I could take advantage of the invitation to a workshop
with representatives of the new European Chemicals Agency at Helsinki
to visit the wonderful antiquarian bookshop of our founder member Kimmo
Välkesalmi. In spite of difficult road conditions – the severe
winter had Helsinki under control that afternoon with biting cold temperatures
down to -10°C – my colleague and I could quite well reach the
shop on foot from the hotel. Then we had a nice conversation with Kimmo
– a long-time barter partner – naturally about chess in Finland
and chess books, certainly he had several thousand to view in his shop.
At least I could buy three interesting items, among them this strange
game collection of the meanwhile inactive GM Heikki Kallio:
|
A
brochure of 42 pages containing 31 (undated) games. Self published,
Vaasa 2008.
The author has switched to professional poker in the meantime.
Here the link to his web site
http://www.hkallio.net/
and to the Wikipedia
page (in German only). |
The origin of the beautifully designed chess set for blind persons (photo
below) remained unclear. However Kimmo was completely enthusiastic when
I advised him of the historical importance of his youngest new acquisition
– Amsterdam 1889: Emanuel Lasker’s first international tournament.
The
impressive chess department of the bookshop |
Kimmo
Välkesalmi in his area |
A
special chess set for blind persons |
Kimmo
Välkesalmi and Michael Negele |
|
