Gioachino Greco
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- This article uses algebraic notation to describe chess moves.
| Gioachino Greco | |
|---|---|
| Full name | Gioachino Greco |
| Country |  Italy |
| Born | 1600 Celico |
| Died | 1634 (aged c. 34) |
Gioachino Greco (1600 – c. 1634) was an Italian chess player and writer. Greco recorded some of the first chess games on record, 77 in total. His games, all against anonymous opponents ("NN"), were quite possibly constructs (Hooper & Whyld 1992), but acted as highly useful tools for spotting opening traps. Mikhail Botvinnik considered Greco to be the first professional chess player (Gufeld & Stetsko 1996:5).
Contents |
[edit] History
Greco was a remarkable chess player between Ruy López de Segura and François-André Danican Philidor, as well as writing a famous "handbook" containing many traps and mating patterns. As one of the players during the age of "Italian Romantic Style", he studied the Giuoco Piano (1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Bc4), and published his analysis in the form of short games around 1625. In 1665, after his death, the manuscripts were published in London. These games are regarded as classics of early chess literature and are still sometimes taught to beginners.
Greco paved the way for many of the attacking legends of the Romantic era, such as Adolf Anderssen, Paul Morphy, and François Philidor.
[edit] Games
Among his games/constructions were the first smothered mate:
NN vs Greco 1620
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.O-O Nf6 5.Re1 O-O 6.c3 Qe7 7.d4 exd4 8.e5 Ng4 9.cxd4 Nxd4 10.Nxd4 Qh4 11.Nf3 Qxf2+ 12.Kh1 Qg1+ 13.Nxg1 Nf2# 0-1
this impressive queen sacrifice:
Greco vs NN 1619
1.e4 b6 2.d4 Bb7 3.Bd3 f5 4.exf5 Bxg2 5.Qh5+ g6 6.fxg6 Nf6 7.gxh7 Nxh5 8.Bg6# 1-0
and another interesting queen sacrifice, this one with odds of king knight.
Greco vs NN 1620
1.e4 e5 2.d4 Nf6 3.dxe5 Nxe4 4.Bc4 Nxf2 5.O-O Nxd1 6.Bxf7+ Ke7 7.Bg5# 1-0
[edit] Compositions
 |
|||||||||
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
||
|
|
|
|
|
 |
 |
|
||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
||
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
||
|
|
|
|
|
 |
 |
 |
||
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
||
|
|||||||||
This 1623 composition by Greco uses the theme of the wrong rook pawn. Black draws:
- 1...Ra1+
- 2. Rf1 Rxf1+
- 3. Kxf1 Bh3!
and Black will sacrifice his bishop for the pawn on the g-file or transform it into an h-pawn after 4. gxh3 (Averbakh 1996:85).
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- Averbakh, Yuri (1996), Chess Middlegames: Essential Knowledge, Cadogan, ISBN 1-85744-125-7
- Hooper, David; Whyld, Kenneth (1992), The Oxford Companion to Chess (second ed.), Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-280049-3
- Gufeld, Eduard; Stetsko, Oleg (1996), The Giuoco Piano, Batsford, ISBN 0-7134-7802-0
[edit] External links
- Gioachino Greco player profile at ChessGames.com
- Works by or about Gioachino Greco in libraries (WorldCat catalog)
 |
This biographical article related to Italian chess is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
