Gioachino Greco
Gioachino Greco (c. 1600 – c. 1634) was an Italian chess player and writer. He recorded some of the first chess games known, 77 in total. His games, all against anonymous opponents ("NN"), were quite possibly constructs (Hooper & Whyld 1992), but served as highly useful tools for spotting opening traps.
Mikhail Botvinnik considered Greco to be the first professional chess player (Gufeld & Stetsko 1996:5).
Mikhail Botvinnik considered Greco to be the first professional chess player (Gufeld & Stetsko 1996:5).