Chess Bulletin Production Problems

The International Chess Tournaments held in Hastings in the 1970's, 1980's and 1990's regularly led to the publication of a Bulletin in which all of the games from the Premier Tournament and many of the games from the Challenger's Tournament were included. 

 
















 

The cross tables, game scores, annotations, minor tournament results and other ancillary matter, included in these Bulletins, constitute a valuable record of the events. However, the problems encountered in producing these Bulletins were highlighted by this page from the edition for 1988-1989, edited by Byron Jacobs. 

Korchnoi's game is in the Bulletin but Gufeld's scoresheet proved to be indecipherable. 

                                        © Michael Clapham 2016

Combinations

Many authors and publishers have shoehorned the name Fischer into their chess book titles, regardless of how much content (if any) the book has relating to Bobby Fischer. This is presumably in the hope of attracting potential readers.  The recently published The Fischer Kings Gambit by Timothy Taylor is the latest example.

Another word that frequently appears in chess book titles is Combination, no doubt, again, with the hope that this word evokes exciting and stimulating contents.

The first book that I can trace, in the English language, to include the word Combination in its main title is Elements of Combination Play in Chess, by Fred Reinfeld, Black Knight Press, New York, 1935.  

However, the word had been included in the convoluted sub-title of J.H.Sarratt's A New Treatise on the Game of Chess, published in 1821. Early 19th century chess books often had very extensive full titles.

 

Further examples from the 1930's to the 1950's include:

The Art of Chess Combination by Eugène Znosko-Borovsky, London, 1936

Chess Combinations and Traps by Sozin and Reinfeld, New York, 1936

The Basis of Combination in Chess by Julius Du Mont, London, 1938

The Next Move is...Studies in Chess Combinations, Cordingley, London, 1944 

1001 Brilliant Chess Sacrifices and Combinations, Reinfeld, New York, 1955

Also published as:

1001 Winning Chess Sacrifices and Combinations and 1001 Chess Sacrifices and Combinations.

Pocket Guide to Chess Combinations and Sacrifice, Edward Young (i.e. Fred Reinfeld), Baltimore, 1955. This is not recorded in Betts along with several other chess books by Edward Young.



Well known examples from the 1960's and 1970's include the following:

 


 













 

Familiar examples from the 1980's include:

An obvious recipe for a sure-fire best seller would be a book including both Fischer and Combination in its title, and there is such a work!

Robert Fischer: Great Chess Combinations by Aleksander Kalinin, published by Russian Chess House, Moscow, 2013. As soon as I receive my copy I will post a picture.

For details of this book see my article of 19th July 2016.

                                      © Michael Clapham 2016
  

Striking chess book cover

The above picture is the very striking and unusual front cover of John Grefe's book Queen's Indian Defence: Recent Developments in 4 a3, published by Players Press, Los Angeles, 1984.

back cover

John Grefe was an International Master and joint  U.S. champion in 1973 with Lubomir Kavalek. Grefe died in 2013 aged 66.

John Grefe, photo by Burt Hochberg

Grefe was a follower of the Guru Maharaj Ji, an Indian American, but he obviously also had an affinity with indigenous American Indians as there are several  illustrations of native American Indians throughout the book. 

                                      

                                

                                     © Michael Clapham 2016

Here's one you haven't got !

As collectors we seek the unusual and we particularly enjoy finding items that few others, if any, have acquired.  Most of us will possess some items out of the ordinary, probably rare, and possibly unique. The item doesn't have to be very old, or even particularly valuable and, quite often, the rarest items are ephemeral, with only a few having survived.

From time to time I will put forward an item from my collection which I think falls into this category and I would be interested to hear if any other collectors have the same item.

Lasker versus Steinitz 1896-97 Match for the World Chess Championship

No book has been published on the second World Chess Championship Match between Emanuel Lasker and Wilhelm Steinitz, held in Moscow from November 1896 to January 1897.

However, I have a 34 page typescript of an unpublished work, by an unknown author/compiler/translator, on this match.

The title page, which is a top typewritten copy, whereas the other pages are all carbon copies, states that the games have been copied from issues of the Deutsches Wochenschach.

There is no introductory matter, just the seventeen games with annotations by Dr. Siegbert Tarrasch. Games nine and ten also include notes by Dr. Berthold Lasker taken from the Berliner Lokal Anzeiger.

It appears that the pages were removed from the book so that they could enter the typewriter and were then stapled back into the book covers.

There are a few clues to the translator's identity;

1. The typescript is in a school composition book manufactured by S.E.& M.    Vernon Inc. of New York.  This firm apparently went out of business in the 1960's.

Inside front cover

2. Although the English has been translated from the original German, the translator admits that his command of German is `not overly penetrant´.

3. The translator had made a lifetime study of Emanuel Lasker over a period exceeding fifty years.

4. The translator appears to have been a very competent chess player as he has corrected some of Dr. Tarrasch's analysis. 

That is about all that I can tell you about the book, any information regarding the identity of the translator would be greatly appreciated. 

                                       © Michael Clapham 2016

Bobby Fischer's Games & Openings

In 1971/72 Ken Smith edited, and his Chess Digest Magazine published, the following series of six books recording most of Bobby Fischer's available games.

 


















 

These were not published in chronological order, in fact the book covering the years 1955 through 1957 was the last to be published, in January 1972. 1958-1959 and 1966-1968 came out in August 1971, 1962-1965 came out in November 1971 while both 1960-1961 and 1969-1971 were published in December 1971.

However, the book for 1955-1957 has a two page Publisher's Note by Ken Smith which sets out the plan for the whole series of books. This Note also explains why there are no notes to the games as the editor strongly believed that playing through unannotated  games was a much better method of learning from the games presented:

Smith describes his preferred method of playing over unannotated games in a two and a half page article at the end of this first volume (which was published last).  

Billy Patteson is credited as author-compiler of the first five books in the series but is not mentioned in the book for 1969-1971. The USCF Master John Hall is credited as assistant editor and proof-reader in all six volumes.

Each book commences with an overview of Fischer's openings, and this evolves through the series as Fischer broadened his repertoire. Books one to five then include the games without notes and some very brief details of the matches and tournaments from which the games are taken. 

However, the most interesting book of the series (and longest with 92 pages) is  the final one covering 1969 through 1971. This includes games from the USSR v Rest of the World Match, the Siegen Olympiad, the Interzonal Tournament in Palma de Mallorca and the three Candidates Matches against Taimanov, Larsen and Petrosian. 

This book also includes several photographs, a considerable amount of commentary on the various tournaments and matches and, for the first time in this series, fifty of the games are annotated. The British Chess Magazine for March 1972, page 101, states that the annotations are mostly from Russian sources although this is not clear from the book itself. 

The book ends with Fischer's 22 games from the unofficial World Speed Championship held in Herceg Novi in 1970 following the USSR v Rest of the World match.

These booklets are not particularly valuable, at around £10 to £20 each, but they have become quite scarce and there are currently very few copies for sale on the internet. 

                                     © Michael Clapham 2016

Junior Chess

Following on from the previous article, The Chess Education Society also published a short lived magazine Junior Chess.

Betts 7-119 gives some incomplete information on this scarce periodical including publication dates of 1949 to 1951.

The Royal Library at The Hague had only nos. 1 and 4 for January and July 1949 when the LN Catalogue was published in 1955.

Chess Periodicals by Di Felice, published in 2010, item 1228, simply repeats the information from Betts word for word and notes the two issues in LN.

There are no copies in either the British Library or the Cleveland Public Library which houses the J.G.White Collection.

However, the online catalogue of the Koninklije Bibliotheek gives full details and states that this magazine ran from no. 1 for January 1949 to no. 12 for March 1952, and that the library now has the full set.

No. 1 inside front cover

No. 1 front cover

I have issues 1 to 6, 9 and 11. Unfortunately issues 1 to 6 are joined together so that the front cover of no. 2 is stuck to the back cover of no. 1 and the front cover of no. 3 is stuck to the back cover of no. 2 and so on. This means that I can see the front cover of no. 1 and the back cover of no. 6 but none of the other front or back covers. I do not know if there is any way that these could be successfully seperated. 

No. 4 inside front cover

No. 6 back cover

The content is a mixture of instruction on various elements of the game, annotated games, problems, junior chess news and some book recommendations.

The magazine uses the descriptive notation although the editor was entirely in favour of the algebraic notation, `it being more logical, economical and would be a big saving in space and costs.´ However, `as all juniors use the English (Descriptive) Notation as do current books and magazines´ the editor decided `not to be pioneers and reformers in this respect.´

D.J.Morgan was  the editor  of nos. 1 to 9 but, due  to his  long   term illness,  W. Ritson Morry stepped in temporarily in 1951 before handing over to R.G.Wade, and possibly L.W.Barden, for the final 3 issues.

No. 9 inside front cover

No. 9 page 25

No. 11 front cover

No. 11 back cover

Update, October 2017.

A correspondent has pointed out that another magazine with the title Junior Chess was published between 1961 and 1964 (and possibly further). This is Betts 7-130 and was edited by John Hodgkins and John Love. I have just one issue of this magazine.

 
                                                           © Michael Clapham