Pietro Carrera

Pietro Carrera

Pietro Carrera (born July 12, 1573 in Militello in Val di Catania , † September 18, 1647 in Messina ) was an Italian chess player .

Life

Carrera was the son of the craftsman Mariano Carrera and his wife Donna Antonia Severino. He studied in the Seminario Diocesiano of Siracusa and became a priest. After working as chaplain of the Church of S. Maria della Stella , Carrera went to the court of Francesco Branciforte . In honor of Princess Giovanna, Branciforte's wife, Carrera wrote the short poem Pessopedia there , only fragments of which have survived .

After the prince's death, Carrera moved first to Messina, then to Canicattì and finally to Catania .

chess

At Brantiforte's court, Carrera developed an interest in the game of chess, where he defeated Salvatore Albino and Gerolamo Cascio . Cascio had previously won a duel against Giulio Cesare Polerio . The eight-volume work Il Gioco degli Scacchi (1617) was the first book printed in Messina. Carrera combined the knowledge about the game of chess that had been gathered by previous authors. However, the book is considered to be historically inaccurate, for example Palamedes is described as the inventor of the game of chess in the first volume .

In his later years, Carrera began an argument with Alessandro Salvio .

Carrera invented a variant of chess that is similar to the Capablanca chess invented by José Raúl Capablanca in 1940 .

Works

• Pessopedia
• II Gioco degli Scacchi di D. Pietro Carrera, diviso in otto Libri. In Militello, M.DC.XVII. 8 volumes. Militello 1617
• Risposta di Valentino Vespaio contro l'apologia di Alessandro Salvio . Catania 1635 (using a pseudonym )

swell

• Pietro Carrera at Chess Archeology