The first books about individual openings

[Paul McKeown]

One of the first that I recall was the seminal "The Kings Gambit" allegedly by Vladimir Zak and Victor Korchoi published by BT Batsford Ltd.

Not sure if VK knew that he was an author of this work but then again it is very common for big names to allegedly author chess books.

That is not true. If you read his autobiography you will read how he actually played a tournament game on the White side of the KG, because he felt he had the moral obligation, whilst writing a book on the opening, to actually play the opening.

[Jon Mahony]

I keep checking on Ebay for that - as a King’s gambit player I’m told Zak Korchoi’s book that is still relevant - sadly I think it goes for about 50 quid and I’m not that curious to see it

I had this in algebraic too but I'm afraid my copy is not for sale either ... because i sold it... for a pound.

Having read your estimate of current value I'm off to stab myself in the eye with a fork.


J

PS:

Cheers guys, some kind person has given me an Ebook verson of it now so I'm sorted And yeah it is in algebraic which is a bonus.

lol and yes you slipped up there Jonathan, theres someone trying to flog it for £78.95 on Amazon at the moment! (though a couple of copys are going for just over a 10er, but I've never seen the price that low before)

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/offer-listin ... ition=used

[Matt Mackenzie]

One of the first that I recall was the seminal "The Kings Gambit" allegedly by Vladimir Zak and Victor Korchoi published by BT Batsford Ltd.

Not sure if VK knew that he was an author of this work but then again it is very common for big names to allegedly author chess books.

That is not true. If you read his autobiography you will read how he actually played a tournament game on the White side of the KG, because he felt he had the moral obligation, whilst writing a book on the opening, to actually play the opening.

Indeed. And Korchnoi only ever even played 1e4 in about 1% of his White games (the silly man) never mind the KG

[Jon Mahony]

One of the first that I recall was the seminal "The Kings Gambit" allegedly by Vladimir Zak and Victor Korchoi published by BT Batsford Ltd.

Not sure if VK knew that he was an author of this work but then again it is very common for big names to allegedly author chess books.

That is not true. If you read his autobiography you will read how he actually played a tournament game on the White side of the KG, because he felt he had the moral obligation, whilst writing a book on the opening, to actually play the opening.

Indeed. And Korchnoi only ever even played 1e4 in about 1% of his White games (the silly man) never mind the KG

Anyone have the moves to that game / know who his opponent was? I’d be quite interested to see that - he doesn’t have any KG’s on Chessgames.com from the right period (in fact only 3 from the white side, 1 been a simul) but they do seem to be missing quite a few games from their database.

[Matt Mackenzie]

Korchnoi - Malich, Amsterdam 1972 is your friend

[Jon D'Souza-Eva]

http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1076739

[JustinHorton]

Burkhard? Who knew?

[Jon Mahony]

http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1076739

Ah that one, I did look at it, but for some reason I thought it was from years before. Cheers

[Tim Harding]

It was originally asked:
When did the first books about individual openings, as opposed to general openings guides like MCO, actually start being published? I'm interested in finding out what was the first one:

(a) published in the UK
(b) published in English, if not the same as (a)
(c) published anywhere in any language.

Hi, this is my first post on this forum. I have noticed how rapidly threads seem to go off-topic and down minor byways, losing track of the original question, which is often not so hard to answer.

In this case, consulting the Douglas Betts "Chess Bibliography 1850-1968" might have helped, specific openings being dealt with in sections 15-17 (pages 218-225).
The problem in trying to answer the main question is not finding the infornation, but agreeing on whether a 23-page or similar-length pamphlet (e.g. Samuel Lipschuetz on the Rice Gambit, 1898) counts as a book.
The 1888 "Pierce Gambit, chess papers and problems" arguably does not as the openings theory section, though substantial, is only a third of the book.
Barden's 1963 book on the Lopez is certainly one of the earliest full-length works devoted to one opening in English but clearly there were pre-WW2 examples.
Betts would seem to indicate that, as somebody mentioned here, Du Mont's 1919 work on the Centre Counter might qualify for a) and b) by virtue of being reasonably long (75 pages) and all about one opening. Undortunately I have not seen it.

As for c), I would be interested to know if anyone can find an earlier example than "Die Wiener Partie" by Curt von Bardeleben, in German, written in 1892 and published 1893 in Leipzig (80 pages).

[Michael Jones]

One of the first that I recall was the seminal "The Kings Gambit" allegedly by Vladimir Zak and Victor Korchoi published by BT Batsford Ltd.

Not sure if VK knew that he was an author of this work but then again it is very common for big names to allegedly author chess books.

That is not true. If you read his autobiography you will read how he actually played a tournament game on the White side of the KG, because he felt he had the moral obligation, whilst writing a book on the opening, to actually play the opening.

Indeed. And Korchnoi only ever even played 1e4 in about 1% of his White games (the silly man) never mind the KG

Interesting - I played him in one of the London simuls last year and there he was playing 1. d4 and 1. e4 on alternate boards. In case anyone was wondering, I was one of the d4s and I lost.

[Simon Spivack]

In general I would have thought the earliest monographs would have been in German. "Son of Sorrow" (1825) by Aaron Reigenbaum is apparently (I've never seen it myself) not a monograph but is an analysis of a number of counterattacking lines from Black's point of view (including, of course, the Ben-Oni).

Dave, long time no see.

"Son of Sorrow" is an allusion to this passage from the Old Testament:

And they journeyed from Bethel; and there was but a little way to come to Ephrath: and Rachel travailed, and she had hard labour. And it came to pass, when she was in hard labour, that the midwife said unto her, Fear not; thou shalt have this son also. And it came to pass, as her soul was in departing, (for she died) that she called his name Benoni: but his father called him Benjamin. And Rachel died, and was buried in the way to Ephrath, which is Bethlehem.

I have always understood that the Benoni chess opening was named after the town of that name in South Africa. Does anyone have any sources for the etymology of this word pertaining to chess?

[John Moore]

I recently stumbled across a reference to "Analysis of the Muzio Gambit" by Ghulam Kassim and James Cochrane published in India in 1829. Haven't seen that on EBay recently! Having looked further, I see this is described in Hooper and Whyld's Oxford Companion to Chess as the first individual opening monograph.

[Tim Harding]

JOHN MOORE wrote:
'I recently stumbled across a reference to "Analysis of the Muzio Gambit" by Ghulam Kassim and James Cochrane published in India in 1829. Haven't seen that on EBay recently! Having looked further, I see this is described in Hooper and Whyld's Oxford Companion to Chess as the first individual opening monograph.

**

IMHO, the Ghulam Kassim booklet (having seen two copies of it) cannot really be classed as an opening monograph although it does contain analysis of some lines in the King's Gambit. The second part is a report on the Madras-Hyderabad correspondence match in which the gambit was not played.

I agree you are unlikely to see any copies advertised on Ebay. (If you do, suspect theft.)

Already in 1846 Staunton replied to an enquiry:
‘A copy of Ghulam Kassim’s work on chess is rare now. We doubt your obtaining one in England.’ (I.L.N., ix, 4 July 1846, p. 3,)

[John Moore]

Hi Tim

Many thanks for this - I had always assumed the whole book was on the Muzio. I wonder what the value of this book would be if it came on the market today. I have never seen one in 40 years of collecting - you have been lucky enough to see 2 copies.

[Tim Harding]

Finding rare chess books is not really luck. It is a question of searching the catalogues of libraries that might have it.
The British Library, as I recall, has a copy on large uncut sheets.
This is the only copy to be found bys earchung the COPAC union catalogue.

The Koninklijke Bibliotheek (The Hague) has a copy which I may have looked at but I don't recall.
The John G White collection in Cleveland, Ohio, of course has it.

There is also a copy in Dublin. The book is about 63 pages of text.

So there are four public places at least where it can be seen.
There are other copies in the USA also and some with private collectors.

It is not in Google Books, yet at least, but Harvard has a copy and they seem to be working through the Howland Collection so it might become available later this year.