{{Short description|Italian chess Master}} {{no footnotes|date=October 2016}} {{Infobox chess player |name = Giovanni Leonardo di Bona |image = Luigi Mussini- Leonardo da Cutro e Ruy Lopez giocano a scacchi alla corte di Spagna.jpg |caption = Leonardo di Cutro (center-right) defeats Ruy López in Spain |birthname = Giovanni Leonardo di Bona |country = Kingdom of Naples |birth_date = 1533 |birth_place = Cutro, Calabria, Kingdom of Naples |death_date = August 2, 1578 (aged c. 45) |death_place = Taranto, Kingdom of Naples |title = |worldchampion = |womensworldchampion = |rating = |peakrating = }}
'''Giovanni Leonardo di Bona''' or '''Giovanni Leonardo da Cutro''' (both given names can also be seen in the reversed order '''Leonardo Giovanni'''), known as '''Il Puttino''' ({{langx|it|Small Child}}) (1533–1578), was an early Italian chess master.
Giovanni Leonardo was born in Cutro, Calabria. He studied law in Rome. In 1560, he lost a match to Ruy López in Rome. In the years 1566–1572, he traveled and played chess in Rome, Genoa, Marseille, and Barcelona. He had played many times against Paolo Boi in Italy, and they were regarded as being equal in strength.
Traveling with another strong player of his time, Guilio Cesare Polerio, Leonardo won the first known international master tournament in Madrid in 1575, becoming the strongest chess master of the time.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Cornwall |first=Bill |date=February 11, 2018 |title=Chess |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/545461816/?match=1&terms=Giovanni%20Leonardo%20di%20Bona |access-date=2025-01-19 |website=Newspapers.com |publisher=Los Angeles Times |page=H3 |language=en |quote=Years after this loss [to Ruy Lopez in 1560], Leonardo had grown greatly in strength. In 1575 in Madrid, he won the first international master tournament in history and became recognized as the top master of his day.}}</ref> After their success at the Court of Spain, Leonardo and Boi both travelled, albeit separately, to Lisbon, where they tested their skill against ''Il Moro'', the eminent chess champion of King Don Sebastian, of Portugal. Again, they both succeeded—first Leonardo, soon followed by Boi—in defeating Il Moro.
After defeating López in Spain, he asked for his town Cutro to be forgiven of taxes and called Cutro the "City of Chess," where every year, this event is remembered on a traditional day in August. And again, the King was generous with his rewards. After this triumph, Leonardo, having been called the wandering knight (''Il Cavaliere errante'') by King Don Sebastian, left Portugal to return to Italy and settle in Naples, where he became the chess master for the Prince of Bisignano.
Although only a small number of his games have reached us, we are certain that he did not play chess like his peers, who were all aggressive attackers. Instead, he was a slow, positional player who consistently favored sound tactics over spectacular combinations.
==External links== *{{chessgames player|id=77044}} *[https://web.archive.org/web/20070301065158/http://e4e6.com/cutro/leonardouk.php Biography] {{in lang|it}}
==References== {{reflist}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bona, Giovanni Leonardo Di}} Category:People from the Kingdom of Naples Category:1533 births Category:1597 deaths Category:People from the Province of Crotone Category:Italian chess players Category:16th-century chess players {{italy-chess-bio-stub}}