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2012

The Quest for the Lost Incunabulum

"International Von der Lasa Award"© presented in Valencia

On 15 May 1495, Francesch Vicent’s book Libre dels jochs partitis dels scachs en nombre de 100 was printed in Valencia by Lope de la Roca and Pere Trincher. A considerable prize was offered now which will be paid to the happy finder of the possibly last existing copy of the original incunabulum.

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In Memoriam Alex Crisovan

In Memoriam
Alex Crisovan

* 02/10/1919  (Békéscsaba, Hungary) 
† 28/11/2012 (Pfäffikon, Switzerland)

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Brunswick 2012

Again a goodly group of KWA members visited this year’s November auction in Brunswick. We can offer a short abstract and a bundle of photos.

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Haltern Chess Exhibition

An overall pleasing Sunday morning

Last Sunday (25/11/2012) the opening of the chess exhibition in Haltern am See took place where I had been invited to by Mrs Eva Masthoff. The background story is easily told.

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Chess Train

Our member Calle Erlandsson took part in this year’s chess train tour (Prague – Dresden – Wrocław – Spa Piešťany – Vienna – Prague) and en route took a lot of photos, most of them to view in the ChessBase contribution Urlaub im Schachzug (Vacation on the chess train; in German). The adjacent small picture shows Calle together with Manfred Mädler in Dresden. For further presentations of this event you may see Lars Grahn's blog contribution Schacktåget (in Swedish) and the pictorial report at ChessBase (in English) Chess Train Tournament a great success.

Michael Negele in New York City

A promising alternative …

Now and then a welcome alternative arises from a cancelled appointment as it happened to me with my long planned meeting with my friend Andy Ansel at Long Island on 21/22 September. On short notice Andy had been occupationally recalled to Toronto where he stayed over the weekend.

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Trans-Europe Chess Express ...

For the second time this year Potsdam’s Kaiserbahnhof was the venue of a highly interesting chess event: Trans-Europe Chess Express – Logic meets Logistics, combining a special international rapid tournament with an attractive supporting program. Michael Negele was again on the spot and brought a lot of pictures.

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Man Ray Chess Set

Our US member Larry List has kindly provided us with a new interesting article entitled Man Ray and the First Modern Western Chess Set Design.

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Exhibition Seewerk

FluxChess – A fascinating combination of chess and art:
Annual exhibition of the SEEWERK in Moers-Kapellen puts the main focus on Fluxus artist Takako Saito – organized and displayed by Angelika Petri and Frank Merks.

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Chess Olympiad Istanbul 2012

Our treasurer Michael Negele was not the only KWA member who recently visited the Chess Olympiad in Istanbul. He and Calle Erlandsson (who was there a little earlier together with Jurgen Stigter) have provided us with a selection of photos which we like to show you in the following...

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Zukertort Plaque Unveiled

His Excellency, the Ambassador of the Republic of Poland to the Court of St James, Mr Dariusz Łaska; Dr Marek Stella-Sawicki, Chairman of the Polish Heritage Society, and KWA treasurer Dr Michael Negele.

Our treasurer Michael Negele was present when at Simpson's-in-the-Strand a plaque in commemoration of Johannes Hermann Zukertort was unveiled. The ceremony took place on August 23rd...

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In memoriam Hans Engberts

In memoriam
Hans Engberts

* 28/01/1958 (Curaçao)
† 29/11/2011 (Utrecht)

Hans Engberts, our second member from Utrecht (after René van der Heijden), passed away much too early. He died at the age of 53 after a severe illness. Our thoughts are with him and his loved ones.

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Chess Summer in Brunswick and Potsdam

The rapid team tournament where several occupation groups competed.

The weekend of 23/24 June combined two consecutive chess highlights: The Klittich-Pfankuch auction and the unique "Spectacle of the Mind" in Potsdam.

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An April Fool

Our member Jan Kalendovský has contributed an article on "Einstein and Chess" to the Czech magazine Šachový Týdeník, but Michael Negele has revealed that it's only an April Fool. Have a look at p1 and p10f. of the here linked PDF issue.

Margus Sööt first junior member of the KWA

Margus Sööt with the Estonian party. On the left our Cologne chess friend Kuno Thiel (with Michael Negele's giant schnauzer).

We are pleased to welcome the first junior member of our association, Margus Sööt from the Estonian capital Tallinn.

Margus Sööt, a former basketball player of good 2 m size, deals meanwhile with all facets of chess and has also turned out as an industrious author. He is particularly partial to endgame studies and runs the study section in the Swedish problem magazine Springaren.

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Our Doyens

Apart from Yuri Averbakh to whom - as a newcomer in the group of our doyens - we recently paid a tribute, our association can enumerate four additional members who stand in the 10th decade of their lives:

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Yuri L. Averbakh turned 90!

Yuri Averbakh with Mrs. Glück (Eckberg Castle, Dresden 2008)
Yuri Averbakh with Mrs. Glück (Eckberg Castle, Dresden 2008)

Our senior member Yuri Lvovich Averbakh, born on February 8, 1922 in the Russian town of Kaluga, has recently celebrated his 90th birthday. In our former birthday greetings we have appreciated his merits and achievements in the field of chess several times (see 2010 / 2008 etc.), his obviously unbroken activity found also expression in his last interview he gave Dagobert Kohlmeyer (at ChessBase). And still last year his remarkable autobio-graphical work Centre-Stage and Behind the Scenes - The Personal Memoir of a Soviet Chess Legend was published by New In Chess. Some of our members have met him personally at the Chess Olympiad Dresden 2008 where he attended the dinner at Eckberg Castle – here once more the link to our picture gallery.

We wish the currently oldest living chess grandmaster all the best – ad multos annos!

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