The World Chess Championship 2021 started today in Dubai. Reigning world champion, Norwegian Magnus Carlsen (30) meets Russian challenger Ian Nepomniachtchi (31). Chess is popular worldwide. It is estimated that as many as 600 million people are active players at one level or another – and interest among both the public and players is on the rise. Chess was invented in Asia in the 5th century, but the board game that requires a sense of strategy and tactics quickly spread to other parts of the world. Did you know that we can thank a Spanish priest and later bishop for perhaps the most widely used opening in chess in modern times? In the 16th century, Ruy López wrote a chess book that describes in detail what is today called “the Spanish opening”. But it would be about three hundred years before his playing style won out – it only happened when chess really became a game of honor, fame – and not least money.
“Do you recognize this chess opening?” asks the American chess book author Fred Reinfeld on the cover of his classic book “Winning Chess Openings.” The book was first published in 1961, but has been printed in several editions and is still well known in chess circles. The front page shows a Spanish opening as described by Ruy López in the 16th century. Chess came to Spain relatively early, and López’s book is the second oldest chess book preserved.
In modern times, the opening has been popular with a number of chess’ foremost players. Legendary figures such as Bobby Fischer and Gary Kasparov are among those who have made frequent use of the opening described by the Spanish priest.
Chess was probably invented in northern India as early as the 5th century AD and spread from there to Persia. The game was likely used to learn strategic thinking even then. When the Muslim Arabs invaded Persia in the 7th century AD, they became acquainted with the game of chess and later brought it with them on their conquests. As early as the 8th century, therefore, chess must have come to Spain with the Moors.
Admittedly, the game in this early phase was a little different from what we are used to today: The pieces had slightly different names, and the rules for moving them were also somewhat different from modern-day chess. The king was called Shāh. The piece we call queen, was called Firzān, a word that comes from Persian and interestingly enough means adviser. Firzān could only move one step at a time, and then only diagonally.
Fil which is similar to the bishop in modern chess, could never take out another bishop, but could skip over other pieces. It could only be moved two fields at a time, and then diagonally. If there was a piece on the first diagonal field, the bishop could jump over it.
Chess with a European twist
In Europe, both the name of the pieces and the rules for how to move them around on the chessboard’s 64 squares were changed. For example, pawns could now move up two spaces initially. The adviser, Firzān, became queen in Europe and could walk an unlimited number of fields and move in all directions. Special moves such as castling and en passant also came into play with European players. By the way, Fil became a bishop because the piece had a top that in a European context resembled a bishop’s hat.
Regardless: It is in Europe that chess gets the design and rules we have today. The new names can also be said to reflect the fact that chess has long remained a game for Europe’s royals, nobles, military leaders and clergy.
Ruy López: priest, bishop, author and chess enthusiast
Rodrigo or Ruy López de Segura (ca. 1530 – ca. 1580) was a Spanish priest and later bishop of Segura in southeastern Spain. He was a skilled chess player and chess theorist who studied the game as a general: López was a master of strategy. His game was based on long-term strategic thinking and maneuvering. In 1560 he defeated the player who would become the greatest chess star of his time, the Italian jurist Leonardo di Bona in Rome.
In 1561, exactly 400 years before Reinfeld writes about Ruy López’s “Spanish opening”, López publishes his famous chess book ” Libro de la invención liberal y arte del juego del Axedrez“. López shows in the book that he is the master of the long-term strategy. Ruy López was not the first to use the “Spanish opening”, it was already described in a manuscript from the 15th century which is kept in the German city of Göttingen. The author is unknown, but probably comes from the Iberian Peninsula.
López used the opening diligently when playing chess, and he described it thoroughly in his book, which is 150 pages long. López is extremely modern in that he systematically analyzes alternative openings. For better or worse, it should mean he was ahead of his time. His style and way of thinking are significantly closer to modern chess games than the way his contemporaries played.
The mighty Felipe II of Spain and Portugal was probably inspired by López’ victory in Rome. The king issued invitations to the very first international chess tournament we know of. It was held from 1574 to 1575 at the royal court, El Escorial, near Madrid. Unfortunately for the Spaniards, Ruy López was defeated in that tournament.
A modern style of play from the 16th century
The Spanish opening first became really popular among chess players from the mid-19th century when a Finnish-Russian chess player, Carl Jaenisch, rediscovered the potential in it and mentioned it in his two-volume work on chess openings. Jaenisch, who also worked as a mathematician, was one of the world’s foremost chess players in the 1840s. In the books, he mentions López’ “Spanish opening” as an active opening that offers many opportunities to develop games and positions. In the 19th century, we also get large, prestigious chess tournaments. The quest for both personal and national honors, as well as substantial sums of money increased the level of competition significantly.
In the second half of the 19th century, a chess world championship is introduced, and thus chess becomes a “competitive sport” with all that may entail in terms of emphasis on analysis, strategy and tactics – and that is where López’s style fits very well.
The Spanish opening is among the oldest and still most used openings in chess history. It is well known and used in major tournaments, including the World Championship. In the next couple of weeks we will know which of the two competitors, Carlsen or Nepomniachtchi, will walk away with the title of World Champion.
Find Your Spain!
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