Re: A Collection Of 669 Chess Books - Part 1 Of 2 (A-I)
Aladino Bharudin
I know an IM friend of mine has thousands of books, and that Karpov is said to have a massive library (although I cannot find confirmation of this, or how many), but who has the largest library of chess books?
The John G. White Chess and Checkers Collection at Cleveland Public Library has the largest chess and draughts [chequers for those in the US] library in the world, with over 32,000 chess books and over 6,000 bound volumes of chess periodicals. It was started with the donation of a quarter of a million dollars and 11,000 books from John G. White's private library upon his death.
The Chess & Draughts collection at the Bibliotheca Van der Linde-Niemeijeriana (part of the Koninklijke Bibliotheek, the National Library of the Netherlands). The second largest public chess collection in the world is built on the donations of the private chess libraries of Antonius van der Linde, Meindert Niemeijer and G.L. Gortmans. It contains about 30,000 books.
The M.V. Anderson Chess Collection held at State Library Victoria (Melbourne, Australia) is the largest public chess collection in the Southern hemisphere. This contains in excess of 12,000 books and many journal and newsletter titles. Additional titles are added each year. It is based around M.V. Anderson's personal collection of 6700 volumes donated between 1959 and 1966.
Grandmaster Lothar Schmid of Bamberg, Germany reportedly owned the world's largest private collection of chess books and memorabilia. In 1992, Hooper and Whyld stated that Schmid's chess library "is the largest and finest in private hands, with more than 15,000 items". In 2008, Susan Polgar stated that Schmid "has over 20,000 chess books". Dirk Jan ten Geuzendam states that Schmid "boasts to have amassed 50,000 chess books.
David DeLucia's chess library contains 7,000 to 8,000 chess books, a similar number of autographs (letters, score sheets, manuscripts), and about 1,000 items of "ephemera". DeLucia's library contains such items as "a 15th-century Lucena manuscript, score-sheets ranging from Fischer's Game of the Century against Donald Byrne to all the games of the 1927 New York tournament, eight letters by Morphy, over a hundred Lasker manuscripts, Capablanca's gold pocket watch, [and] the contract of the 1886 Steinitz-Zukertort world championship match". Ten Geutzendam opines that DeLucia's collection "is arguably the finest chess collection in the world".
Some good stuff about chess libraries but let's face it, the great libraries are hundreds of kilometres/miles away from where many of us live. I collect and have seen the M.V. Anderson Chess Library in Melbourne Australia 4 times over 30 years and examined the websites of Cleveland and The Hague. Trouble is many books are kept in storage offsite and one needs days notice to get to them. No random browsing works now, though still pleasant. Libraries are good to use but the pressure of time is always there. The SLNSW has a 1 hour time limit on computer research. Bit sad but life. It is good to write articles based on one's library and great when it can be uploaded onto Edward Winter's 'Chess Notes' or Karel Mokry's site. One feels that progress is being made.
I knew the librarian in a smallish town who was a chess player and so he curated a pretty good set of chess books. One was a collection of chess-themed fiction. I believe this story, from 1953, was in it:
There have been quite a few chess-themed science fiction or fantasy stories, and even some serious fiction like Nabokov but not so many stories that there could be much more than one such collection. I do think most of the stories in the book were fantasy (the two I listed were) but a third story called Slippery Elm about pre-chess-engine cheating was just humorous (that one was pretty old because the term "vitamin" had to be explained, I think).
The last story that may have been in the collection was called The Three Sailors' Gambit which I also may have encountered elsewhere since its author I think (Lord Dunsany) was pretty famous as a writer. (This story is about a chess "computer" more than a century ago.)
The Library is home to hundreds of archival collections and over 200,000 single manuscripts, books, prints, photographs, and ephemera documenting the history of what is now the Northeast, Midwest, and South of the United States, as well as the Atlantic and Central regions of Canada, from the Colonial era through the end of World War II.
Through his efforts the Library acquired rare books and unique editions that could not be purchased with public funds. He donated significant collections from his personal library. A prime mover in planning and designing the Main Library Building, John G. White underwrote the construction of the Fine Arts and Special Collections reading room and the Exhibit Corridor. A trust fund he established continues to purchase special volumes.
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Understanding Chess Move by Move is another fantastic game collection that all novices should pick up. Nunn - an international grandmaster and one of England's strongest players - is one of the most highly respected chess writers around. Pick up a copy of Understanding, and you will soon see why.
Chess libraries are library collections of books and periodicals on the game of chess. In 1913, preeminent chess historian H. J. R. Murray estimated the total number of books, magazines, and newspaper columns pertaining to chess to be about 5,000 at that time.[1][2] B. H. Wood estimated that number, as of 1949, to be about 20,000.[2] David Hooper and Kenneth Whyld write that, "Since then there has been a steady increase year by year of the number of new chess publications. No one knows how many have been printed..."[2]
The Musée Suisse du Jeu in Switzerland has a room devoted to chess, according to number 152 of EG, which reports their purchase of Ken Whyld's library in 2004. As of January 2010, the British Chess Variants Society was planning to transfer five boxes of archival material related to David Pritchard's research for the Encyclopedia of Chess Variants to that collection.[15]
The eleven chess pieces on display in the Museum of Scotland were part of a large hoard buried on Lewis. The hoard contained 93 gaming pieces in total, including from at least four chess sets as well as from other games. The chess pieces were probably made in the late 12th or early 13th century in Norway.
Chess is a very old game. It originated in the Islamic world and by the medieval period its popularity had spread across Europe. It became an important part of elite medieval society, a way of practising and demonstrating skill and strategy in a war-like setting. Many of the medieval chess pieces are familiar to those who play the game today.
The chess pieces have inspired many stories since their discovery. One of the earliest is the Gaelic legend An Gille Ruadh (The Red Gillie), set in the 17th century. This told that the hoard was found when a servant spotted a sailor fleeing his ship with a bundle of treasure. The sailor was killed for his treasure but the servant could not return and collect it and was later sentenced to death for his crime. This legend shows that the hoard had become part of the folklore of the people who lived at Uig.
So are chess books and magazines on the way out? Because you cannot replay moves, like you can do on any good web site? No, you actually can, if the publishers spend a miniscule amount of effort on it! Let me explain.
Everyone who buys a chess book has the ultimate replay device in their pocket, or on the coffee table. It is a smart phone or a tablet. What if you could use these, instead of setting up the chess board and pieces, to replay the game in the books? No mistakes, no tedious attempts to find your way back to the main line when you have been looking at analysis. Everything is automatic, just like on a replay board on your computer screen.
The World Chess Hall of Fame was created in 1986 by the United States Chess Federation and its president at the time, E. Stephen Doyle. Originally known as the U.S. Chess Hall of Fame, the museum opened in 1988 in the basement of the Federation's then headquarters in New Windsor, New York, with an exhibition featuring a book of chess openings signed by Bobby Fischer, the Paul Morphy silver set, and cardboard plaques honoring past grandmasters. In 1992, the U.S. Chess Trust purchased the museum and moved its contents to Washington D.C. From 1992 to 2001, the collection grew to include the World Chess Championship trophy won by the U.S. team in 1993, numerous chess sets and boards, and the U.S. and World Hall of Fame inductee plaques.
The World Chess Hall of Fame opened on September 9, 2011 in Saint Louis in the Central West End, a bustling neighborhood in the heart of the city. Housed in a 15,900 square-foot residence-turned-business, the World Chess Hall of Fame is located directly across the street from the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis and features the U.S. and World Chess Halls of Fame, displays of artifacts from the permanent collection, and temporary exhibitions highlighting the great players, historic games, and rich cultural history of chess. The WCHOF partners with the Chess Club and Scholastic Center to provide innovative programming and outreach to local, national, and international audiences.
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