Scachs d'amor (Valencian for Chess of Love), whose complete title is Hobra intitulada scachs d'amor feta per don Francí de Castellví e Narcis Vinyoles e mossèn Fenollar, is the name of a poem written by Francesc de Castellví, Bernat Fenollar, and Narcís Vinyoles, published in Valencia, Crown of Aragon, towards the end of the 15th century.
The poem is conceived as a chess game in which the players are Castellví, playing White (in modern chess) (MarsMarç, LoveAmor, and red pieces in the game), and Vinyoles, playing Black (Venus, the GloryGloria, and green pieces).[4] They debate about love, and Fenollar comments and establishes the rules. The opening in the game would, centuries later, be called the Scandinavian Defense. Notably, the game ends in a pure mate, which is a specific class of checkmate generally considered to be aesthetically pleasing. Green and red are still used in xiangqi as the colors for the pieces.
The poem uses the game as an allegory for love. Its structure is based upon sixty-four stanzas (the same as the number of chessboard squares), nine verses each. The stanzas are grouped three after three: The first stanza in the group represents White's move, the second one Black's move, and the third one a comment on the rules by the arbiter. The three stanzas in the beginning are an introduction and the last one is checkmate.
This is believed to be the earliest documented game of chess with the modern rules concerning the moves of the queen and bishop.[5][6] However, it is unknown whether the complete modern rules of chess were in use as of this game, because neither player castled or captured en passant.
The game is not particularly well played: for example, instead of playing 6.h3 White could play 6.Bxf7+ or 6.Ne5 with a big advantage in both cases. However the game was in its infancy, and the moves allegorize the love affairs that constitute the basic literary plot. For this reason, the authors did not care much if the movements were technically good or bad, but if they harmonized with the development of the literary plot.[7]
See also
Versus de scachis, the earliest known reference to chess in a European text
^"El joc d'escacs en la literatura catalana" [The game of chess in Catalan literature]. Bibliofília: Recull d'estudis, observacions, comentaris y notícies sobre llibres en general y sobre qüestions de llengua y literatura catalanes en particular. (in Catalan). 6: 400. December 1913 – via ARCA (Arxiu de Revistes Catalanes Antigues).
^"El joc d'escacs en la literatura catalana" [The game of chess in Catalan literature]. Bibliofília: Recull d'estudis, observacions, comentaris y notícies sobre llibres en general y sobre qüestions de llengua y literatura catalanes en particular. (in Catalan). 6: 401. December 1913 – via ARCA (Arxiu de Revistes Catalanes Antigues).