Michael Negele's trip to the Netherlands

The "Lasker team" at the Noordwijk beach, analyzing a game.

Once again Michael Negele went to the Netherlands for some days (18 to 23 April) to visit Amsterdam, Noordwijk and the Royal Library in The Hague. Enjoy his pictorial report:

[Updated 2015-08-07: addendum to Albrecht Buschke]

When I arrived at the Amsterdam Max Euwe-Centrum most people were already leaving, so I took only very few photos. Below a snapshot of Dusan Vukovic, old and (after a break of some years) new member of the KWF&A, and certainly the member I know for the longest time - still from my years in Aix-la-Chapelle (Aachen), i.e. before 1990.

Dusan Vukovic and yours truly in the MEC
Dusan Vukovic and yours truly in the MEC

Moreover a nice photo of the Rijksmuseum in bright weather:

Really a sunny blue sky!
Really a sunny blue sky!

On Saturday afternoon I was a guest of Winifred and Bob van de Velde, also our chairman Guy Van Habberney was present but he had to leave shortly. Bert Corneth joint this nice lunch as well, so afterwards I took him via Noordwijk along to Leidschendam.

On Sunday Bob and Winifred visited me in Noordwijk, below I give some photos:

The Lasker book project - a new 3-volume edition of the Emanuel Lasker monograph in English - will officially start on 1st of July 2015. The first volume is scheduled to be published in the Lasker year 2018 (150th birthday of Em. Lasker, but also of Richard Teichmann; moreover the 200th birthday of Tassilo von Heydebrand und der Lasa and of Adolf Anderssen!). Volume II and III should appear in 2019 and 2020 respectively. I will inform you from time to time about the progress of this project.

Here a photo of my new comrade - you will need a thick skin for the Lasker project ...
Here a photo of my new comrade - you will need a thick skin for the Lasker project ...

On Monday to Wednesday I visited - together with Bob - the Royal Library in The Hague in order to do some research, especially in the scrapbooks of Niemeijer and Rueb. On the whole it was a pleasant yield with many interesting finds, though quite arduous: there were 50 volumes and the inspection took a number of hours; we had to work in parallel and finally Bob asked me to include his finds - this way I took about 1300(!) photos.

Below I give a selection of our most exciting finds, which also relate to some of my former or current projects and articles.

Sonja Graf:

see the biography "Schicksal eines Fräuleinwunders" (2nd version, 2007) as well as "Childhood of Sonja (Susanna) Graf" (2005).

Savielly G. Tartakover:

S. Tartakover, Stefan Rotmil (captain) and K. Makarczyk, Hamburg 1930
S. Tartakover, Stefan Rotmil (captain) and K. Makarczyk, Hamburg 1930

Two photos of Tartakover:

Questions: Where and when was this photo taken?
In the photo are Tartakover, ... ???

Answers in this pdf file!

Dawid Przepiórka:

- see my article on Przepiórka in KARL 1/14 "Die Beziehung zwischen Spatz und Wachtel".

Further Polish masters:

A short search revealed that the initial position depicted above corresponds exactly to the Lengfellner Neuschach. I quote from The Classified Encyclopedia of Chess Variants, p.72:
"Neuschach [Lengfellner] (Dr Lengfellner, 1911). Baseline NBQRRNBK. Frank Marshall tested the game successfully in Vienna against an unknown master, whilst Erich Cohn of Berlin, shortly after killed in World War I, won a Neuschach masters tournament. (Wiener Schachzeitung, November-December 1911)"
Already in the 19th century people started to experiment with such chess variants, quite a lot are described in the a.m. encyclopedia. [R.B.]

Further finds on Albrecht Buschke

- see my editing of the Buschke autobiography in our CSQ 15, 16 &17 (2014).

A note from The Publishers’ Weekly
A note from The Publishers’ Weekly

The Chess Collection of Dr. Albrecht Buschke
The Chess Collection of Dr. Albrecht Buschke

Jacques Mieses

A letter by Mieses, excusing Max Blümich from deleting the names of Jewish masters from the "Lehrbuch des Schachspiels" by Dufresne/Mieses:

How pictures look alike:

Berthold and Emanuel Lasker:

*     *     *

On Tuesday a spontaneous gathering still came about in Amsterdam, as two days before (on Sunday) I had received an email of our Austrian friend Karl Kadletz who planned to come to Amsterdam with his wife. Where there’s a will, there’s a way (to meet):

Jurgen Stigter, Bob van de Velde, Karl Kadletz and Michael Negele
Jurgen Stigter, Bob van de Velde, Karl Kadletz and Michael Negele

Michael Negele (text & photographs)
Ralf Binnewirtz (editing & translation)

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