March 2004

"XXXVI Olimpiada de Ajedrez"

Philately joins the celebration of the 36th Chess Olympiad with this stamp depicting Peonin, pet of the competition, and the name of the great chess player Ruy López de Segura. The event will take place in the town of Calviá (Mallorca) from the 14 to the 31 October and it has been organised by the Spanish Chess Federation (FEDE),the Town Hall of Calviá and the Balear Chess Federation.

The Chess Olympiad originates from the World Nation Championship which took place in Paris in 1924 in which participated 18 countries. From then on the event has been growing in participants and has become the most important in the world . It takes place every two years and throughout these years has counted with the participation of the most prestigious chess players such as Gary Kasparov, Anatoly Karpov, Vladimir Kramnik or Ruslan Ponomariov.

In the stamp also features Ruy López de Segura, one of the best chess players of the XVI century. He was born in Zafra (Badajoz) and was very enthusiastic about chess from his early years. He became a clergyman who moved to Rome for ecclesiastic reasons and there he had the chance of playing against and beating the great Italian chess players. He wrote the famous book “Libro de la invencion liberal y el arte del juego del Axedrez”; edited in Alcalá de Henares in 1561 and which is a proper treaty on the subject. He is considered as being the creator of modern chess and his methods on opening variations and analysis on line are still in force. He counted with the support of King Philip II who was very fond of chess and who invited López de Segura to participate with Alfonso de Cerón in a court tournament against the best players of the time: The Italians Leonardo di Borna, known as Il Puttino and Paolo Boi, Il Siracusano. This event is considered to be the I Masters Tournament and it is supposed to be the first time a King Gambit was played.