15 November 2011

Lesson of the Week

The Games of Gioachino Greco

Gioachino Greco recorded a number of games in his chess notebooks beginning as early as 1619. As he traveled from his native Italy to France and England, he sold copies of these games to patrons who sought chess instruction from him. These games are some of the oldest recorded complete games of chess available. They offer many useful lessons in chess tactics.

This week, we are highlighting a few key positions from two of these games.

Black to move

Black to move


Black to move


In addition to tactics, principally discovery, students should learn to examine king safety and material imbalance while studying these positions.


The Games

Here are the game scores from which these positions arose. Both games are identical until White's tenth move.


NN - Greco,Gioacchino [C50]
Europe 1620

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.0–0 Nf6 5.Re1 0–0 6.c3 Re8 7.d4 exd4 8.e5 Ng4 9.Bg5 Nxf2 10.Qb3 dxc3 11.Bxd8 cxb2 12.Nc3 Nd1+ 13.Kf1 bxa1Q 14.Rxd1 Qxd1+ 15.Nxd1 Nxd8 0–1

NN - Greco,Gioacchino [C50]
Europe 1620

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.0–0 Nf6 5.Re1 0–0 6.c3 Re8 7.d4 exd4 8.e5 Ng4 9.Bg5 Nxf2 10.Bxd8 Nxd1 11.Rxd1 dxc3+ 12.Kf1 cxb2 13.Nbd2 bxa1Q 14.Rxa1 Nxd8 0–1

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