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Steinitz in London : A Chess Biography with 623 Games
Posted: Thu Oct 22, 2020 11:18 am
by John Upham
Steinitz in London : A Chess Biography with 623 Games
has been reviewed, in detail, by Richard James
See
https://britishchessnews.com/2020/10/22 ... 623-games/
31PCintX+AL.jpg
Re: Steinitz in London : A Chess Biography with 623 Games
Posted: Thu Oct 22, 2020 4:45 pm
by Tim Harding
Thanks for posting this; a very generous review by Richard James, and I look forward to the information he has gathered about some of the peripheral opponents. (Doubtless Professor Rod Edwards would be interested too; he is constantly improving his
edochess.ca site.)
I just have one quibble with the review. I do not say Steinitz "moved to Vienna to study mathematics in 1857". Please change that to 1858, no new discovery there.
On page 19 I say Steinitz "must have arrived in Vienna in time for the fall semester of the Polytechnic Institute." Mathematics was only part of what he studied. Those seeking more details on his student career can look at Landsberger's biography and the chapter on young Steinitz in Michael Ehn's book
Geniales Schach (or his article about Steinitz in
Karl magazine), though I cannot vouch for the complete accuracy of those as I haven't seen the primary sources in Prague and Vienna.
Inevitably, alas, in such a big and complex work, there are some typos and a few substantive mistakes, a few of which seem to have occurred in the final stages of revision I regret an erroneous caption to the famous 1873 group photo, where somehow an incorrect list was sent to McFarland and not spotted at proof-reading. The names should be correct in the caption for that photo in the upcoming issue of
New In Chess (number 2020/7). And I have an errata page:
http://www.chessmail.com/research/Stein ... rrata.html
People have sent me some other corrections which I haven't yet had a chance to check and process. I hope eventually it will be possible to fix everything in a reprint in a year or so.
One more thing I would like to point out is that, thanks to Liverpool Chess Club, on page 167 of
Steinitz In London there is the earliest known photograph of Blackburne, taken some time between 1867 and 1871, which I think was recently discovered and never previously published.
Re: Steinitz in London : A Chess Biography with 623 Games
Posted: Thu Oct 22, 2020 6:54 pm
by Kevin Thurlow
"there are some typos and a few substantive mistakes, a few of which seem to have occurred in the final stages of revision"
I sympathise - it's all too easy with tight deadlines - and frequently it's the publisher that produces the errors.
A glowing review though!
Re: Steinitz in London : A Chess Biography with 623 Games
Posted: Thu Oct 22, 2020 7:46 pm
by Richard James
Tim Harding wrote: ↑Thu Oct 22, 2020 4:45 pm
I just have one quibble with the review. I do not say Steinitz "moved to Vienna to study mathematics in 1857". Please change that to 1858, no new discovery there.
Now corrected - thanks.
Re: Steinitz in London : A Chess Biography with 623 Games
Posted: Fri Oct 23, 2020 8:31 am
by ben.graff
As always, I enjoyed Richard's review. Many congrats Tim. Your "British Chess Literature to 1914," is a book I have got a lot of pleasure from. I very much look forward to reading this one.
Re: Steinitz in London : A Chess Biography with 623 Games
Posted: Thu Nov 12, 2020 7:07 pm
by JustinHorton
I was just reading Tim's piece in New In Chess and I remembered that there has been some confusion about Steinitz's precise
birthday. So I wondered if Tim has been able to shed any light on the question.
Re: Steinitz in London : A Chess Biography with 623 Games
Posted: Fri Nov 13, 2020 11:01 am
by Tim Harding
Hi Justin
The question of Steinitz's date of birth (14 May 1836) is discussed thoroughly at the start of the very first chapter in my book (page 13) and the associated chapter notes.
Steinitz himself often stated the wrong date but gave it correctly in his 1899 interview for the Jewish Chronicle.
Dr Hermann Neustadtl established the correct date in 1892 and Thomas Niessen has checked it. I haven't seen the primary source for myself but I consider the matter is settled. If somebody is asking you about this, they should read my book.
Unfortunately the postman has yet to deliver my subscriber copy of New In Chess, so, while I assume that they made all the corrections I indicated on the proofs, I cannot verify that yet.
Tim
Re: Steinitz in London : A Chess Biography with 623 Games
Posted: Fri Nov 13, 2020 11:42 am
by JustinHorton
Thanks very much! No, nobody asked me about it, it just came to mind that I had come across the discrepancy. So it looks like Steinitz did not, in fact, play a game in a world championship match on his birthday.
Re: Steinitz in London : A Chess Biography with 623 Games
Posted: Sat Nov 14, 2020 4:49 pm
by MJMcCready
Tim Harding wrote: ↑Thu Oct 22, 2020 4:45 pm
Thanks for posting this; a very generous review by Richard James, and I look forward to the information he has gathered about some of the peripheral opponents. (Doubtless Professor Rod Edwards would be interested too; he is constantly improving his
edochess.ca site.)
I just have one quibble with the review. I do not say Steinitz "moved to Vienna to study mathematics in 1857". Please change that to 1858, no new discovery there.
On page 19 I say Steinitz "must have arrived in Vienna in time for the fall semester of the Polytechnic Institute." Mathematics was only part of what he studied. Those seeking more details on his student career can look at Landsberger's biography and the chapter on young Steinitz in Michael Ehn's book
Geniales Schach (or his article about Steinitz in
Karl magazine), though I cannot vouch for the complete accuracy of those as I haven't seen the primary sources in Prague and Vienna.
Inevitably, alas, in such a big and complex work, there are some typos and a few substantive mistakes, a few of which seem to have occurred in the final stages of revision I regret an erroneous caption to the famous 1873 group photo, where somehow an incorrect list was sent to McFarland and not spotted at proof-reading. The names should be correct in the caption for that photo in the upcoming issue of
New In Chess (number 2020/7). And I have an errata page:
http://www.chessmail.com/research/Stein ... rrata.html
People have sent me some other corrections which I haven't yet had a chance to check and process. I hope eventually it will be possible to fix everything in a reprint in a year or so.
One more thing I would like to point out is that, thanks to Liverpool Chess Club, on page 167 of
Steinitz In London there is the earliest known photograph of Blackburne, taken some time between 1867 and 1871, which I think was recently discovered and never previously published.
Is a certain Edward Winter likely to review it at some stage? How do you feel about that if so? I recall some of his remarks on your publication on Blackburne were somewhat scathing, and I thought, a little inconsiderate. I don't doubt -well no one doubts- his diligence, however, the complete absence of historiography in his reviews and the quaint model of history he assumes is ubiquitous is rather suspicious. He does tend to fit the bill of what R.Jenkins purported in his publication Re-thinking History '...we still see historians as trying to raise before us the spectre of the real past, an objective past about which their accounts are accurate and even true...