Le Match: Capablanca-Alekhine: Buenos Aires 1927

Le Match: Capablanca-Alekhine: Buenos Aires 1927, by V. Soultanbéieff, L'Echiquier, Bruxelles 1929. 

LN5079, 64pp + Table des Matieres + Errata. 

 

 

This is one of the scarcer publications on the Capablanca v Alekhine world Championship match of 1927. It is not in the Kieler Schachkatalogue, published in 2000, which lists over 8,000 items, no copies have been sold at the Antiquariat Klittich auctions and only one copy has appeared in the LSAK Chesslund auctions; this sold for 136 euros in 2018.

Although the title page is dated 1929, the Avant-Propos has a date of Mai 1928.

 

 

Victor Ivanovich Soultanbéieff was born in 1895 in Russia and moved to Belgium in 1921, making his home in Liège where he died in 1972.

This book is number 65 in the chronological list in Belgian Chess Publications: An Annotated Bibliography by Henri Serruys and Guy Van Habberney, Antwerp 2011.

 

 

This beautifully produced bibliography, which has colour photographs of every book published in Belgium from Cessolis/Caxton 1474 onwards, includes a vignette of Soultanbéieff on page 40.

 

 

Soultanbéieff wrote two other chess books; Tournoi International d'Ostende 1936, Ostende 1936, which included the games from the first five rounds only (out of nine) from that tournament, and Guide Pratique du jeu des Combinaisons, Bruxelles/Liège 1950.  

Soultanbéieff's book on the Capablanca v Alekhine match includes Un peu d'Histoire, Du Titre de Champion du Monde, going back to Ruy Lopez, short biographies and results of the competitors, an overview of Le Match, La Victoire d'Alekhine: Réflexions rétrospectives, and Les Parties du match with extensive annotations to the 34 games. 

                                             © Michael Clapham 2020