Ercole del Rio

Ercole del Rio, 1750 (?)

	a	b	c	d	e	f	g	h
8									8
7									7
6									6
5									5
4									4
3									3
2									2
1									1
	a	b	c	d	e	f	g	h

White to move and draw

Solution: 1.Ne7! d5 2.Nec6 dxc4 3.Kc3 and 4.Kxc4 positional draw

Domenico Ercole del Rio (c. 1718 – c. 1802) was an Italian lawyer and author. He published a 110-page chess book in 1750 which was the basis of a work by Giambattista Lolli thirteen years later. He composed many chess problems. He was one of the Modenese Masters. He was known as "the Devil who could never be beaten".^[1]