ruy lopez

[con-amca]

Any chess players about?

What is the correct pronunciation of the chess opening
known as the "ruy lopez"?

And there is an ex-world chess champion, a Dutchman, named "Max Euwe". How do you pronounce his name?

[Quizmonster]

Roo-ee low-pez.
Not sure about the Dutch name, but I'd guess at Oy-vi with the 'i' as in 'sit'.

[con-amca]

Thanks QM. Oyvi sounds about right. I'll stick to that until (or unless) something better comes along. Come to think of it, I've never heard anyone speak Dutch. All the Dutchmen (and women) I've met have all spoken better English than I do!

[Clanad]

I suspect that Q is correct, however, I have a German friend whose first name is spelled Euwe and he (and his family) pronounce it Oo-va...

[Quizmonster]

I was going to mention something along these lines, C, basically thinking of the German international footballer Uwe Seeler, pronounced Oovi/Oovay Zayler. I imagine Euwe is just the Dutch equivalent, but - for no very good reason - feel it likely to be pronounced more oy than oo. Perhaps someone who knows for sure will help us out here!

[JK2]

Machgielis (Max) Euwe (last name is pronounced /�:wə/)

From Wikipedia

[con-amca]

Thanks JK2, but I'm afraid I'm none the wiser.

I looked up the IPA entry in Wikipedia, but that
didn't help either. I know that some dictionaries
use the IPA, with an explanation, but not the ones
I have, unfortunately.

I think I'll just go along with Quizmonster's answer.

[littleoldme]

As Ruy Lopez was Spanish rather than Latin American, his surname would be pronounced along the lines of Low-peth, with emphasis on the first syllable, and the 'th' pronounced softly as in 'this' rather than as in 'think'.

'Ruy' is pronounced somewhere between Roo-ee and Roy.

[con-amca]

Thank you, littleoldme. I think I was hoping that Bobby Fischer would come out of the woodwork and put us all right. I believe he lives in Thailand or somewhere equally exotic these days.