Rodrigo "Ruy" López de Segura (c. 1530 – c. 1580) was a Spanish chess player, author, and Catholic priest whose 1561 treatise Libro de la invención liberal y Arte del juego del Axedrez was one of the first books about modern chess in Europe.

[3] In 1559, while living in Zafra, López was called to Rome by Pope Pius IV on ecclesiastical business.

In Italy López encountered Pedro Damiano's treatise on chess, Questo libro e da imparare giocare a scachi et de li partiti, but did not find much value in it.

López was the strongest player in Spain for nearly twenty years; his nearest rivals were Alfonso Ceron (of Granada) and Medrano.

[4][5] Around the year 1574,[6] López was still at the royal court in Spain when di Bona, then Paolo Boi, arrived on their tours of Europe.

Boi and a much-improved di Bona defeated López and Ceron in Madrid, in the presence of Philip II.

[2][7] As Andrew Soltis describes: "At that time, the best players of modern-rules chess lived in Italy and Iberia.

He first presents several mythological origins of the game, and discusses its benefits, rules, and strategies while interspersing a number of quotes (in Latin) from classical authors.

López's final chapters are devoted to odds chess, where he again criticizes Damiano's approaches to these games.

One such game was recorded by Polerio, and was played during the contests between Italians and Spaniards before King Philip II: 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.c3 Qe7 5.b4 Bb6 6.a4 a6 7.Ba3 d6 8.Qe2 Bg4 9.d3 Nf6 10.Nbd2[14] Among the analysis Ruy López gives in his treatise is an example of the opening that bears his name.