Players of the Ancient Past: part three, Boi

This third part of our series on Players of the ancient past we will look at Paolo (or Poalo) Boi. He is my personal favorite of the three that we covered. If you've missed them, the other two blogs on Lopez and Giovanni are here:https://www.chess.com/blog/DuncanDoughnuts/players-of-the-ancient-past-part-one-lopezhttps://www.chess.com/blog/DuncanDoughnuts/players-of-the-ancient-past-part-two-leonardo

Paolo Boy was born in Sicily, Syracuse, in 1528. He was known in childhood and through his adult life as Il Bove (The Ox) due to his huge stature and imposing presence. 

Like Lopez and Leonardo, Paolo was born into a wealthy family, and had much time to devote to his intellect. He had many career options such as an art, history, math and others. Instead Paolo chose..... Chess. Boi didn't have as much of a quick development as Lopez or Leonardo did, but progressed over many years of hard training and much practice. Growing into adulthood it is said that Boi beat  Sicily's 3 best players in a blindfold simultaneous exhibition.

As Boi's chess ability grew, so did his fame. Soon he was playing prominent noblemen and priests of his day like Catherine de' Medici, wife of Henry the II, and Pope Paul III! After Pope Paul's demise in the match, Boi was offered to be made a Cardinal. This he actually declined! He was recognized as Italy's best player alongside Giovanni Leonardo da Cutri. Their playing stile was completely different, it is said in some manuscripts that Paolo Boi loved tactics whilst Leonardo was more of a quiet positional player, a bit like Tal and Petrosian. 

Boi and Leonardo traveled to Spain and were crushed by Ruy Lopez. This was incredibly humbling for both, and they both came home and studied chess for many years before publicly playing again.

King Phillip as you all know hosted his tournament in Madrid, Spain, where the Spanish players did not do so well while the Italian players dominated. 

1. Giovanni Leonardo da Cutri

2. Paolo Boi

3. Ruy Lopez de Segura

4. Alfonso Ceron

While Boi did not get first, he did however win 500 crowns and an annual pension. This tournament showed the prowess of the Italians and the waning skills of the Spanish.

After this experience with Spain, Leonardo and Boi went to Lisbon on the invitation of King Dom Sebastian, king of Portugal, to play his pride and champion El Morro. Nothing is known about the games except that both of the Italian master triumphed and were richly rewarded. Boi was so impressed with Portugal that he stayed and played chess there, winning huge stakes in games. Some say that he could be paid up to 8,000 scudi a day!(Side note: a scudo or scudi can range in value from about 20$ in today's money to about 1500$ in today's American currency) Paolo loved Portugal and probably planned to spend out the rest of his days there when things took a terrible turn.

Paolo was one day traveling home from a match against a nobleman when he was captured by an Algerian slave trader. He was then sold as a slave to a Turk. Boi was an average slave until his owner found out about his prodigious chess abilities. Boi taught the Turk how to play and suggested to let him play for money. The Turk heartily agreed and Boi soon began raking in the money for his new master. Eventually, Boi won his freedom and other money and returned back to Italy and settled in Naples.

By this time his old friend Giovanni Leonardo had grown old. They met for one last game in the palace of the Duke of Ossuna in 1587. The game ended peacefully in a draw. This would be the last time Boi would ever see Leonardo, as he died later that year. After his death, Boi was considered the new world champion. 

Boi lived out the remainder of his days in bliss. He founded a chess center in the palace of prince Fabrizo Gessuldo, where he had many students and passed on his ideas to the next generations. He continued to win fame and riches until his death in 1598. Three days before he died, however, Alessandro Salvio won the title of world champion from him. 

Paolo Boi, The Ox, lived an interesting life. The only game ever recorded against a master named Scovara is right below, although only the opening was found.

Thanks you all for reading, I hope you have a great day, and happy chess!