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Pedro Damiano

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Pedro Damiano
Full namePedro Damião
Country Portugal
Born1480
Odemira, Portugal
Died1544
Front page of his book

Pedro Damiano (Portuguese: Pedro Damião; Damiano is the Italian form, much like the Latin Damianus; 1480–1544) was a Portuguese chess player. A native of Odemira, he was a pharmacist by profession. He wrote Questo libro e da imparare giocare a scachi et de li partiti, published in Rome, Italy, in 1512; it went through eight editions in the sixteenth century. Damiano describes the rules of the game, offers advice on strategy, presents a selection of chess problems (see diagrams), and provides analyses of a few openings. It is the oldest book that definitely states that the square on the right of the row closest to each player must be white. He also offers advice regarding blindfold chess, principally focused on the need to master notation based on numbering the squares 1–64 (Murray 1913, 788–89).

In this book Damiano suggested chess was invented by Xerxes, which would be why it was known in Portuguese as xadrez and in Spanish as ajedrez. In fact, these words come from Sanskrit caturaṅga via Persian and Arabic šaṭranj.

The well-known chess aphorism "If you see a good move, try to find a better one", sometimes misattributed to Lasker and other writers, can be found in Damiano's book; similar sentiments were expressed by al-Suli regarding shatranj, the Persian precursor to chess.[1]

According to the historian José Antonio Garzón, Damiano was a pseudonym, and his book was written by Francesc Vicent.[2]

Chess openings

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In his opening analysis, Damiano suggested that after 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 the reply 2...Nc6 is best and 2...d6 (now called the Philidor Defence) is not as good. He rightly condemned 2...f6 as clearly inferior, noting that White can play 3.Nxe5 with advantage; however, the opening later came to be known as the Damiano Defence. He stated that 1.e4 and 1.d4 are the only good first moves and that 1.e4 is better. He examined the Giuoco Piano, Petrov's Defence, and the Queen's Gambit Accepted.

Chess problems

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abcdefgh
8
a8 black king
b8 black rook
h8 black rook
a7 black pawn
e4 black queen
b2 white rook
f2 white queen
a1 white king
b1 white rook
8
77
66
55
44
33
22
11
abcdefgh
White mates in three
Solution:
1.Qxa7+ Kxa7 2.Ra2+ Qa4 3.Rxa4#
abcdefgh
8
e8 black queen
f8 black rook
g8 black king
g7 black pawn
f6 black pawn
g6 white pawn
e2 white pawn
d1 white queen
f1 white rook
h1 white rook
8
77
66
55
44
33
22
11
abcdefgh
White mates in five[3]
Solution:
1.Rh8+ Kxh8 2.Rh1+ Kg8 3.Rh8+ Kxh8 4.Qh1+ Kg8 5.Qh7#
abcdefgh
8
d8 black rook
g8 black knight
h8 black king
g7 black pawn
h7 black pawn
g6 black queen
g5 white knight
h4 white queen
8
77
66
55
44
33
22
11
abcdefgh
White mates in two[4]
Solution:
1.Qxh7+ Qxh7 2.Nf7#

Notes

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  1. ^ Edward Winter, Chess Notes 7837 & 7841 "Si hai buon tratto per la mano guarda se ne sia altro megliore"
  2. ^ A World of Chess, Jean-Louis Cazaux and Rick Knowlton, p. 246
  3. ^ Although this position has no white king, it is that way in the reference, A History of Chess.
  4. ^ Although this position has no white king, it is that way in the reference, Questo libro e da imparare giocare a scachi et de li partiti.

References

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  • Hooper, David; Whyld, Kenneth (1992), The Oxford Companion To Chess (2nd ed.), Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 101, ISBN 0-19-280049-3
  • Murray, H. J. R. (1913), A History of Chess, Clarendon Press (Oxford), ISBN 0-19-827403-3
  • Questo libro e da imparare giocare a scachi et de li partiti at Gallica, the digital archives of the Bibliothèque nationale de France