Ignazio Calvi

Ignazio Calvi (21.1.1797 - 17.8.1872)

Strong chess player and chess composer of endgame studies

 He was an Italian patriot who fought for the unity of Italy. After taking part in an uprising in Modena, he fled to Paris in 1834, where he stayed for 14 years and soon became a regular visitor to the famous Café de la Regence, where the chess elite of the time met. He not only developed into a strong player, but also a composer who published several studies in the Palamède. Calvi was one of the first composers to deal systematically with the underpromotion theme. 

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This article uses algebraic notation to describe chess moves.

Ignazio Calvi (Reggio Emilia, 21 January 1797 — Finale Emilia, 17 August 1872) was an Italian patriot and chess player.

After taking part in a popular insurrection in Modena and participating in a military campaign of the Savoy 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 (+7 –7 =1).

He contributed many articles to the chess review Le Palamède, 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 (+10 –5 =2), Carlo Bonetti (+8 –8 = 4), Francesco Luppi (+4 - 0 =0), Marchisio (+2 -0 =0).

In 1859 he was appointed to command the Florence stronghold of the Piedmont army and afterwards he was sent to Parma as an aid to the army general Zucchi. In August of the same year he was named deputy member of the newly formed Modena government. He was appointed representative of the Modena government, first in Parma and then in Ferrara. After serving as an officer in the law court of Naples, he was discharged from the army with the rank of major. He settled in Finale Modenese (now Finale Emilia), where he worked as a pharmacist and was appointed to many public offices.