Gioacchino Greco

Gioacchino Greco (1600-c.1634) was an Italian chess player and writer. Greco recorded some of the first chess games on record, 77 in total. His games, all against anonymous opponents ("NN"), were quite possible constructs, but acted as highly useful tools for spotting opening traps. Among his games/constructions were the first smothered mate:
NN vs Greco 1620

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.O-O Nf6 5.Re1 O-O 6.c3 Qe7 7.d4 exd4 8.e5 Ng4 9.cxd4 Nxd4 10.Nxd4 Qh4 11.Nf3 Qxf2+ 12.Kh1 Qg1+ 13.Nxg1 Nf2# 0-1

and this stunning queen sacrifice:

Greco vs NN 1619

1.e4 b6 2.d4 Bb7 3.Bd3 f5 4.exf5 Bxg2 5.Qh5+ g6 6.fxg6 Nf6 7.gxh7 Nxh5 8.Bg6# 1-0

Greco paved the way for many of the attacking legends of the Romantic era, such as Paul Morphy and Francois Philidor

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