From March 17‑25, the little Spanish city of Zafra paid homage to the most important inhabitant ever to hail from the town: the priest Ruy López Segura (1540‑1580).

The name Ruy López is very well‑known to every chess player. He was the founder of the Spanish opening, also called the Ruy López opening. But his contributions go way beyond his opening. His 1561 book, “Libro de la invención liberal y arte del juego del Axedrez,” loosely translated as “Book of the liberal invention and art of the game of chess,” is considered to be one of the first works on the theory of chess.

He was the first to use the concept of gambit, the sacrifice of a pawn in the opening, and he helped to make popular terms as the en passant capture and blind chess.

In his time, there did not exist not such a thing as a world championship or a world chess federation, but Ruy López is considered to have been the best chess player of the world at least from 1570 to 1575. He was able to defeat all the best chess players of his era, the Italians Leonardo da Cutri “Il Puttino” (1551‑1597) and Paolo Boi (1528‑1598), as well as Spaniard Alfonso Cerón (date of birth and death unknown), and that opened the doors of the royal palace for him.

Ruy became a chess teacher in the retinue of the Spanish King Philip II (1527‑1598) and played several international tournaments, most notably in Italy, which in that time was the epicenter of  chess.

The notation of one of those games has survived to this day, and will serve as the game we present this week. Ruy’s opponent is Leonardo da Cutri, nicknamed “Il Puttino” because of his short stature. The game’s transcription originates from the 1560 championship organized by  the Pope Gregorio XIII (1502‑1585) in Rome.

The eight Grandmasters that are playing these days in Zafra to honor the figure of Ruy López will probably not play games like this. It is a miniature of only twelve moves. But it contains many interesting ideas and with no doubt can be considered an ancestor of modern chess.