De ludo scachorum

De ludo scachorum
(English: On the Game of Chess)
Library of the Palazzo Coronini Cronberg, Gorizia, Italy
Portrait of the author
Also known asSchifanoia
Datec. 1500
Place of originMantua, Duchy of Mantua
Language(s)Latin
Author(s)Luca Pacioli
Illuminated byLeonardo da Vinci (?)
Dedicated toIsabella d'Este
Francesco II Gonzaga
SizeForty-eight pages
ContentsChess problems
Discovered2006

De ludo scachorum ('On the Game of Chess'), also known as Schifanoia ('the "Boredom Dodger"'),[1] is a Latin-language manuscript on the game of chess written around 1500 by Luca Pacioli, a leading mathematician of the Renaissance. Created in the times when rules of the game (especially the way queen and bishop move) were evolving to the ones known today, the manuscript contains over a hundred chess problems, to be solved – depending on the problem – using either the old or the modern rules.

The long-lost manuscript was rediscovered in 2006 and gathered public attention in 2008, following the plausible suggestion that the chess pieces in its illustrations were designed or perhaps even drawn by Leonardo da Vinci.[1]

De Ludo Scachorum
  1. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference Cooper was invoked but never defined (see the help page).