Ruy Lopez de Segura
Ruy López de Segura (* 1530 in Zafra near Badajoz ; † 1580 ) was a Spanish priest and chess player in Zafra.
Chess textbook
His work Libro de la invención liberal y arte del juego del Axedrez (in German about The Ingenuity and Art of Playing in Chess ) is one of the first fundamental chess textbooks . He was inspired by a visit to Rome , where he fought a competition against the Italian master Giovanni Leonardo da Cutri in 1560 , which he clearly won. In Rome he came across the chess book by the Portuguese master Damiano , published in 1512 , which he did not like at all. So he decided to write a chess book himself. It appeared in Alcalá de Henares in 1561 . López wrote about the origins of chess, gave the rules of the game, which already essentially corresponded to today's, and for the first time made a detailed analysis of the chess openings known up to that point. That is why López is also called the "father of chess theory".
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Starting position of the Spanish opening named after Ruy López
Above all, he examined the Spanish opening , which was named after him (English: Ruy Lopez Opening ). He also dealt intensively with the King's Gambit . He used the term gambit for the first time . The Italian word, he states, originally comes from the wrestling language - from dare il gambetto (to trip a leg).
Chess player
But López not only had excellent theoretical knowledge, but also an enormous practical skill level. In 1575, however, he lost the battle for revenge against Leonardo da Cutri at the court of King Philip II in Madrid with 2: 3, after he had won the first two games. López also lost to the other Italian master Paolo Boi , so that the Italian triumph in this first international tournament in chess history was complete. From now on the supremacy in chess passed from Spain to Italy .
Works
- Libro de la invención liberal y arte del juego del Axedrez , Alcalá de Henares 1561.
literature
- JH Sarratt : The Works of Damiano, Ruy-Lopez, and Salvio on the Game of Chess , London 1813 (partial English translation).
Web links
- Replayable chess games by Ruy López de Segura on chessgames.com (English)
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | López de Segura, Ruy |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Spanish chess player and priest |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 1530 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Zafra near Badajoz |
| DATE OF DEATH | 1580 |