Recently Professor Jackie Eales gave a lecture in Canterbury on ‘Queenship in the Age of the Enraged Chess Queen’. (The title of course refers to the new powers conferred on the queen as a piece after the transition from the slower Arabic and medieval games.) In 1560 the bishop of Limoges, the French ambassador in Madrid, sent Mary Queen of Scots a chess book, having heard that she took great pleasure in the game. The author was the famous Saffran, described by the bishop as one of the greatest players ever seen, who had beaten all of Italy and the rest of the world. Professor Eales inferred that the ‘famous Saffran’ was none other than the Spanish expert Ruy Lopez, author of the book Libro De La Invencion Liberal Y Arte Del Juego Del Axedrez. This is widely assumed to have been published under licence from King Philip II of Spain (of Armada fame) at Alcala in 1561.
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