Michael Negele on the road again: Wismar, Brunswick and Wijk aan Zee
by Michael Negele
Dear members and friends of the CH&LS,
It was on July 5, 2019, that I was able to publish my last post on our website. It was about the 76th auction at Klittich-Pfankuch in Brusnwick.
76th Auction at Klittich-Pfankuch auction house on 22nd June 2019
After almost six years of "hibernation," I was able to attend the 89th auction on November 21/22, 2025. It made me happy to meet many friends from the "good old days" and to feel so welcome.
Before that, I had surprised Siegfried Schönle on November 11, 2025, in Wismar, where I was able to attend his wonderful lecture. I was pleased to purchase his book on Schach im DP-Lager Landsberg und im Ghetto Terezín / Theresienstadt [Chess in the DP Camp Landsberg and in the Terezín/Theresienstadt Ghetto].
Read more … Michael Negele on the road again: Wismar, Brunswick and Wijk aan Zee
New Member: Roderick Edwards
Our new member, Roderick Edwards from Canada, introduces himself in the members area (you must be logged in to read).
New Member: Vladimir Hrtko
Our new member, Vladimir Hrtko from Slovakia, is introduced in the members' area. (you must be logged in to read).
New Book from a Member
La Historia del Ajedrez Puertorriqueño, Trebejos en movimiento, v 1, is a pioneering work that gathers and presents the fascinating history of chess on the Island. This chronicle traces its origins back to the arrival of the first chessboards on ships coming from Spain, integrating the game’s development — with its highs and lows — from its earliest stages up to the early 1950s. The book, the result of rigorous research, offers readers in a single volume relevant information drawn from articles published by various authors in different sources, organized and grouped into chapters, largely following a chronological order. This structure allows the reader to appreciate the succession of the most significant events related to the game of chess.
The author, our member Bernard Christenson (Arecibo, 1953), is a distinguished physician specializing in Infectious Diseases. He is known for his numerous medical and historical publications
The Final Months of Lionel Kieseritzky
by Jean Olivier Leconte - https://lecafedelaregence.blogspot.com/
The end of Lionel Kieseritzky’s life long remained unclear to me, until I discovered several documents that shed light on his final months. What follows is the result of my investigation.
In 1851, Kieseritzky travelled to London for the first major international chess tournament, held during the Great Exhibition. He went there as the leading French player of the time. The event was not a great success for him, but his name would remain forever in the annals of chess thanks to the so-called “Immortal Game” played against Anderssen on the sidelines of the tournament.
Tobiblion update
Per Skjoldager has updated the database of the BoC-Project. Numerous new items and descriptions have been added to Tobiblion as well as the data of the 88th Klittich auction. They are now available for members in Tobiblion.
Adrianus Dingeman de Groot 1914 - 2006 Chess player and chess psychologist
Peter de Jong, a member of our association, has recently published a book entitled Adrianus Dingeman de Groot 1914 - 2006 Chess player and chess psychologist (book in Dutch).
The book is available from several webstores and booksellers in the Netherlands for € 69,95. Mr Peter de Jong can offer the book to CH&LS-members with a discount for € 59,95.
Contact: peterdej@kpnmail.nl
Here is the presentation of the book that appears on the cover, as well as an extract in PDF format:
Read more … Adrianus Dingeman de Groot 1914 - 2006 Chess player and chess psychologist
On firzán, alferza, reyna and dama
Here is a new text by José A. Garzón, whom I would like to thank. He told us about in Valencia last September.
You can find a summary in English and download the full text in Spanish in PDF format.
It was published in the book Pasiones Bibliográficas 8, which has just been released, edited by the Societat Bibliogràfica Valenciana Jerònima Galés.
Summary in English
The article examines the origin, naming, and nature of the queen in chess, arguing that the late 15th-century reform of the game was not the result of a gradual feminization of an existing piece, but rather the creation of a completely new piece, endowed with a new name, a new movement, and a new strategic role.
In ancient and medieval chess (shatranj), the piece next to the king was called ferz (or firzán, alferza) and had a very limited range of movement. In medieval Europe, under the strong influence of Jacobus de Cessolis’ moral treatise, the piece was often referred to as regina or domina in Latin, and reina in Romance languages. However, these feminine names did not bring about any change in the rules.
Chess and Film
[The original article in German can be found here. Translation with DeepL.com (free version)]
This is the sixth exhibition by the G.H.S. Chess and Culture Foundation and, as usual, it is accompanied by a catalog in exceptionally high print quality, with numerous color illustrations, primarily from the collections of Siegfried Tschinkel and Walter Rädler, as well as from the archives of the publisher Georg Schweiger on the subject.
New Moves on Old Boards
by José A. Garzón
1475–1512: The Great Transition from Medieval to Modern Chess
In this chapter from Ajedrez, arte y cultura, Spanish historian José A. Garzón recounts the fascinating half-century when medieval chess and modern chess briefly coexisted.
Between 1475 and 1512, a generation of poets, humanists, and printers transformed a slow, symbolic game into a dynamic intellectual art — a perfect reflection of the Renaissance spirit.
From Shatranj to the Valencian Revolution
For seven centuries, Europe played chess according to the Arabic shatranj: a weak “alferza” (queen) and a short-moving bishop.
Everything changed around 1475 in Valencia, where Bernat Fenollar, Narcís Vinyoles, and Françí de Castellví composed the poem Scachs d’amor (“Chess of Love”).
This extraordinary work — both allegory and manual — introduced the modern Queen, the en passant capture, the double pawn move, and even an early form of castling.
It also describes the first complete modern chess game ever recorded, in which Castellví (Mars) defeats Vinyoles (Venus) under the arbitration of Fenollar (Mercury).
Vicent and the Spread of the New Game
Twenty years later, on May 15, 1495, Valencian scholar Francesch Vicent published the Llibre dels jochs partits dels scachs en nombre de 100, the first printed treatise on modern chess.
Though the original book has been lost, Garzón reconstructed it through a manuscript discovered in Cesena: one hundred problems written in Valencian, many identical to those found later in Lucena’s Repetición de amores y arte de ajedrez (Salamanca, 1497) and Damiano’s Questo libro (Rome, 1512).
Vicent thus stands as the true father of modern chess and one of the pioneers of scientific printing in Spain.