Morro on the same level spread like wildfire. Finally, the king invited the two to his court, where Leonardo beat his opponent in many games. El Morro's pride did not allow this and he demanded revenge, which took place the following day. Leonardo da Cutro won again, whereupon King Sebastian I awarded him the title "Il Cavaliere errante" (the wandering knight) because, like the old knights, he wandered around to humiliate the proud. Leonardo da Cutro then spent a few more months in Lisbon before traveling back to Madrid to compete against his compatriot Paolo Boi .

El Morro does not seem to have recovered from this tragedy and presumably withdrew from chess life. Carrera reports in 1617 that Paolo Boi traveled to Portugal, there with various noble gentlemen (he is said to have won 8,000 Scudi in a single day) and played chess for many hours with King Sebastian I. He does not report an encounter with El Morro.

See also

• The world's best players before the official world championship fights begin
• History of the game of chess: early modern times
• List of the most important chess tournaments

swell

So far the only known source in which El Morro is mentioned is still:

• Alessandro Salvio: Trattato dell'Inventione et Arte Liberale del Gioco degli Scacchi , Naples 1604.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Salvio 1604, in the translation (excerpt) by George Walker: Chess & Chess-players: Consisting of original stories sketches , London 1850, pp. 349–351 ( digitized, English ).
2. ^ Pietro Carrera: Il gioco degli scacchi , Volume 1, Militello 1617, p. 91 ( digitized, Italian ).