Ignazio Calvi

Who was Ignazio Calvi?

Ignazio Calvi was an Italian patriot and chess player.

After taking part to a popular insurrection in Modena and participating to a military campaign of the Savoia army, he was forced to expatriate. He moved to Paris in 1834, remaining there for 14 years. In the famous Café de la Régence he played many games with the foremost French players, being recognized as a strong master. In 1845 he drew a match with Lionel Kieseritzky.

He contributed many articles to the chess review Le Palaméde, among them a Cours d'échecs, which was later translated into English on the Chess Player's Chronicle. The articles included many diagrams with exercises and endgame studies, most of them composed by himself. He is regarded as the first composer to treat with some depth the theme of underpromotion.

In 1848 he returned to Italy and enlisted in the Piedmont army, taking part in many military campaigns for the cause of Italian unification. In December 1849 he played a series of matches in Modena against the strongest local players, winning most of them: Francesco Discart, Carlo Bonetti, Francesco Luppi, Marchisio.