The most prestigious contemporary scholars now agree that modern chess originated in Valencia and have stated their opinions and acknowledgement of this fact in numerous works of reference.
We provide quotes reflecting this from some of the most significant studies, in which can be appreciated the agreement that has been reached in both chess and historical circles: the origin of chess in Valencia is an undisputed fact..
MARILYN YALOM (Stanford University)
YALOM, Marilyn. Birth of the Chess Queen. London, Pandora Press, 2004, pp. 193-196. ISBN:0 863584446.
GARETH WILLIAMS (England)
WILLIAMS, Gareth. “Collector´s Corner. The Return of Francesch Vicent. The History of the Birth and Expansion of Modern Chess”. Chess, London, August 2006, vol. 71, no. 5, pp. 18-19.
The great English historian thus concludes his scholarly article published in the Chess journal as follows: “The Return of Francesch Vicent represents a tremendous breakthrough in the realms of chess history. Through persistent study and generous sharing of historical research this publication provides proof that a remarkable man, Francesch Vicent, penned the first treatise on the present day rules of chess and it was published in the City of Valencia on 15th May 1495”. |
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YURI AVERBAKH (Russia)
AVERBAKH, Yuri. “Zagadka utrachennoy khigi, Nauka i Zhizn (Science and Life), Moscow 1985, pp. 137-141. The article was translated into Spanish: “The mystery of the lost book”, International Chess Journal, No. 65, February 1993, pp. 40.
AVERBAKH, Yuri .“How to catch a black cat in a dark room”, International Chess Journal, No. 78, March 1994, pp. 42-46.
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The great Russian master, who is doubtless the most significant contemporary scholar of the history of chess, has the honour of having promoted the vindication of Francesch Vicent’s book (Valencia, 1495). He has shown convincingly that the works of Lucena and Damiano took modern chess problems from Vicent’s book. It is for this reason that Averbakh proposes that the name of Vicent should be associated with these initial arrangements of the new chess, hailing the man from Segorbe as the first arranger of new chess and his book as the first chess treatise published in the world with the great reform of play explained in its pages. |
ALESSANDRO SANVITO (Milan, Italy)
Libro del quale si tratta della maniera et modo di giocare a scacchi di Orazio Gianutio. L´inedito manoscritto del più antico libro italiano di scacchi sulla teoría del gioco. Brescia: Messaggerie Scacchistiche, 2011, pp. 67 and 69-70. ISBN: 978-88-904411-7-2
DAVID LEVY and KEVIN O'CONELL
Oxford Encyclopedia of Chess Games. Vol, I, 1485-1866. Oxford University Press, 1981, p. Match 1. ISBN: 0-19-217571-8.
DIEGO D´ELIA (Naples, Italy)
Various authors. Gli scacchi di Luca Pacioli. Evoluzione rinascimentale di un gioco matematico. Sansepolcro: Aboca Museum Edizioni, 2007.
Extract (p. 27): “La più antica fonte finora nota circa l´adozione di queste nuove regole è tradita dal cod. Barcellona, Biblioteca de Catalunya, AFMP, Hobra Jntitulada Scachs d´Amor, feta per Don Françi de Castelví e Narcís Vinyoles e Mossen Fenollar (...) pubbicato integralmente da Ricardo Calvo e recentemente rivalutato e riportato alla giusta luce da Govert Westerveld e soprattuto da José Antonio Garzón”. |
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Mario Leoncini (Italy)
LEONCINI, Mario. La diabólica setta di Caissa. Scacchi e sesso. Roma: Prisma Editori, 2006. ISBN: 88-7264-097-0
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Extract (p. 106): “Il nuovo movimiento della Regina si trova descritto nel poema catalano Schacs d´amor, del 1475. Questo manoscritto per la storia degli scacchi ha assunto, proprio di recente, un´importanza enorme, dopo che José Antonio Garzón Roger ha dimostrato, nella sua monumentale opera, El regreso de Francesch Vicent, essere all´origine degli scacchi moderni”. |
DAGOBERTO L. MARKL (Portugal)
MARKL, Dagoberto. “O tratado jogo do xadrez da Biblioteca Pública de Évora. Um contributo para a História do Xadrez em Portugal”. Callipole, Revista de Cultura, nº 12, 2004, pp. 285-298.
Dr. PETER J. MONTÉ (Netherlands)
MONTÉ, P.J. “Vicent reconstructed? August-November 2001. Published in Chess Collector 11, no. 1, 2002.
The reconstruction of Vicent’s book by the Dutch scholar derives from and virtually converges with that of Averbakh; it confirms that Vicent’s book is the source of the modern chess problems of the later works of Lucena and Damiano.
FRANCO PRATESI (Florence, Italy)
PRATESI, Franco. “Vicent, fantomatico ma prevedibile”. L´Italia scacchistica, no. 1048, marzo de 1993, pp. 69-71.
The following article is more important still as it shows how he has changed the stance he defended in previous studies regarding the dating of the Florentine codex known as It., rejecting the idea that it could be a contemporary text of Scachs d´amor::
PRATESI, Franco. “Socius, Civis, et Alii”. Festschrift für Egbert Meissenburg. Siegfried Schönle (ed.). Refordis: Vienna, 2008, pp. 557-567.
This is a revised version of a study published in 1999. Professor Pratesi’s independence and rigour as a researcher can be seen from an important note at the end of the article:
Extract (p. 566): “All the time, I was convinced that the Florentine Malabechiano manuscript (known to scholars as “ms. It.”) was older than both manuscripts of Cesena and Perugia. After having read Garzón´s work (he quotes from the Spanish and English editions of El regreso de Francesch Vicent, 2005), I am now ready to accept that the order has to be reversed”.
DAVID SHENK
Shenk, David. The Immortal Game. A History of Chess. Doubleday: New York, 2006. Spanish edition by Turner Publicaciones, Madrid, 2009.
H. J. R. MURRAY (England)
MURRAY, H.J. R. A History of Chess. Oxford University Press, 1913 (The work has been reprinted several times).