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Some years ago I found a copy of "Chess of Today" by Alfred Emery published by Frank Hollings, London, 1924, at a book sale in Ottawa. It had been owned previously by one “E. H. Green , 92 Noble Ave, Winnipeg”. Mr Green was in the habit of writing down the date in pencil after he had played through a game and often a note. One example: Game 12, Reti – Tartakover, Berlin 1920 has this penciled in the margin: “4/4/34 A fine tricky game”. The dates recorded thus in pencil range from 2/15/31 through to 1/1/41.
The book itself is not exceptional; just 108 numbered pages with lots of advertising at beginning and end. There is a 9 page introduction, 50 professional games from the years 1918-1923 with scant annotations. The book closes with 9 pages devoted to “Notes on the Openings” and then an index. The binding has sewn signatures with flexible cloth covers. The cover lists the original price as 2’6 nett, i.e. two shillings, six pence.
Naturally my curiosity was piqued. Who was this E. H. Green? It was most fortunate that he had written his name and address on the cover page. A Google search directed me to some old issues of the Winnipeg Free Press which ran a chess column. He was for a time the secretary of the Canadian Chess Correspondence Association, and the chess column gives his name and address as the CCCA contact for those interested in playing chess by correspondence. Reference: page 34 of the Winnipeg Free Press, 1928-11-24, et al.
Mr Green shows concern for the chess player who attempts to make a living at the game several times in his penciled notes, most notably in a full page screed written on a blank page facing page 1: “Introduction”. At the bottom of page 1, the author Alfred Emory, has a section titled “Two Lean Years”. Mr Green inserts an asterisk at this point and on the facing page writes this:
We may ask ourselves how much has changed since Mr Green wrote this nearly 80 years ago. My own experience is that chess, while a fine game, really does not pay well.
The book itself is not exceptional; just 108 numbered pages with lots of advertising at beginning and end. There is a 9 page introduction, 50 professional games from the years 1918-1923 with scant annotations. The book closes with 9 pages devoted to “Notes on the Openings” and then an index. The binding has sewn signatures with flexible cloth covers. The cover lists the original price as 2’6 nett, i.e. two shillings, six pence.
Naturally my curiosity was piqued. Who was this E. H. Green? It was most fortunate that he had written his name and address on the cover page. A Google search directed me to some old issues of the Winnipeg Free Press which ran a chess column. He was for a time the secretary of the Canadian Chess Correspondence Association, and the chess column gives his name and address as the CCCA contact for those interested in playing chess by correspondence. Reference: page 34 of the Winnipeg Free Press, 1928-11-24, et al.
Mr Green shows concern for the chess player who attempts to make a living at the game several times in his penciled notes, most notably in a full page screed written on a blank page facing page 1: “Introduction”. At the bottom of page 1, the author Alfred Emory, has a section titled “Two Lean Years”. Mr Green inserts an asterisk at this point and on the facing page writes this:
All years are “lean years” for the chess player. Nearly all great masters have died early or in indigent circumstances. Janowski practically died of starvation; a public collection was taken up to provide for the two sisters of Yates; the whole chess world chipped in to save Akiba Rubinstein’s family from starvation. Maroczy still makes a precarious existence at the game. Pillsbury and Reti exhausted their mental resources over a chess board and died early – untimely deaths. Only Alekhine has made the game pay him dividends. Better to be a baseball player or a Manassa Mauler if financial success is your goal. Or, if you must have intricacies that intrigue the mental faculties, why not get acquainted with the predictable complexities of the “moment of inertia” and the “radius of gyration” which have all the interesting characteristics of chess and have also uses that are convertible into cash. 9/8/40
We may ask ourselves how much has changed since Mr Green wrote this nearly 80 years ago. My own experience is that chess, while a fine game, really does not pay well.
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