In 280 pages Doctor Fiala covers the chess career of Capablanca in 1910. The book has photographs, extensive use of color, contemporary annotations, and figurine algebraic notation. It also includes Capablanca’s notes to some of the world championship match games  between Lasker and Schlechter.

Light Paperback (1 lb or less)

Wisconsin

Great chess players series, three 2024

Jose Raul Capablanca: third world chess champion 1910

This book is in very good condition, close to excellent, but I have listed it as good to be conservative. It was published for sale at $4.95, the equivalent of $32.87 today. It contains all the available games from the former world champion’s early career, mostly annotated. It has photographs, cross tables, and a 20+ page biography, it has a brief forward by Karpov himself, with a facsimile autograph. The book is signed by the former owner on the front  free endpaper. The notation is English descriptive as shown in the photographs. Unlike most of the. RHM paperback books of the 1970s, the binding is sewn and fully intact. It has 303 pages. The lowest price I could find as of mid January 2025 on eBay and search engines was $12. Buy my copy and save a little!

All 530 available encounters 1961-1974

Karpov’s Collected Games

The covers are sun faded, and former owners signature is on the front free endpaper, but the book is in overall excellent condition with sewn signatures. It has 75 deeply annotated games in English descriptive notation, with many diagrams and 164 pages. Grandmaster Fine was in the top eight players in the world in the late 1930s. The lowest price on eBay as of mid January 2025 is $8.99, buy my copy and save.

Dr Lasker’s Chess Career

Lasker’s Greatest Chess Games 

This volume of the Yugoslav chess anthology includes 761 games, annotated in figurine algebraic notation. It also contains the usual endings and combinations. It covers the Saint John candidates tournament, as well as the Korchnoi-Morovic match, plus many others. Just look at the list of commentators! There is sunning of the spine as shown in the photos, and the former owner’s signature on the front inside cover.

Heavy Paperback (2 to 4 lbs)

Covers  January through June 1988

Chess Informant 45

This extremely rare Russian language book covers the famous tournament in Holland in 1938, won by Keres and Fine ahead of Euwe, Capablanca, Alekhine, Reshevsky, Botvinnik and Flohr. It was one of the strongest tournaments ever played. The book has deluxe leather like covers, detailed notes to all the games by Soviet Masters, a preface by Botvinnik, and numerous diagrams. The Russian text is easy to follow using the Google Translate app.

Light Hardcover (1 lb or less)

ABPO-Турнир

AVRO Tournament 

The ninth and 10th volumes of chess informant have been professionally bound into a single volume. It covers the entirety of chess in 1970. Most people do not know that Bobby Fischer contributed annotations to some volumes of the chess informant. This book contains three games annotated by him, his two victories over Petrosian in the famous USSR versus the world match, and his long draw with Walter Browne, where Bobby played an Alekhine defense. Look at the list of commentators! The book contains the usual combinations and endings.Karpov annotated one ending, one of his earliest contributions to chess literature. The separate soft covers of these two volumes costs almost $33 on Amazon.

Heavy Hardcover (2 to 4 lbs)

Covers 1970

Chess Informant 9 & 10

This book by the international master McCambridge covers the early career of the American grandmaster Yasser Seirawan. 29 mostly heavily annotated games with numerous diagrams are given after a nine page biography. This book is hard to find, with only one copy available on a search engine as of New Year’s 2025, priced at $15. Buy my copy and save! No copies are available currently on eBay nor Amazon. The former owner’s signature is present on the inside front cover. Unlike most books published by players press, the binding is sound although it is cracked between pages 50 and 51. The book is in figurine algebraic notation. It contains 145 pages.

The Games of Yasser Seirawan

This book is in Swedish language by the late Swedish GrandMaster, Gideon Stahlberg. A recent chess biography of him has recently been published. The Swedish text is easy to follow using the Google Translate app. The tournament was won by David Bronstein, in front of. Laszlo Szabo, Isaac Boleslavsky et al. This book has a solid binding, but the covers are chipped, and the front hinge is tender. There is a small piece of tape securing a divot in the front cover, as shown in the photographs. The book itself is quite nice, having good quality, glossy paper, photographs, a cross table and good annotations. It has 359 pages. A copy currently listed on eBay as of New Year’s Day 2025 is listed for over $210 including shipping from the UK I could not find any other copies available from a North American seller currently. I paid $44 for this over 20 years ago from the late chess book dealer Dale Brandreth.

Hardcover (1 to 2 lbs)

Interzonal chess tournament Saltsjobaden 1948

Interzonala  Schackturneringen Saltsjobaden 1948

This beautifully bound hardcover book covers the 1950 chess candidates tournament, won by Bronstein and Boleslavsky. It also covers the playoff match won by Bronstein. The book is printed on quality, glossy paper, has photographs, diagrams, good notes and a cross table. It is in Swedish language, easily readable with the Google translate app. The author played in the tournament, and is the subject of a recent excellent biography. No copy has been sold at auction at LSAK and there are currently no copies available from a North American seller at the Book search engine addall dot com. The lowest price I could find is from a Swedish seller at $40 plus $28 shipping as of Christmas 2024. The book is in excellent condition with the former owner’s signature on the front free endpaper. He is a
USCF expert with simul draws against Petrosian and Bobby Fischer, and a win versus Bent Larsen. The only reason I am selling this wonderful book is because I have another copy signed by the author (this book is NOT signed by the author).

Budapestturneringen 1950

Budapest 1950 Chess Candidates Tournament

W. John Lutes

This book covers the aggressive Danish gambit in a comprehensive manner. This is an excellent blitz weapon, as most players will have only a few moves prepared against it. It is no worse than playing the Ruy Lopez against the Berlin variation nor most variations of the Italian game. Lutes was a strong expert player, and a thorough researcher. This book has long been out of print. The lowest price I could find on the Book search engine addall dot com as of Christmas 2024 is $20. Buy my copy and save!

Danish Gambit

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Volumes 2, 3 and 4 in the Mission Earth series from the author of the number one best seller battlefield earth

Black Genesis; the enemy within; an alien affair

Mission Earth 2, 3 and 4

Great historical detective novel. Condition is very good, but Pango doesn’t have a very good category so I have listed it as good. Only defect is some creasing in the spine as shown in the photos. Binding is 100% intact with nomarginalia.

Bundori

This professionally bound volume of issues seven and eight of the Yugoslav chess anthology covers all of 1969 and includes the 1969 world championships between Spassky and Petrosian, and Gaprindashvili vs Kushnir. See the list of authors for some of the commentators! Several games of Bobby Fischer’s are included, but there are no notes by him. The famous game Saidy-Fischer, where Fischer played a reversed Grand Prix Attack is included. The original colored covers are bound in as shown in the photographs. There is some mild rust staining of the lower edges of the pages, one page with some faint marginalia, and some pencilled notes by the professional binder on 1 page. There was also one blank page with two small white stickers on it. There is sunning of the spine. Please see the photographs. The binding is Library style, but this is NOT  an ex-Library book. The usual combinations and ending sections are included. There are over 500 pages in this book! Overall, I would rate the condition as very good, but Pango does not have such a category, so I have listed it as good.

Covers all of 1969

Chess Informant 7 and 8

Charles A. Gilberg

This book is a reprint of the original edition of the United States chess championship from 1880. It was marred by the first major chess cheating scandal. This volume is beautifully bound in mock leather stamped in gold on the covers and contains 539 pages. It also has all the tournament games, and historical survey of the earlier chest congresses as well as biographical sketches and 128 problems. This is a far superior book to the cheaper Indian reprint paperbacks. 

New York, 1880

The Fifth American Chess Congress

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As of mid November 2024, the lowest price for this book from an American seller on the book search engine addall dot com  is $40. Buy my copy and save!
100 typescript pages pages with tables and index. Octavo (8 1/4" x 6 1/4") . British Chess Quarterlies number 7. (Betts: 25-336) First edition. Contains a 6 page general introduction to the tournament , all 196 games without notes and score tables of all USSR Championships. Figurine Algebraic notation. Many of the participants in the championship were household names in the chess world. After drawing his first seven games Stein produced an astonishing burs of 5.5 of 6 to lead after thirteen rounds. Bronstein was recovering while Geller, Spassky and Cholmov continued to hold their high placings. Every half point was vital at this stage. With three rounds to go, the issue was still open. The Eighteenth round produced two vital results: Korchnoi, who had fought his way back among the leaders lost to Taimov and Suetin's game with Stein was a draw. This meant that Cholmov and Spassky lead by 1/2 point from Stein and Bronstein with Suetin and Geller a further 1/2 point behind. Suetin and Geller won and so the final was a tie first through third with Spassky, Cholmov and Stein and fourth through sixth Bronstein Geller and Suetin. A double round play-off for first place resulted in Spassky losing to Stein and a win over Cholmov and Stein became the new Soviet Champion. This book was published in two additions, one a glue bound, and the other a spiral bound. Condition: this glue bound edition has the binding intact, which is unusual for these older books. Date: 1964. British Chess Magazine, Ltd US

BCM Quarterly No. 7

31 USSR Chess championship

See the photos for a detailed description. It contains the games of the 1959 British championship, including the playoff plus other games. publisher: Chess, Sutton Coldfield] Softcover Pb with stiff card covers, 63pp, b/w photos. Good, clean contents. "The one hundred and eighty-seven games of the British Championship tournament, the four games of the Championship play-off, and twelve games from other events" without notes. The top scorers were Golombek, Haygarth and Penrose although Penrose won the Play-Off. Descriptive notation. Size: 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall
[Norwich, United Kingdom] [Publication Year: 1959] 
The only copy at the book search engine, addall.com, is over $10 plus you’d have to pay shipping from England.

British championship

York Chess Congress 1959

Jerzy Konikowski

Trade Paperback. Very Good. 6" X 8 1/2. 145 Pages Indexed. 
This book covers one of the most aggressive variations for white in the English opening. Black most natural response on move three, Bb4, is an error.  Most of your opponents, however will play this move. Towards the middle of the nineteenth century the move l.c4 first saw the light of tournament practice. It was introduced by a group of British chessplayers captained by Howard Staunton. This may be regarded as the origin of the English Game: one of the most interesting modem openings. In recent times the theory of the English Game has been greatly developed. Particular systems have been scrupulously studied and many new strategies and variations have been created. For this reason it is obvious that a serious study of the entire English Game in one volume is almost impossible. Thus the author has devoted this work entirely to one particular variation, that arising after I.c4 Nf6 2.Nc3 e6 3.e4. White's last move was probably first used in tournament practice towards the end of the 1920's. The major contribution towards the popularisation of the entire variation, through the creation of ideas and analysis, was given by the two famous players from the former Soviet Union Salo Flohr and Vladas Mikenas who gave the variation its name. In the last few years tournament practice has seen the use of the Flohr-Mikenas system by many notable grandmasters such as Kasparov, Karpov, Spassky, Timman, Yusupov, Hiibner, Seirawan, Miles and many others. 3.e4 represents the beginning of the struggle for the crucial strategical square (d5). Occasionally White threatens to increase (with e4-e5) his spatial advantage. Black needs to take care in his reaction in order to deny his opponent the possibility of achieving a great positional advantage right from the start of the game, e.g. after 3 ... ..Bb4?! or 3 ... d6?! Black finds himself in a negative situation (see Chapter 1). In effect only two plans may be considered practical: the first being 3 ... d5 and with this active move Black attempts to crush his opponent's centre immediately (see Chapters 2-3: A18) and the second being 3 ... c5: Nimzowitsch's idea. Black tries to exploit a temporary weakness of the d4 square and is not afraid of an eventual loss of tempo after 4.eS (see Chapters 4-9: A I 9). In order to create a complete picture of the opening struggle the author has included 180 demonstrative games to be found in the relative chapters.

This book is not currently available nor has it recently been available on eBay. Lowest price on the Book search engine addall dot com is $16.50 as of early November 2024.FIDE master Konikowski is known to be a thorough and detailed annotator.

Flohr-Mikenas System in the English Opening (A18-A19)

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Kasparyan was a strong Soviet chest master who played in several USSR championships. But he is best known for composing beautiful and practical study positions. Many strong grand masters do not study tactics by playing through quiz books, but by trying to solve studies, which are more difficult. They are also much more beautiful. Unlike chess problems which have unrealistic positions, studies are from positions where players which could occur in real games. This book is hard to find for under $40.

The complete studies of Genrikh Kasparyan

John S. Hilbert

Peter P. Lahde

This wonderful book is about the first modern United States chest championship. It has wonderful annotations sourced from many sources. Grandmaster Reuben Fine could only finish third. Indeed Fine never won a US championship despite being one of the strongest players in the world in the late 1930s. Lowest price on eBay as of early November 2024 is $25.

The First Modern United States Chess Championship

New York 1936

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Stephen W. Gordon

I think that this is the only book in English on the strong Brazilian grandmaster. Before he developed myasthenia gravis, he was felt to be likely the successor to Bobby Fischer. This book has 167 pages, and contains 24 heavily annotated games, plus many unannotated games and a 27 page summary of his life and career. It is in English algebraic notation. The author is a strong United States master. Many diagrams, one photograph and one cartoon augment the text. Lowest price on eBay for a lesser copy as of early November 2024 is $12.95. Buy my copy and save.

Henrique Mecking, Latin Chess Genius

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This is the 68th edition of the Yugoslav periodic anthology. Just look at the list of commentators in the photographs! It contains 551 games, 27 combinations, 18 endings, tournament score tables and the 10 best games of the previous volume. This book is in excellent condition but something has been whited out on the title page as shown in the photographs.

October 1996 through January 1997

Chess Informant 68

This rare book up till now could only be found from sellers abroad. It has a detailed biography of the German Chessmaster, Diemer who was the cofounder and main proponent of the Blackmar-Diemer gambit. Diemer was a controversial figure because of his Nazi political views and psychological problems. The gambit, 1. d4 d5 2. e4!? is very popular among players with ELO less than 2000, and for good reason, as it often leads to quick and flashy victories. In the United States, chessmasters like Peter Webster and Chuck Diebert have made it their main weapon as white so it is not just for class players. 56 annotated games are included after a 230 page biography. 280 pages in German language, easy to read with the Google translate app. The author Georg Studier is a German chess master who also played the gambit. Chess.com has a good article on Diemer: https://www.chess.com/blog/ThePawnSlayer/the-life-and-games-of-emil-josef-diemer-the-madman-of-chess-part-1

A life for chess in the mirror of his Times

Emil Joseph Diemer

The former world champion annotates 15 games in detail. Botvinnik is known as a very instructive teacher, and his books are chess classics. This book is now uncommon, with no copies available nor recent copy sold on eBay. Lowest price on the Book search engine site addall dot com as of early November 2024 is $14.95. This volume is an excellent condition with the former owner’s signature on the inside front cover.

15 games and their stories

Simon Williams

This is grandmaster Williams first book on the Dutch classical defense. It is his main stay as black against 1. d4. This book is short enough to be actually read and get you started playing it against any White variation. If you are under 1600 ELO, this is the only book you need to play this defense. It is a good weapon in Blitz. Chess as few class players have anything definite prepared. Stronger players will also need a longer book such as Williams‘s sequels, but their length is daunting and they are suitable as a reference work rather than something to get you going. Lowest price on eBay as of early November 2024 is $10.66.

Browse by categories

Vlastimil Fiala

Jose Raul Capablanca: third world chess champion 1910

David Levy

Karpov’s Collected Games

Red Reinfeld and Reuben Fine

Lasker’s Greatest Chess Games

Kasparov, Karpov, Ivanchuk, Seirawan, Korchnoi, Timman, Larsen et al

Chess Informant 45

Toradze, Botvinnik

AVRO Tournament

Fischer, Petrosian, Spassky, Tal, Keres, Portisch, Korchnoi, Bronstein, Karpov et al

Chess Informant 9 & 10

Vincent McCambridge

The Games of Yasser Seirawan

Gideon Stahlberg

Interzonala Schackturneringen Saltsjobaden 1948

Gideon Stahlberg

Budapest 1950 Chess Candidates Tournament

W. John Lutes

Danish Gambit

L Ron Hubbard

Mission Earth 2, 3 and 4

Laura Joh Rowland

Bundori

Matanović, Petrosian, Larsen, Keres, Smyslov, Korchnoi, Geller et al

Chess Informant 7 and 8

Charles A. Gilberg

The Fifth American Chess Congress

BCM

31 USSR Chess championship

Barry Wood

York Chess Congress 1959

Jerzy Konikowski

Flohr-Mikenas System in the English Opening (A18-A19)

Kasparyan, Roycroft

The complete studies of Genrikh Kasparyan

John S. Hilbert; Peter P. Lahde

New York 1936

Stephen W. Gordon

Henrique Mecking, Latin Chess Genius

Kasparov, Karpov, J. Polgar, Kramnik, Anand, Shirov, Matanovic et al

Chess Informant 68

Georg Studier

Emil Joseph Diemer

Mikhail Botvinnik

15 games and their stories

Simon Williams

Play the Classical Dutch

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