World Champions from 1475 to 1850; part one, 1475 -1634

Hey guys! Welcome to my new series, World Champions from 1475 to 1850. I hope you enjoyed my past blogs, and if you've missed them they are in the side bar to your right. 

World Champions before Paul Morphy have not been talked about a lot for some reason. I find this very strange because some of the most richest and logical games have been played before the 19th century. In this blog I hope to enlighten you on some of the best players of the past. I will order this from earliest to most modern. I hope you enjoy!

Jumping right into it, we have

Fransesch Vicent 1475-1490

Next to nothing is known about Vicent except that he was an early author that probably wrote the famous German chess manuscripts. He was, according to most historians, the person that made the Queen move more than two squares at a time, and he likely also invented castling. 

Luis Ramirez de Lucena 1490-1512

A Spanish author that wrote the Lucena manuscripts. He gave lines in the Nimzowitsch-Larsen attack, although most of his analysis was incorrect. Some of his work, however, is very practical and still used today. Most experienced chess players have heard of the Lucena position, a rook and pawn endgame position. One is shown in the diagram below:

Pedro Damiano 1512-1544

He was also one of the first chess authors, and the first non Spaniard "World Champion."

He was born in Portugal in 1480 and died in 1544. Probably well off, he spent much time devoted to chess and gave us amazing traps such as the well known Damiano's defense.

In the following diagram I will show you the forced win for white if black plays to greedy.

He also gave a trap in the Petroff.

Roy Lopez de Segura 1559-1575

Probably the most famous of the early chess players. A well off Spaniard and inventor of the Ruy Lopez opening, he was born in 1530 and died in 1580.

For more details you can look in my past blogs

Giovanni Leonardo da Cutri 1575-1587

Son of a well off Italian nobleman, da Cutri was a bright young boy that fell in love with chess.

He also likely was one of the first to play the Italian game.

More details are in past blogs

Paolo Boi 1587-1598

And Italian who was the equal of Leonaro until his death, then he became the sold world champion.

At one point in his life he was kidnapped by pirates and sold as a slave, but he weaseled out of it with his amazing chess talents. More information is given in past blogs.

Don't worry that's the last time I'll say that

Alessandro Salvio 1598-1620

A chess writer that was born in 1570 and died in 1640. He and Giulio Polerio were the two best players in the world, but Salvio seemed to have a fine edge on him. He lived in the kingdom of Naples, where great players such as Giovanni Leonardo da Cutri also lived. He played chess under the patronage of Costanzo, a prominent nobleman of the day.

He was also known for playing blindfold, and beat many famous people such as the Count of Bonavente. After he had won much fame and riches, he decided to settle down and write about other famous players before him. He was the first chess historian.

In 1606 when Polerio's strength was waning, Salvio beat the new contender Geronimo Cascio soundly to again assert his dominance. He was relieved of his title in 1620 by the great Gioachino Greco.

After Greco beat him for the World Champion title, Alessandro Salvio settled back down in Naples and wrote several books such at Il Puttino, a biography of Giovanni Leonardo da Cutri.

Giaochino Greco 1620-1634

I am unfortunately just writing a summary or I would write several pages on the brilliance of this man. He was simply a chess genius. Botvinnik referred to him as the first professional chess player, and rightly so. He came up with many traps and even an opening, the Giucco Piano. I would highly recommend the more detailed article on him in the chess site LAPOC. His life and games are truly fascinating!

He was born in 1600 and died in 1634, only aged 34. He died of a fever in Americas. How human even the greats are. He built many contacts all over the world and was very rich at several points in his life.

Here are some of his more famous opening traps:

Greco was white in the first game and black in the second. A truly amazing player, and had other games like these. 

That's all for part one of this new series, thanks for reading and happy chess!