New Member: Pablo Moujan
Our new member, Pablo Moujan from the USA, introduces himself in the members area (you must be logged in to read).
Gerbert of Aurillac (future Pope Sylvester II) and his possible relationship in the diffusion of Chess in the 10th century
by Alejandro Melchor
In the commendable work of Helena M. Gamer “The earliest evidence of Chess in the western literature - The verses of Einsiedeln” (1954), this author placed in the Monastery of Einsiedeln, founded by Otto I, the earliest literary evidence of Chess in the European West (around the year 990). Evidence perfectly coinciding in the first documentary mention we find precisely in "Hispania" (Spain) with the will of Ermengol I, Count of Urgell, in the year 1007 carried out on the occasion of the campaign against Al-Andalus (Muslim area center and south of Spain) of the Catalan counts. However, the author, observing the absence of Saracen terminology in the Alpine verses, was rather in favor of an influence of Byzantine origin rather than Muslim, which in any case could have arrived either by Hispanic or - preferably - Italic way. Reasonings without seems definitive, are certainly very convincing, so it seems that it can be affirmed that Chess appears simultaneously in the Alpine monasteries of the Ottonian dynasty and among the Catalan nobility. Even in the case that the influence came from more than one source, as it could seem natural talking about something like a board game, the coincidence is remarkable. What could be the cause? It would be necessary to go further ...
New Member: Alejandro Melchor
Our new member, Alejandro Melchor from Spain, introduces himself in the members area (you must be logged in to read).
Online access to the Ken Whyld Library is available again
Dear members of the Society,
our member Francois Zutter has informed as that the online access to the Ken Whyld library in Switzerland has been reestablished. The general website is https://museedujeu.ch/le-musee/. You can also have direct access via https://biblio.la-tour-de-peilz.ch/tour-msj/.
I hope you find this information useful!
Best regards
Frank Hoffmeister, President
150 years chess club St. Gallen (Switzerland)
The CH&LS has the honour to publish a booklet about the history of the chess club in St. Gallen (in German) and wishes to thank the former President, Mr. Hans Altherr, and the author, Mr. Michael Nyffenegger, for their kind authorisation.
GM Dr phil. Robert Hübner (6.11.1948 - 5.1.2025)
- not only a chess genius -
by Siegfried Schönle
[Original article in German is here. Translation with DeepL.com (free version)]
Firstly, this remark before anything else:
In just a few words in this article, it is almost impossible to adequately honour the chess and academic work of the late GM Dr phil. Robert Hübner (6.11.1948 - 5.1.2025) in this article is simply not possible. The author would also like to ask for your understanding that he can only say a few things about Dr Robert Hübner. This is due to a lack of knowledge and language skills.
Instead, in reference to his own book title, Elemente einer Selbstbiographie [Elements of a Self-Biography], Berlin, Edition Marco 2015), some ‘elements’ of his biography will be recalled to the reader's memory.
This is an attempt to perhaps emphasise the lesser-known sides and interests of his personality.
A review of his entries in eight English- and German-language encyclopaedias revealed a fairly uniform picture: date of birth; learnt chess at the age of 5; his successes in decades after Büsum 1968 (see photo below); multiple World Championship candidate in around 20 years; participation in 6 World Championship cycles; papyrologist; various winning games at the end of the articles.
The focus of the articles in the encyclopaedias is, quite understandably, on the chess career. - So far so good!
Read more … GM Dr phil. Robert Hübner (6.11.1948 - 5.1.2025)
Jesus Diez del Corral: The Spanish Botvinnik
Mr Juan Carlos Sanz Menéndez has just published in Spanish, Jesús Diez del Corral: El Botvinnik español, about the second Spanish grandmaster, covering his entire chess career from 1945 to 1988, with over 1000 games, the vast majority of which do not appear in game databases. It is available from the specialist chess publisher Tienda Chessy: DIEZ DEL CORRAL El Botvinnik español
Description:
Book including all the games of Diez del Corral, the 2nd Spanish Grandmaster in history and one of the most talented. Covers his entire chess career, from 1945 to 1988.
This work is the result of a titanic effort by the author, who has endeavoured to bring together almost all the games played by one of the most talented Spanish grandmasters (and surely also one of the most professional in his preparation).
Not only is it a journey through Diez del Corral's chess career, but it is also a look at the leading Spanish masters of the time, who in most cases held the title of National Master by being placed prominently in the national championships. These now unknown players were among the strongest in Spain and with this work we make them known, with a brief biography.
Jesús Diez del Corral (1933-2010) was for more than a decade (from 1968 to 1979) the strongest player in Spain, although he had to combine chess with his demanding professional obligations (he was a land registrar and notary, for example).
Money makes the (chess) world go around
In the German chess journal Schach our President Frank Hoffmeister published recently an article about the difficulties of world champions and their challengers to find sponsors for their matches. With the kind authorisation of the publisher, our member Raj Tischbierek, please find attached his contribution (in German).
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