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2018

Interview with Michael Negele

Michael Negele
Michael Negele

Shortly before the 150th birthday of Emanuel Lasker, the first volume of the new Lasker biography was published. Hartmut Metz conducted an interview with Michael Negele, one of the editors of the three-volume monograph. The English translation is now available on ChessBase:

The German original version is available here:

Birthday greeting for our Alessandro Sanvito

Alessandro Sanvito at a lecture in Bolzano, May 2011, assisted by Luca D'Ambrosio.
Alessandro Sanvito at a lecture in Bolzano, assisted by Luca D'Ambrosio: KWA Meeting at Bolzano 18 to 20 May, 2011

Alessandro Sanvito from Bresso-Milano, celebrates yesterday his 80th birthday.

Unfortunately, his appreciation in Wikipedia is still only insufficiently maintained.

https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alessandro_Sanvito

However, it expresses in a way, the importance of this Italian chess scholar in our small realm of 64 squares.

Ad multo annos, dear Alessandro

Michael Negele

Web Editor wanted

Since the recent launch of our new website our webmaster Wilfried Krebbers, together with especially Michael Negele, but also with other members of the Board, has done a lot of work to get the website going. But now the point of no return has arrived: the growing number of news entries and other informative contributions makes it necessary to create the function of web editor.

The task of the web editor will consist mainly of:

Read more …

Alan McGowan: Kurt Richter - A Chess Biography with 499 Games

A good two and a half years ago, our member Alan McGowan announced in a query a book about the German chess master Kurt Richter (A query by Alan McGowan). He has now completed this book and has been published by the publisher McFarland. His 368-page biography contains 499 games and 93 photos.

See also:

Publications of our Members: McGowan, Alan

[Update 2018-11-15] The author, Alan McGowan, sent us the following words about his work:

This is the first work in English devoted to the life and games of a significant figure in German chess.

Kurt Richter (1900-1969) won the Berlin championship many times, was German champion in 1935, and represented his country in the Olympiads at Hamburg 1930, Prague 1931 and Munich 1936. He was awarded the International Master title in 1950.

Read more …

Special event after 75th auction of the auction house Klittich-Pfankuch

Invitation for our chess friends after the auction viewing on Friday 23rd November 2018, Theaterwall 17 in Braunschweig.

Mrs. A. Klittich-Pfankuch and Karl Klittich are pleased to welcome IM Bernd Schneider for a special event: from 4:15 pm to 6:30 pm. There will be 3 rounds of a special handicap simultaneous over 25 minutes on 4 boards. Afterwards at 7:15 pm there is the chance of a get together with dinner at the restaurant Genusstresor, Bankplatz 8, in Braunschweig.

For more information please contact: .

Auction of 'The Famous Game of Chesse-Play'

We received the following announcement of Rupert Powell of Forum Auctions that could be of interest for some of our members:

I wonder if I might draw your attention to a copy of a rare 17th century book on Chess which will be coming up for sale in our auction of Fine Books and Works on Paper on Thursday 29th November. It is a 1673 (sixth) edition of the first published work on chess in English and written by an Englishman, Saul Arthur’s The Famous Game of Chesse-Play, 1673.

Here is a link to the full description and an image: https://goo.gl/xEPJqY.

Upcoming Events

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pixabay.com

There are two events that we want to point out to our members.

As already reported (Meeting of the German Section of CCI), the meeting of the CCI, German section, will be held in Seiffen (Ore Mountains) from 25 to 28 October. Et al Michael Negele will introduce the Lasker book once more.

On the 22nd and 24th of November, the 75th auction of the auction house Klittich-Pfankuch will take place. A list of the auction objects can be found on the website.

Lasker-Day in Leverkusen

Two of the proud editors could sign a bunch of copies for our friend Bernd Schneider
Two of the proud editors could sign a bunch of copies for our friend Bernd Schneider

The Bayer chessclub in Leverkusen had taken up the initiative of the German Chess Federation to celebrate a Lasker Day of Chess in autumn 2018. By chance it was also an unexpected opportunity to present Emanuel Lasker Volume I hot off the press (Article at Chess Notes)

Read more …

Three CH&LS members met at Emanuel Lasker´s birthplace

Bernd Schneider and Tomasz Lissowski in the Museum Garden
Bernd Schneider and Tomasz Lissowski in the Museum Garden

by Michael Negele

Interesting enough, I never had the opportunity to visit Emanuel Lasker´s birthplace in Barlinek (in Lasker´s time: Berlinchen in der Neumark),
a small town in Myślibórz County, in West Pomeranian Voivodeship, in northwestern Poland.

So I was most pleased, when the German Chess Federation asked me to be one of the representatives of the DSB at the Lasker Memorial rapid tournament.

And when my friend, IM Bernd Schneider, agreed to join me on that trip, and Tomasz Lissowski also promoted my idea to talk about Lasker during the break.

Prof. em. Hans-Jürgen Hochgräfe - officially the DSB-representative for German-Polish chess relations - from Rostock was most helpful to get my stay organised.

Read more …

Member list by region

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In the members area, on the page E-mail addresses, there is a list of all members with the associated e-mail address. In addition, nine more member lists, sorted by regions, are now available. These are inserted below the general list. This gives you a quicker overview of the members in each region.

Meeting of the German Section of CCI

Thomas Thomsen
Thomas Thomsen

Dear Friends and Members of CCI Germany,

Our meeting 2018 will be in the beautiful town of Seiffen (Ore Montains), the region of carvers and turners of nice chess pieces.

It will take place from 25. – 28. October 2018 - please check the announcement for details. (Sorry, only available in German language).

We anticipate a high attendance for this meeting, even if that region is a little bit out of the way. However we hope any connaisseur of chess culture will be attracted to the nicely compiled program.

Early bookings (till 18 September) are therefore advised, to take advantage of the special discounted room rates in the Schlosshotel Purschenstein.

Members of the Chess History & Literature Society, which is dedicated to the collection of chess books, are again cordially invited.

Yours Sincerely

Thomas Thomsen

More information:

Stefano Zulian: Prè Lorenzo Busnardo [2nd edition]

Prè Lorenzo Busnardo; La vita di un avventuriero campione di scacchi nel Rinascimento - front cover
Prè Lorenzo Busnardo; La vita di un avventuriero campione di scacchi nel Rinascimento - front cover

In the News department we announced on 2016-11-08 (Busnardo Biography) the publication of a book on the Italian priest, chess master and adventurer from the Renaissance, Prè Lorenzo Busnardo, from the hand of our member Stefano Zulian. Its title was Prè Lorenzo Busnardo; La vita di un avventuriero campione di scacchi del Rinascimento (120 pages). On 15-02-2017 followed an addendum, which said that a revised version (January 2017) of the synoptical tables, referred to in the book, was available. Finally Stefano Zulian promised : “The author intends to publish a 2nd edition in due time.”.

Well, he kept his word, because recently the second and much enlarged edition of his book has been published under title: Prè Lorenzo Busnardo; La vita di un avventuriero campione di scacchi nel Rinascimento. Progetto “Prè Lorenzo Busnardo”. Ricerca e testo di Stefano Zulian. [2nd and much enlarged edition]. Editrice Artistica Bassanese: Bassano del Grappa 2018; 248 pages, 32cm x 23cm; price € 25,00 plus shipping costs. To avoid bibliographical confusion we draw attention on the difference between the title on the title page, which has (or became ?) “nel” and the title on the cover which has “del”, just as the cover of the first edition. The book can be ordered from Stefano Zulian, email address: .

Read more …

Introduction 'Sjakkhistorisk forum'

Sjakkhistorisk forum (Screenshot 03-09-2018)
Sjakkhistorisk forum (Screenshot 03-09-2018)

Our member Morten Lilleøren wrote us, saying that he was wondering why the Norwegian Sjakkhistorisk Forum and its website wasn’t mentioned on our website. As indeed this was also a mystery to us, we hastened to request him to write a short introduction to Sjakkhistorisk Forum (see below). At the same time we have added the link to its website under Links/Historical Sites.

Amsterdam
Bob van de Velde

Read more …

Timothy Harding's new book: British Chess Literature to 1914

Our member Timothy Harding recently published British chess literature to 1914 (McFarland 2018), an impressive book that will interest many chess historians, especially those who are specialized in the 19th century. With his permission, we took away following summary of its content from the blog of our fellow member Michael Clapham who reviewed the book thoroughly. There the interested reader will find his complete review (https://chessbookchats.blogspot.com/2018/08/british-chess-literature-to-1914-by.html):

Dr. Timothy Harding, author of previous deeply researched works on chess history including Correspondence Chess in Britain and Ireland, 1824-1987, 2011, Eminent Victorian Chess Players, 2012, and Joseph Henry Blackburne, 2015, all published by McFarland, surveys British (and Irish) chess literature up to the First World War in this latest work.

The Preface sets out clearly the aims and content of the book which has a special emphasis on chess columns, and these are comprehensively examined in the first four chapters, plus the very detailed 45 page Appendix I. British and Irish Chess Columns to 1914: An Annotated List, describing nearly 600 columns. Chess Periodicals also receive extensive coverage, especially The Chess Player's Chronicle and its successors which are covered in a separate chapter of 54 pages.

The history and description of chess columns and periodicals take up six of the seven chapters, and 230 of the 274 pages which discuss chess literature, leaving just one chapter of 44 pages for the comparatively weak examination of chess books; and anyone hoping for a thorough review of the rich history of British chess books will be very disappointed. As early as page 10 Harding dismisses old chess books as having "little to offer the historian" and it is clear that the author is much more inclined towards chess columns and periodicals than general chess books.

Read more …

Obituary of Jørn Erik Nielsen

Jørn Erik Nielsen, 2013
Jørn Erik Nielsen, 2013

Jørn Erik Nielsen

* 12-05-1948   † 03-08-2018

Our friend Jørn Erik is dead after a long cancer illness. He was not a very strong player himself, but he left his mark on Danish chess through his untiring work in teaching and history research.

Jørn Erik was educated as a teacher and worked for many years at the Brundlund school in his home town of Aabenraa in southern Jutland. Of course it was important to him that the pupils also became acquainted with chess, and thanks to his engagement. Brundlund won the Danish schools’ team tournament in 1994 and went to Iceland to represent Denmark in the Nordic championship. This peak performance was documented by Jørn Erik in a booklet containing games, pictures, Icelandic history and geography – undoubtedly the trip was a memory for life for all participants! The teaching material Jørn Erik created for his pupils is still in use in school clubs all over Denmark.

Read more …

New book by Santo Daniele Spina

I giochi di vantaggio del libro quinto del trattato di Don Pietro Carrera - front cover
I giochi di vantaggio del libro quinto del trattato di Don Pietro Carrera - front cover

In the wake of the four hundredth anniversary of the publication of the Carrera's Treatise on Chess (1617), Santo Daniele Spina's writing presents in modern chess notation with many diagrams the odds theory exposed in the fifth book of Il gioco degli scacchi (The Game of Chess) in comparison with Ruy Lopez, Gianutio and Salvio and it is another step forward with regard to English translation by William Lewis (1822).

In the fifth book, divided into thirty-one chapters, Carrera examines the openings giving the first move to Black or to White according to the odds type offered weaker chess player.

More information:

Read more …

Report of the Committee of Cash Auditors

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The Committee of Cash Auditors, consisting of Dr. Michael Negele and Rob Spaans, has checked the financial statements over 2017 as presented by Treasurer Michael Clapham. We have concluded that these financial statements are an accurate reflection of the financial status and events of the Chess History & Literature Society in 2017.

20-07-2018, Wuppertal

Read more …

Tobiblion update

Per Skjoldager has updated the database of the BoC-Project. Texts, pictures and hammer prices of the 74th Klittich auction are now available for members in Tobiblion.

New Member: Henrik Malm Lindberg

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Another new member, Henrik Malm Lindberg, introduces himself in the members area.

New Member: Henrik Malm Lindberg

New Member: Bob Jones

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pixabay.com

In the members area, our new member Robert 'Bob' Jones will be introduced by Claes Løfgren.

New Member: Bob Jones

Ingenious chess puzzles

Werner Keym
Werner Keym

Werner Keym has recently sent his Chess Problems out of the box to your "interim web-editor". However, your humble one is totally ignorant in this specific field of expertise, so my announcement is somewhat delayed. I needed more than a month to ponder about the position displayed with the author's likeness.

Dear Chessfriends, be aware, think first of the last move of Black. Two members of the CH&LS are involved in this re-edition: Godehard Murkisch (Treuenhagen) representing the Nightrider Unlimited Publishing House and Ralf Binnewirtz (Meerbusch), who did the layout.

Michael Negele

Read more …

Our chairman provides the following information:

Laudation for Guy Van Habberney (3rd from right)
Laudation for Guy Van Habberney (3rd from right)

As usual the Board of our Society came together for its bi-annual meeting in the last week of June during the likewise bi-annual auction days of antiquarian bookseller and auction house Klittich-Pfankuch in Braunschweig (Brunswick). This time the former treasurer, successively chairman of the Society (at that time still the Ken Whyld Association) Guy Van Habberney had been invited to join, and for good reason: the Board informed him that on a proposal of the Board the Council of Representatives had decided to appoint him as Honorary Member of the Chess History & Literature Society! Later that afternoon of Friday June 22nd this appointment was made public at the beginning of the informal member meeting in which on behalf of the Board Honorary Member Michael Negele pronounced an appreciation. From July 9th on the text of this warmly applauded appreciation can be found in the member pages under News for members.
[Update 2018-07-09] The text is now available, A short appreciation by another "Honorary Member" [/Update]

Read more …

Obituary of Peter J. Monté

The then chairman Guy van Habberney is handing over to Peter Monté a gift –of course a book– as sign of appreciation for his very interesting lecture during the meeting of the CH&LS in Wijk aan Zee on Januari 24th, 2015
The then chairman Guy van Habberney is handing over to Peter Monté a gift –of course a book– as sign of appreciation for his very interesting lecture during the meeting of the CH&LS in Wijk aan Zee on Januari 24th, 2015

Peter Monté

* 13-09-1939   † 07-06-2018

After a short disease our Dutch member Peter Monté passed away on June 7th. Born in 1939 he was 78 years old.

Peter fairly recently joined our Association after giving a much-appreciated lecture in Wijk aan Zee in January 2015 (Wijk aan Zee 2015). As he explained at the time, he initially wanted to find out when the first King’s gambit was played, an opening he himself also very much preferred to play OTB. After 25 years of assiduous research, the end result was the monumental The Classical Era of Modern Chess (McFarland, 2014, xxii + 594 p.). This is truly a work of great chess scholarship at a PhD level, and I am certain that it will stand the test of time and eventually be mentioned in one breath together with Murray’s monumental History of Chess (1913).

Peter Monté was a stubborn man, a character feature which certainly helped him a lot in his research.

Boechout, Belgium
Guy van Habberney

One Lady and four Ladykillers ...

In the end everyone was happy: Matthias Limberg, Claes Løfgren,Per Skjoldager, Elisabeth Pähtz and Norbert Geissler
In the end everyone was happy: Matthias Limberg, Claes Løfgren,Per Skjoldager, Elisabeth Pähtz and Norbert Geissler

CH&LS quartett successfully defended against IM Elisabeth Pähtz (https://www.elisabeth-paehtz.de/)

Again on Friday afternoon before the chess auction in Theaterwall 17 our friendly hosts Adelheid Klittich-Pfankuch and Dr. Karl Klittich had again organized a most interesting chess event. This time IM Elisabeth Pähtz, No. 1 of German Woman Chess (current ELO-rating 2472) was challenged by a team of the CH&LS, headed by Per Skjoldager.

Early ten years ago a KWA-team, also headed by Per Skjoldager challenged IM John W. Donaldson, captain of the US team at the Dresden Olympiad.
https://www.kwabc.org/en/gallery/on-the-5th-jubilee-of-the-kwa-in-brunswick.html

Per Skjoldager was supported by Matthias Limberg, Claes Løfgren and Norbert Geissler, but also some other CH&LS-members contributed.

Read more …

Our chairman provides the following information:

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The Council of Representatives has approved the proposals of the Board concerning the communication between the Board and the Council. The text of the proposals, which are immediately in force, reads as follows:

  1. to consider the agendas and the reports of the meetings of the Board, published on the website, as the formal information from the Board to the Council;
  2. to permit every member of the Council to react on the information;
  3. in case a member considers it desirable or necessary to discuss a subject among the members of the Council, to require from the chairman of the Board to present that subject to the members of the Council (complying article 16 of the Statutes), after which the relevant articles of the Statutes will be applicable;
  4. without a request as meant in C, received by the chairman of the Board within four weeks after the date of publication of a report of the meeting of the board, all relevant decisions of the Board as mentioned in the report have to be considered as approved by the Council.

Members will find some concise information (News for members) about the reactions from the members of the Council on the site News for members

A special event at the 74th Auction of the Antiquarian A. Klittich-Pfankuch

On Friday 22nd June the viewing for the 74th chess - auction will take place from 11:00 am to 4:00 pm in Brunswick, Theaterwall 17. All chessfriends are invited to have some snacks and refreshments after the official end of the viewing.

At 5:30 pm a special performance of IM & WGM Elisabeth Pähtz (https://www.elisabeth-paehtz.de) will start. Mrs. Pähtz will play a consultation game against a certain number of "CH&LS members". The time limit will be 75 minutes for each party involved.

Surely, our members will demonstrate the same legendary enthusiasm in playing chess as in collecting chess books and euphemera. IM Bernd Schneider will be the referee, Michael Negele will act as the announcer. After the game a short "press conference" will be organized.

News for members

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pixabay.com

Our chairman has sent the members of the Council of Representatives a letter in which he has informed them about the launching of the new website and has proposed to simplify the communication between the Board and the Council, now that the Agendas and the Reports of the meetings of the Board are published: Members will find the letter 'Dear Members of the Council of Representatives' on the site News for members (You must be logged in to read).

CCI - 18th Biennial Convention Prague

Michael Wiltshire, Franzensbad 2017
Michael Wiltshire, Franzensbad 2017

Dear Friends and Members of CCI

Our next international meeting will be in the beautiful central European city of Prague, the birth place of world champion Wilhelm Steinitz in May 1836. There is much history to be seen as Prague Castle dates from the end of the 9th century and the city flourished during the 14th-century reign (1346-1378) of Charles lV, Holy Roman Emperor and the king of Bohemia of the new Luxembourg dynasty. As King, Charles transformed Prague into an imperial capital and at that time it was the thirdlargest city in Europe after Rome and Constantinople.

We anticipate a high attendance for this meeting as many members and friends have already indicated their wish to participate. Early bookings are therefore advised, to take advantage of the special discounted room rates. Members of the Chess History & Literature Society, which is dedicated to the collection of chess books, are again cordially invited.

Yours Sincerely

Michael Wiltshire
Chairman

Read more …

A Chess Expedition to the Other Hemisphere

View from Stephen Street 10 to Table Mountain
View from Stephen Street 10 to Table Mountain

by Michael Negele

Dear Fellow-Members,

some of you may remember my reports on certain visits to chess places or to some of our members during the years 2003 to 2013. These travels were mostly related to business trips. So after some changes in my job position my "collection of collectors" didn't increase too much during the last couple of years. However, after my retirement a nice holiday trip to South Africa in January 2018 was combined with a visit to a long-term chess friend. By chance this opportunity led to the highest concentration of CH&LS founding members on the African continent ever since.

Manfred Mittelbach, formerly located in Hamburg, moved to Cape Town after his retirement in 2012. Every Christmas season Manfred kindly invited me to visit his wife Pauline and him in Stephen Street, Gardens, a very nice quarter of the "Mother City". So at the end of January this ideas materialized and so each morning I had a very impressive view of the Table Mountain.

Read more …

This Hair has to Move! ("Das Haar muss ziehen!")

"Das Haar muss ziehen!" - front cover
"Das Haar muss ziehen!" - front cover

150th Anniversary of the Bamberg Chess Club, founded in 1868

If any book may deserve to be the first one, to be introduced on our new web presentation, it is this anniversary publication of my Bamberg chess friends. All aspects, the Chess History & Literature Society is representing, are reflected on its 264 pages with many unknown illustrations and documents. And, it is also clearly, demonstrating the long tradition of organized chess in Germany, but also the importance of a diligent collector to conserve this documentation.

So we all should remember the late Lothar Schmid, a good friend of Kenneth Whyld. And we should thank the respresentatives of the Bamberg chess community, foremost my friend, Bernhard Schmid, for this wonderful book, published in his Karl-May publishing house.

The only drawback: The book is written in German language, which will not harm any diehard chess collector *).

Michael Negele

[Update 2018-05-24] A Luxury Edition is now available: https://www.karl-may.de/modules/produkt.php?nummer=B-06511 [/Update]

Read more …

Dear Fellow-Members of the Chess Literature & History Society

Manfred Mittelbach and Michael Negele at Chapman's Peak, Cape of Good Hope, 2018
Manfred Mittelbach and Michael Negele at Chapman's Peak, Cape of Good Hope, 2018

We have all been eagerly awaiting the launch of our new website for a long time. There were various reasons for the delays, however be assured that our two webmasters, Wilfried and Frank have done their very best to develop this new website with modern functionality and design as quickly as possible. Both friends were not members of the Ken Whyld Association when they committed themselves to these responsibilities in autumn 2016.

Read more …

No Tata 2018 member meeting on Jan. 21st

The Tata meeting of CHLS, that we hoped to hold in the shop of Rainbowchess will not be possible, because this year, Rainbowchess doesn't have a shop in Wijk aan Zee.

It was planned for the 21th of January, when several foreign members are expected in Wijk aan Zee.