Robert Johnson: Adolf Anderssen - Combinative Chess Genius
Our member Tony Peterson would like to draw our attention to a new book about Adolf Anderssen:
Adolf Anderssen - Combinative Chess Genius.
An autobiography with 80 annotated games.
Self-published, Australia, 2020
Large heavy hardback (22 x 30cm), pictorial covers.
353pp., 36 fine large photos (3 in colour of Anderssen's grave),
comprises ten chapters with biography and 80 annotated games using contemporary annotations where possible,
appendix with Steinitz's Obituary of Anderssen, bibliography and indexes.
Printed on high quality paper with large type and diagrams. The author has "endeavoured to present the fullest, most accurate possible account of Anderssen's life in English."
[Update 2020-10-22] Although the book is sub-titled An Autobiography it is in fact a biography. Most of the information about Anderssen's early life is sourced from the Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (1900). Its Anderssen article was written by Max Lange, a personal friend and chess colleague of Anderssen's. The book also draws from the German works of von Gottschall and Riemann, as well as nineteenth century books and magazines. [/Update]
Signed and dated by the author on the endpaper.
Read more … Robert Johnson: Adolf Anderssen - Combinative Chess Genius
Tobiblion update
Per Skjoldager has updated the database of the BoC-Project. 140 new descriptions have made it into Tobiblion as well as the data of the 74th Klittich auction. They are now available for members in Tobiblion.
Blitz tournament for all Chess Collectors in the world
It is intend to run a blitz tournament, 5 minutes + 2 seconds per move, online at lichess.org during the time when the GSM meeting took place every year, i.e. Ascension Day 2020 Thu 21.05.2020 at 20:00 CET. Duration 100 minutes. Run the lichess.org tournament without affecting your personal score and without berserk mode. All members of the GSM, CCI, CHLS and MOTIEFGROEP SCHAKEN are invited.
Important: If you don't have a free account at lichess.org, you have to register in time. If you want to participate, please email (wg.pz@t-online.de) me or contact me at http://www.gsm-schach.eu/Kontaktformular. Then I remind all interested parties in good time. The winner receives a free membership for one year and has thus paid the contribution for 2021.
Best regards from Jena,
Wolfgang Pähtz (chairman GSM)
New Senior member
From our Chairman:
We congratulate our member Bernd Segebarth at the occasion of his promotion per Januari 1st of 2020 to Senior Member of the Chess History & Literature Society as in this year he will reach the age of 75. We wish him many happy years in his seniority!
Postponement of the biennial international CCI Congress in St. Louis
Our chairman Bob van de Velde has received the following message from Tom Gallegos und Luann Woneis, the organizers of the 19th Congress of the Chess Collectors International to be held in St. Louis, U.S.A., originally in May 27-31, 2020:
It has been a difficult decision, but with Coronavirus-related closures and travel restrictions worsening by the day, I'm afraid we must bow to the inevitable, and postpone CCI's 19th Biennial Congress (currently scheduled for May 27-31) until September 2-6, 2020. This new date is provisional, of course. If the pandemic is not over by that time, obviously we might have to postpone it further, or even cancel it altogether. We should know more as events continue to unfold over the spring and summer.
After having explained that the new dates are very favourable for especially the American attendance, Tom Gallegos continues with a short survey regarding the exhibition, exposed during the Congress.
As all members of our Society should know, they have a permanent invitation to attend the congresses and the meetings of de CCI. Therefore we publish the complete letter of Tom Gallegos below.
Read more … Postponement of the biennial international CCI Congress in St. Louis
The annual meeting of the Chess Collectors International in 2020 cancelled
Our chairman Bob van de Velde informed us that the German branche of the Chess Collectors International hat postponed its annual meeting for 2020 to 2021. The meeting was originally planned from 24th tot 27th of September in the German city of Wernigerode in the Harz. More information will follow in due time.
No meeting of the chess motive collectors this year
Our member Wolfgang Pähtz informed us, that the Collector meeting 2020 of the GSM (Gemeinschaft der Schachmotivsammler) in Bad Salzuflen will not take place this year!
More information:
A fresh look on a historical tournament
From our chairman:
On our request Johannes Fischer, a long-time friend of the Chess History and Literature Society, wrote a review of Michael Dombrowsky's Cambridge Springs 1904, the tournament book to which the chess world has looked forward for more than a century. The name of Cambridge Springs is better known as a defensive variation of the Queen’s Gambit than as the spa where the first ‘top tournament’ on American soil was organised. The reviewer is a productive contributor to the German language magazine Karl, das kulturelle Schachmagazin, as far as I know, from its start (2000-2001) in the current format until today, and is collaborator of ChessBase.
Juan Sebastián Morgado: El impresionante Torneo de Ajedrez de las Naciones 1939
Our chairman writes:
From our Argentinian member Juan Sebastián Morgado we have received the announcement of his three-volume monograph on the Chess Olympiad 1939 in Buenos Aires: El impresionante Torneo de Ajedrez de las Naciones 1939. Although written in Spanish and therefore not so easily accessible for all lovers of chess history, it will be a most welcome additional source of information to the issue of Karl, das kulturelle Schachmagazin (3/2019) that recently was devoted to this famous tournament, and the single-volume tournament book the Australian author Justin Corfield wrote on the tournament, Pawns in a greater game; The Buenos Aires Chess Olympiad August-September 1939 (Gentext Publications: Lara [Victoria] 2015).
Juan Morgado was as kind as to send us on our request a extensive synopsis of his work, which we publish here.
[Update 2020-02-18] The PDF that contains the complete text of volume 1 of Juan Morgado’s monograph is available for members under Lectures and Articles [/Update]
Read more … Juan Sebastián Morgado: El impresionante Torneo de Ajedrez de las Naciones 1939
Best Trainer Award for John Donaldson
From our chairman :
Our representative for the American members and as well the deputy chairman of our Society John Donaldson recently has been featured in the American Chess Magazine. The immediate cause for it was the The Best Trainer Award presented to him by the FIDE Trainers’ Commission for his captaincy of the successful US Teams (gold and silver) in the Olympics 2016 and 2018. We congratulate him heartily on this honourable award!
Bob van de Velde
More information: