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How Many Batsford Chess Books Do You Have? A Checklist
March 10, 2021
Just before the Fischer-Spassky Match, Batsford started publishing chess books. They were in distinct white covers (hardback). They were in English descriptive notation and often had English authors. The first four covered the openings – Najdorf Sicilian, Benoni, King’s Indian and Closed Ruy Lopez. Then came the game collections – Fischer, Spassky and Botvinnik.
Keene, Nunn, Harding and Levy dominated the first decade as authors.
In the 1980s, the notation switched over to the algebraic from English descriptive. The Karpov-Kasparov matches were on.
In the 1990s old classics like Clarke’s Tal and Petrosian and Golombek’s Reti and Capablanca were republished with the modern notation. There was a variety of authors.
Then, in 2007 publishing almost ceased, slowly returning with Andrew Soltis as the main author.
How many chess books did Batsford publish from 1969 to present? I make it about 500. This excludes new and revised editions. I give them below, the collector might want to make a checklist.
What made me research these is a recent offering on eBay of a complete set of Batsford Contemporary Chess Openings + Specialist and Algebraic Series. Price US $550 (starting bid).
They come with this description: “This to my knowledge is the most complete collection of Batsford Contemporary Chess Openings published in the 1970s and 80s. It took me about 30 years to acquire them all, with some having to be purchased from Europe. Most of the 40+- Contemporary Chess Opening volumes are hard bound with dust jackets (The Sicilian Najdorf by Stein is missing the dj). The 16 Algebraic and Specialist volumes are mostly softbound.
Unfortunately, ebay limits on the number of pictures prevents me from showing more details but I will try to answer any relevant questions. Please check the pictures that I have provided. These have all been stored in chemical resistant bags normally used for comic books and magazines. They in turn have been kept in glass door bookcases and thus have avoided dust buildup. These will be shipped in several boxes of 10-12 volumes per box via USPS media mail to the continental US only. Pickup is also available.”
They do make a lovely set and one a collector would be proud to own.
Some Batsford have been reprinted in North America under another publisher’s name. Some were first American editions and then reprinted by Batsford.
I have a shelf in my office that contains 240 Batsford chess books.
'-
March 10, 2021
Just before the Fischer-Spassky Match, Batsford started publishing chess books. They were in distinct white covers (hardback). They were in English descriptive notation and often had English authors. The first four covered the openings – Najdorf Sicilian, Benoni, King’s Indian and Closed Ruy Lopez. Then came the game collections – Fischer, Spassky and Botvinnik.
Keene, Nunn, Harding and Levy dominated the first decade as authors.
In the 1980s, the notation switched over to the algebraic from English descriptive. The Karpov-Kasparov matches were on.
In the 1990s old classics like Clarke’s Tal and Petrosian and Golombek’s Reti and Capablanca were republished with the modern notation. There was a variety of authors.
Then, in 2007 publishing almost ceased, slowly returning with Andrew Soltis as the main author.
How many chess books did Batsford publish from 1969 to present? I make it about 500. This excludes new and revised editions. I give them below, the collector might want to make a checklist.
What made me research these is a recent offering on eBay of a complete set of Batsford Contemporary Chess Openings + Specialist and Algebraic Series. Price US $550 (starting bid).
They come with this description: “This to my knowledge is the most complete collection of Batsford Contemporary Chess Openings published in the 1970s and 80s. It took me about 30 years to acquire them all, with some having to be purchased from Europe. Most of the 40+- Contemporary Chess Opening volumes are hard bound with dust jackets (The Sicilian Najdorf by Stein is missing the dj). The 16 Algebraic and Specialist volumes are mostly softbound.
Unfortunately, ebay limits on the number of pictures prevents me from showing more details but I will try to answer any relevant questions. Please check the pictures that I have provided. These have all been stored in chemical resistant bags normally used for comic books and magazines. They in turn have been kept in glass door bookcases and thus have avoided dust buildup. These will be shipped in several boxes of 10-12 volumes per box via USPS media mail to the continental US only. Pickup is also available.”
They do make a lovely set and one a collector would be proud to own.
Some Batsford have been reprinted in North America under another publisher’s name. Some were first American editions and then reprinted by Batsford.
I have a shelf in my office that contains 240 Batsford chess books.
'-
| No | Author | - | Title | - | Published | |
| - | - | - | - | |||
| 1 | O'Kelly de Galway, Alberic | The Sicilian flank game: Najdorf variation | 1969 | |||
| 2 | Hartston, William | The Benoni | 1969 | |||
| 3 | Barden, Hartston and Keene | The King's Indian Defence | 1969 | |||
| 4 | Wade, Blackstock and Booth | The Closed Ruy Lopez | 1970 | |||
| 5 | Kotov, Alexander | Think like a grandmaster | 1971 | |||
| 6 | Hartston, William | The Grunfeld Dfence | 1971 | |||
| 7 | Levenfish and Smyslov | Rook Endings | 1971 | |||
| 8 | Wade and O'Connell, Barden | Bobby Fischer's chess games | 1972 | |||
| 9 | Saidy, Anthony | The Battle of Chess Ideas | 1972 | |||
| 10 | Gligorich and Wade | The world chess championship Pt. 1 | 1972 | |||
| 11 | Botinnik, Mikhail (Cafferty) | Botvinnik's best games 1947-1970 | 1972 | |||
| 12 | Cafferty, Bernard | Spassky's 100 best games | 1972 | |||
| 13 | Keene and Botterill | The Modern defence 1..P-KN3 | 1972 | |||
| 14 | Levy, David N. | The Sicilian dragon | 1972 | |||
| 15 | Wade, O'Connell, Barden | The games of Robert J. Fischer 2nd rev. edition | 1972 | |||
| 16 | Lasker, Edward | Chess | 1973 | |||
| 17 | Robinson and Edwards | The art and science of chess: a step-by-step approach | 1973 | |||
| 18 | Horowitz, Israel A. | From Morphy to Fischer: a history of the world chess championship | 1973 | |||
| 19 | Lombardy, William | Snatched opportunities on the chessboard | 1973 | |||
| 20 | Keene and Levy | Chess Olympiad, Skopje 1972 | 1973 | |||
| 21 | Eales and Williams | Alekhine's defence | 1973 | |||
| 22 | Botterill and Keene | The Pirc defence | 1973 | |||
| 23 | Evans and Smith | Fischer-Spassky move by move | 1973 | |||
| 24 | Byrne, Nei and Euwe | Both sides of the chessboard | 1974 | |||
| 25 | Kazic, Bozidar | International championship chess: a complete record of FIDE events | 1974 | |||
| 26 | O'Connell, Kevin J. | The games of Anatoly Karpov | 1974 | |||
| 27 | Samarian, Sergiu | The Queen's gambit declined | 1974 | |||
| 28 | Benko, Pal | The Benko gambit | 1974 | |||
| 29 | Korchnoi and Zak | The King's gambit | 1974 | |||
| 30 | Vasiliev and Suetin | Tigran Petrosian: his life and games | 1974 | |||
| 31 | Brady, Frank | Bobby Fischer (Profile of a prodigy) | 1974 | |||
| 32 | Bronstein, David | 200 open games | 1974 | |||
| 33 | Averbakh and Maizelis | Pawn endings | 1974 | |||
| 34 | Wade, R.G. | World Championship Interzonals : Leningrad and Petropolis 1973 | 1974 | |||
| 35 | Wade, R.G. | The Marshall attack | 1974 | |||
| 36 | Levy, D.N. | Sacrifices in the Sicilian | 1974 | |||
| 37 | Harding, T.D. | The Sicilian Sozin | 1974 | |||
| 38 | Keres, Paul | Practical chess endings | 1974 | |||
| 39 | Keene, R.D. | The European team championship: Bath 1973 | 1974 | |||
| 40 | The Batsford chess yearbook 1975-1976 | 1975 | ||||
| 41 | Pachman, Ludek | Complete chess strategy | 1975 | |||
| 42 | Cafferty, Bernard | Tal's 100 best games 1961-1973 | 1975 | |||
| 43 | Knight, Norman | King, queen and knight: a chess anthology | 1975 | |||
| 44 | Marovic, D. | King pawn openings | 1975 | |||
| 45 | Moles, John | The French defence, main line Winawer | 1975 | |||
| 46 | Kotov, Alexander | Alexander Alekhine | 1975 | |||
| 47 | Hooper and Brandreth | The unknown Capablanca | 1975 | |||
| 48 | Keene, Ray | Chess Olympiad, Nice 1974, World Team Championship | 1975 | |||
| 49 | Harding, T.D. | The Sicilian Richter-Rauzer | 1975 | |||
| 50 | Levy, D.N. | The Sicilian accelerated dragons | 1975 | |||
| 51 | Keene, Raymond | Learn from the grandmasters | 1975 | |||
| 52 | Averbakh, Yuri | Queen and pawn endings | 1975 | |||
| 53 | Edwards, Raymond | The chess player's bedside book | 1975 | |||
| 54 | Suetin, Aleksei | A contemporary approach to the middle game | 1976 | |||
| 55 | Blackstock, L. S. | Ruy Lopez: Breyer system | 1976 | |||
| 56 | Harding, T.D. | The Leningrad Dutch | 1976 | |||
| 57 | Levy, David N. | Chess and computers | 1976 | |||
| 58 | Averbakh, Yuri | Bishop v. knight endings | 1976 | |||
| 59 | Barden, Leonard | The Batsford guide to chess openings | 1976 | |||
| 60 | Stean, Michael | Sicilian: Najdorf | 1976 | |||
| 61 | Levy, David N. | An opening repertoire for the attacking club player | 1976 | |||
| 62 | Shamkovich, Leonid | Chess sacrifices | 1976 | |||
| 63 | O'Connell, Kevin J. | The complete games of world champion Anatoly Karpov | 1976 | |||
| 64 | The Batsford FIDE chess yearbook 1977 | 1977 | ||||
| 65 | Bouwmeester, J. | Winning chess combinations | 1977 | |||
| 66 | Harding, T.D. | The Italian game | 1977 | |||
| 67 | Pritchett, Craig | The Sicilian Scheveningen | 1977 | |||
| 68 | Botterill , G.S. | The Scotch | 1977 | |||
| 69 | Averbakh, Yuri | Bishop endings | 1977 | |||
| 70 | Keene, Raymond | Nimzowitsch/Larsen attack: 1 b3 | 1977 | |||
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