Cozio Count Carlo Francesco (1715 – 1780)

Count Cozio was the author of a 2 volume chess book dated of 1766 Il Giuoco delgi Scacchi. Murray writes that Cozio’s work was the last piece of chess literature to appear in Italy before the center of European chess shifted to France and England. But in fact this book was written before those of the Modena School (Ercole del Rio, Lolli and Ponziani). Cozio’s work is divided into four parts: part 1 is devoted to gambits, part 2 to ordinary game, part 3 to the Calabrian form of the game and part 4 is a collection of games and positions. The first volume contained more openings and variations than any book prior -228 openings with 200 variations – many of which had never been seen in print before. The second volume covered the various and different chess rules used in Calabria at the time as well as endgame and middlegame studies (201 endgames where examined) and chess problems. Lothar Schmid owns the original 1740 manuscript (410 pages). A considerable number of pages of the first printing were destroyed by a fire at the Royal Press of Turin.