Nathan Divinsky

[Jonathan Berry]

Chess books

We didn't meet more than a dozen times, nor exchange more than a handful of phone calls, but in one of them, over a decade ago, Divinsky expressed a wish to see his chess library go to good use, he hoped as a library or as part of a library. It would have required some strengthening of the CFC for them to take up that gauntlet, but as we know, CFC rather went in the opposite direction. I do not know if he ever came up with a solution. If he did come up with a solution, it might be reflected in his Will, or in verbal wishes to his family.

UBC Library had a small collection of chess material, but I recall that in 1975 when I left Vancouver they weren't interested to the extent of agreeing not to dispose of books that might be donated to them. Divinsky, however, had a much nicer collection--and librarians can change too.

Accessioning and deaccessioning can be a whimsical enterprise. At the local library, they had a small number of library-binding books by Science Fiction colossus Philip K. Dick. One year, I found a couple of those volumes in the discard pile at the library sale. A decade later, I noted that the library had purchased a paperback of one of the same titles. The donor of a fabulous chess library might want the recipient to be "retentive" about the collection.

[Ken MacDonald]

Chess Book Collections

...The donor of a fabulous chess library might want the recipient to be "retentive" about the collection.

I and a few friends tried a number of libraries regarding a donation of ALL or part of my collection a couple of years ago. On close questioning, they all seemed to be prepared to sell the collection OR only take a small part of it! One library was sent my "catalogue" of about 5,500 volumes (each year of a magazine = 1 volume) to review. Their response was, "We'd like these two books!" They were simple reference books.

The problem with that library was that, a) They had no space, and, b) They could not afford to maintain the collection. By maintain, I merely mean to hold it and administer it, not to add to it. I think the cost of maintaining a collection is a BIG problem for cash-strapped institutions these days.

I am now thinking that one day, I will hire some unemployed chess player to compare every one of my Canadian items to those held by the National Archives or the Québec equivalent and donate those items they do not have. For the moment though, I still hold out hope for a Canadian library that wants a superb Canadian chess collection.

BTW, I am still buying the odd Canadian chess publication I do not have. If anyone reading this has a box of old bulletins they want to sell, please do let me know. I still want to improve the Canadian collection and many of the tournament bulletins were not sent to the Archives, merely handed out at the tournaments.

[Frank Dixon]

Re: Nathan Divinsky

Jon and Ken raise very important points on the topic of a national chess library. I think National Archives in Ottawa may be the best bet; the CFC once had a promising start to a significant library, but books seemed to grow feet over the years, and with the CFC selling its office in Ottawa, no space was available. Certainly available space is the primary concern for libraries these days, in the era of funding restraints and cutbacks, much of it as spillovers from the seemingly never-ending Euro crisis and American blunders from 2008, which are affecting Canada, whether we like it or not.

I think this topic definitely bears raising at the upcoming CFC meetings in Victoria, to be held in conjunction with the 2012 Canadian Open. I'm hoping to be able to attend; need to take care of a few matters first. :)

Another Grand Old Man of Canadian chess, Kingston's Jim Cairns, who passed away in 2010, donated some of his chess library, along with giving much of his non-chess library, to the Kingston Library system, to be sold off to raise money. They retained some volumes for their own collection, although not in the chess area. Kingston chess players bought much of his chess library as well, at bargain rates, dispersing it.

[Frank Dixon]

Re: Nathan Divinsky

Responding to Hugh Brodie's post on Divinsky's love life (quoting wikipedia):

Hugh: it is all properly sourced. Check it yourself. Kim Campbell's book is in most libraries; I have a copy, and used it to write the piece on wiki about Divinsky. Some of it is from the obituary which appeared this week in Vancouver papers (also sourced). Names of daughters, and the name of his third wife, appear there. Don't know the circumstances ending his first marriage, so I left that topic alone.

[Egidijus Zeromskis]

Re: Chess Book Collections

For the moment though, I still hold out hope for a Canadian library that wants a superb Canadian chess collection.

IMHO, the best place for a such library is on internet. Look, how nice it is to see and to read the tournament book from 1945. Does the CFC have any rights to it to save on its own webpage?

[Bob Armstrong]

Re: Nathan Divinsky

Hi Frank:

Not sure if you are aware, but there will be no face-to-face AGM in Victoria this year. The governors voted to hold it on-line this year, the way the OCA just did ( though hopefully not as long! ).

Bob A

[Frank Dixon]

Re: Nathan Divinsky

Bob: Thanks for the information; I was unaware of this. How do non-Governors (such as myself) take part, then!? Cheers, Frank

[Bob Armstrong]

CFC On-line AGM

This is a good question.

The face-to-face meetings were open to the public. They could only participate though if recognized by the Chair.

The On-line AGM of the OCA tried a new tact - total openness. Visitors could not only come and see the proceedings, they were allowed to post and interact with the governors without any permission required - though I imagine abuse of the priviledge could lead to eviction from the meeting.

As I get the last e-mail I got from the CFC President ( and this is my best interpretation ), the actual meeting itself on-line will be closed. But it seems that the proceedings or part of them at least, are to be reposted on an open board where everyone can come and see.

Someone on the executive can slap my wrist if I've got this all screwed up. To my knowledge there has been no formal announcement on this yet, and the agenda is still in preparation, as are the exact dates of the meeting, I believe.

Bob A

[Brad Thomson]

Re: Nathan Divinsky

When I worked at the CFC, Abe Yanofsky donated his entire book collection. It was stored upstairs. What may have become of it?

[Jonathan Berry]

Chess books

When I worked at the CFC, Abe Yanofsky donated his entire book collection. It was stored upstairs. What may have become of it?

My guess is that David Cohen rescued stuff when the CFC sold the building out from under it. You've noticed his distribution in recent weeks of the Passports to Chess and back numbers (they're all back numbers now!) of CFC Bulletin / Chess Canada Echecs / En Passant. It would have required a huge basement, and I'm just guessing, but I'm grateful that it wasn't all dumpstered.

Incidentally, the rarest of our magazines is #6, with John Cleeve on the cover.

Divinsky also donated to the CFC library: a fairly complete set of Canadian Chess Chat, which I bound. Alain Godbout donated leather-bound years of Checkmate, 1901-1903, the original, not the reprint. Dudley Le Dain's sister made the largest donation (and also sold some to us). There was so much paper (heavy!) that it damaged Shirley's car to bring it back from Montreal. Yes, we did the stupid consumer thing before there was ever a Home Depot.

I've written about on-line rights here, though last time somebody immediately re-interpreted it!

Concerning a real library, the North American gold standard is the John G. White Collection at the Cleveland Public Library. A good library needs to be endowed with both books and money. Lots of money and lots of commitment.

[Egidijus Zeromskis]

Re: Chess books

Incidentally, the rarest of our magazines is #6, with John Cleeve on the cover.

Why is that?
'cause it has a Hebert's picture?

[Zeljko Kitich]

Re: Chess books

Concerning a real library, the North American gold standard is the John G. White Collection at the Cleveland Public Library. A good library needs to be endowed with both books and money. Lots of money and lots of commitment.

The Library of Congress is supposed to have a copy of everything ever published in the USA and so are some other national libraries. Do these not include chess books?

[Jonathan Berry]

Re: Chess books

The Library of Congress is supposed to have a copy of everything ever published in the USA and so are some other national libraries. Do these not include chess books?

Sure. The National Library/Archives of Canada also has chess-related "fonds". So, yes, if you get certified as a researcher, you can order certain fonds to be brought out from storage. This usually takes some weeks to arrange. Then on an appointed day, go to the appointed place. I suppose you can do this at the various national libraries and access the chess materials published within the boundary of that country since laws required such materials to be submitted. Are you pointing out that the Nathan Divinsky collection might contain a book which is available to researchers in say the German national library? Absolutely true. There is also a good chance that the same volume might be found at the John G. White collection in Cleveland. If the volume dates to before the regulatory regime of the German national library, Cleveland might have it even if the German national library does not. That the John G. White collection provides a form of "one stop shopping" for chess researchers is one of its charms.

Egis made the point earlier that everything is getting scanned, and eventually every book and magazine will be available digitally, with it seems Google as the gatekeeper. I'm surprised that Google are able to get away with publishing so much of each book without violating the copyright of the original publisher and/or author, but that is a detail. Whether free (ad-supported) or through payment, every published thing related to chess is becoming available digitally. We are become StarTrek, destroyer of books. With each passing day, the reason for having a chess library grows more tenuous. Day by day, this chess library thingie is becoming more of a luxury. Bibliophiles of the world unite, you have nothing to gain but marginal notes. Bookshelves are futile. Books, like Parliament, are obsolete. We merely haven't completely figured out how properly to replace them. Personally, I'd like to see more than just a single company preside over the abolition of books, just as I'd like to see more than a single person preside over the fading of Parliament. That too could be viewed as a detail. And I digress.

Incidentally, Egis, I'm not sure if you had a serious question about CFC Bulletin #6. Yes, of course, Jean Hébert's photo is in that issue. I wasn't yet at the CFC in 1974 when that issue went out, but I can make an intelligent guess (or a few of them) as to the reason(s) for its rarity. In those days, and perhaps even now, when you contract with a printer, there is a provision for plus or minus 10% overrun or underrun. Usually it's an overrun, since they tend to charge per unit. So there's a temptation to order less than you actually need, counting on an overrun. You can fill in the blanks. Another scenario is that, rarely, but it did happen, magazines would go astray under the tender care of Canada Post. If you had 100 magazines going to say rural Ontario disappear, you'd replace them from your spares. Another scenario involves the content of that magazine. It reported the 1974 Canadian Open in Montreal, still the record with 600+ players (though the event, both sections, was not rated until the next issue). Perhaps there was some back-and-forth about wanting to distribute the issue containing the report, to the players who took part in the event, but not knowing the exact number required until after the order went to the printer.

[Gary Ruben]

Re: Chess books

The issue with John Cleeve on the cover would have probably had a wider appeal. John was the president of the Canadian Correspondence Chess Association for around 25 years. The association had hundreds of members when that issue was published and the CFC might have sold a lot of single copies. Also, I don't know the year the CFC magazine went onto book shelves in some stores.

[Mark S. Dutton]

'Fantastic' math teacher also a chess champion - Nathan Divinsky taught at UBC ...

'Fantastic' math teacher also a chess champion

Nathan Divinsky taught at UBC for more than 40 years

By Kim Nursall, Vancouver June 22, 2012



Nathan Divinsky, a mathematics professor, chess champion and civic politician who was married for 11 years to former prime minister Kim Campbell, died on the weekend.

He was 86. Divinsky spent more than 40 years at the University of B.C., beginning his career as a professor in the math department in 1949 and retiring as a professor emeritus of math in 1991.

"He had such a reputation with his students as being one of the most fantastic teachers that they have ever had, and he stimulated these young people and left his mark in that field," said Marilyn Goldstone, who became Divinsky's common-law wife after his divorce from Campbell in 1983.

"We used to be sitting on a tube in London, and some man with a rolled umbrella and a bowler hat would lean over and say, 'Excuse me, are you Professor Divinsky? - You taught me mathematics,' said Goldstone.

Divinsky's prowess at the chess board led to his representing Canada at the Chess Olympiads in 1954 and 1966. During the latter - held in Cuba - he and the other tournament players received custom-made chess sets from Fidel Castro.

Divinsky and Campbell, who were married in 1972, were both active in Vancouver civic politics.

He was a school board trustee from 1974-1980 and a city alderman from 1980-1982, while Campbell was on the school board from 1980 to 1984. (She moved into federal politics in 1988, becoming a Conservative MP in Vancouver Centre and prime minister in 1993.)

Mathematics were always a significant part of Divinsky's life, even when it came to choosing his life partners.

After his divorce from Campbell, his second wife, he told his daughter from his first marriage that he was looking for someone new with the exact right birthdate.

Noting that his first wife's birthdate was March 12 and that Campbell's was March 10, he said: "I'm just looking for a nice woman whose birthday is March 11 to make up the sequence."

Goldstone, who was born on March 11, said the connection was made through her daughter and Divinsky's daughter. The two friends realized the coincidence while chatting about their parents; it wasn't long before Goldstone heard from Divinsky.

"This was Nathan," said Goldstone, laughing. "He phoned me [and] said 'Is your birthday really March the 11th? Why don't we meet and have dinner together?'"

That dinner - a corned beef sandwich - was 27 years ago. Goldstone said she and Divinsky lived together happily until his death Sunday.

He is survived by Goldstone; his daughters, Pamela Divinsky and Judy Kornfeld; his son-in-law, Neil Kornfeld; and his grandchildren Dory and Megan.

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Nathan Tuzie Divinsky
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October 29, 1925 - June 17, 2012 Nathan Joseph Harry "Tuzie" Divinsky died on Sunday June 17, 2012. A man who lived his life with great passion and conviction, Tuzie was a grandmaster in all aspects of his life and a truly "modern major general".He leaves his wife Marilyn Goldstone, daughters Judy Kornfeld and Pamela Divinsky, son-in-law Neil Kornfeld and grandchildren, Dory and Megan Kornfeld. He was pre-deceased by his daughter Dr. Mimi Divinsky. We will remember him as the person who always challenged the conventional with charisma that was irresistible.

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