Catalogue

The highlight of the first volume was undoubtedly the report on the famous Cambridge Springs tournament, with the complete games, analysis and background. Amongst the many juicy snippets of information included are the tournament rules forbidding consultation on adjourned games, or even entering a private room with any of the other players during the intermission. A real eye-opener! Also included is correspondence between Lasker and Marshall comcerning a possible world championship match. The chess, prose and reporting is of a generally high standard, and the backgorund details are absorbing. 148 pp. (EUR 22.00)

The second Volume is enlivened by a long supplement on the Rice Gambit (a hotly-debated line in the King's Gambit around the turn of the century) and a 26 page supplement of fiction on a chess theme by Benjamin Marshall M.D. (no relation of Frank). Matches included Marshall - Tarrasch and the annual Anglo-American cable event. 396 pp.(EUR 25.00)

Particularly notable for its reporting of Pillsbury's last days. Four pages after Pillsbury's upbeat message I am very much alive! comes the sad news of his demise and a shocked obitury. Elsewhere: the Ostend Rice Gambit Tourney, the first American Women's Congress and the San Francisco earthquake. 260 pp. (EUR 22.00)

An account of Marshall's whistle-stop US tour gives an insight into the life of a professional player back then, as he sought to raise stake money for his unsuccessful match with Lasker. Not all players were so impecunious, as the report on a lavish New York banquet in honour of Professor Rice testifies. 252 pp. (EUR 22.00)

An account of Marshall's whistle-stop US tour gives an insight into the life of a professional player back then, as he sought to raise stake money for his unsuccessful match with Lasker. Not all players were so impecunious. (EUR 22.00)

The St. St. Petersburg tournament, won by Lasker and Rubinstein, gets thorough coverage with notes to games by leading players. In the match between Capablanca and Marshall, won by the Cuban 8-1 with 14 draws, much comment is passed about the number of draws and Marshall's defensive tactics after going 7-1 down early on. Capablanca also found time to play a Rice Chess Club rapid transit tournament of five seconds per move, winning with 18/19. 288pp., (EUR 22.00)

Lasker is in action again, saving his world championship title in the very last game to tie 5-5 with Schlechter. Elsewhere a match between Marshall and Showalter decides the U.S. Championship decisively 8,5-3,5 in Marshall's favour and Capablnca continues to take the American continent by storm. Also reported is the emergence of the other Laskers: Berthold - the champion's brother, a strong player in his own right, and Eduard, from Berlin, who is no relation but soon to make his mark. An analysis of the Ruy Lopez in recent matches concludes that Morphy's Defence (3...a6) and in particular the Open variation, as essayed by Schlechter against Lasker, are Black's best defences. 304 pp. (EUR 22.00)

The year 1911 sees the great international tournaments at San Sebastian and Carlsbad, as well as the 13th and last in the series of Anglo-American cable matches (Great Britain won 6-4 and were to hold the Sir George Newnes trophy permanently at the City of London Chess Club). In a less than completely serious commentary on these matches, Emanuel Lasker complains of declining standards in English - speaking countries. His irony is lost on some readers, and a lively correspondence under the title The doctor and the birch ensues. 288pp. (EUR 22.00)

More colletable news and games from the turn-of-the-century New York magazine. In a timely reminder of difficulties regarding World Championship contests, we read of the drawn-out negotiations between Lasker and his new challengers, Capablanca and Rubinstein. Major events are, as asual, well documented: San Sebastian (won by Rubinstein), Breslau (Rubinstein again, this time with Duras) and Marshall-Janowski. Controversies of the day are regularly aired, including a piece entitled Quit kicking my dawg around in which Nimzowitsch offers to play Tarrasch for stakes with his ugly Philidor's defence, following derogatory comments by the Dr. from Nuremberg. An editorial rails against The Evils of Adjournments. Another classic year from the vintage magazine. 288pp. (EUR 22.00)

The hallmark of the ACB was always a canny blend of high-quality tournament and match reports, combined with an exhaustive coverage of U.S. and overseas chess news. What distinguished it particularly, however, was its pithy commentary on the chess scene. In the on-the-spot report from the Havana tournament, won by Marshall just ahead of local hero Capablanca, the editors give a tremendous picture of the atmostphere on the final day's play. There is also a personal memoir of Wilhelm Steinitz, Genius by a Robert J. Buckley, in which the tragedy of the principled but eccentric great master's life is told with some affection: During the Paris tourney of 1867, in a trifling dispute, he spat on his opponent, an English player, who promptly knocked his head through a window, the subsequent extrication a sight for the gods. Other episodes include Steinitz accosting Buckley in the lobby of the Hastings Queen's Hotel with the words, How dare you say Lasker would beat me?. 28pp. (EUR 22.00)