| De ludo scacchorum | |
|---|---|
| Palazzo Coronini Cronberg library, Gorizia, Italy | |
| Also known as | Schifanoia |
| Date | c. 1500 |
| Place of origin | Mantua, Duchy of Mantua |
| Language(s) | Latin |
| Author(s) | Luca Pacioli |
| Illuminated by | Leonardo da Vinci (?) |
| Dedicated to | Isabella d'Este Francesco II Gonzaga |
| Size | Forty-eight pages |
| Contents | Chess problems |
| Discovered | 2006 |
De ludo scacchorum or De ludo scachorum (Latin: On the Game of Chess), also known as Schifanoia (the Boredom Dodger),[1] is a manuscript on the game of chess written around 1500 by Luca Pacioli, a leading mathematician of the Renaissance. Created in the times when rules of the game (especially the way queen and bishop move) were evolving to the ones we know today, De ludo scacchorum contains over a hundred chess problems, to be solved – depending on the problem – using the old or the modern rules.
The long-lost manuscript was rediscovered in 2006 and gathered public attention in 2008, after the suggestion that the chess pieces in its illustrations were designed or perhaps even drawn by Leonardo da Vinci.
Contents |
The manuscript was discovered in 2006 by book historian Duilio Contin, in the 22,000-volume Palazzo Coronini Cronberg library in Gorizia, Italy.[1][2][3] The owner, count Guglielmo Coronini, bought it alongside other old books from an unnamed "Venetian poet and bibliophile" in 1963.[1] De ludo scacchorum gathered public attention in February 2008, after Franco Rocco, who was researching the work, suggested that the chess pieces in diagrams illustrating it were designed or perhaps even drawn by Leonardo da Vinci.[1]
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Luca Pacioli created De ludo scacchorum at the beginning of the 16th century, soon after the new way of movement for queen and bishop was introduced to the rules of chess in the 1470s, making those pieces considerably stronger.[4] In addition, pawn promotion became more dangerous, since getting an additional queen now had bigger impact on the game.[4] The forty-eight pages long manuscript contains over a hundred[5] educational positions and chess problems, drawn in red and black,[2] featuring both the original and the new rules, the latter known as a la rabiosa (meaning "mad" or "angry" in Spanish), a reference to the enhanced powers of the queen.[4]
It is known that Pacioli and Leonardo were friends,[2] and that Leonardo provided illustrations for Pacioli's De divina proportione.[4] De ludo scacchorum was created somewhere after 1499, when they both fled from Milan to Mantua (after the former was invaded by Louis XII of France)[2][4] where they were protected by Isabella d'Este, a chess enthusiast[1][4] to whom the book is dedicated.[2]
The pieces illustrating the manuscript have been described as "futuristic", even by today's standards.[3] In his The Times article, Grandmaster Raymond Keene described that they first appear at the start of the book, where they are drawn in array,[4] and that this drawing is artistically superior to the pieces in diagrams in the book itself.[4] It is thus possible that Leonardo may have created the "original designs" featured at the beginning, while the pieces illustrating the rest of manuscript were drawn by someone else.[3][4] The theory of Leonardo's involvement is also further supported by the facts that the design for queen is very similar to a fountain drawn by the artist in the Codex Atlanticus,[1][4] that proportion of the pieces follow the principle of the golden ratio, which fascinated both polymaths[1] and because the pieces were drawn using both left and right hand, and Leonardo is known to be left-handed.[3]
Chess theoreticians analyzed Pacioli's knowledge of the subject after one of the problems from the book (pictured above) was published first by The Guardian[4] and later in other places, including Susan Polgar's blog.[6] Initially, it was not known whether it is supposed to be solved using the old or the new rules. Moreso, the diagram featured a white pawn on the first rank (on d1 square), an illegal position.[4] Raymond Keene concluded it should be solved using modern rules, while the pawn should be replaced with a white knight, as it was most likely drawn mistakenly.[4] Keene described the puzzle as "fiendishly difficult" and "highly advanced for its time",[4] while Richard Eales noted "nothing like this puzzle has so far been found in other publications, or the older manuscripts or printed chess books".[4]
Keene has called the author a "chess genius",[4] because of how he was able to quickly develop a deep understanding of the way the new rules will change chess.[4] He also believes that it is possible Leonardo created some of the problems in the manuscript, including the one presented by The Guardian.[4]