Ruy López de Segura

Ruy López de Segura ( * 1530 in Zafra in Badajoz, † 1580) was a Spanish chess player, a monk and priest in Zafra.

His work Libro de la invención liberal y arte del juego del Axedrez (in German about the ingenuity and art in the game of chess ) is one of the first basic chess textbooks.

He was encouraged by a visit to Rome, where he in 1560 against the Italian master Giovanni Leonardo da Cutri fought out a contest, which he won clearly. He came to Rome on the book published in 1512 by the Portuguese master chess book Damiano, which did not please him. That's why he decided to write himself a chess book. It appeared in 1561 in Alcalá de Henares. López wrote about the origins of chess, gave the rules of the game, which corresponded to today's essentially already, and created the first time a detailed analysis of the hitherto known chess openings. Therefore they are called López also the "father of chess theory."

In particular, he examined the Spanish opening, which was named after him (English: Ruy Lopez Opening). Even with the King's Gambit he intensively.

He used the first time the expression Gambit. The Italian word, it indicates entstamme originally Ringer language - by dare il Gambetto ( one leg pose ).

But Lopez did not only have excellent theoretical knowledge, but also an enormous practical skill level. In 1575, he lost however in Madrid at the court of King Philip II the rematch against Leonardo da Cutri 2: 3, after he had won the first two games. López also lost against the other Italian master Paolo Boi, so that the Italian triumph was perfect in this first international tournament in chess history. From now on, the supremacy was transferred to Italy in chess from Spain.

Works

• Libro de la invención liberal y arte del juego del Axedrez, Alcalá de Henares in 1561
• JH Sarratt: The Works of Damiano, Ruy -Lopez, and Salvio on the Game of Chess, London 1813 ( English partial translation )