Auction of some interesting books

Michael Wiltshire
Michael Wiltshire

Michael Wiltshire, President of Chess Collectors International (CCI), is selling some interesting books at an auction on May 26th at Forum Auctions.

Here is the list:

  • LOT 334: Il Giuoco de gli Scacchi, Ridotto in Poema Eroico, second edition, Vicenza, Appresso Perin Libraro, e Giorgio Greco Compag., 1607.
  • LOT 335: The Royall Game of Chesse-Play, first edition in English, Printed for Henry Herringman, 1656.
  • LOT 336: Chess Made Easy, Printed for J. and P. Knapton...and W. Sandby, 1750.
  • LOT 337: The History of Chess, first edition, 1764.
  • LOT 340: Il Giuoco Incomparabile degli Scacchi, second edition, Venice, Simone Occhi, 1773.
  • LOT 341: Essays on Chess adapted to the European Mode of Play, first edition, Bombay, Printed for the Author, by M.D. Cruz, 1814.
  • LOT 342: The Noble Game of Chess, 2 parts in 1, first edition, Printed for J. Brindley, 1745.

Calle Erlandsson 80

Calle Erlandsson, at the opening of the TePe Sigeman tournament in Malmö, Sweden

One of the founding members of KWA, Calle Erlandsson, reached the mature age of 80 years on May 20. He is today the most avid and active chess collector in Sweden, having over the years amassed a most impressive collection, particularly in the field of chess magazines. Calle has in addition contributed more to Swedish chess than anybody else I can think of. Being a dedicated correspondence player in his younger days, he took active part in SSKK, the section of the Swedish Chess Federation organizing correspondence tournaments, for many years. He also transformed their magazine SSKK-bulletinen from being a plain results list to a magazine full of interesting content. Note that this was before any kind of computer support was available for manuscripts and layout.

Read more …

News for members

Palazzo del Doglione: Our meeting venue
Palazzo del Doglione: Our meeting venue

Dear members of the society!

It gives me great pleasure to write the first letter to you on behalf of the board – Claes Løfgren (Secretary), Henri Serruys (Treasurer) and Jean-Olivier Leconte (Webeditor).

As announced on our website, we are planning a general assembly of the society to mark a new phase of our activities. The event will take place on 10 September 2022 in Marostica (Italy) from 10 am to 5 pm. Dr. Roberto Xausa President of the Banca Popolare di Marostica Volksbank Foundation has granted the holding of the General Assembly at the Sala del Buongoverno Palazzo del Doglione - Headquarters of the Foundation in the famous Piazza degli Scacchi! This offers many of us occasion to meet in person after a long period of travel and meeting restrictions. In the evening, you have the possibility to participate in the "Chess-live" event.

Read more …

A chess master from Dessau: Otto Rosenbaum

Konrad Reiß, Otto Rosenbaum..., Biography 2021.
Konrad Reiß, Otto Rosenbaum..., Biography 2021.

Author Konrad Reiß wrote a biography about the (almost) forgotten chess master Otto Rosenbaum from Dessau (Germany). Our member Siegfried Schönle took a closer look.

Here are his impressions: Ein Schachmeister aus Dessau: Otto Rosenbaum (in German)

New Member: Hanon Russell

pixabay.com
pixabay.com

Our new senior member, Hanon Russell from Portsmouth (US), introduces himself in the members area (You must be logged in to read).

New Member: Hanon Russell

General Assembly in Marostica

The new chairman: Frank Hoffmeister
The new chairman: Frank Hoffmeister

Dear members and friends of the Chess History and Literature Society!

As announced by our previous chairman, Bob van de Velde, the new board of our society has assumed office. It gives me great pleasure to announce that Henri Serruys (Treasurer - Belgium), Jean-Olivier Leconte (Webeditor - France) Claes Løfgren (Secretary - Denmark) and John Donaldson (Vice-President - USA) will work together with me as new President (Frank Hoffmeister - Belgium).

As one of our first activities, I would like to invite you all for a GENERAL ASSEMBLY on 10 September 2022 in Marostica (Italy) from 10 am to 5 pm. Dr. Roberto Xausa President of the Banca Popolare di Marostica Volksbank Foundation has granted the holding of the General Assembly at the Sala del Buongoverno Palazzo del Doglione - Headquarters of the Foundation in the famous Piazza degli Scacchi! This offers many of us occasion to meet in person after a long period of travel and meeting restrictions. In the evening, you have the possibility to participate in the "Chess-live" event.

Read more …

Deutschlandfunk: "Schachspiel - Schachsport"

Our member Siegfried Schönle would like to draw attention to a three-part German-language radio show on the subject of chess.

Deutschlandfunk: "Schachspiel - Schachsport" (in German)

The 65th birthday of Michael Negele

Michael Negele, 2018
Michael Negele, 2018

On February 22nd our Honorary Member Dr. Michael Negele celebrated his 65th birthday. This day coincided with the day on which, although still informally, the new Board of the CH&LS took office and during the following weeks in which the transfer of tasks took place this special day for our Honorary Member passed unnoticed. So, prior to our warmest congratulations we have to apologise for our lack of awareness to look on time on the birthday calendar!

Michael belonged to the founding fathers of the CH&LS, that started almost 20 years ago as Ken Whyld Association, a small group of collectors, bibliographers and historians. The idea was to connect the few people around the world that were interested in chess book collecting, in problems of chess bibliography, and in chess history, and to exchange information, data, books, and to try to build a kind of ‘wiki’ chess bibliography. The early members of the informal Association had the hope that the number of members could grow up to at most 30, but to a large extent thanks to Michael’s boundless energy, first as treasurer and later as chairman, the membership expanded within 10 year to almost 200 members. When you dive into the historical pages of our website, you can get an impression of his activities and his contributions, for instance when you look under Archive, especially under Expeditions of Michael Negele. During that period he was a true ambassador of the Association.

Read more …

CH&LS with a new board

pixabay.com

On Tuesday March 22nd, 2022 Bob van de Velde has written these email letter to the Council of Representatives and to the members of the new Board and the former Board of the CH&LS with regard to the new Board composition:

Dear Members of the Council of Representatives,
dear new Members of the Board,
dear former Members of the Board,

at 00:00 h this morning the term of four weeks has been passed by without a reaction from the Council of Representatives on the proposal of the former Board (email of 21st of February) to appoint the four candidates, mentioned in my email below, as members of the Board:

Frank Hoffmeister as chairman/president,
Claes Løfgren as secretary,
Henri Serruys as treasurer and
Jean-Olivier Leconte as member and website editor.

From now on, together with John Donaldson, vice-chairman/president, they will form the new Board of the Chess History & Literature Society (formally still Ken Whyld Association) .

I am happy to be the first one who can gratulate them with their appointment and to wish them all the success in their efforts to overcome the negative effects on the CH&LS of the lockdown period during the corona pandemic. At the same time I thank the members of the old board for their cooperation during my two-plus terms as chairman and their willingness to improvise during the corona period, and especially I am grateful for Karl Klittich’s support and for his inventiveness to find solutions for almost all problems that arose during the last two years.

Read more ... (You must be logged in to read)

Honouring Yuri Averbakh

Yuri Averbakh with Imperial and Royal Order of St. Stanislav II Class, 2019
Yuri Averbakh with Imperial and Royal Order of St. Stanislav II Class, 2019

On 8 February 1922, our senior member and oldest living Grandmaster, Yuri Averbakh was born in Kaluga near Moscow. He steadily rose in the ranks of Soviet Chess, became a GM in 1952 and participated in the legendary Zurich 1953 candidates tournament (won by Smyslov). In 1954, he won the Soviet championship and almost qualified for the next candidates tournament in the Interzonal of Portoroz. In 1962, he quit competitive chess and concentrated and chess journalism and politics. His role at the helmet of the Soviet Chess organisation is aptly summarized in his unique Centre-Stage and Behind the Scenes (New in Chess, 2011).

Given his high reputation and recognized integrity, Yuri was also chosen as chief arbiter for three world championship matches, namely Kasparov-Karpov (1984), Kasparov-Short (1993) and Kasparov-Kramnik (2000).

While these milestones in his career are already impressive on their own, they do not tell the complete biography, though. Asked in an interview for Chess.com (Yuri Averbakh, The Oldest Living Grandmaster, Turns 100) about his biggest achievement, Averbakh, confessed that neither his performances in competitive chess nor in chess bureaucracy or as arbiter could qualify. Rather, he pointed to his acclaimed book on chess history! Indeed, the monograph A History of Chess – From Chatarunga to the Present Day finished in 2012 (at the age of 90!) established itself quickly as a “must-have” for chess historians. Averbakh went deep into the origins of “Chaturanga”, took account of archeological findings around the globe and showed an intimate knowledge about the main literary milestones on the game. As he observed himself: “I have been gathering material for this book all my life”.

The Chess History and Literature Society wishes to honor Yuri Averbakh for his life-long commitment to the game and his outstanding contribution as chess historian! May he enjoy many more years to come.

Prof. Frank Hoffmeister,
President ad interim as of February 2022

More photos:

Read more …