Schach im DP-Lager Landsberg und im Ghetto Terezín / Theresienstadt [Chess in the Landsberg DP camp and in the Terezín / Theresienstadt ghetto]
Schwarzweiße Wege der Forschung zu Nathan Markowsky und Isidor Schorr [Black and white paths of research on Nathan Markowsky and Isidor Schorr]
Comments on the current book by Siegfried Schönle from Kassel
by Konrad Reiß
[Original article in German is here. Translation with DeepL.com (free version)]
I used to travel through Theresienstadt a lot. The town was on the route to Schneekoppe, where my club, the 1871 Löberitz chess club, combines chess with a holiday for a few days every year around Easter.
Every time I drove through the town or even just heard the word Theresienstadt, I had to think of the misery that Jewish people had to endure there. At the same time, scenes from the Nazi propaganda film entitled "Der Führer schenkt den Juden eine Stadt"1 [The Führer Gives a City to the Jews] darken my mind.
The Theresienstadt ghetto could not have been described in a more perfidious and perverse way. Well, the camp was not an extermination camp, but it still served as a forecourt to hell. These hells existed as main camps (24) and subcamps (1,000) between around 1933 and 1945 and were called Auschwitz, Majdanek, Belcek, Sobibor and Treblinka.
Capablanca, the prodigious ascent (1888-1920) - by Georges Bertola
Georges Bertola, editor-in-chief of the magazine Europe Echecs and chess historian, has just published in French a book on Capablanca, with a preface by the Ukrainian champion Vasyl Ivanchuk.
Coincidentally, 19 November (today) also happens to be his birthday!
This fascinating, richly illustrated book takes you back through the career of this chess prodigy.
The first volume covers his rise from birth in 1888 to the year before he won the World Championship against Lasker in 1921.
An excellent gift for the festive season.
You can buy the book on the Europe Echecs magazine website
Price 39,90 €
Here's what the back cover says:
Read more … Capablanca, the prodigious ascent (1888-1920) - by Georges Bertola
Unveiling the Victory – How Spassky Won The Third World Junior Chess Championship Antwerp 1955 – Henri Serruys
Our friend Henri Serruys, treasurer of the CH&LS association, has just published a book with Thinkers Publishing about the 1955 Junior World Championship won by Boris Spassky.
Henri presented his great work to us two years ago in Marostica. The project has now become a reality!
The 3rd World Junior Chess Championship in Antwerp, Belgium in 1955
Another great Swedish Biography
Our member Peter Holmgren recently published the first of two planned volumes about his great countryman GM Gideon Ståhlberg (1908-1967), for decades one of the world’s strongest masters.
We are hoping to bring an in-depth review of the magnificent work later – in the meantime you may watch Daniel King’s presentation of the book on his YouTube channel:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tqkqze-tKdg
Interview with Herbert Bastian about the book Chapais - The revolutionary chess manuscript by Gaspard Monge
A. Herbert Bastian: Who is the author?
Born in 1952, the author studied mathematics and physics up to the 2nd state examination after leaving school and completing his military service, then worked as a research assistant in the department of experimental physics and subsequently as a teacher at a comprehensive school.
Stages as a chess player: German Cup Winner 1976, 20 times Saarland Champion, 27 participations in the German Individual Championship, 10 years in the Bundesliga for the Munich Chess Club of 1836, holder of an A-coach licence since 1986, International Master since 2005, 14 appearances as a national player.
Positions as an official: President of the Saarland Chess Association from 1992 to 2016, spokesperson for the regional associations in the German Chess Federation from 2004-2011, President of the German Chess Federation from 2011-2017, Honorary President since 2023, Vice President of FIDE from 2014-2018, currently DSB Commissioner for Franco-German Relations. 2017 Awarded the Badge of Honour of the German Olympic Sports Confederation, for the first time to a chess athlete.
Publications (selection): La France et son apport dans le jeu d'échecs en Europe (2022), together with Prof. Dr Frank Hoffmeister and Jean-Olivier Leconte, on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the Fédération Française des Échecs.
B. Siegfried Schönle:
The interviewer is a collector of chess scenes in German literature and is interested in the cultural history of the game.
FIDE president Folke Rogard by Henrik Malm Lindberg
During the FIDE olympiad in Budapest and the centenary celebration of the world chess organisation, our Swedish member Henrik Malm Lindberg presented his recent biography of his countryman Folke Rogard (1899-1973) who held the presidency of FIDE from 1949 to 1970.
Henrik says about his new book:
It has puzzled me how Folke Rogard managed to fade into oblivion for the vast majority of those active in the chess world. The more I got to know him during my many long days in various archives, the more dimensions of his work emerged. The image of him—the precocious student, lawyer, businessman, family man, and, of course, chess president—has many nuances. My book had to focus primarily on the later aspects of his career, specifically his role as a chess organizer in Sweden and internationally. FIDE President Rogard had to deal with the Cold War during his international career. Although I am a trained economic historian, I probably did not realise until quite late in my writing the full extent of how this low-intensity war shaped chess in the post-war period. Chess became a kind of theatre of war—a way for the superpowers to prove their superiority on the board or the superiority of their own social system.
Read more … FIDE president Folke Rogard by Henrik Malm Lindberg
Arnaud Berman – Chess artist
My name is Arnaud Berman, I am the great grandson of Marcel Berman, president of the French Federation of Chess (FFE) from 1955 to 1958, and vice president of FIDE afterwards. Marcel Berman also wrote the lyrics of FIDE anthem. He was an excellent friend of Alexander Alekhine, Mikhail Botvinnik and Folke Rogard.
Frei Schach! Free Chess!
Abstract and text (in German) proposed by Bernd-Peter Lange
Abstract
The tension between the game of chess as strictly regulated by rules and the idea of freedom can be traced in three radical examples separated by media and different periods of the twentieth century.
The first emphatic employment of the concept of freedom is in the title of a chess journal issued by the Communist opposition of the central German working-class chess organization at the end of the Weimar Republic.
In the journal Frei Schach! the radical subsection of "Red Sports Unity” asserts its claim for supremacy, demanding revolutionary goals in the class struggle.
Chess History & Literature Society - Frank Hoffmeister
An interview with Georges Bertola, editor-in-chief of “Europe Echecs” magazine and chess historian.
Frank Hoffmeister is currently President of the “Chess History & Literature Society”, which was originally founded as the Ken Whyld Association. At the general meeting held in Budapest on 13 and 14 September, we had the opportunity to get to know each other better.
Georges Bertola: First of all, what is the difference between the current "Chess History & Literature Society" and the former "Ken Whyld Association", and what distinguishes it from "Chess Collectors International"?
Frank Hoffmeister: The name “Ken Whyld Association” comes from the English historian Ken Whyld, who died in 2003, who had gathered a few friends around him to research the history of chess (Ken Whyld is notably the co-author, with David Hooper, of the reference work The Oxford Companion to Chess). After his death, his friends decided to continue his work by coming together in an association intended to become a meeting and exchange circle and to broaden his horizons with a new name “Chess History & Literature Society”. The idea is to attract members who are not focused solely on the United Kingdom, but whose interest in history corresponds to a global vision of the world of chess.
“Chess Collectors International” brings together people who like to collect books, chess boards, pieces, manuscripts, etc. to facilitate exchanges or gather information.
Our association “Chess History & Literature Society” is rather interested in research to treat different subjects in a concrete way of the history of chess. For example, this year, at our general meeting in Budapest, we concentrated on the history of FIDE.
Read more … Chess History & Literature Society - Frank Hoffmeister
The accession of Germany and the Soviet Union to FIDE
Frank Hoffmeister, President of the CH&LS Association, retraced the history of German and USSR membership of FIDE.
Two countries with a tumultuous history in the 20th century, a tumult that is reflected in their relations with FIDE.
Here is an extract from the presentation text for the General Meeting on 13 and 14 September 2024.
Read more … The accession of Germany and the Soviet Union to FIDE