News archive

please select ...

2023

New Member: Luis Fernández Siles

pixabay.com
pixabay.com

Our new member, Luis Fernández Siles from Spain, introduces himself in the members area (you must be logged in to read).

New Member: Luis Fernández Siles

New Member: Alain Barnier

pixabay.com
pixabay.com

Our new member, Alain Barnier from France, introduces himself in the members area (you must be logged in to read).

New Member: Alain Barnier

New Member: Roger Lorenz

pixabay.com
pixabay.com

Our new member, Roger Lorenz from Bornheim (Germany), introduces himself in the members area (you must be logged in to read).

New Member: Roger Lorenz

Matthias Aumüller - Das Schachspiel in der europäischen Literatur [Chess in European Literature]

by Siegfried Schönle [Original article in German is here. Translation by DeepL]

Das Schach hat wie die Liebe, wie die Musik die Fähigkeit, den Menschen glücklich zu machen.

[Chess, like love, like music, has the ability to make people happy.]

Source: Dr. Tarrasch, Das Schachspiel. Systematisches Lehrbuch für Anfänger und Geübte, Berlin, 1st ed. 1931 : Deutsche Buch-Gemeinschaft, Preface p. 4.

or

Für das Schach ist wie für die Liebe ein Partner unentbehrlich.

[For chess, as for love, a partner is indispensable.]

Source: Stefan Zweig (writer); https://www.schachbund.de/zitatensammlung.html

Whether the reader of Matthias Aumüller's treatise Das Schachspiel in der europäischen Literatur will be "happy" or happier remains to be seen. But he certainly learns a wealth of knowledge and background - Europe-wide - to the texts presented, which are "primarily ... about love and its connection to chess" (p.9).

The book, which is highly recommended here, contains detailed reflections on five great chess poems

  • Fenollar, de Castellvi, Vinyoles - Scachs d’ Amor (nach 1470)
  • Vida - Scacchia ludus (1527)
  • Kochanowsky – Szachy (ca 1564)
  • Marino – L‘ Adone (1623)
  • Jones – Caissa (1763/1772)

Read more …

Collector's corner: Two different editions of a chess magazine issue

Henri Serruys
Henri Serruys

Here is the support for the last presentation at the CH&LS general meeting in Belfort on Saturday 2 September.

Henri Serruys (Belgium) presented the very special January 1888 issue of the BCM (British Chess Magazine).

Henri pointed out a curious feature of the January 1888 issue of BCM.

In fact, this issue of BCM was printed twice with slightly different layouts, by two different printers.

Read more …

Collector's corner: Draughts and Academie des Jeux

Jurgen Stigter
Jurgen Stigter

The CH&LS General Meeting concluded with two presentations of collectors' books.

The first was by Jurgen Stigter (Netherlands) and the Academy of Games.

Extract from the presentation at the AGM on Saturday 2 September: Annual Meeting of the CH&LS in Belfort
In German on the ChessBase website, by Herbert Bastian: Jahrestreffen der CH&LS in Belfort

A fascinating day at the municipal library ended with a talk by Dr Jurgen Stigter on the classic works devoted to the popular games of the time, (...). Jurgen used the example of draughts to show that it is not always possible to draw reliable conclusions about the spread of the game from the contents of books, as draughts, although a popular game, is not mentioned in some of them.

Read more …

The Chapais-Manuscript

Herbert Bastian
Herbert Bastian

Herbert Bastian (Germany) devotes a large part of his spare time to studying the Chapais manuscript, a revolutionary manuscript for the game of chess in its day.

Extract from the presentation at the AGM on Saturday 2 September: Annual Meeting of the CH&LS in Belfort
In German on the ChessBase website, by Herbert Bastian: Jahrestreffen der CH&LS in Belfort

Let us leave the floor to Herbert Bastian:

I was then given the honour of reporting on the state of research on the Chapais manuscript, Mennerat's most important contribution to chess history. The chess-historical significance of the work is now well understood and will be described in my forthcoming book on it. Chapais coined the concept of opposition, which is extremely important for endgame theory, and was the first to use the multifunctional king movement (as I call it) in a whole series of examples, which only became generally known through the famous Réti study of 1921. Chapais was the first to study the endgame king and two knights against king and pawn, which Alexei Troitsky (*1866-†1942) later used as a model, and probably communicated with André Danican Philidor (*1726-†1795) about the endgame king, rook and bishop against king and rook. My investigations of various kinds have used a variety of clues that Chapais could be a pseudonym and in fact the famous French mathematician Gaspard Monge (*1746-†1818) is hiding behind it. Even if there is no 100% proof, the weight of circumstantial evidence is, in my opinion, overwhelming.

Read more …

Folke Rogard, President of FIDE - the lawyer who organised chess in the shadow of the Cold War

Henri Lindberg

Here is the presentation given by Mr Henrik Lindberg (Sweden) at the CH&LS association's general meeting in Belfort.

Extract from the presentation at the AGM on Saturday 2 September: Annual Meeting of the CH&LS in Belfort
In German on the ChessBase website, by Herbert Bastian: Jahrestreffen der CH&LS in Belfort

Henrik Lindberg, assistant professor for economic history in Stockholm, reported in an extremely interesting lecture on the life story of the Swede Folke Røgard (*1899-†1973), lawyer and FIDE President from 1949-1970. Those who are interested in chess history during the Cold War can already look forward to the hopefully imminent publication of Henrik's book, as the title of the lecture reveals: Folke Røgard: organiser of modern world chess in the shadow of the cold war. Røgard was a well-known personality and made headlines, among other things, as the lawyer of the famous Swedish actress Ingrid Bergman (*1915-†1982), who was seen in the 1942 film Casablanca alongside Humphrey Bogart (*1899-†1957), incidentally also a chess enthusiast. Røgard got the FIDE World Championship cycle off the ground when the first interzonal tournament went to Saltsjöbaden in Sweden (1948). Through his good contacts on both sides, he also repeatedly succeeded in bringing the Soviet Union and the USA together, for example by preparing the bilateral match of 1955.

Read more …

Rare books from the Jean Mennerat collection

Clémence Tariol during her presentation
Clémence Tariol during her presentation

This is the text of the first conference held on Saturday 2 September at the CH&LS association's general meeting in Belfort.

The presentation was given by Clémence Tariol, curator of the Mennerat collection at the Léon Deubel library in Belfort.

Read more …

Annual Meeting of the CH&LS in Belfort

Prof. Dr. Frank Hoffmeister
Prof. Dr. Frank Hoffmeister

by Herbert Bastian

On 2 September members of the Chess History and Literature Society (formerly Ken Whyld Association, KWA) met for their annual meeting in Belfort, France, one of the magical places for chess historians. The Belfort City Library administers the estate of Dr Jean Mennerat (*1917-†2007), the most important French collector of chess literature. In the course of his life, Mennerat collected about 27,000 books and about 1,000 periodicals on the royal game, which are now preserved for posterity in Belfort.

After a short welcome in the City Library by Prof. Dr. Frank Hoffmeister, who replaced the Dutchman Bob van de Velde as President of the CH&LS last year, curator Clémence Tariol introduced the Mennerat Collection in a PowerPoint presentation. Mennerat began collecting in 1936. The dominant language of the works is English with about 6,000 titles, followed by about 4,100 German-language works. It is surprising that "only" 8% each of the works are in French, Spanish, Dutch and Slavonic. Rarer languages such as Swedish, Hebrew, Maori and Esperanto are also represented. The actual collection is located elsewhere and could not be visited. However, members were able to examine a selection of some particularly valuable items from the collection.

Read more …

Der Harzer Schachbund [The Harz Chess Federation]

Harzer Schachbund - book cover title page (outside), 2nd volume
Harzer Schachbund - book cover title page (outside), 2nd volume

by Siegfried Schönle [Original article in German is here. Translation by DeepL]

According to the German Chess Federation, there are over 2000 chess clubs in Germany. Each of these clubs has its own history, be it short or far back in the history of chess in Germany.

A generally perceptible sign of this are, among other things, the countless club magazines, commemorative publications, publications on club anniversaries, which as a rule find significance and attention in the narrow circle of the club and the respective city, and more rarely cause a supra-regional interest.

A brief look back into the history of chess associations or chess clubs shows that the oldest chess club in Germany was founded in Berlin in 1803 - later called the Great Chess Club. This can be proven, among other things, by the following anonymously published writing:

Read more …

Message to CH&LS members

pixabay.com

Dear fellow members of the CH&LS,

Our treasurer Henri Serruys and I are about to prepare our report on the status of membership and annual fee payments for the General Assembly in Belfort on September 2 – where, of course, we hope to meet many of you!

In order to complete the report, we have a few requests for you:

It appears that some of the email addresses we have are no longer active – so if you have changed your email address recently please inform the secretary of the valid one!

And please observe that the payment of the membership fee for 2023 must be completed no later than August 15. If you have any questions, please contact us!

Treasurer Henri Serruys
Secretary Claes Løfgren

best wishes,
Claes Løfgren

Invitation to this year's General Assembly in Belfort (France)

pixabay.com

Dear members of the society!

This is to invite you for our next General Assembly meeting on 2 September 2023 in Belfort and share with you the final program. We are holding this meeting in the city library of Belfort, which hosts the chess collection of our late member, Jean Mennerat (Bibliothèque Municipale de Belfort - Fonds Mennerat ). "La bibliothèque municipale" is located at Place Jacques Chirac, BP 80025, 90000 Belfort.

Read more ... (You must be logged in to read)

Tobiblion update

Per Skjoldager has updated the database of the BoC-Project. 8 new items and 66 new descriptions have made it into Tobiblion as well as the data of the 83th Klittich auction. They are now available for members in Tobiblion.

Juan Morgado and his opus magnum

Juan Sebastián Morgado - Ajedrez en la década infame 1933 - 1934 - frontcover
Juan Sebastián Morgado - Ajedrez en la década infame 1933 - 1934 - frontcover

by Bob van de Velde

For chess historians, bibliographers or collectors – in short for most members of our membership – Argentina is from their point of view a far away country that doesn’t show many unsuspected or exciting activities on their field of interest. That’s to say, at first Eurocentric sight this can seem so. However, here too, as is so often is the case, a first sight leads to a wrong view. Of course, we all know that the two events that probably had the most far-reaching consequences in the modern chess history, took place on Argentinian soil in the second quarter of the 20th century: the world championship match between Capablanca and Alekhine in 1927, and the 8th Chess Olympiad in 1939. The first event had a major impact on the participation in the top tournaments in the ‘30’s as Alekhine didn’t want to play his rival in a tournament; because of the outbreak of the 2nd World War during the tournament, the second event had an enormous effect on the organised chess world in almost every aspect.

Both events however have in common that the reporting mostly came from European hands – participants, administrators, journalists, eyewitnesses –, anyway, rarely observations and reflections were heard from Argentinian side, neither can we say that abundantly South-American sources were cited. But this situation drastically has changed since in 2012 our member Juan Sebastián Morgado has begun to publish his Complete history of Argentine chess.

Read more …

Failing better. Beckett's game with chess in Murphy

Samuel Beckett in 1977
Samuel Beckett in 1977

by Dr. Bernd-Peter Lange

A game's trajectory

Beckett´s lifelong obsession with chess has become a household word. From his childhood with its games in the family, through his participation in matches of the chess team of Trinity College Dublin, facing the Danish master Aaron Nimzowitsch in a simultaneous exhibition, losing many chess games to Marcel Duchamp in his French exile, games in the Vaucluse hideout in the second World War to many occasional friendly games against many partners well into old age, Beckett never lost his fascination with the game. (Knowlson, 1996) The chess books in his library had a focus on the contemporary chess scene, specializing on game collections of the World Champions of chess from Capablanca in the 1920s to Kasparov in the 1980s. (Van Hulle/Nixon, 2013, 261-287) The most concentrated literary reflection of Beckett´s preoccupation with chess came early in his career with the writing and publication of Murphy. The novel is a rarity among thematically related fictions since it integrates the notation of a complete chess game and notes commenting on some of its moves.

Read more …

Literature, women playing chess and Bertolt Brecht

Margarete Steffin and Bertolt Brecht
Margarete Steffin and Bertolt Brecht

The society has recently published a very interesting essay from our member Bernd-Peter Lange about the German playwright and poet Bertolt Brecht and chess playing women around him.

As it is in German, you can find the article in our German website here:

Literatur, Schach spielende Frauen und Bertolt Brecht.

Invitation of CH&LS members to the CCI meeting in St. Louis, Missouri USA

Tom Gallegos, President of CCI-USA, has informed us about the CCI Conference to be held July 6-9 in St. Louis, Missouri, USA, while also inviting all CH&LS members to attend.

Here is his email: (The attachment with program and registration form mentioned in the email is at the end of the text).

Dear CCI Members, Guests, and Friends,

Read more …

Chess Theory from Stamma to Steinitz, 1735–1894

Frank Hoffmeister - Chess Theory from Stamma to Steinitz, 1735–1894 - frontcover
Frank Hoffmeister - Chess Theory from Stamma to Steinitz, 1735–1894 - frontcover

by Jean Olivier Leconte

The McFarland publishing house (USA) has a whole branch specialized in books about chess history, which is to their credit, because the target audience is rather limited. Note that the published books are always of good quality.

I recently acquired one of their latest publications, with the book of my friend Frank Hoffmeister. His book, to which I contributed very modestly, does not differ from McFarland's books. It is a book of great quality for those who are interested in the history of chess and the beginnings of the opening theory for example.

In his introduction, Frank indicates that he started writing this book in ... 2009 (!) for publication in 2022. Such a length of time does not surprise me, considering the richness of the book. Note that in the February 2023 issue of the New In Chess magazine, the British Grandmaster Matthew Sadler publishes a long article about this book and gives it the maximum rating of 5 stars!

Read more …

Paris celebrates the Café de la Régence

Speech of the President of the French Chess Federation, Eloi Relange
Speech of the President of the French Chess Federation, Eloi Relange

A landmark in chess history. On Tuesday 4 April 2023, the ceremony for the inauguration of the commemorative plaque of the Café de la Régence took place at N°161 rue Saint-Honoré in Paris.

This ceremony marks the end of a cultural project led by Jean-Olivier Leconte (FIDE master and chess historian) and that lasted several years, in particular to convince the City of Paris of the interest to pay tribute to this place known worldwide by chess players.

The ceremony took place with several deputies of the Mayor of Paris, as well as the president of the French Chess Federation.

Read more …

Ghosting Karl Marx. Hidden Agendas of a Muzio Gambit

Karl Marx's grave, Highgate, London
Karl Marx's grave, Highgate, London

by Dr. Bernd-Peter Lange

The Marx that nobody Read

In a recent film directed by the Haitian director Raoul Peck, The Young Karl Marx, the eponymous hero appears as, among other better known pursuits, a genius on the chess board. In two of the scenes set in pubs he triumphantly checkmates Friedrich Engels and clinches a victory over his political rival, the Anarchist Bakunin by decisively pinning one of his opponent´s pieces.

Neither of these games in the film relies on documentary evidence. However, there are two notations of chess notations that Marx has been credited with for a long time, one an impressive win in a Muzio gambit against the contemporary problemist Heinrich Meyer, the other one a mating attack against the famous Prussian master Gustav Neumann, both around 1870. The notations of these games have been republished frequently in Russian journals from 1926 and 1938, respectively, but also in other countries, even though doubts on their authenticity have accompanied their publication throughout. In recent articles in chess journals, these doubts have peaked in definitive refutations of the involvement of Marx in the two games he has been credited with, albeit without much of an impact on the conservation of the view of the philosopher as chess prodigy.

Read more …

75 Jahre Uedemer Schachklub 1948 – 2023

75 Jahre Uedemer Schachklub - frontcover
75 Jahre Uedemer Schachklub - frontcover

by Siegfried Schönle

Surely some readers immediately have questions when hearing this title:

Uedem? Where is it? I don't know (the reader will find an answer briefly and with spice on pages 36-39 - of 251 pages - without advertising)!

In short: near the Dutch border, on the Lower Rhine, in the district of Kleve and has around 8,600 inhabitants.

A club unpacks? What is the content of the "package" and how could it be packaged?

A package is generally looked at after it has been received, and the type of packaging allows initial and quite vague conclusions to be drawn about the content. This "package" is now exceptionally carefully packed:

  • format 215x300 mm;
  • 251 p.;
  • solid cardboard cover;
  • colored print, numerous easy-to-read facsimiles, photos, tables on good quality paper;
  • 25,- €, edition 200 pcs.

All this is offered in a professional layout and in high print quality! The editors were the association members Heinz Aldenhoven, Hans-Josef Arts and Michael Venhoff.

To order: https://uedemer-schachklub.de/kontakt-2/ and/or

Read more …

A Letter from our president Frank Hoffmeister

pixabay.com

Dear members of the society!

This year, our society will exist for 20 years. After its initial conception in Amsterdam, the founding session took place in November 2003 in Braunschweig. In view thereof, the board has decided to organise a little birthday celebration on 23/24 June 2023 also in Braunschweig.

Read more ... (You must be logged in to read)

An early testimony of organized women's chess in Germany

Konrad Reiß - Der Correspondenz–Schachkampf zwischen dem Dessauer Schachverein und Frauen des Schachdorfes Ströbeck 1886/87 - cover
Konrad Reiß - Der Correspondenz–Schachkampf zwischen dem Dessauer Schachverein und Frauen des Schachdorfes Ströbeck 1886/87 - cover

by Siegfried Schönle

Once again it is my pleasure to present to the readers of this website a book by the director of the Löberitz Chess Museum, Konrad Reiß.

He seems to have turned almost every "chess stone" in recent years and in this way has contributed and continues to contribute significantly to the fact that chess history in the (chess) triangle Löberitz - Ströbeck - Magdeburg, i.e. Saxony-Anhalt, is well researched and documented. Numerous of his earlier publications bear witness to this, as does the one presented here in an elegant way!

Der Correspondenz–Schachkampf zwischen dem Dessauer Schachverein und Frauen des Schachdorfes Ströbeck 1886/87.

Ein frühes Zeugnis des organisierten Frauenschachs in Deutschland

from

Konrad Reiß

Löberitz, Zörbig, Leipzig 2023. 96 p. + front matter and VIII endpapers.
Edition 100 Ex.
Hardcover, colored print on lightly toned paper. Numerous illustrations and facsimiles of correspondence chess cards.

This can be obtained from the author () for €20 + postage.

Read more …

Zur Schach-Akademie in Achdorf bei Landshut und vom Sailerschen-Kreis: 2nd edition available

Siegfried Schönle - Zur Schach-Akademie in Achdorf bei Landshut und vom "Sailerschen-Kreis" - Cover
Siegfried Schönle - Zur Schach-Akademie in Achdorf bei Landshut und vom "Sailerschen-Kreis" - Cover

Last October (see Zur Schach-Akademie in Achdorf bei Landshut und vom Sailerschen-Kreis (To the chess academy in Achdorf near Landshut and from the Sailerschen circle)), Siegfried Schönle reported on his brochure published by the Löberitz Chess Museum, Zur Schach-Akademie in Achdorf bei Landshut und vom Sailerschen-Kreis.

The 1st edition is already sold out and the 2nd edition was published at the beginning of February. It was printed in a larger format, DIN A4, to make the text easier to read.

The brochure can be obtained from Siegfried Schönle at for the price of 20 euros + postage – as a donation to the Chess Museum.

Luc Winants, RIP 1963-2023

Luc Winants, Chess Olympiad Istanbul 2012
Luc Winants, Chess Olympiad Istanbul 2012

Luc Winants

* 01-01-1963    † 07-02-2023

We have received the sad news of the passing of our member Luc Winants. The Belgian GM has been a member of the CH&LS since 2010 (at that time it was still the KWA).

We would like to point out the obituary on the ChessBase website:
Belgian Grandmaster Luc Winants (1 January 1963 – 7 February 2023) died

Tony Gillam turns 80 years old

Tony Gillam, Wijk aan Zee 2016
Tony Gillam, Wijk aan Zee 2016

On 20 January 2023, our member, Anthony John Gillam turned 80 years old. Mostly known as “Tony” Gillam, he started his career as chess author in the 1970ies with a couple of well-received books for beginners. At the same time, he worked with one of the leading English chess players Bernard Cafferty, issuing in 1977 Chess with the Masters.

Probably inspired by this cooperation, Tony digged deeper into chess history and started the Chess Player series in Nottingham. Starting with a modest 50 copies of the Schiffers v. Chigorin Match 1897, the series on “Rare and Unpublished Tournaments and Matches” grew until now to an impressive number of 138(!) publications Historical Chess from The Chess Player (chessbooks.co.uk). He thus contributed considerably to making available hitherto unknown games and tournaments: I can only assume how many hours of difficult research, of reviewing chess magazines and consulting public libraries it must have cost him to edit books about virtually all tournaments between 1870 and 1945. In my personal research about this period, I could not have “survived” without consulting Tony’s great work on the matter!

Read more …

A new book has just been published! For chess collectors: Doug Hamilton el Tal australiano

Jesús Seoane Sepúlveda - Doug Hamilton el Tal australiano - frontcover
Jesús Seoane Sepúlveda - Doug Hamilton el Tal australiano - frontcover

Dedicated to Doug Hamilton. A fearsome attacking player who inspired new generations of Australian players, such as the creative GM Ian Rogers. In fact, it is a Tribute to the whole of Australian chess. Some GMs and IMs and few of the best players in Australia collaborate in it. The layout designer is Juan Carlos Sanz, who does an impressive job.

The author, Jesús Seoane, is a Spanish physicist with a remarkable international career and not only a good chess player but also a passionate chess player and book collector.

DIN-A4 format.
674 pages.
Hard cover, paper 90 grs.
Weight around 2 kg.

Read more …