Peter J. Monté, The Classical Era of Modern Chess (McFarland 2014) is a work of monumental scholarship. It does not replace H. J. R. Murray, A History of Chess (Oxford 1913) because it is of more limited chronological scope. Rather, it summarizes in a few pages (1-24) a good portion of Murray's text and what scholarship has contributed in the century since Murray. Monté then expands Murray's 26 page chapter XII "From Lopez to Greco" to a full length work of over 400 pages. The second and third parts of The Classical Era of Modern Chess add more than one hundred pages of detailed documentation of the sources of games and problems from this era.
My first impression of the book was that it is impressive scholarship which will serve as a frequently consulted reference work sitting beside Murray; Hooper and Whyld, The Oxford Companion to Chess, 2nd ed.; and a few other texts on a shelf next to the desk in my office. Also, I might read it. Although documented at least as well as Murray (probably better), and often concerned with the minutia of manuscript details, it remains quite readable.
When the book arrived two days ago, I immediately opened it to the chapter on Greco and skimmed that 36 page chapter. It begins with a discussion of his life, including how much we think is known relies upon a short passage by Alessandro Salvio of dubious credibility. Monté presents the whole of Salvio's passage in Italian, followed by a clear English translation. A couple of weeks ago, I had been trying to make sense of this same passage using Google Translate.
Following three and one-half double-column pages on Greco's life, Monté turns to his manuscripts. These include not only those listed by Antonius van der Linde (1874), J. A. Leon (1900), Murray (1913), and J. G. White (1919); but the list is expanded through more recent work by Monté, assisted in great measure by Alessandro Sanvito, who published a list in Italian (2005). Monté includes a manuscript that is no longer known to exist, but that may have been a source for Francis Beale. Beyer's MS, as he names it, was described briefly by August Beyer in Memoriae historico-criticae librorum rariorum (1734); Beyer gave it a date of 1632. Scholars have long assumed that Beyer transposed two numbers and that the missing MS should be dated 1623. A critical point emphasized in The Classical Era of Modern Chess, however, is that Beyer mentions that the MS was presented to King Charles I, who ascended to the throne in 1625. Monté finds it quite plausible that Greco was back in London in 1632. If so, William Lewis's assertion (1819) that Greco died at an advanced age, and which has long been dismissed on the authority of Salvio's brief passage, might be correct. Monté does not overstate his case, rather suggesting ways that future scholarship might confirm (or deny) Salvio's assertion.
Following detailed discussion of Greco's MSS, which remain the best sources for information about his life, the book turns to a discussion of Greco's sources, greatly expanding Murray's claim that Greco learned chess from the works of Lopez and Salvio (the 1604 text, which is much more credible), and also extending Tassilo von der Lasa's remark that Greco also learned from Polerio.
Monté then turns to publications of Greco's work, which begins with Beale's The Royall Game of Chesse-Play (1656). The chapter concludes with discussion of Greco's lists of rules, his openings, and his problems and endings. I posted one of Greco's endgame compositions a week ago (see "A Greco Composition").
Other chapters follow a similar pattern, There are chapters on Lucena, Damiano, Ruy Lopez, Annibale Romei (see below), Polerio, Gianutio, Salvio, and Carrera, as well as chapters devoted to particular manuscripts. The end of Part I includes three chapters: "The Pawn's Leap", and "From the King's Leap to Castling", and "Epilogue". The Epilogue offers a nice summary of how Monté views the contributions of his this book.
Useful
After less than an hour with The Classical Era of Modern Chess in my possession, I put it to work. About a week ago, I discovered an apparent error in the Wikipedia article on Greco. The information was from a web source of dubious credibility. I removed the "error" and challenged the source. Discussion ensued. A better source was found (Murray), but I pointed out that Murray's phrasing was less than clear. The "error" was put back into the article, but in a better framework (paraphrasing Murray). It all hinged on whether Cusentino, which appears in the title of the Corsini MS, possibly Greco's first, is a surname in the modern sense of the word, as some read Murray.
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| Title page of Greco's first MS from Monté (2014), 324 |
Further Wikipedia edits followed with information from the monumental text.
This morning I started another project--something I've poked at without substantially helpful resources for seven years--that is now made easy, albeit time consuming, with Part II. Openings and Games of the Classical Era of Modern Chess (439-530). This section documents the earliest known, as well as subsequent occurrences, of every move that can be found in manuscripts from this era. For instance, 1.e4 e5 was recorded by Damiano, who lauded the moves as "best" (439).
From this section, I now know that a well-known opening trap credited to Greco (and the notorious loser Nomen Nescio) in ChessBase Mega 2020 and nearly every other database on chess players' computers, as well as websites like Chessgames.com, was something that Greco copied into his manuscripts from the work of others.
Greco,Gioacchino -- NN [C54]
Greco Europe, 1620
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.c3 Nf6 5.d4 Bb6 6.dxe5 Nxe4 7.Qd5
This game appears Levy and O'Connell, Oxford Encyclopedia of Chess Games, vol. 1 1485-1866 (1981) as G-5. Greco likely copied it from Polerio. It’s earliest known appearance is in a manuscript by Annibale Romei (c. 1565-1568). This MS was discovered in 1939 by the scholar Adriano Chicco. Romei offers the line 7.Bxf7+ Kxf7 8.Qd5+ with the suggestion that 7.Qd5 is an improvement (460).
Likewise, the assertion found in many places that in London, Greco began extending what had been collections of openings or opening traps to the conclusions or near conclusions of games, can be understood in greater specificity.
Greco,Gioacchino - NN [C41]
Greco Europe, 1620
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 d6 3.Bc4 Bg4 4.h3 Bxf3 5.Qxf3 Nf6 6.Qb3
The opening to this point is recorded in several manuscripts by Polerio. The rest is Greco's contribution.
Black to move
6...Nxe4 7.Bxf7+ Kd7 8.Qxb7 Ng5 9.Bd5 Na6 10.Qc6+ Ke7 11.Qxa8 1-0
This game appears Levy and O'Connell, Oxford Encyclopedia of Chess Games, vol. 1 1485-1866 (1981) as G-17. The earliest known record of the moves from 6...Nxe4 is in the Mountstephen MS, which Monté dates to 1623 (447).
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