- Gioachino Greco
Infobox chess player
playername = Gioachino Greco
caption=
birthname = Gioachino Greco
country = ITA
datebirth = 1600
placebirth =
datedeath = 1634 (aged c. 34)
placedeath =
title =
worldchampion =
womensworldchampion =
rating =
peakrating =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, but acted as highly useful tools for spotting opening traps.History
Greco was a remarkable
chess player betweenRuy López de Segura andFrançois-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 theGiuoco 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 inLondon . These games are regarded as classics of early chess literature and are still sometimes taught to beginners. Greco loved to use theSicilian Defence , which was invented by an Italianbishop .Greco paved the way for many of the attacking legends of the Romantic era, such as
Adolf Anderssen ,Paul Morphy , andFrançois Philidor .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
and 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
Compositions
Chess diagram|=
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Greco, 1623
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Black to play and drawThis 1623 composition by Greco uses the theme of thewrong 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 harvcol|Averbakh|1996|p=85.ee also
*
Greco Defence References
* citation
last = Averbakh| first = Yuri|authorlink = Yuri Averbakh
year = 1996
title = Chess Middlegames: Essential Knowledge
publisher = Cadogan
id=ISBN 1-85744-125-7External links
*chessgames player|id=72111
*worldcat id|lccn-n85-53923
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