Tony Gillam turns 80 years old
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 Starting with a modest 50 copies of the Schiffers v. Chigorin Match 1897, the series on “Rare and Unpublished Tournaments and Matches” grew until now to an impressive number of 138(!)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!
A new book has just been published! For chess collectors: Doug Hamilton el Tal australiano
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.
Marlet's painting of the match between Saint-Amant and Staunton: the original, the lithograph, and the copies
by Jean Oliver Leconte
This article concerns the conflict about the painting made by Jean Henry Marlet during the match played in 1843 between Saint-Amant and Staunton. More exactly this painting represents the 19th game of the match, played on December 16, 1843 at the Paris Chess Club (Cercle des Échecs de Paris). This conflict led to a lawsuit between Saint-Amant and the painter Marlet.
The painting of Marlet is an exceptional document in many ways:
- Most of the notabilities of the Chess Club (Cercle des Échecs de Paris - on the 1st floor of the Café de la Régence) are represented, with the significant exception of Deschapelles.
- It is to our knowledge the only representation of the Chess Club of this time.
I discovered in the Parisian press of the time the report of the lawsuit which opposed the painter Marlet to Saint-Amant about the painting. This report brings several very interesting details which Saint-Amant mentions partially in the chess review Le Palamède.
There are, so to speak, at least 3 different versions of this painting:
- The original by Marlet
- A lithograph by Alexandre Laemlein
- Copies painted from the engraving.
IM Herbert Bastian turns 70 years old
Our member, the former President of the German Chess Federation and passionate chess historian Herbert Bastian turned 70 years on 10 December 2022. Born 1952 in Emmersweiler, a small town in the German region of Saarland, near the Franco-German border, Herbert developed his great chess talent in the local chess club since 1966 and became several times champion of his native Saarland. In 1972, he participated at federal level and won the Dähne-Cup in 1976. Although being among the German elite players, Herbert chose a civil career and became a school teacher for mathematics. But even as an amateur he out-calculated Viktor Korchnoi in a memorable game from the GM tournament of Baden-Baden in 1981 (see below). He became shared second at the German championship a year later and represented German colours at the European team championship in Plovdiv (Bulgaria) 1983. He also played in the Bundesliga and scored his 20th(!) title as champion of Saarland in 1992. His constant successes earned him the IM title in 2005. As recent as 2020, he still participated in the federal championships with a remarkable performance of 4/9 at 2300 ELO level.
New Member: Pete Tamburro
Our new member, Pete Tamburro from Morristown (US), is presented in the members area (You must be logged in to read).
Schach und Musik (Chess and Music)
Another exhibition related to chess opened this week. Siegfried Schönle was there again and reported:
Schach und Musik (in German)
[Update 2022-11-25] The English version of the text is now available: Schach und Musik (Chess and Music) [/Update]
Chess and humor
Siegfried Schönle reports on the meeting of the members of Chess Collectors International (CCI) and CH&LS on the occasion of the "Schachwunderland - Kunst und Humor im Schach" (Chess Wonderland - art and humor in chess) exhibition in Plauen. The article is written in German, but will soon be published in English:
[Update 2022-11-25] The English version of the text is now available: Chess and humor [/Update]
Searching for Bonaparte’s famous chess table at the Café de la Régence
by Jean Oliver Leconte
The table where Bonaparte is said to have played chess at the Café de la Régence was a tourist attraction for almost a century.
Some time ago, Mr. Patrice Belluire (France), whom I thank, gave me a book reference (which I did not know), where this table of Bonaparte appears and in which it is possible to view the interior of the Café de la Régence at the end of the 1930s.
It is the book Chessmen published in 1937 that I bought in a small Parisian bookshop (a copy signed by the author M. J.Maunoury and dedicated to the publisher Harcourt!)
Read more … Searching for Bonaparte’s famous chess table at the Café de la Régence
Exchanges with the French association "Théméchecs"
The president of the "Théméchecs" association, Mr. Alain Barnier (France), has contacted us for various exchanges concerning our two associations with rather similar objectives. What he proposes will interest, I hope, most of our members.
Our French association gathers chess collectors, originally rather philatelists, but also collectors of books, magazines, pictures, games and other objects, as well as amateurs of chess history and culture. A quarter of the members are outside France.
Our website is here: http://echecs.online.fr/themechecs/
We collaborate with several partner associations: Cossu in the USA, Motiefgroep Schaken in the Netherlands, GSM in Germany more recently.
I propose the idea of collaborating with you, notably by exchanging information, for example on our side:
- by mentioning the website of the KWA / CH&LS association;
- mentioning your events and informing you about ours;
- sending our newsletter to the president (3 times a year);
- giving you free access to our auctions (once or twice a year), etc.
A Letter from our president Frank Hoffmeister
Dear members of the society!
On 10 September 2022, we held our first General Assembly in the beautiful Palazzo del Doglione of Marostica. Many of our members could also see the life chess event in the evening which was shown until the end despite some heavy rain showers in between! I wish to thank in particular our Italian members Stefano Zulian and the President of the Marostica Chess Club, who helped a great deal in the preparation. Moreover, it was an honour that we could count the great Italian Chess historian Dr. D’Elia among our participants. In order to facilitate the cross-communication, I attach the list of participants with e-mails for your information.
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