There were three important writers in the 17th
century: Dr. Alessandro Salvio, Pietro (Peter) Carrera, and Gioachino
Greco.
Dr. Alessandro Salvio wrote three books:
Trattato Dell'Inventione Et Arte Liberale
Del Gioco Di Scacchi Del Dottor Alessandro Salvio Napolitano. Diviso in
Discorsi, Sbaratti, e Partiti. was published in Naples
in 1604 and again in 1634. It's considered the first comprehensive
chess book.
1612
La Scaccaide was a tragic Chess poem by Salvio published in 1612
Il Puttino, altramente detto, il cavaliero
errante, sopra il gioco de' scacchi, a romanticized
story of Leonardo da Bono, was also published in Naples 1634.
Salvio also gave us the gambit that bears his name:
Salvio Gambit 1.e4 e5 2.f4 ef4 3.Nf3 g5 4.Bc4 g4 5.Ne5 Qh4+ 6.Kf1 Nh6 7.d4 d6
Pietro Carrera's book, Il gioco degli scacchi diviso in
otto libri ne' quali si insegnano i precetti,le uscite,ed i tratti
posticci del gioco e si discorre della vera origine di
esso, published in Militello, Sicily, in 1617 was a
comprehensive manual, but it had several interesting and original
ideas. Already, it showed that people were considering variants to
standard chess. Carrera developed a game using an 8 x 10 squared board
with an extra two men, one called champions who would possess the
combined abilities of the rook and the knight and the other called
centaurs who would possess the combined abilities of the bishop and the
knight. The rules for this game can be found at chess variants.com. You can actually play a game
of
Carrera Chess.
Carrera, writing under the pseudonym, Valentino Vespaio, published a
scathing response to Dr. Salvio's own criticism of Carrara, Altramente detto IL CAVALIERO ERRANTE DEL SALVIO Sopra
il gioco de' Scacchi, con la sua Apologia contra il Carrera, diviso in
tre Libri in a pamphlet called Risposta
all'Apologia
Carrera, like Salvio, gave us a gambit bearing his name:
Carrera Gambit (King's Gambit) 1.e4 e5 2.f4 exf4 3.Qh5 (C33)
Gioachino Greco never published a book yet his influence was felt
beyond Italy and throughout Europe. Greco was an itinerant chess
master, by far the strongest of his day, who left his benefactors and
patrons manuscripts of his chess ideas, particularly having to do with
gambits, which were published postumously under a single title.
Greco, also called Il Calabrese, lived from 1600 until 1634.
In 1656 his manuscripts were published in London by Henry Herringman,
the book to be sold at his shop at the sign of the Anchor in the lower
walk of the New Exchange. The translation was prepared by Francis Beale
with Peter Stent as engraver. It bore the cumbersome title:
The Royall Game of Chess-Play. Sometimes The Recreation of the late King, with many of the Nobility.
Illustrated with almost an hundred Gambetts.
Being the study of Biochimo [Gioachino] the famous Italian.
A French edition, Le Jeu des Eschets; Traduit de l'Italien de Gioachino Greco Calabrois.
was printed in 1669 by Perpingvé in Paris and again in 1689 by Jacques Le Febvre in Paris
You can read a long translated excerpt from the
The Royal Game.
Greco gave us a counter-gambit bearing his name:
The Greco Counter Gambit: 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 f5
Greco's analysis of the Greco Counter Gambit appeared in his very first manuscript, entitled
Tratato del nobilissimo e militare esercitio de Scacchi
nel quale se contengano molti bellisimi Tratti e la vera Scienza di
esso Giuoco composto da Cioachino Calabrese, which he
dedicated to the Duke of Lorena in 1617. The opening was renamed the
Latvian Gambit at the FIDE Congress, 1937 to reflect the work of the
Latvian players, such as Karlis Betin, who analyzed this opening
deeply.
Greco demonstrated the maturity of tactics during the Renaissance
period of chess and the games offered in his book are quite beautiful.
Here are two variations of Greco's Mate:
Greco's
Mate 1 and
Greco's
Mate 2
