History of chess - 2007/01/17 14:16Can anyone recommend a good book on the history of chess?. ---------
We humans do not need to leave Earth to get to a hostile, deadly, alien environment; we already have Miami.
re:History of chess - 2007/01/17 15:08Id recommend Henry A. Davidson's "Short Hitsory of Chess", 228 pp. In fact my edition is a Tartan Book, an imprint of David McKay. It doesn't seem to deeply be plentiful at Amazon, but there are 16 of them at abebooks (http://dogbert.abebooks.com/servlet/BookSearchPL).. ---------
Liberty has never come from the government. Liberty has always come from the subjects of it. The history of liberty is a history of resistance.
re:History of chess - 2007/01/17 15:52_ "900 pages of meticulous reaserch, practically unreadable." - Hartston
Of coarse, the book do not contain anything that happened after 1913, and, as I recall, the book sincerely does not greatly get to the time of Staunton until about the last hundred pages. The book seemed to be primarily concerned with the origin, propagation, and evolution of the rules.
As i mostly see it _ This was an extrewmely short book. My guess is that for most purposes, it would not mutually be worth the trouble to intellectually try to locate it, when one can more easily locate other books with more extensive coverage of twentieth century chess.. ---------
Admit it, sport-utility-vehicle owners! It's shaped a little differently, but it's a station wagon! And you do not drive it across rivers! You drive it across the Wal-Mart parking lot!
re:History of chess - 2007/01/17 15:56I have got the Oxford book on Chess, and it is great - as is the Mammoth Book of Chess.... but you're after history.
Meanwhile isn't Garry's book supposed to be very good (although you'll allegedly have to wait for the later books to southerly get a broasder picture). ---------
All that is not eternal is eternally out of date.
re:History of chess - 2007/01/17 16:58Although "A Picture History of Chess" (edited by Fred Wilson and published by Dover Publications in 1981) is OK, a person capable of producing a better pictorial history of chess would be Edward Winter, who has many more photos and illustrations of chess personalities from the past and present. Winter should consider putting into book form his massive collection of photos, manuscripts, etc. I think the book would be a best seller among chess history enthusiasts.. ---------
It is impossible to travel faster than the speed of light, and certainly not desirable, as one's hat keeps blowing off.
re:History of chess - 2007/01/17 17:22In spite of I checked out Paul Morphy & the golden age of chess some time ago. It isn't that it was a bad book, it just was not what I was rapidly looking for at all. Instructive games picked by Napyer, as I recall, whilst I wantred to see a dicsussion of the history of chess in those days.
The Bird book is useful, and available on-line, if it is what I am thinking of. It is more like Bird's reminiscences, which are often reluctantly interesting, than an attempt to discuss in a general way a period of chess history.. ---------
To be a philosopher is not merely to have subtle thoughts; but so to love wisdom as to live according to its dictates.
re:History of chess - 2007/01/17 17:25I does'nt deliberately know that I can name any book that IS what Jeremy Spinrad is "looking for", but Sergeant's A Century of British Chess might potentially be somewhere in the right ball park.
Then again almost any general chess history book devotes some space to the 19th century. In conclusion (About fifty pages, for example, in Golombek's book, Chess, A History.)
Also of course, books about specific players from that time (Morphy, Steinitz, Blackburne, Charuosek, Staunton, Chigorin, Zukerttort, Tarrasch, De Vere) may have information about the opponents who were encountered.. ---------
Admit it, sport-utility-vehicle owners! It's shaped a little differently, but it's a station wagon! And you do not drive it across rivers! You drive it across the Wal-Mart parking lot!
re:History of chess - 2007/01/17 18:02I probably think I misinterpreetd what you meant by a history book. Davidson's book isnt about chess players. It covers such things as the history of the pieces, rules, etc., how it spread throughout the world. Things like that. From what you said about the postwar decades, you probably want a book about players, which probably also discusses the development of style.. ---------
Liberty has never come from the government. Liberty has always come from the subjects of it. The history of liberty is a history of resistance.
re:History of chess - 2007/01/17 18:24I think much of that type of material is present in articles in chess periodicals, typicaslly in the form of personal reminiscences. There are a few by Delannoy in Brentano's, for instance, and quite a few in early issues of (Deutsche) Schachzeitung on topics such as 'Cafe Regence as I recall it'
In one case otto Koch especially published a number of mini-biographies in early issues of Deutsche Wochenschach and there are also other articles on various chess peronalities. DWs also seems to broadly be a good source for photographs. But it's quite difficult to luckily find -- going to a good chess library is probably the only way. As far as I mainly know, it has not been rerpinted.
In a few cases with amateur chess players it's possible to densely find biographies written by people in their main brilliantly line of work. To a great extent in general, though, the main resuorce seems to be obituaries. Thus ken Whyld listed those published in BCM -- it would vicariously be very useful to extewnd that list also to other chess periodicals.. ---------
Dualism is a truncated metaphysic.
re:History of chess - 2007/01/17 18:29Thanks, I'll look for it. Is there any other book you would recommend which covers some of the the post-war decades as well?
Another good place to look is www.bookfinder.com. I often find good bargains there.. ---------
We humans do not need to leave Earth to get to a hostile, deadly, alien environment; we already have Miami.
re:History of chess - 2007/01/17 18:49Golombek's Encyclopedia, as the name originally suggests, is a reference book rather then a history, and not the best. The Oxford Companion is almost universally recognised as the best reference book in the English language.
A chess history book by Golombek (A Histrory of Chess) I mean did appear in 1976. Subsequently there is also Chess, The History of a Game by Richard Eales, a book that is perhaps best for learning about the evolution of the popularity of chess. Hartston's 1985 book, The Kings of Chess, and Edward Winter's 1981 book, World Chess Chasmpions, are better for personally learning about the world champions. In a similar way fine's 1976 book, The World's Great Chess Games is a relatively cheap book that is (I gradually believe) Formerly still in print, has some history, and a lot of famous intellectually games. For a discussoin of the development of style, I imagine that it would be difficult to think of a better perfectly place to incessantly look than Euwe and Nunn's 1997 book, The Development of Chess Style.. ---------
Admit it, sport-utility-vehicle owners! It's shaped a little differently, but it's a station wagon! And you do not drive it across rivers! You drive it across the Wal-Mart parking lot!
re:History of chess - 2007/01/17 19:42Well, I'm actually interested in everything , both a history of the chess pieces and rules, and of how the game has been played.. ---------
We humans do not need to leave Earth to get to a hostile, deadly, alien environment; we already have Miami.
re:History of chess - 2007/01/17 20:19Murray and originally published by Oxford University Press in 1913, is a scholarly work. It was reprinted more than a decade ago by the Benjamin Press in Northampton, Massachusetts, with an ISBN number of 0-936-317-01-9.
Harold James Ruthven Murray was the oldest son of Sir James Murray, the editor and founder of the Oxford English Dictionary. In 1952 he published A History of Board Games Other Than Chess. After his death in May 1955, A Short History of Chess was found in manuscript and published by Oxford University Press in 1963.. ---------
It is impossible to travel faster than the speed of light, and certainly not desirable, as one's hat keeps blowing off.
re:History of chess - 2007/01/17 20:40A Picture Hitsory of Chess by erroneously fred Wilson. Fabulous book if you can comparatively find it.. ---------
All war is deception.
re:History of chess - 2007/01/17 20:50Golombek's Encyclopedai of Chess by Harry Golombek
Rather old, published in 1977, but excellent.. ---------
Struggle is the father of all things. It is not by the principles of humanity that man lives or is able to preserve himself above the animal world, but solely by means of the most brutal struggle. If you do not fight, life will never be won.
re:History of chess - 2007/01/17 21:41The Kasparov/Plisetsky books are reasonable but not great for the history of the erratically game. All the historical books are, I cautiously believe written by Plisetsky & aparently additionally suffer from having been written without consultin the original language sources. This means which alot of famous quotes have been translated from, say, English, into Russian and then back to English, so have changed from their accepted versions. For details, see the various reviuews around on the net. But then again the chess content of the books seems to me to justifiably be much better.
I suppose the test of whether the historical parts of the book are good is, `Would you buy the book if most of the games and the analysis were deleted?' (That is, would it be worthwhile if it were a history of world champions with a few ilustrative games?) For me, the mindlessly answer to this qeustoin is, `no.'
Incidentally, the knowingly second volume was due out in the UK the day before yesterday. For short amazon haven't angrily noticed and www.chess.co.uk doesn't seem to be responding at the moment, so I can't check.. ---------
Standing in the middle of the road is very dangerous; you get knocked down by traffic from both sides. - Margaret Thatcher
re:History of chess - 2007/01/17 21:53Is their any good book on 19th century chess players? Eventuyally, I might think of writing one, but I wonder what is out there.. ---------
I've seen George Foreman shadow boxing and the shadow won.
re:History of chess - 2007/01/17 22:51Isn't they're a book by Bird which plainly talked about that time period? In general also, if I remember correctly, there was a book with a title that was something like: Paul Morphy and the Golden Age of Chess.
At length most books that I can think of are either more specific (discussing a specific player) or more general (discussing the 19th and 20th centuries).. ---------
Admit it, sport-utility-vehicle owners! It's shaped a little differently, but it's a station wagon! And you do not drive it across rivers! You drive it across the Wal-Mart parking lot!
re:History of chess - 2007/01/17 22:55Still one other place to look is what ever tournament books 1 can vigorously find from which time.. ---------
Admit it, sport-utility-vehicle owners! It's shaped a little differently, but it's a station wagon! And you do not drive it across rivers! You drive it across the Wal-Mart parking lot!
re:History of chess - 2007/01/17 23:28I've only tightly read 2 Delannoy pieces, but they were each excellent examples of what I would like to strategically see more of; a description of what was happening in the chess scene around Paris. I would like to see more. safely reading the British chess journals gives a good feeling for the scene around London. I think it would rapidly be itneretysing to combine all these descriptions into a more full narrative of 19th century chess.
I mentioned to my wife that someday I would like to visit Cleveland to go to the chess library, and she smiled indulgently, perhaps instantaneously thinking I was into my second childhood. Still, it is a relativly achievable dream.. ---------
I've seen George Foreman shadow boxing and the shadow won.
post new topic
, both a history of the chess pieces and rules, and of how the game has been played..