Giovanni Leonardo da Cutri

Leonardo da Cutri defeats Ruy López at the court of Philip II, painting by Luigi Mussini (1886)

Giovanni Leonardo da Cutri (* 1542 in Calabria ; † 1597 ) was an Italian chess master .

Leonardo da Cutri is one of the greatest chess masters of the 16th century . He was called “Il Puttino” (the little one) because of his slim stature . After studying law in Rome , he devoted himself entirely to the game of chess and beat all the masters there.

But when the Spanish master Ruy López came to Rome in 1560 and challenged Leonardo to a chess fight, "Il Puttino" lost. That devastating lesson fueled his ambition. He went to Naples for two years and studied chess there intensively. When he returned to Rome, he defeated the Italian master Paolo Boi from Syracuse in a competition and successfully finished other matches against leading masters in different cities.

Now he felt strong enough to take revenge against López. In 1575 he traveled well prepared with Paolo Boi and Giulio Cesare Polerio to Madrid , where the first international chess tournament in history took place at the court of King Philip II of Spain. Ruy Lopez and Alfons Seran played for Spain . The Italian masters were received with great respect.

The game was played directly at court under the eyes of the king, who followed the games with interest when the state of affairs allowed it. For the competition between López and Leonardo over three winning games, he offered 1000 Scudi as a prize, a huge sum for the circumstances at the time. Leonardo lost the first game with the black pieces in a brisk King's Gambit after just 12 moves. He was also defeated in the second game. But then the profound advice of his coach and second, the great theorist Polerio, bore fruit: Leonardo won the next three games. Since Paolo Boi also won against Lopez and Seran, the Italian triumph was complete. There was a playoff for the overall victory between Boi and Leonardo. The first two games ended in a draw, then Boi lost and Leonardo became the first international tournament winner in today's terms. The king gave him a precious ermine cloak and a salamander decorated with precious stones. He was also reassured that his hometown Cutro would not have to pay taxes for 20 years.

Leonardo traveled on to Portugal and also defeated the Portuguese master El Morro in a competition at the court of the Portuguese King Sebastian .

From then on, Italian chess dominated Europe .

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• George Walker: The Light and Luster of Chess , in: Chess & Chess-Players: Consisting of Original Stories and Sketches, London 1850, (English).