English Chess Forum

Inspired by some of the places mentioned in the chess cafe thread, I thought I'd ask what places there are in Britain and abroad that could be part of a chess tourism trail? By this I mean permanent establishments (such as cafes and chess clubs) rather than tournaments, and actual landmarks such as museums or birthplaces or graves of famous players.

I've personally been to Washington Square (in New York City) as I said in the other thread, and I've also found time when in Paris to find Alekhine's grave (this was on a trip back from Portugal from a chess tournament in Estoril, the town where he died!). But I haven't managed to do much more chess tourism than that (though I will probably remember something after posting this).

So does anyone know of any other graves of World Champions or famous players that are easy to get to (i.e. not in some obscure place, though details of even those would be useful). There is the Staunton Memorial of course, and I think Simpson's in the Strand would be worth putting on any chess tourism trail. And what chess clubs are worth visiting? I read about the Moscow Central Chess Club once, and it sounds like its glory days are past, but I might be wrong there.

Are there any chess museums around the world worth visiting?

somebody told me there is a museum of chess in Florida- i think it might have been Miami but would have to ask. the good thing is that even if you went there and didn't like the chess there would still be lots of nice girls to enjoy watching.

Christopher Kreuzer wrote: So does anyone know of any other graves of World Champions or famous players that are easy to get to (i.e. not in some obscure place, though details of even those would be useful).

Hi Chris

Here

Joey Stewart wrote:somebody told me there is a museum of chess in Florida- i think it might have been Miami but would have to ask. the good thing is that even if you went there and didn't like the chess there would still be lots of nice girls to enjoy watching.

It was here, but the link says it isn't any more. It was just off the freeway, a long way from the centre of Miami. It was worth a visit if you were passing, but not worth a detour IMHO.

http://saintlouischessclub.org/

might be worth a visit?

Christopher Kreuzer wrote: Are there any chess museums around the world worth visiting?

There's a Max Euwe museum and library in the centre of Amsterdam, I think the square it's on is even called Max Euweplein. There's a giant chess set outside too. You have to press the buzzer to get in to the museum but they were very friendly when I visited.

David Lettington wrote:

Christopher Kreuzer wrote: Are there any chess museums around the world worth visiting?

There's a Max Euwe museum and library in the centre of Amsterdam, I think the square it's on is even called Max Euweplein. There's a giant chess set outside too. You have to press the buzzer to get in to the museum but they were very friendly when I visited.

I knew about the Max Euweplein (it has a bust of Max Euwe on it), but not about the museum. Thanks! I will have to try and go there at some point when I'm next in the area.

Mick Norris wrote:http://saintlouischessclub.org/

might be worth a visit?

Indeed, as it seems that the museum pointed out in another thread is moving there!

http://www.uschesstrust.com/2009/11/01/ ... e-in-2010/

"World Chess Hall of Fame & Sidney Samole Museum to Relocate in 2010"

Why do Americans always turn everything into a Hall of Fame...?

Richard James wrote:

Christopher Kreuzer wrote: So does anyone know of any other graves of World Champions or famous players that are easy to get to (i.e. not in some obscure place, though details of even those would be useful).

Here

Wow! Thanks for that, Richard. Some are in London, I see, and would be easy for me to get to, though goodness knows what state the MacDonnell, La Bourdonnais and Zukertort graves are in now (the Staunton one has its recent memorial of course). Inspired by that, I've done a bit of research and come up with an expanded list of graves, but I'll start a new thread in the Chess History section for that.

When I visit a new country I often use the information on the FIDE site or from the office to make contact. When I went there, the Gambia had long before left FIDE. But I managed to play blitz against half the federation, that is 3 players.
When I went to Thailand I was made very welcome and ushered through passport control instantly. That probably saved me 30 seconds. I also gave a simul against 20 players (20% of the federation then).
Barbados are always very welcoming
The late Bob Wade told me he played Kriegspiel at the Hastings Club one Christmas day. They used to have chess photos all over their walls, but have, I think, redecorated.
Cleveland Ohio Library has the world's biggest public collection of chess literature. Lothar Schmidt's library may be bigger, but certailny not as accessible.
The FIDE Office is not arranged particularly for chess tourists, but they would make you welcome.
Lest anybody forget or doesn't know. The Chess and Bridge Shop has a great deal of material.
There are giant chess sets all over the place: Hastings, Leeds, Plymouth, Twickenham. There must be others in Britain.

Stewart Reuben

Giant chess sets in parks/squares are quite popular in central Europe; there's one by the cathedral in Salzburg, one in Geneva, one in the Keukenhof gardens, one at the Pilsner Urquell brewery (with beer bottle-shaped pieces) and probably others I've forgotten. Then of course there's Elista's Chess City, although that's slightly off the tourist trail.

Stewart Reuben wrote:When I visit a new country I often use the information on the FIDE site or from the office to make contact. When I went there, the Gambia had long before left FIDE. But I managed to play blitz against half the federation, that is 3 players.
When I went to Thailand I was made very welcome and ushered through passport control instantly. That probably saved me 30 seconds. I also gave a simul against 20 players (20% of the federation then).
Barbados are always very welcoming
The late Bob Wade told me he played Kriegspiel at the Hastings Club one Christmas day. They used to have chess photos all over their walls, but have, I think, redecorated.
Cleveland Ohio Library has the world's biggest public collection of chess literature. Lothar Schmidt's library may be bigger, but certailny not as accessible.
The FIDE Office is not arranged particularly for chess tourists, but they would make you welcome.
Lest anybody forget or doesn't know. The Chess and Bridge Shop has a great deal of material.
There are giant chess sets all over the place: Hastings, Leeds, Plymouth, Twickenham. There must be others in Britain

I remember the chess photos on the wall in the Hastings Chess Club (I was dragged there by a friend from Australia when we both played in the tournament, and I was very pleased he insisted we go and visit). They were still there in the mid-1990s, though as you say may have gone now. If I go to Hastings this year, I may try and revisit the club or find out what happened to the photos (hopefully they ended up somewhere like the national chess library, which I must also try and visit). Having said that, I hope the preceding is a genuine memory and not me misplacing a memory of a photo of the Hastings Chess Club into my personal memories!

Cleveland, Ohio, is a bit further to go, but does sound worth a visit. What I'd be most interested in is very old chess books and manuscripts in public museums and collections and libraries, rather than private ones. In this connection, the Lewis Chessmen exhibit at the British Museum is worth a visit (number 61 in the History of the World in 100 objects).

http://www.britishmuseum.org/explore/hi ... ssmen.aspx

What is there to see at the FIDE Office? Again, I'd be interested in old photographs and books and manuscripts and monuments, but less interested in other stuff. Though writing about this has reminded me of the time I was looking for a book in the basement stacks of St John's College Library (Cambridge) and found that one of the fellows had donated a large collection of chess books. Sadly, I never followed that up, or checked how old or rare any of them were. I'm sure there are some old collections buried in some libraries that people still haven't uncovered yet.

CK >What is there to see at the FIDE Office?<
I don't think there is anything much. What they have is in files in the basement.
Is anybody able to follow up this St John's College collection?
Stewart Reuben

Christopher Kreuzer wrote:In this connection, the Lewis Chessmen exhibit at the British Museum is worth a visit (number 61 in the History of the World in 100 objects).

I was there today.

Regarding chess books, the Bodleian stacks here in Oxford (or actually Cheshire) seem to have quite a few. Really old stuff would be in the Special Collections, but just browsing the stack database online turns up some really nice finds - e.g. "The Hastings chess tournament, 1895, the authorised account of the games, with annotations and biographical sketches of the chess masters. Ed. by H.F. Cheshire." published 1896 and "The book of the Hastings International Masters' Chess Tournament, 1922 : containing all the games played with annotations by the winner, A. Alekhine, and an account of the tournament by Sir G. A. Thomas / edited by W.H. Watts" published 1924, so both presumably originals. The online database is not the easiest to browse, as sorting is unavailable for results sets larger than 500, so simply looking for chess isn't enough. I shall have to request a few of these from the stacks sometime.

Stewart Reuben wrote:CK >What is there to see at the FIDE Office?<
I don't think there is anything much. What they have is in files in the basement.
Is anybody able to follow up this St John's College collection?

It might not be anything much more than a chess player's personal collection that ended up in the library. I went looking online, not expecting to find much, but it seems things have moved on now we are in the second decade of the 21st century, and you can search the catalogues online without needing to be there physically or to login or anything like that.

http://www.joh.cam.ac.uk/library/

500 years old next year, I see!

I did two searches, one using the library website search box:

http://www.googlesyndicatedsearch.com/u ... hess&sa=GO

That got eight results.

Then I followed the links to the catalogue and found this:

http://www.grantavista.org.uk/newt/

You can search *all* the college and university libraries there. When I limited the search to St John's College Library, I got 77 hits. For the university-wide collection (for comparison) I got 2089 hits. This was with all text keywords searched. Limiting it to the title reduces the noise somewhat, but risks missing some good hits.

Here is a taste of some of the results from the 8-hit library search (OK, it's all of them, not just a taste):

http://www.joh.cam.ac.uk/library/specia ... leeffects/

"Personal effects of Sir Fred Hoyle (1915-2001), astronomer"
"Wooden chessboard. c. early 1920s."
"Wooden set of chess pieces. c. 1930s."
"Silver chess trophy in shape of pawn engraved 'B.C.C.A. F. Hoyle 1933.' "
"Silver chess trophy in shape of queen engraved 'B.C.C.A. F. Hoyle 1932.' "
"Great Game Machine (computer chess). With master chess openings and endgame cassettes, and operation manuals."

I presume that last item isn't from the 1930s! It would be interesting to know what date it is from though. The BCCA trophies sound interesting (British Correspondence Chess Association, I presume). I do hope the wooden chess set and pieced haven't rotted away! And I never knew that Fred Hoyle played chess.

http://www.joh.cam.ac.uk/library/specia ... /polymath/

"Hoyle was a man of many interests and many talents. He was a keen chess player, and took an interest in the workings of early chess-playing computers."

Nice picture of him there at a chess board.

From other links there is similar stuff about Hoyle (they seem to have done a big exhibition on him at some point): "Behind the public and academic persona, the collection also shows the private man, with material reflecting his great love of climbing and chess" and "Hoyle was a keen mountain climber, an avid player of chess...".

And box 18 of the Hoyle collection has a collection of "Chess Moves". I'm hoping this is something more exciting than the BCF newsletter, but it could well be that as Hoyle only died in 2001. Probably something else, though.

http://www.joh.cam.ac.uk/library/specia ... ts/medals/

"Foster, Alfred William (b. 1876) Silver medal by Munsey, Cambridge, 5cm. Obv. Arms of Cambridge University. Leg. UNIVERSITAS CANTABRIGIENSIS. Rev. Laurel wreath enclosing chess board and pieces and shields bearing arms of Oxford and Cambridge Universities. Edge. S. JOHN'S COLL. 1898. Awarded to A.W. Foster (BA 1898) for playing in the Varsity chess match, 25 March 1898. Given by A.J.O. Wilcockson, 1995 (correspondence with medal)."

Pity there is no picture! I don't think Varsity Match players get medals nowadays, but I could be wrong.

http://www.joh.cam.ac.uk/library/specia ... n/D_23.htm

The uninspiring title "98" leads to this: "Vellum, 12.75 x 8.875, double columns of 43 lines. 15th cent., written by an Italian scribe or imitator of Italian hand. Binding, stamped leather over boards, first cover surrounded with chess-board pattern, in centre of second cover panel with motto En dieu mafye1."

I wouldn't like to say how old that is or isn't, and how much or little it is to do with chess, but it sounds old!

The last link was to a list of St John's College sports teams captains from 2008, so I won't bother with that!

Turning to the Newton catalogue I linked above (http://www.grantavista.org.uk/newt/), I quickly browsed through the links (because the collection I remember seeing wasn't the Hoyle one) to see if I could find what I remembered seeing years ago, and found the following that might be of interest (I can't seem to link to them, though I am sure it is possible):

"The chess congress of 1862 : a collection of the games played and a selection of the problems sent in for competition / edited by J.Lowenthal. to which is prefixed an account of the proceedings and a memoir of the British Chess Association / by G.W.Medley."

"Encyclopédie des échecs : ou Résumé comparatif en tableaux synoptiques des meilleurs ouvrages écrits sur ce jeu par les auteurs français et étrangers, tant anciens que modernes, mis a l'usage de toutes les nations par le langage universel des chiffres / Par A. Alexandre." (Alexandre, Aaron, ca. 1766-1850)

That one is marked "Gift of Richard Pendlebury [...] 1847-1902, Former owner."

"The famous game of chesse-play : being a princely exercise; wherein the learner may profite more by reading of this small booke, then by playing of a thousand mates : now augmented of many materiall things formerly wanting, and beautified with a three-folde methode, viz. of the chesse men, of the chesse-play, of the chesse lawes / by Io. Barbier. P." (Arthur Saul, 1618)

This is insanely old. From the 17th century! "Dee, Francis, d. 1638, Former owner." There is this note: "The folded leaf has title: A briefe of the lavves of chesse-play." (lavves = laws).

Here is a famous one, a 19th century translation of Greco: "Le jeu des eschets / traduit de l'italien de Gioachino Greco, Calabrois."

Here is an 18th century one: "Osservazioni teorico-pratiche sopra il giuoco degli scacchi : ossia Il giuoco degli scacchi esposto nel suo miglior lume / da Giambatista Lolli, Modonese ..."

Dunno who Giovanni Battista Lolli is, but it's not difficult to find out:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giambattista_Lolli

As I say, I don't know how rare any of that stuff is, or what condition it is in (it might never have been sorted properly other than a brief cataloging when various people over the centuries donated stuff to the library), but if any of it sounds worth following up, I'd be happy to help with that.