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Ruy Lopez de Segura
Ruy Lopez 
Cambodian postage stamp commemorating Ruy Lopez.     

Number of games in database: 4
Years covered: 1560 to 1575
Overall record: +2 -2 =0 (50.0%)*
   * Overall winning percentage = (wins+draws/2) / total games.


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RUY LOPEZ DE SEGURA
(born 1530, died 1580, 50 years old) Spain

[what is this?]

Ruy Lopez de Segura, born circa 1530, was the leading Spanish player of his day. He was a priest from Zafra in Estremadura and chess made him famous in the court of Phillip the Second. In 1560 on ecclesiastical business he visited Rome and whilst there he defeated all the strongest Italian players including Giovanni Leonardo Di Bona da Cutri. He read Damiano's book and decided to write his own which was published soon after his return to Spain. In 1574-75 Leonardo da Cutri and Paolo Boi visited Madrid and both defeated him in match play in the presence of King Felipe II. He passed away circa 1580.

Wikipedia article: Ruy López de Segura

Last updated: 2023-08-07 14:15:00

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 page 1 of 1; 4 games  PGN Download 
Game  ResultMoves YearEvent/LocaleOpening
1. Ruy Lopez vs G da Cutri 1-091560RomeC20 King's Pawn Game
2. Ruy Lopez vs G da Cutri 1-0121560Papal States ExhibitionC30 King's Gambit Declined
3. G da Cutri vs Ruy Lopez 1-0101575Leonardo vs. Ruy LopezC41 Philidor Defense
4. G da Cutri vs Ruy Lopez 1-0101575Leonardo vs. Ruy LopezC53 Giuoco Piano
  REFINE SEARCH:   White wins (1-0) | Black wins (0-1) | Draws (1/2-1/2) | Ruy Lopez wins | Ruy Lopez loses  

Kibitzer's Corner
< Earlier Kibitzing  · PAGE 1 OF 2 ·  Later Kibitzing>
Dec-26-03  ruylopez900: My Hero!
Feb-07-04  Calchexas: Did Ruy Lopez never play the Ruy Lopez? Is the opening named after him for no good reason? Does anyone know of a game in which the man actually plays the opening?
Feb-07-04  Shadout Mapes: He analyzed several openings, the Ruy Lopez being one of them.
Feb-08-04  ruylopez900: Also, do you really think that he played only two games in his entire life?? Probably the most logical reason is that the chessgames.com database is very incomplete if you're looking for games in the 1500s!
Feb-19-04  Calli: You can buy his original book from 1584. http://cgi.befr.ebay.be/ws/eBayISAP...

Only a few thousand Euros. I am waiting for the Dover reprint ;-)

Feb-29-04
Premium Chessgames Member
  Benzol: Ruy Lopez, Giovanni Leonardo di Bona, Paolo Boi, Morphy, Capablanca et al... We have a great deal to thank these 'Latin' players for and the inestimable contribution they have made to the game we love.
Apr-18-04  chessman6555: But the opening is named after the Spanish priest.
Apr-18-04  iron maiden: Does Ruy Lopez's book have any more of his games? It seems to me that more records should exist for a player of his caliber.
May-13-04  ruylopez900: To commemerate the 1,000th kibitz I would like to celebrate the contributions of one humble priest, one of the most sound openings in the world (a personal fave =D) as well as being the first unofficial WC after winning in Rome against the strongest players there (There weren;t to many top level players).
May-13-04
Premium Chessgames Member
  Gypsy: Do I remember correctly that Ruy Lopez essentially advised against playing 3.Bb5?
May-14-04  ruylopez900: <Gypsy> What gives you that idea? Ruy Lopez analyzed the opening (aka the Spanish) an gave it a positive grade. Do you really think it would be named after him if he had scorned it and laughed at it?
May-14-04
Premium Chessgames Member
  Gypsy: No offense, <ruylo>, this is just a kind of folklore, perhaps an urban legend, that goes around and gets repeated in several inrotoductory texts. It essentially states that Ruy Lopez was contrasting 3.Bc4 (Italian) to 3.Bb5 (Spanish) and gave preference to the former. I hope that someone here can easily either confirm the legend or debunk it. After all, Ruy Lopez writings still exist.

We do know that the initial encounters of Ruy Lopez with the Italians were successful for Ruy. But, in 1574, Leonardo of Calabria defeated Ruy Lopez in a match and for the next hundred years the Italian school of chess dominated (Polerio, Salvio, Greco...). As a playing style, the romantic school reigned yet another hundred years or more. That could easily give a rise to the urban legend I mention: Authors coppy from each other, change wording, meaning drifts, and, over time, an urban legend is born.

May-14-04  ruylopez900: <Gypsy> I would definitely believe that he would prefer the Italian for one reason. Back then not gambitting a pawn was considered chickening out. The Italian was as "quiet" as it got. The Ruy Lopez was considerably quieter and more positional in nature.

--The Bishop attacks the Knight that defends the pawn that's attacked by the Knight-- (the House that Ruy built)

Jul-19-04  Jesuitic Calvinist: I really wish some books of (or about) the very early players were available. Any suggestions much appreciated.
Mar-18-05  aw1988: Actually, if I may clear something up: Ruy Lopez is named after this player... but, he did indeed call 3. Bb5 weak!
Mar-18-05
Premium Chessgames Member
  Eric Schiller: <AW1988> Quite right, and that is why most of the world calls the opening the Spanish Game.
Jul-29-05  Knight13: The Old-times Unofficial World Champion! Considered a very strong player back then. RUY LOPEZ, Bb5! YEAH!
Dec-05-05  tintin: Yeah, his opening idea 3.Bb5 wasn't a bad idea except for the fact that ..3.Nd4 refutes it ;) GO THE BIRD!
Feb-03-06  McCool: Why aren't there more Ruy Lopez games, this guy was great!
Feb-24-07  SirBruce: Ercole Del Rio, the 18th century Italian chess writer, didn't have very high praise for Ruy Lopez:

"This writer [Ruy Lopez] made but little progress after Damiano; he, also, having few openings, and these so inconclusive and defective, that the Student can learn very little from them. He was a barren genius, and entirely deprived of that enthusaism whish is so necessary, particularly in the attacks."

Feb-25-07  vonKrolock: <SirBruce> That's a very interesting quote, and one that should be better known... Do You known if it's in Ercole's "Sopra il Giuoco degli Scacchi" (1750), or elsewhere?!
Feb-25-07  SirBruce: It's from "The Incomparable Game of Chess" originally published, according to J.S. Bingham's translation, in 1769. Chapter 5 has a section where he discusses his opinion of previous writers of the game: Damiano, Ruy Lopez, Greco, etc.
Feb-26-07  dw98: Damiano analyzed a poor opening and rightfully condemned it, but it was named after him anyway - See Ruy Lopez vs Leonardo di Bona, Rome. I read that Senior Lopez gave advice such as to place the board such that the light shines in your opponents eyes. Anyway, I think the opening named after him is quintessential chess.
Feb-26-07  SirBruce: Yes, and the Greco Defence is not one that seems to have ever been played by Greco, but rather illustrative of his opponents' tendancies of bringing the Queen out too early.
Feb-26-07  SirBruce: Anyway, your point may have been that Del Rio's first sentence referred simply to the openings Ruy Lopez wrote about, and that may be so, but the second sentence seems to clearly refer to the man himself.
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