Chess Historians

by Bill Wall

Here, in my opinion, are some of the better known chess

historians or those who have written on chess history.

Manuel Aaron (1935- ) is the first Indian chess master in

the second half of the 20th century. Aaron and noted
chess historian Vijay D. Pandit have written a
comprehensive book on the history of Indian chess
starting from 570 CE to the year 2010. The 600-page
book, published in 2014, is titled "Indian Chess History:
570 AD — 2010 AD."

Yuri Averbakh (1922- ) is the oldest living grandmaster. Bill Wall

In 2008, he lectured about the history of chess at the
famed Marshall Chess Club. In 2012, he published, "A
History of Chess: From Chaturanga to the Present Day."
In his later years, he has been focused on the history of
chess and other board games. (source:
http://www.chessintranslation.com/2012/02/averbakh- In chess one
history-is-written-by-the-victors/) cannot control
everything.
Peter Banaschak is a German chess historian and student Sometimes a game
of East Asian sciences. He has written on the history of takes an
chess and oriental chess, such as Xiangqi, Changgi, and unexpected turn, in
Shogi. His doctoral thesis was on the history of chess in which beauty
East Asia. Dr. Jose Brunet y Bellet (1818-1905) was a begins to emerge.
writer and chess historian. In 1890, he wrote, "El —Kramnik
Ajedrez: Investigaciones Sobre Su Origen."

Henry Edward Bird (1830-1908) was a civil servant

(railway accountant) and a strong English chess player.
In 1893, he published, "Chess History and
Reminiscences."

Nathaniel Bland (1803-1865) was an English Orientalist

and chess historian. In 1850, he wrote "Persian Chess."
It was an account of the origin of the game, starting in
Persia on a large 10 x 10 board.

Dr. Andreas Bock-Raming is a professor at Gutenberg

Univerisyt in Mainz. He teach modern Hindi and has
had an interest in the history of chess. He has written on
Old Indian chess figures. In 1996, he made a translation
and interpretation of the description of chess in the
Manasollasa, the Sanskrit compendium of kingship. His
analysis was published in the Indo-Iranian Journal 39,
pages 1-40, 1996. In 1999, he wrote an article called
"The Gaming Board in Indian Chess and Related Board
Games," published in Board Games Studies, #2.

Dale A. Brandreth was a book dealer specializing in old

chess books and chess items. He owned at least 20,000
individual items on chess, including books, magazines,
photographs, letters, drawing, paintings, chess medals,
chess stamps, etc.

Neil Brennen is a historian for the Pennsylvania State

Chess Federation. He is co-editor, with Olimpiu Urcan,
of "Adolf Albin in America."

Dr. Ricardo Calvo (1943-2002) was a medical doctor,

Spanish International Master and a multilingual chess
historian. As a chess historian, he set out to prove that
Spain was the incubator of the major changes that
occurred in chess in the late 15th century. He wrote an
essay on the origins of chess and an article on the oldest
chess pieces in Europe. In 1987, he was censured by a
vote of 72-1 by FIDE for election fraud and racial slurs.
In May 1998, he wrote, "Valencia, Spain: The Cradle of
European Chess," which was presented at the Chess
Collectors International in Vienna, Austria. In 1999, he
wrote, "El Poema scachs d'amor." It was an analysis of
the first preserved text about modern chess from the
15th century.

Adolivio Capece (1947-) is an Italian chess player and

chess historian. In 2001, he wrote, "Chess in History
and Art." In 2003, he wrote, "History of Chess."

Jean-Louis Cazaux (1960-) is an author of books on

board games, specializing in the history of strategy
games, including the various chess games of the world.
In 2000, he wrote "L'Univers des echecs" (The World of
Chess), which focused on the origin and history of
chess. In 2009, he wrote, "Short History of Chess." He
has written articles on chess and chaturanga and chess
games in the Middle Ages. He maintains a chess history
web site at history.chess.free. fr.(source:
https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=fr&u=h
ttp://history.chess.free.fr/&prev=search)

Sean Coffey is an Irish chess historian. He writes on

Irish chess history and records at IRLchess.

David Cohen (1951- ) is a Canadian chess historian. He

has written biographies of Canadian players, founded
the Canadian Chess Hall of Fame, and has written a
history of Canadian chess.

Sarah Beth Cohen, also known as batgirl, writes

historical chess articles. She has been writing chess
articles for chess.com since January 2007. She has
written extensively on Paul Morphy and women in
chess. She has written hundreds of historical chess
articles. Her blog focuses on modern chess history
containing a lot of original research.

Captain Hiram Cox (1760-1799) was a British diplomat

and a member of the Asiatic Society. He came up with
the theory that the origin of chess was a four-player
game that originated in India in approximately 3000
BCE. This theory has since been debunked. The theory
arose from an article by Cox published posthumously in
Asiatic Researches, Volume 7, Calcutta, 1801, pp. 486-
511. The article, "On the Burmha (Burma) Game of
Chess Compared to the Indian, Chinese, & Persian
Games of the same Denomination" proposed that the
four handed version of the game played with dice was
the earliest form of chess. Cox obtained his knowledge
of Burmese chess during his residence at the court of
Amarapura.

Jon Crumiller is a chess collector and chess historian.

He maintains an online antique chess collection at
www.crumiller.com. His collection has been displayed
several times at the World Chess Hall of Fame. He has
collected over 600 ornamental and playing sets.
Henry Alexander Davidson (1905-1973) was an
American physician who wrote "A Short History of
Chess," published in 1949. His history of chess articles
also appeared in Chess Review magazine.

Arnold Sheldon Denker (1914-2005) was a

grandmaster, author, chronicler of chess, and was given
the title of "Dean of American Chess." He wrote on the
history of American chess and his experiences in his
book, "The Bobby Fischer I Knew and Other Stories,"
published in 1995.

Nathan Divinsky (1925-2012) was a chess master and

chess writer. In 1990, he wrote "The Batsford Chess
Encyclopedia."

John Donaldson (1958- ) is an International Master and

chess author of over 30 books. His chess books are
mostly biographies of historical chess figures. His
subjects have included Bobby Fischer, Frank Anderson,
Elmars Zemgalis, Olaf Ulvestad, and Akiba Rubinstein.
He has also provided many historical chess items to the
World Chess Hall of Fame.

Richard G. Eales, a chess master from Engand wrote,

"Chess: The History of the Game," in 1984. He
concentrated on what could be identified through
archaeological and written evidence. Eales wrote that
chess originated as a game of military symbolism and
that the original form of chess was not played with dice.

Juan Escourido was a PhD candidate in Hispanic

Studies at the University of Pennsylvania and studied
the medieval textual instrumentalizations of chess. In
2009, he wrote, "Politica y Erotica del Ajedrez en el
Bajo Medioevo Europeo (The Politics and Erotics of
Chess in the Early European Middle Ages).

Gianfelice Ferlito (1933- ) is a member of the Chess

Collectors International and has become an expert in
chess history. He has done research on old Islamic
chessmen and has written articles on it.

Vlastimil Fiala of the Czech Republic is a dedicated and

passionate chess historian. He is the chief editor of the
Quarterly for Chess History, published by Moravian
Chess. In 2004, he wrote, "The Chess Biography of
Marcel Duchamp."

Willard Fiske (1831-1904) was an American librarian,

scholar, and chess historian. He helped organize the first
American Chess Congress in 1857. In 1905, he wrote
the scholarly volume, "Chess in Iceland and in Icelandic
Literature." In 1912, his "Chess Tales & Chess
Miscellanies," was published posthumously.

Duncan Forbes (1798-1868) was a Scottish linguist,

professor of oriental languages, and chess historian. In
1860, he wrote "A History of Chess." He confirmed that
chess originated from India.

Richard Forster is a Swiss International Master and

chess historian. In 2004, he wrote, "Amos Burn " A
Chess Biography." In 2011, he wrote, "The Zurich
Chess Club, 1809-2009."

Jeremy Gaige (1927-2011) was mostly an American

chess archivist. He compiled four volumes of chess
tournament crosstables and published basic biographical
data on chess players. In 1987, he wrote "Chess
Personalia A Biobibliography." It contained about
14,000 names of chess players with dates and places of
birth and death.

Jose Antonio Garzon Roger (1963- ) is a journalist,

author and researcher in the field of Spanish chess
history. In 2005, he wrote a history book, "The Return
of Francesch Vicent," about the new modern chess in
Valencia and the new powerful queen piece. He wrote
about the lost chess book of Vicent, which was printed
in Valencia in 1495.

Jerzy Gizycki (1918-1998) was a Polish chess historian.

In 1960, he wrote "Z szachami przez wieki I kraje"
(History of Chess), published in Warsaw.

Harry Golombek (1911-1995) was a British chess

International master and honorary grandmaster, chess
author, three times British Chess Champion, and
wartime codebreaker. In 1976, he wrote "A History of
Chess." In 1977, he wrote "Golembek's Encyclopedia of
Chess."

Henry J. Greenberg is a chess historian. In 1989, he

wrote A History of the Origins of Chess. In 2015, he
published, The Anti-War Wargame: A Comprehensive
Analysis of the Origins of the Game of Chess.

Dr. Ann C. Gunter is an art historian. In 1991, she

reported about one of the surviving texts in Middle
Persian, "Wizarishn I catrang ud nihishn I new-atashir"
(The Explanation of Chess and Invention of
Backgammon). In 1991, she wrote an article called, "Art
from Wisodn: the Invention of Chess and
Backgammon," published in Asian Art.

Dr. Tim Harding (1948- ) is an Irish Senior International

Master of Correspondence chess and author with
particular expertise in correspondence chess and its
history. His 2009 PhD thesis was on the history of
correspondence chess in Britain and Ireland from 1824
to 1914. In 2012, he wrote "Eminent Victorian Chess
Players: Ten Biographies." In 2015, he wrote "Joseph
Henry Blackburne: A Chess Biography."

William Hartston (1947- ) is an English International

Master and chess author. He has won the British
Championship twice. In 1985, he wrote "The Kings of
Chess: A history of chess traced through the lives of its
greatest players."

Dr. Eliot Hearst is a professor of psychology and a U.S.

Life Senior Master. In 2009, he was the co-author with
John Knott of "Blindfold Chess: History, Psychology,
Techniques, Champions, World Records, and Important
Games."

Hermann Helms (1870-1963) was an American chess

writer and promoter. He won the New York State Chess
Championship twice. He was a chess reporter for The
New York Times for over 50 years. He published and
edited the American Chess Bulletin from 1904 to 1963.
He wrote chess columns for the Brooklyn Daily Eagle
from 1893 to 1955. He was one of the greatest
journalists in the history of American chess.

John Samuel Hilbert is an American chess historian who

has written over a dozen chess books on the history of
chess and some of the lesser-known historical chess
players. In 2002, he wrote "Essays in American Chess
History." In 2012, he wrote "Writings in Chess
History."

Peter Holmgren is a Swedish chess historian. He is the

author of Stockholms Schackforbund 1911-2011.

H.F.W. Holt was a historian on Chinese chess. He wrote

an article on the Chinese game of chess which appeared
in the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great
Britain and Ireland, volume 18, 1885, pp. 352-365.

David Vincent Hooper (1915-1998) was a British chess

player and writer. He was an expert on chess history of
the 19th century. In 1984, Hooper and Kenneth Whyld
wrote "The Oxford Companion to Chess." A second
edition came out in 1996.

Israel Albert Horowitz (1907-1973) was an American

International Master and chess writer. In 1973, he wrote,
"The World Chess Championship; a History."

Leo Hovestadt (1953- ) is a chess historian from the

Netherlands who writes chess articles on various
historical aspects at Carolus Chess.

Dr. Michael Hudson is a chess historian. His

dissertation at the University of California, Santa Cruz,
was "Storming Fortresses: A Political History of Chess
in the Soviet Union, 1917-1948."

Gerhard Hund (1932- ) is a German computer scientist

and chess historian. In 1996, he launched
www.teleschache.de and Germanbase.

Thomas Hyde (1636-1703) was an English orientalist,

librarian, and chess historian. In 1694, he wrote De
Ludis Orientalibus (the Book of Oriental Games), which
included chess and its origins.

Initiativ Gruppe Koenigstein (IGK) is a group of chess

historians and chess afficianados founded in Germany in
1998.

William Jones (1746-1794) was an Anglo-Welsh

philogist, scholar of ancient India, and chess historian.
He wrote on the Indian game of chess.

Gerhard Josten (1938- ) is a German chess historian. In

2001, he wrote, "Chess — A Living Fossil." In 2014, he
wrote, "On the Silk Road to the source of chess."

Jan Kalendovsky (1947- ) is a chess author and chess

historian. In 1989, he wrote, "Richard Reti, Sachovy
Myslitel" (Richard Reti, Chess Thinker). In the 1990s,
he wrote several volumes on the complete chess games
of Alexander Alekhine. He wrote articles on the history
of chess in Czech countries.

Garry Kasparov (1963- ), former world chess champion,

has written dozens of chess books. His "My Great
Predecessors" series is essentially the history of all
world chess champions.

Dr. Victor Keats is a chess historian and has lectured at

the British Museum. He has lectured on chess history at
Chess Collectors International (CCI) conference in
Munich and New York. In 1994, he wrote, "Chess,
Jews, and History." In 1995, he wrote, "Chess Its
Origin."

Raymond Keene (1948) is an English Grandmaster,

journalist and author. He has written over 100 books on
chess. In 1990, he wrote, "Chess: An Illustrated
History."

Taylor Kingston is an American National Master (NM),

a USCF Postal Master, and chess historian. He
frequently wrote on chess history at Chess Cafe.

George Koltanowski (1903-2000) was an International

Master and honorary Grandmaster. He was a chess
promoter and writer and chess historian. During his
lifetime, he was given the title of "Dean of American
Chess." He wrote chess history articles for many
California chess magazines. He wrote more than 19,000
chess columns for The San Francisco Chronicle over a
period of 52 years.

Tim Krabbe (1943- ) is a Dutch journalist and chess

historian who has, for years, been collecting far-fetched
facts from the history of chess. His Tim Krabbe's Chess
Curiosities web site contains chess history and chess
records. In 1985, he published Chess Curiosities.

Baron Tassilo von Heydebrand und (von) der Lasa

(1818-1899) was a German chess master, diplomat,
author, and chess historian. He wrote on the history of
the game. In 1837, he was one of the seven co-founders
of the Berlin Chess School (the Berlin Pleiades), which
was the first "research group" in the history of chess. He
promoted the first German chess magazine,
Schachzeitung (later Deutsche Schachzeitung). In 1897,
he wrote Zur Geschichte und Literatur des Schachspiels,
Forschungen (Researches in the History and Literature
of Chess).

Kerry Lawless is a national master and chess historian,

mostly of California Chess History. He runs the
www.chessdryad.com website, the definitive history of
California chess. He is Director of the Berkeley Chess
Club.

Mario Leoncini (1956- ) is an Italian national master,

writer, and chess historian. He has written articles and
books on Italian chess history.

Dennis Leventhal is a chess historian and active in

Asian studies. In 1978, he wrote, "The Chess in China."

Jean-Marie Lhote (1926- ) is a French engineer and

chess historian. In 1966, he wrote "Historie des jeux de
societe" (History of Board Games). In 2002, he wrote an
article called "Board Game Studies" which was
published in the International Journal for the Study of
Board Games.

David H. Li (1928- ) is a Chinese chess historian. In

1996, he wrote "First Syllabus on Xiangqi, Chinese
Chess." In 1998, he wrote "The Genealogy of Chess."
He concludes that an early version of chess called
xiangqi was invented in China in 203 BC.

Dr. Antonius van der Linde (1833-1897) was a Dutch

historian and chess historian. He is considered the first
well-known chess historian. In 1874, he wrote
"Geschichte und Litteratur Des Schachspiels" (History
and Literature of Chess).

Isaak M. Linder (1920-2015) was a renowned Russian

chess historian and author. In 1992, he wrote "Chess in
Old Russia." In 2001, he co-wrote with his son a 972-
page book called, "Kings of the Chess World." Linder
wrote over 400 publications on native and foreign chess
culture.

Dr. Arthur Anthony Macdonell (1854-1930) was a

noted Sanskrit scholar and chess historian. He published
a scholarly monograph, "The Origin and Early History
of Chess," which appeared in the Journal of the Royal
Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland, January
1898, p. 117.

Sir Frederic Madden (1801-1873) was an English

palaeographer and chess historian. He conjectured that
chess was introduced in Europe from Constantinople,
spreading to Denmark. The Danes then introduced chess
to England. In 1832, Madden wrote, "Historical
Remarks on the Introduction of the Game of Chess into
Europe."

Robert John McCrary is a chess historian. In 1982, he

wrote The Birth of the Chess Tournament. In 1998, he
wrote The Hall-of-Fame History of US Chess.

Alan McGowan is a Scottish chess historian. He has

written several historical articles on chess at Chess
Scotland.
Egbert Meissenburg (1937- ) is a renowned chess
historian and bibliographer. In 1967, he wrote an article
called "Die deutschen Schachzeitschriften von 1945 bis
1965," published in Deutsch Schachblatter.

Roberto Messa (1957- ) is an Italian International

Master and chess historian. He maintains a website with
historical chess articles and chess pictures at
http://www.soloscacchi.net/.

Russell (Rusty) Miller is a chess historian of

Northwestern chess. He has written extensively on the
history of chess in the Washington State area.

Dr. Peter J. Mont wrote The Classical Era of Modern

Chess, published by McFarland in 2014. He has a
doctorate in history from Leiden University.

Dr. Edwin (Ned) S. Munger (1922-2010) was a

geography professor at Caltech and a chess historian. He
was an expert on the history of ancient chess sets. He
had written several volumes of books called Cultures,
Chess & Art. He owned over 350 chess sets and boards
from all over the world.

H. J. R. Murray (1868-1955) was an English

educationist and prominent chess historian. He was the
first to publish the theory that chess originated in India.
In 1913 he published his most significant work, A
History of Chess. In 1917, he wrote A Short History of
Chess, which wasn't published until 1963.

Sonja Musser Golladay wrote a dissertation on Alfonso

X's "Libro de los juegos" (Book of Games), which
included a history of chess.

P. V. N. Namboodiripad (1937- ) is an Indian chess

historian. In 2015 he wrote Chessinoru Padapusthakam,
a comprehensive book explaining chess theory and
history in Malayalam.

Dr. Joseph Needham (1900-1995) was a recognized

authority on ancient Chinese civilizations and had
written several articles on the history of chess. He
postulated that chess originated in China. In 1962, he
wrote Thoughts on the Origin of Chess.

Dr. Meindert Niemeijer (1902-1987) was a Dutch

lawyer, International Master, and chess historian. His
chess library formed the basis of one of the largest
collections of chess books in the world.

Daniel E. O'Sullivan is a chess historian who wrote

Chess in the Middle Ages and Early Modern Age in
1912.

Armin von Oefele (1879-1925) was a chess historian

who wrote Das Schachspiel der Bataker in 1904. He
gave a full account of the history of Malay chess.

John Pagnotti is a teacher and chess historian. Along

with William Russell, he wrote "Exploring Medieval
European Society with Chess: An Engaging Activity for
the World History Classroom," which appeared in The
History Teacher, Vol 46, Nov 2012.

Antonio Panaino (1961- ) is a Full Professor if Iranian

Studies at the University of Bologna. He has written on
the history of Sasanian and Persian chess.

Vijay D. Pandit is a chess historian and the author of

Western Chess in British India (1825-1947), written in
2011. In 2014, he and Manuel Aaron wrote a book
called Indian Chess History.

Richard Pankurst is a chess historian who has written on

this history of chess in Africa. In 1971, he wrote
"History and Principles of Ethiopian Chess," which
appeared in the Journal of Ethiopian Studies.

Jean-Michel Pichin is a chess historian, chess journalist

(Europe Echecs), and a member of the Chess Collectors
International. In 1997, he wrote Roi des jeux, jeu des
rois Les echecs.

Dr. Avital Pilpel is a philosophy professor and an Israeli

chess historian. He has written extensively on Jewish
chess history.
Jacques Pope is a chess historian who maintains the
chess archaeology site at www.chessarch.com. In 1996,
he wrote Harry Nelson Pillsbury: American Chess
Champion.

Bill Price is a chess historian who wrote The History of

Chess in Fifty Moves in 2015.

Peter Ravilious (1939-2016) was a British chess

historian. His book on the 19th century child prodigy
Lilian Baird also included a history of chess problems.
From 2003 to 2009 he wrote the "Quotes and Queries"
column for the British Chess Magazine.

Hans Ree (1944- ) is a Dutch Grandmaster, chess

columnist, chess writer, and chess historian. He has
written extensively on the history of chess. In 1999, he
wrote The Human Comedy of Chess: A Grandmaster"s
Chronicles.

Hanon Russell is a lawyer, chess collector, chess

historian, and chess expert. He has been publishing
chess books for over 30 years. He is the former owner of
ChessCafe that included many historical chess articles.

William B. Russell III is a teacher and chess historian.

Along with John Pagnotti, he wrote "Exploring
Medieval European Society with Chess: An Engaging
Activity for the World History Classroom," which
appeared in The History Teacher, Vol 46, Nov 2012.

Allesandro Sanvito (1938- ) of Milan is a chess

historian. He has written 18 chess books and over 200
chess articles on the history of chess.

M. E. V. Savenkof was a chess historian that

concentrated on Siberian and Russian chess. In 1904, he
published an article called "On the Question as to the
Evolution of Chess." (source: British Chess Magazine,
Vol 27, 1907, pp. 1-5)

Dany Senechaud is a French chess historian. In 1997, he

wrote, Emil Joseph Diemer: missionnaire des echecs
acrobatiques. In the past, he has written essays on the
culture and curiosities of chess.

Dr. Daaim Shabazz (1962- ) is a chess enthusiast,

journalist, and historian. He is the editor and founder of
The Chess Drum, an all-purpose chess site that
specializes in Black chess players, or those of African
ancestry. He has written on the history of chess in
Africa.

Miguel Angel Sanchez is a chess journalist and historian

from Cuba, now living in the United States. In 1978 he
published Capablanca: A Chess Biography. It was
updated and reprinted in 2015.

David Shenk is an author, lecturer, and historian. In

2006, he wrote The Immortal Game: A History of
Chess, about the history of chess.

Walter Shipman (1929-2017) was a lawyer, an

International Master (1982), and chess historian. He
maintained the history of the Manhattan Chess Club
back to 1883.

Richard Shorman is a chess coach, writer, photographer,

and chess historian of Northern California.

Andrew Soltis (1947- ) is an American Grandmaster,

author, columnist, and chess historian. He has written
dozens of chess books, many dealing with the history of
chess. In 1999, he wrote Soviet Chess 1917-1991. In
2011, he wrote The United States Chess Championship,
1845-2011. He has authored several chess biographies
of chess grandmasters.

Dr. Jeremy P. Spinrad is a Professor of Computer

Science and a chess historian. He has collected all the
important chess results from 1836 to 1863. He has
written several articles on the history of chess.

Dr. Fritz Strohmeyer (1869-1957) was a chess historian

that specialized chess found in mediaeval French
literature. In 1895, he wrote an essay called "Chess in
Old French."
Dr. Renate Syed is a chess historian. In 2008, she wrote
"War, Peace and Chess." In 2001, she wrote "Kanauj,
die Maukharis und das Caturanga: der Ursprung des
Schachspiels und sein Weg von Indien nach Persian,"
(Kamauj, the Maukharis and the Caturanga: the origin
of chess and its spread from India to Persia).

Dominique Thimognier (1960- ) is a French chess

historian. He maintains a French web site and the
history of French chess at Heritage des Echecs
Francais.

Anders Thulin is a chess historian and has collected old

chess problem books and have made them available in
electronic editions.. In 1999, he wrote, "Reference
Literature for Chess History: A Combined Bibliography
and Want List," for www.chessarch.com.

Olimpiu G. Urcan (1977- ) is a Singapore-based

journalist and an author of historical biographies of
chess players. He is the author of W.H.K. Pollock: A
Chess Biography, Adolf Albin in America, Julius Finn:
A Chess Master's Life in America, and Arthur
Kaufmann, A Chess Biography. He has contributed
many history-related articles to some of the world's top
chess magazines.

Dr. Bo Utas (1938- ) is a Swedish linguist, Iranologist,

and chess historian. In 1991, he wrote The History of
Chess in Persia.

John van Manen (1922-2000) was Australia's greatest

chess historian. In 2011, he wrote, The Chess Literature
of Australia and New Zealand.

Bill Wall (1951- ) is a chess author and amateur chess

historian who has written dozens of historical chess
articles for a variety of chess magazines and blogs. He
has written articles on computer chess history,
California chess history, history of chess sets,
correspondence chess history, history of chess stamps,
history of chess tournaments, history of chess clubs,
chronology of chess events, etc.
Mark Weeks is a chess historian who has written dozens
of historical chess articles on his blog site and elsewhere
on the Internet. He has written on the origin of chess for
his Chess for All Ages blog at www.mark-
weeks.com/aboutcom/ web site.

Dr. Govert Westerveld (1947) is a Dutch writer and

chess historian. In 2015, he wrote. The Birth of a new
Bishop in Chess. In 2016, he wrote Following the
Footsteps of Spanish Chess Master Lucena in Italy. He
has written a series of books on the Spanish Origin of
checkers and chess. He has written over 80 books on the
history of chess, checkers, and games.

John Griswold White (1845-1928) was a chess

connoisseur, bibliophile, and chess historian. He owned
the largest chess library in the world, now located in the
Cleveland Public Library. The John G. Collection has
35,000 volumes and subscribes to 180 chess and game
periodicals.

Jay Whitehead (1961-2011) was a former US Junior

chess champion and International Master who spent his
last few years devoted to historical research and
collecting chess games prior to 1867. He spent much of
his time researching old newspaper archives for chess
games and chess articles.

Ken Whyld (1926-2003) was a British chess author and

researcher, best known as the co-author with David
Hooper of The Oxford Companion to Chess. He made
his living in information technology while writing books
on chess and researching its history. After Whyld's
death, the Ken Whyld Association was established with
the aim of compiling a comprehensive chess
bibliography in database form and promoting chess
history. He was a chess columnist of the British Chess
Magazine for 25 years.

William Henry Wilkinson (1858-1930) was a British

Sinologist and historian of board games. In 1893, he
wrote A Manual of Chinese Chess. In 1895, he wrote
Korean Chess.
Gareth Williams is a chess historian and owner of one of
the most extensive collections of chess memorabilia in
Europe. In 1998, he wrote The Amazing Book of Chess.
In 2000, he wrote Master Pieces: The Architecture of
Chess.

Fred Wilson is a book dealer and chess historian. In

1981, he wrote A Picture History of Chess.

Edward Winter (1955- ) is a chess archivist, chess

author, and chess historian. He has been writing a
regular column on chess history called 'Chess Notes"
since 1982, now located at www.chesshistory.com.
Beginning in 1996, selected collection of Chess Notes
have been published in book form. He has written 6
chess books.

Stephen Wright is a chess master and Canadian chess

historian. He originated and maintained the British
Columbia Chess History website.

Marilyn Yalom (1932- ) is a senior scholar at Stanford

University and chess historian. In 2001, she wrote Birth
of a Chess Queen: A History.

References:

Aaron & Pandit, Indian Chess History: 570 AD — 2010

AD, 2014
Abesen, A Short History of the Game of Chess, 2014
Averbakh, A History of Chess From Chaturanga to the
Present Day, 2012
Bird, Chess Chess History and Reminiscences, 1893
Calvo, Valencia, Spain: The Cradle of European Chess,
1998
Capece, Chess in History and Art, 2001
Capece, History of Chess, 2003
Cazaux, The World of Chess, 2000
Cazaux, Short History of Chess, 2009
Davidson, A Short History of Chess, 1949
Divinsky, The Batsford Chess Encyclopedia, 1990
Eales, Chess: The History of the Game, 1985
Escourido, The Politics and Erotics of Chess in the
Early European Middle Ages, 2009
Fiala, Quarterly for Chess History, vol. 1-9, 1999-2004
Fiske, Chess in Iceland and in Icelandic Literature: With
Historical Notes, 1905
Forbes, Observations of the Origin and Progress of
Chess, 1855
Forbes, The History of Chess, 1860
Forster, The Zurich Ches Club, 1809-2009, 2011
Garzon, The Return of Francesch Vicent, 2005
Gizycki, A History of Chess, 1972
Golombek, Chess: A History, 1976
Greenberg, A History of the Origins of Chess, 1989
Grekov, History of Chess Competition, 1937
Harding, Eminent Victorian Chess Players: Ten
Biographies, 2012
Hartston. The Kings of Chess: A History of Chess, 1985
Hearst & Knott, Blindfold Chess: History, Psychology,
Techniques, Champions, World Records, 2013
Hilbert, Essays in American Chess History, 2002
Hilbert, Writings in Chess History, 2012
Hooper and Whyld, The Oxford Companion to Chess,
1984 and 1996
Horowitz, The World Chess Championship: A History,
1988
Hudson, Storming Fortresses: A Political History of
Soviet Chess, 1917-1948, 2013
Hyde, The Book of Oriental Games, 1694
Josten, Chess — A Living Fossil, 2001
Josten, On the Silk Road to the Source of Chess, 2014
Keats, Chess in Jewish History and Hebrew Literature,
1995
Keene, Chess: An Illustrated History, 1990
Lambe, The History of Chess, 1764
Und der Lasa, Researches in the History and Literature
of Chess, 1897
Leventhal, The Chess in China, 1978
Lhote, History of Board Games, 1966
Li, The Genealogy of Chess, 1998
Van der Linde, History and Literature of Chess, 1874
Linder, Chess in Old Russia, 1992
Linder & Linder, Kings of the Chess World, 2001
Macdonell, The Origin and Early History of Chess,
1898
Madden, Historical Remarks on the Introduction of the
Game of Chess, 1832
Magee, A Brief History of Chess: Chess Masters, Bio
and Trivia, 2017
McCrary, The Birth of the Chess Tournament, 1982
Meissenburg, Chess Historical Research, 1999
Monte, The Classical Era of Modern Chess, 2014
Munger, Cultures, Chess & Art
Murray, A History of Chess, 1913
Murray, A Short History of Chess, 1917 (1963)
Musser, Alfonso X's Book of Games
Needham, Thoughts on the Origin of Chess, 1962
O'Sullivan, Chess in the Middle Ages and Early Modern
Age, 2012
Pagnotti & Russell, Exploring Medieval European
Society with Chess, 2012
Pandit, Western Chess in British India (1825-1947),
2011
Pankurst, History and Principles of Ethiopian Chess,
1971
Price, The History of Chess in Fifty Moves, 2015
Pruen, An Introduction to the History and Study of
Chess, 1804
Reitstein, A History of Chess in South Africa, 2004
Savenkof, On the Question as to the Evolution of Chess,
1904
Shenk, The Immortal Game: A History of Chess, 2011
Simpson, Catalog of Books on the Origin, History and
Practice of the Game of Chess, 1863
Soltis, Soviet Chess 1917-1991, 1999
Soltis, The United States Chess Championship, 1845-
2011, 2011
Strohmeyer, Chess in Old French, 1895
Succar, The History of Chess, 2011
Suetin, Memorable Pages in the History of Chess, 1990
Syed, Caturanga: The Origin of Chess and its Spread
from India to Persia, 2001
Timoshuk, History of Chess, 1997
Tomlinson, Amusements in Chess: Sketches of the
History of the Game, 1845
Utas, The History of Chess in Persia, 1991
Van Manen, The Chess Literature of Australia and New
Zealand, 2011
Westerveld, The Birth of a New Bishop in Chess, 2015
Westerveld, Following the Footsteps of Spanish Chess
Master Lucena in Italy, 2016
Wichmann, Chess: The Story of Chesspieces from
Antiquity to Modern Times, 1964
Wilkinson, A Manual of Chinese Chess, 1893
Williams, Chess — History, Pieces, Players, 2000
Wilson, A Picture History of Chess, 1981
Yalom, Birth of the Chess Queen: A History, 2009

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