Chess

xix+351 pages with diagrams and table. Quarto (10 1/4" x 7 1/4") bound in brown cloth with brown lettering to spine and original wrapper cover tipped to front cover. (Bibliotheca Van der Linde-Niemeijeriana: 5250) First edition.1898 was highlighted by the great Imperial Jubilee Tournament, organized to commemorate the 50 year reign of Emperor Franz Josef I and to mark the 25th anniversary of the first international chess tournament held in Vienna. Led by the example of Baron von Rothschild, wealthy members of the newly formed Vienna Chess Club contributed funds to assure the success of the huge competition.
Most of the Word's chess elite (Lasker and Charousek did not participate), representing the United States, England, France, Germany, Hungary, Russia and host nation Austria, were on hand in the lovely "Kaiserstadt" to participate in this long, strenuous test of chess skills. The Spartan playing schedule called for five games per week (Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday); Thursday was… Read More

xii+288 pages with diagrams, illustrations, plates, tables and index. Octavo (8 1/4" x 5 3/4") bound in original publisher's reddish brown cloth with gilt lettering to spine. Volume LXII (62). (Betts: 7-27) First edition.Published monthly from January 1881, Huddersfield, Leeds, London, Trench, Trubner, (1881-1919); London, Walbrook & Co (1920); Leeds, Whitehead & Miller, (1921-1937); London, Pitman (1938-April 1949); London, St Leonards-on-the-Sea (1949- ) Editors John Watkinson (1881-1987); Robert Frederick Green (1888-1893); Isaac MacIntyre Brown (1894-1919); R C Griffith (1920-1937); acting, September 1940-November 1940; Harry Golombek (1938-August 1940); Julius du Mont (December 1940-April 1949); B Reilly (May 1949- ). Continued the chess section of The Huddersfield College Magazine.Condition:Spine bumped, points rubbed, corners gently bumped, some age darkening. A very good copy issued without jacket.

[135]+204 pages with frontispiece, tables and diagrams. Royal octavo (9 1/2" x 6 1/4") issued in wrappers. Tidskrift for Schack volume XI, number 6. (Bibliotheca Van der Linde-Niemeijeriana: 5275) First edition.The 5th Swedish chess congress was won by A H Peterson with a score of 7 1/2, followed by Hugo Langborg took second with 5 1/2, third was Otto Svensson a half point behind.Condition:Light edge wear, 1" tear at back head edge else a better than very good.

xxxviii+490 pages with table and diagrams. Royal octavo (9 3/4" x 7") bound in original red cloth with gilt lettering to spine and black chess pictorial to both covers. Limited to 500 copies. This is copy 88 issued to F M Teed of Brooklyn New York. (Betts: 25-26). First edition.
Contains the report of the Congress Committee and all 432 games with notes by Steinitz. This was a 20-man Double Round Robin Tournament. One of the longest tournaments in history. In the first half of the tournament, draws were counted as a half point. In the second half, they were replayed once. Between the 38 regular rounds, 8 replay rounds, and 4 game playoff for first at the end, there were 50 rounds all told (!). Like the 4th Congress, this tournament consisted largely of foreign masters. The retirement of Captain Mackenzie seems to date from this time (though some sources credit him as US Champion until his death in 1891), giving the top American finisher some claim on being de facto US Champion. The top American… Read More

288+viii pages with plates, diagrams, tables and index. Octavo (9" x 6 1/4") Unbound in twelve original wrappers. Volume 73 (Bibliotheca Van der Linde-Niemeijeriana: 6047) 1st edition.Deutsche Schachzeitung was the first German chess magazine. Founded in 1846 by Ludwig Bledow under the title Schachzeitung der Berliner Schachgesellschaft, it took the name Deutsche Schachzeitung in 1872. (Another magazine used the title Deutsche Schachzeitung from 1846 to 1848.) When it ceased publication in December 1988 it was the oldest existing magazine in the world, having been published regularly since its founding in 1846 except for a five-year break (1945–1949) during World War II. Since January 1989, the Deutsche Schachzeitung was merged in the Deutsche-Schachblätter - Schach-Report which was edited in Hollfeld. The resulting magazine appeared with the names of both former magazines on its cover till December 1996. Since January 1997, this magazine again was merged in the Berlin magazine Schach. The… Read More

422+[viii] pages with diagrams and index. Octavo (8 3/4" x 5 3/4") bound in period cloth with blind stamped covers with gilt insignia, and gilt decoration and lettering to spine. Title in red and green. Volume VIII. (Betts: 7-1) First edition.The Chess Player's Chronicle, founded by Howard Staunton and extant from 1841–56 and 1859–62, was the world's first successful English-language magazine devoted exclusively to chess. Various unrelated but identically or similarly named publications were published until 1902. The earliest chess magazine in any language was the French Le Palamède, published in 1836-39 and 1842-47. In 1837 George Walker introduced an English-language magazine, the Philidoria, that was devoted to "chess and other scientific games". Only six issues of it were published, and it "expired in May, 1838". In 1840 or 1841 Staunton bought the fortnightly magazine The British Miscellany and Chess Player's Chronicle. In 1841 it became The Chess Player's Chronicle. In 1843, the Chess… Read More

460 pages with frontispiece and index. Octavo (8 1/4" x 5 1/4") bound in half blue cloth with raised spine bands and gilt lettering to spine and marbled boards. (Bibliotheca van der Linde-Niemeijeriana: 5256) First edition.Like the historic London competition nearly half a century earlier (1851, the third Paris international tournament was conducted in the exciting splendor of the world's fair. A total of 17 players from Germany, Hungary, Mexico, Austria, the Untied States, England, Russian and France competed for 12,800 in prize money and four valuable Servres fases donated by the French Government. The Grande Cercle club served the visiting masters free coffee, tea and lemonade during the competition. The participants were permitted to take all their meals in the club, which was known for its superior cuisine. The Paris organizing committee, following the example of the London 1883 and New York 1889 tournaments, required that all drawn games be replayed. Only the result of the second… Read More

2 volumes: [iv]+613 pages; [iv]+578 pages. Folio (14 1/4" x10 1/4") bound in original red gilt lettering to spine. Introduction by George J Maciuszko. (Betts: 1-58) First edition.This catalog consists of some 15,000 items from the chess and checker section of the John G White Collection housed in the Cleveland Public Library. The catalog entries from the card catalog have been photographically reproduced (size reduced) with 21 entries to each page in three columns of seven. In the author portion, titles are further arranged chronologically by date of publication. The titles in the subject part are classified by a local extension of the Decimal Classification. Cataloging practice appears to conform largely to the Dewey Decimal code, with some divergence of practice over the years. Some annotation of the bibliographical nature is given where relevant.The collection originated as the personal library of John Griswold White, a noted Cleveland attorney, who served many years as President and… Read More

London: J. M. Richardson, 1817. Hardcover. Very Good. Leather-backed boards with marbled foredges with original hinges, bound to imitate a 2 volume folio set of leather bound books. With all 32 original wooden chess pieces (and two extras), and 28 backgammon pieces, ancient leather-covered dice-shaking cup with 5 old dice, and W. Lewis' two volume set 'Oriental Chess' (1817) which was found within the box when we purchased it. The 2 books are in Very Good condition. The leather box is dry, rubbed and flaking and could use some restoration, but in all a Very Good set. Digital images available upon request.

One sheet card (4" x 6") with commemorative stamp affixed with special cancellation with letter of authentication. Postal chess for move (unused) on verso. Signed by Svetozar Gligoric in blue.The European Team Championship is an international team chess event, eligible for the participation of European nations whose chess federations are located in zones 1.1 to 1.9. This more or less accords with the wider definition of Europe used in other events such as the Eurovision Song Contest and includes Israel, Russia and the former Soviet States. The competition is run under the auspices of the European Chess Union (ECU). The idea was conceived in the early 1950s, when chess organizers became aware of the need for another international team event. Consequently, a men-only Championship was devised and held every four years, with the intention of filling in the gaps between Olympiads. More recently, the Championship has grown in importance and popularity and is regarded as a prestigious tournament in its own… Read More

The Famous First Piatigorsky Cup Program Signed by the Players who were World ChampionsProgram for the First Piatigorsky Cup: International Grandmaster Chess Tournament July 2 to 27 1963 48 pages with photographs (including photographs of the contestants), table and diagrams. Octavo (8 1/2" x 4 1/2") bound in original publisher's spiral binding in blue felt wrappers with black and silver Piatigorsky Cup stamped to cover. Included first day tickets for the cup. Signed or inscribed by all the contestants to Mrs Piatigorsky. The Piatigorsky Cup was a triennial series of double round-robin grandsmaster chess tournaments held in the United States in the 1960's. Sponsored by the Piatigorsky foundation, only two events were held, in 1963 and 1966. the Piatigorsky Cups were the strongest U S Chess tournaments since New York 1927. Jacqueline Piatigorsky was married to cellist Gregor Piatigorsky. One of the strongest woman chess players in the U S and a regular competitor in the U S Women's Chess Championship,… Read More

295 pages. small octavo (7 3/4" x 5 1/2") bound in original publisher's black cloth with gilt lettering to spine. Signed by the author. First edition.At the end of his life Lasker wrote "The Community of the Future" - a book in which he tried to put down his idea for an ideal society. Two problems were especially dear to his heart: the fate of the European Jews and the problem of unemployment. To solve the first, Lasker proposed Alaska as a possible place for immigration - a proposal that at that time did not sound as absurd as it may sound today. Lasker also thought about the origin of antisemitism and identified unemployment as one of the main reasons that made people turn against the Jews. His remedy against unemployment was the idea to erect camps modeled after the Kibbuz system in Israel to train people for the job-market.Not only was Emanuel Laster World Chess Champion for 27 years - longer than any other player before or after him - but he also held a PhD in Mathematics, published a number of… Read More

xxix+281 pages with diagrams. Octavo (8 3/4" x 5 1/2") bound in original publisher's blue cloth with gilt lettering to spine with blind-stamped chess board to covers. Inscribed by Capablanca on front end paper. (Betts: 10-136) First American edition.This work is in tow parts. In part one the author gives basic instruction, first very briefly, the covering the same points in more detail. In part two he deals with endings, the middle-game, openings, in that order. This was published in London by Bell in the same year.Jose Raul Capablanca y Graupera (19 November 1888-8 March 1942) was a Cuban chess player who was world chess champion from 1921 to 1927. A chess prodigy, he is considered by many as one of the greatest players of all time, widely renowned for his exceptional endgame skill and speed of play. Born in Havana, he beat Cuban champion Juan Corzo in a match two days before his thirteenth birthday on 17 November 1901. His victory over Frank Marshall in a match in 1909 earned him an invitation to… Read More

vi+306 pages with diagrams and index. Small octavo (7 1/2" x 4 3/4") bound in original publisher's red cloth with gilt lettering to spine. Signed by Samuel Reshevsky, Jacob Levin, Kathryn Slater, Albert Sandrin Jr, Walter B Suesman and George M Kramer. (Betts: 13-138) First edition. The traps are grouped by opening. Each page contains one diagramed position with continuation and annotation.Samuel Herman Reshevsky (1911-992) was a Polish chess prodigy and later a leading American chess grandmaster. He was a contender for the World Chess Championship from the mid 1930s to the mid 1960s: he tied for third place in the 1948 World Chess Championship tournament and tied for second in the 1953 Candidates tournament. He was an eight-time winner of the US Chess Championship tying him with Bobby Fischer for the all-time record.
Jacob Levin (1904-1992) was an American chess master. He reached the best results of his career in Ventnor City. He tied for 2nd–3rd in 1939, was a winner in 1941, took second… Read More

151+[1 ad] pages with frontispiece portrait and diagrams. Royal octavo (8 1/4" x 6 1/4") bound in original publisher's green cloth with gilt lettering and decorative squares to cover and spine. Biography by Jacques Hannak. (Bibliotheca Van der Linde-Niemeijeriana: 3262) Signed by Rubinstein below printed name on portrait. First edition.

Akiba Kiwelowicz Rubinstein (1880-1961) was a Polish chess player. He is considered to have been one of the greatest players never to have become World Chess Champion. Between 1907 and 1912, Rubinstein established himself as one of the strongest players in the world. In 1907, he won the Carlsbad tournament and the All-Russian Masters' tournament, and shared first at Saint Petersburg. In 1912 he had a record string of wins, finishing first in five consecutive major tournaments: San Sebastián, Pöstyén, Breslau, Warsaw and Vilna (All-Russian Masters' tournament), although none of these events included Lasker or Capablanca. Some sources believe that he was stronger… Read More