It is most widely believed that the increased powers of the queen and the bishop were introduced during the Renaissance in Italy; however, Calvo insisted that Spain played a major role.

In 1987, he was condemned by FIDE and declared "persona non grata" (Latin: "An unwelcome person") by a vote of 72-1, for writing a controversial article in New in Chess.

[3] In response, Calvo wrote a letter to FIDE titled "On the Nature of FIDE Legitimacy" in which he disputed their decision: ...a ban against a chess player based on any political ideas is in itself an intellectual and juridical monstrosity...Yes, any Hitler, Stalin, Pol-Pot, Mao, Sadam or Ilyumzhinov has the right, if he wishes, to play in a chess tournament.

This is the real greatness of our game, a spiritual refuge far above the dirty politics of everyday life in any country.

This game, played in 1997, was between Ulf Andersson and Ricardo Calvo: 1.Nf3 d5 2.c4 d4 3.g3 Nc6 4.d3 e5 5.Bg2 Bb4+ 6.Nbd2 a5 7.O-O Nge7 8.a3 Bd6 9.Ne4 Ng6 10.e3 Be7 11.exd4 exd4 12.Nfg5 h6 13.Nh3 O-O 14.f4 f5 15.Neg5 hxg5 16.Bd5+ Rf7 17.Qh5 Qd6 18.Re1 Bd7 19.fxg5 Nce5 20.Nf4 Ra6 21.Bd2 Bf8 22.Rac1 c5 23.h4 Nh8 24.Qe2 Ng4 25.h5 g6 0-1.