Ludus Scacchia is the name of a chess book translated from Italian into Early Modern English and printed in 1597 by H. Jackson[1]. The name of the author or translator is given only as G.B.

The book is about 50 pages long, but I will sum it up in a few pages. I use brackets [] to clarify meanings and spellings, except when they have a number inside, which indicates a footnote.

Okay, here it goes.

#1. First, learn the chessmen, or chess pieces, their names, their number [how many], and the seat [starting square] of each (PDF p. 9).

Name and Appearance of Each Chessman
#2. The king is the tallest chessman, the queen the second tallest and best piece, and both wear crowns (PDF pp. 9-10).
#3. The bishops have a sharp top and are placed next to the king and queen (PDF p. 9).
#4. The knights are placed next to the bishops (PDF p. 10).
#5. The rooks stand in the two corners, next to the knights (PDF p. 10).
#6. The pawns stand in a row in front of the pieces [king, queen, bishops, knights, and rooks] (PDF p. 10).

Moving the Rooks, Knights, and Bishops
#7. The duty of the rooks is not to move, unless needed, and mainly to help the king (PDF p. 10).
#8. No piece more readily attacks than the knight, because of how he moves (PDF p. 10).
#9. The knight moves from three into three places [squares] (PDF p. 10).
#10. The knight moves from white square to black, and from black square to white (PDF p. 11).
#11. Even if the knight is surrounded he is not stopped from attacking, as long as he has a square to leap to, in the manner described in #9 and #10 (PDF p. 11).
#12. The bishop always moves aside, never forthright (PDF p. 11).

Moving the King: Special Rules in Other Countries
#13. In Spain, the king moves only one square, but can attack three squares (PDF p. 11).
#14. In Spain, The king can attack like the knight, but only if he has not yet moved (PDF p. 11).
#15. In Italy, the king can move to the other side of the board, if the way is open (PDF p. 11).
#16. In Italy, the king can move a pawn to put himself in place of the pawn (PDF p. 11).
#17. In France, the king can move two squares "along his front" and put the rook in his place, if the way is open and the king has had no check (PDF p. 11).
#18. The best chess players from Spain and Portugal moved the king according to the French rules (PDF p. 12).

Moving the Queen
#19. The queen makes the moves of the rooks and also of the bishops (PDF p. 12).
#20. Look after the queen well, because the game is rarely won after she is lost (PDF p. 12).

Pawn Promotion
#21. A pawn that reaches the last rank of the enemy [opponent] becomes a queen (PDF p. 12).
#22. And if a pawn becomes a queen, and gives check in so becoming, even better (PDF p. 12).

Pawn Moves and Captures
#23. Each pawn always moves straight ahead, never aside as the bishop's movement was described in #12 (PDF p. 12).
#24. Each pawn can choose to move one or two squares forward, on his first move (PDF p. 12).
#25. The best pawns are next to the king (PDF p. 12).
#26. When the king is checked, pawns cannot march aside to the left or right to give cover to the king, because their march is forward (PDF pp. 12-13).
#27. Pawns can keep moving forward, one step at a time, as long as their way is not blocked (PDF p. 13).
#28. Despite #27, pawns capture by marching awry one step of whichever side, but cannot capture what stands right against him (PDF p. 13).
#29. It is best not to advance pawns too far into the enemy's camp (PDF p. 13). [Do not overextend pawns.]

Abbreviations for the Chessmen (PDF p. 13)
K. = King
Q. = Queen
P. = Pawn
K.B. = King's Bishop
K.Kn. = King's Knight
K.R. = King's Rook
Q.B. = Queen's Bishop
Q.Kn. = Queen's Knight
Q.R. = Queen's Rook

Object of the Game
#30. The chessmen, great and small, are marched to give mate to the contrary king (PDF p. 14).

General Rules to Be Used in Chess Play
#R1. Make no move in vain, unless you must (PDF p. 15).
#R2. You must not make a mistake (PDF p. 15).
#R3. You must not move too hastily (PDF p. 15).
#R4. If you see a good move, look first for a better one (PDF p. 15).
#R5. If you are winning, you may make a change and still win (PDF p. 15).
#R6. If you are winning, take care not to spoil it or abandon your king to win a pawn (PDF p. 15).
#R7. When you move your king, move him to a sure place (PDF p. 15).
#R8. Unless you have to, do not move the bishop's or rook's pawns in front of your castled king. Games are often lost this way when the contrary king finds a way to help give mate (PDF p. 15).
#R9. Go abroad with your pieces. Do not keep them at home (PDF p. 15). [Develop your pieces.]
#R10. It's good to have your king's, queen's, and bishops' pawns moved two squares forward (PDF p. 15).

Board Setup and Naming Conventions
#31. Set the board so your righthand rook is on a white square (PDF pp. 15-16). [Light on right.]
#32. Each piece is named according to which side it sits on (PDF p. 16). [For instance, the knight on g1 is called the king's knight, as it sits on the kingside, or king's side of the board.]
#33. Each square is similarly named, up to the fourth rank. Beyond the fourth rank, the square is named from the opponent's perspective (PDF p. 15).

Starting Position of the Chessboard
The author's poem, "Scacchia Ludus: Chess Play," also mentions the chessmen's starting squares.
#P1. The chessboard has sixty-four squares in black and white (PDF p. 24).
#P2. Chess is turn-based, meaning each player takes turns (PDF p. 25).
#P3. Each player has sixteen chessmen, the two players being white and black (PDF p. 25).
#P4. The king starts on the fourth square of the back rank, the white king on a black square [e1], and the black king on a white square [e8] (PDF p. 26).
#P5. The queen starts next to the king, on her color [d1, d8] (PDF p. 26).
#P6. The bishops start on the squares next to the king and queen [c1, f1, c8, f8]. The bishops are called archers in the poem (PDF p. 26).
#P7. The knights start on the squares next to the bishops [b1, g1, b8, g8] (PDF p. 26).
#P8. The rooks start on the corner squares [a1 h1, a8, h8] next to the knights. The rooks are called elephants in the poem (PDF p. 27).

In Part 2, we study the section of the book that offers a surprisingly thorough look at different opening lines, while giving us move recommendations along the way. It's like a time capsule that shows chess opening theory at an early stage of development.

Thanks for reading!

Glossary of Terms
Chessmen: The figurines that are moved to different squares during a chess game.
Pieces: The 8 chessmen starting on each player's 1st rank. (King, queen, bishops, knights, rooks.)
Pawns: The 8 chessmen starting on each players' 2nd rank.
Rooms: Squares on the chessboard. Also called places and houses.
Seat: The square where a chessman sits before the game starts; that is, its starting square.
Remove: To move a chessman from one square to another. Also refers to the move itself.
Transported: Castled.

Footnotes
1. The cover page says the book was printed by H. Iackson, which looks like a strange last name. However, in their poem, which takes up the last two thirds of the book, the author writes about the Roman god Jupiter arriving on the Ethiopian shore (PDF pp. 22-23) and Jupiter is spelled as "Iupiter." Later in the same poem, mention is made of a Conqueror being promised to have a just reward (PDF p. 31) but just is spelled as "iust." We may assume that the letter "I" was at least sometimes pronounced as "J," for example, when it was the first letter of certain words. Based on this, we may assume that the printer's name would today be written as "H. Jackson."

Bibliography
G.B. Scacchiæ Ludus: Cheſſe-Play. London: H. Iackſon, 1597.

Originally posted in DAYSI DUKES CHESS CLUB. ©2024 Eleanor Kensington. All rights reserved.

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