Perusing the oldest game book
Even though chess originated more than 1,500 years ago, written information about it was extremely rare. Nearly a thousand years passed by before that condition changed. Johannes Gutenberg invented the printing press in the mid1400s. Later in that same century, Luis Ramirez de Lucena of Spain wrote and printed a work on chess. One translation of his book’s intriguing title is: Repetition of Love and the Art of Playing Chess.
Thanks to the online Gutenberg Press site (gutenberg.org), we can peruse electronic copies of Lucena’s contribution to our mental sport. It includes explanations of the modern rules as well as material on all the main phases of chess. Eleven openings are examined along with 150 midgame and endgame problem positions.
Regarding his book, Lucena stated: “I attempt to write all the best moves that I have seen players make in Rome and all over Italy and in France and Spain and that I myself have been able to achieve.”
Despite having written what could be called our earliest still-extant modern chess book, Lucena’s name has become well-known mainly for its attachment to an endgame that all players must learn early on in their development. Stemming from what is called the “Lucena Position,” it consists of winning with a rook plus pawn versus a rook.
Recognized as a strong
Oct. 2, 2016 Position No. 4436: White mates in two.
Position No. 4435: 1.Qa2! Hint: White mates next with: Rxf4, Qa8, Bh7, Rfe3 or Nd6.
player of his day, perhaps the strongest, Lucena left us a few games we can assess. In the following one, he developed his men using some tactical tricks (moves 4 and 5). Then, he gambled on a kingside assault involving two bishop sacrifices (14...f4, 16...Bxh2+). When his foe missed two defensive resources (19.Rf4 and 25.Qg1), he was quickly beaten.
The game: [NN-Lucena; Salamanca, Spain; 1497] 1.e3 e5 2.d4 exd4 3.Qxd4 d5 4.Qd1 Bd6 5.Nc3 [5.Qxd5?? Bb4+ 6.Bd2 Qxd5] 5...Nf6 6.Nf3 [6.Nxd5?? Nxd5 7.Qxd5 Bb4+ 8.Bd2 Qxd5] 6...Be6 7.Bd3 Nc6 8.b3 h6 9.Bb2 Qd7 10.Qe2 0–0–0 11.0–0 g5 12.Ne1 h5 13.f3 g4 14.f4 h4 15.f5 h3 16.fxe6 Bxh2+ 17.Kxh2 hxg2+ 18.Kxg2 Qd6 19.Rh1 Rxh1 20.Kxh1 Rh8+ 21.Kg1 Qg3+ 22.Ng2 Ne5 23.Qf2 Qh2+ 24.Kf1 g3 25.Qxf6 Qh1+ 26.Ke2 Qxg2+. White resigned now to avoid: 27.Kd1 Rh1+ 28.Bf1 Rxf1+ 29.Qxf1 Qxf1+ 30.Kd2 Nf3 mate.
In our featured game today, note how Lucena played in a simple fashion. He sidestepped middlegame difficulties by trading pieces into an endgame. There, he entered a long combination, apparently winning a pawn. His foe managed to win it back by force, though; but, doing so resulted in massive material loss [After 32.Bf4+, 33...Ne5 33.Rxe5, etc.]. Impressive play by this guy from the Middle Ages. The Mad Queen
One of the biggest historical rule changes incorporated into Lucena’s book involved the queen. The royal lady was not always as mighty as she is now.
Instead of flying about the board on diagonals and rows, she was extremely hobbled. Her movement was restricted to at first one square (later two) along a diagonal. When her powers were finally amped to what they are today, the drastic change led to the “new” chess being referred to as “Mad Queen Chess.”
Game of the week Luis Ramirez de Lucena-Quintana Huesca, Spain, 1515
1.c3 Nc6 2.d4 e6 3.e4 d5 4.exd5 exd5 5.g3 Bd6 6.Bh3 Bxh3 7.Nxh3 Qd7 8.Nf4 Nf6 9.Qf3 Bxf4 10.Bxf4 0–0–0 11.0–0 Qh3 12.Bg5 Ng4 13.Qg2 Qxg2+ 14.Kxg2 f6 15.Bd2 Rhe8 16.Re1 Rxe1 17.Bxe1 Re8 18.Nd2 Nh6 19.Nf1 Nf5 20.Bd2 Nd6 21.h4 Ne4 22.Be3 g5 23.hxg5 fxg5 24.f3 Nd6 25.Bxg5 Re2+ 26.Kh3 Rxb2 27.Ne3 Nb5 28.Nxd5 Rc2 29.Re1 Nxc3 30.Re8+ Kd7 31.Nf6+ Kd6 32.Bf4+ Ne5 33.Rxe5 Rxa2 1–0.