I just read my 300th chess book

[Hugh Brodie]

David Cohen's list is titled "Canadian Chess Publications", so it includes items that I wouldn't really consider "books". A group of tournament bulletins can't be considered a "book" - although if they were bound and copies available to the public (free or for a charge) - yes - it would be a "book".

Likewise - you can't consider a university thesis a "book". (Leon Piasetski's thesis on "An evaluation function for simple king and pawn endings" (1977) isn't on David's list).

Other missing items would be CFC rating list booklets that were produced annually from about 1965 to 1973.

Maybe a legitimate "book" should be a publication with an ISBN number?

[Wayne Komer]

I just read my 300^thchess book

January 1, 2019

Canadian Chess Books

What is a Canadian chess book? I would say that:

1. It has a Canadian player as its subject
2. It is written by a Canadian
3. It is a tournament book from a Canadian event

For the moment, I set aside Canadian chess periodicals.

Then, if you go to the canadianchess.info site, David Cohen has listed all the Canadian chess books and booklets from 1864 to 2013.

http://www.canadianchess.info/canadi...lications.html

My count of the items in that list is 430 , the last one being Feodor Bohatirchuk, Volume 2, 1935-1984 by Sergei Voronkov (2013).

If anyone has a title after this date, then we can update the list in this thread.

Three books that come to mind for inclusion are The Chess Attacker’s Handbook by Song and Preotu, Kurt Richter by Alan McGowan and My Adventures in the Chess World by Jonathan MacDonald.

[Hans Jung]

I think there are 300+ canadian chess books, but I'll let the experts answer. There's a few of them that might see this post.

[Roger Patterson]

I just read my 300^thchess book

December 31, 2018

If you read all of a chess book, does that mean you have worked out all the problems and played all the games?

The question I am most often asked about my collection of chess books by non-collectors is, “Have you read all of them?”

My answer is that I know what is in each. If I collected hockey jerseys of famous players, I would hardly be expected to have worn each.

As far as I know, Stubbs authored Globe problem and solution tourney no. 2 (1889), Canadian chess problems (1890) and Chess problems (1904). Back in the 70s, Dale Brandreth found a cache of several copies of Canadian chess problems and asked me if it was the first chess book published in Canada. I did not know, nor did I buy one from him for $20 then, which I really should have.

I probably have read very few non-fiction chess books cover to cover. My 60 Memorable Games, The Human Side of Chess (Reinfeld), One Hundred Selected Games (Botvinnik), Bobby Fischer’s games of chess and Chess for Fun and Chess for Blood (Edward Lasker) are ones that come to mind.

In the fiction category, a cover-to-cover read is easy.

In this category I place Searching for Bobby Fischer (Waitzkin), The Luneburg Variation (Maurensig), The Game of Kings (Dunnett), The Flanders Panel (Perez-Reverte), The Luzhin Defense (Nabokov), Chess Story (Zweig), The Queen’s Gambit (Trevis), The Chessmen of Mars (Burroughs), Auto-da-fe (Canetti) and The Dragon Variations (Glyn).

queen’s gambit (Travis) but not king’s gambit (Hoffman)? You really should; It’s an enjoyable read (non fiction). Although the author is not Canadian, there is a fair bit of Canadiana in it.

[Wayne Komer]

I just read my 300^thchess book

December 31, 2018

If you read all of a chess book, does that mean you have worked out all the problems and played all the games?

The question I am most often asked about my collection of chess books by non-collectors is, “Have you read all of them?”

My answer is that I know what is in each. If I collected hockey jerseys of famous players, I would hardly be expected to have worn each.

As far as I know, Stubbs authored Globe problem and solution tourney no. 2 (1889), Canadian chess problems (1890) and Chess problems (1904). Back in the 70s, Dale Brandreth found a cache of several copies of Canadian chess problems and asked me if it was the first chess book published in Canada. I did not know, nor did I buy one from him for $20 then, which I really should have.

I probably have read very few non-fiction chess books cover to cover. My 60 Memorable Games, The Human Side of Chess (Reinfeld), One Hundred Selected Games (Botvinnik), Bobby Fischer’s games of chess and Chess for Fun and Chess for Blood (Edward Lasker) are ones that come to mind.

In the fiction category, a cover-to-cover read is easy.

In this category I place Searching for Bobby Fischer (Waitzkin), The Luneburg Variation (Maurensig), The Game of Kings (Dunnett), The Flanders Panel (Perez-Reverte), The Luzhin Defense (Nabokov), Chess Story (Zweig), The Queen’s Gambit (Trevis), The Chessmen of Mars (Burroughs), Auto-da-fe (Canetti) and The Dragon Variations (Glyn).

[Kerry Liles]

I don't think there are 300 Canadian chess books... (are there?)

[Hans Jung]

Is that 300 Canadian chess books?

[David Cohen]

I just read my 300th chess book:

Canadian Chess Problems by Charles F. Stubbs, 1890 [Saint John, NB]

Regards,

David