In past reviews, I’ve made it clear that I love chess history. Chess history is what got me involved with the game, and chess history is what kept my interest bubbling during the last 23 years.

These books are a successor to the Czechoslovak Chess Bulletin (a Czech magazine that was mainly devoted to the study of chess history) and were created due to the Czech and Slovak reader’s ever-growing interest in this topic. However, since they are in English, British and American audiences now have a chance to savor some truly incredible information.

The following columns appear in each issue: Chess Archives (containing original historical studies), Chess Biographies (giving the reader a look at the lives of chess masters of the past), Forgotten Tournaments (offering historic analyses of well known chess events), Classic Chess Matches (matches of leading and lesser masters, clubs, associations, universities, towns, and countries), Chess Research, Chess Miscellany, Chess Reviews (only looking at books about chess history), and Correspondence (letters from readers).

The material covered in these pages is not lightly written—the world’s best historians go to enormous effort to discover and share the truth about a myriad of chess topics. Vlastimil Fiala, famed historian and author of the wonderful multi-volume set: Complete Games of Alekhine, is the editor, and takes on most of the work. However, Fiala is not alone in this labor of love: John Hilbert (author of the excellent, Napier—The Forgotten Chessmaster) and Ken Whyld (one of the most highly regarded chess historians on earth) also make important offerings.

In book one, we see Pillsbury’s Simultaneous Tour of the United Kingdom in 1902 (31 pages!), Biographies on Spielmann, Leonhardt, and Teichmann, a 68 page study of the 1930 International Chess Tournament in Nice, the games and details of the Alekhine-Cintron match from San Juan 1933 (18 pages), and much, much, more.

Book two is even more awesome: first we get a 160 page (!!) study of Capablanca’s Tour of Great Britain in 1919. Then comes a study of Chess in Philadelphia (by Hilbert), the Unknown Lasker (Whyld), biographies on Alapin, Bardeleben, and Mieses, a 161 page look at the 1903 Monte Carlo tournament, a look at three Marshall matches in 1902, and, as before, the list goes on and on.

If you love chess history—or know nothing about chess history and have suddenly realized that, by missing this part of the game, you’re failing to come into contact with its soul—this new series is something really special.

Of course, the fact that only two books came out in 1999 makes me leery about recommending a subscription, but buying each individual volume is a no-brainer and will give you endless hours of pleasure.

You can order these books at:

Chess Agency CAISSA-90
Gorkeho 31, 773 00 Olomouc
Czech Republic

Or you can e-mail the Mr. Fiala at:

fialav@risc.upol.cz

fialav@hotmail.com