thechesslibrary.com Blog

A few quick updates:
1) I expect to be posting the next installment from Minev (Mini-Lessons from Short Games of the 21st Century) in the next few days
2) I should have more tournament crosstables to post soon (primariy 1920s and 30s - more conversions of the files courtesy of C. Sericano)
3) I have been using a new tool for name standardization on the crosstables. It makes it easier for me to consistently apply the same spelling, as well as to ensure that full names (first + last) are used in most cases. Saves me having to check Gaige for every name in every crosstables. Easier for me = less chance of error = better results posted (and easier searches for player events). A win for all!
4) In between everything else, I’m working on some new Minev manuscripts. Probably still some months away from publication, but more books are coming eventually!

Since my most recent post, I have started to cross check the games in Shakhmatny Bjulleten against the games in Minev’s file and am finding that it will take me a bit longer than I thought to post the updates. The source info is easy (and almost complete), but additionally (and happily!) I am also finding that the file from Nikolay is missing some of the games from the SB articles, so I will be adding those (MORE GAMES!). The final files will include some games where the score in SB is wrong (illegal moves) and therefore was dropped from Nikolay’s file. Finally, the original articles gave Prize Winning games through 1929 (rather than 1927, as per Nikolay), so I will be adding those games as well.

And one final bit of work: I realized that many of these games (being the best of the best from that time period) will be listed in the appropriate volume of Yearbook of Chess, probably with an indication of what the prize was, and possibly with contemporary annotations. So I plan to add that info too (which will answer my question #3 from the 8/24 posting for at least some of the games).

I hope to post a list of the tournaments that I need help with in the next week or so. These would be tournaments that are NOT listed in YBoC, and where I need someone who has the original tournament bulletin (or a reprint) to send me info.

I appreciate any help that anyone can offer!

There is a new Minev column that was posted recently.

I’ve gotten a couple of interesting new contributions recently. First, some crosstables contributed from original sources by Kerry Lawless. He runs the California chess history website Chess Dryad. He sent along crosstables for some California events that I will be adding in August.

Finally, in addition to his regular column contribution, IM Minev has given me a set of games that I expect to be posting in August. The collection was based on a couple of articles in Shakmatni Bulletin in the 1960’s. The games are “prize winning” games from tournaments from 1876 - 1927. The prizes could be Best Game, Tournament Brilliancy, Best Endgame, Best Combination, etc. I think you will find this collection of games very interesting!

Something I’ve been working on lately is a list compiling all instances of Bulgarian player names that I come across in the various source works used for crosstable updates. I have used Gaige’s Chess Personalia as my standard where possible for spelling and transliteration, but have found that the less well known Bulgarian players are frequently not listed in Gaige. So I started my own list. If there is interest, the list could be posted on my website.

So far the list includes any Bulgarian opponent from a Minev game, all participants in Bulgarian championships through 1988 (including some open championships, some semi-final events, and using Sergiev), all participants in Bulgarian team championships through 1981 (using Parva), some listings from the Bulgarian chess encyclopedia, and some listings from Shakmatna Misl.

I recently received an email from Nikolai Brunni of Hawaii. He provided the game score and notes of the one game between Marshall and Pillsbury that was missing from the Minev article. The notes were by Hoffer, as published in The Field. I have updated the .pdf to include that game and those notes. The updated file is posted on the website. Thanks for the help!

I also completed by research in the later years of Northwest Chess Magazine, to find all Minev articles. That list is now complete and posted.

I’m still working to get the Bulgarian Team Championship crosstables (1950-1981) posted and expect to have them available soon.

In the last blog note I mentioned additional sources I had recently come across that were the focus of new work. This post is to say a little more about one of them.

The Bulgarian Chess Federation website (www.chessbg.com) is where I found a new book in the “Bulgarian Chess Archives” series. This series also features the 5 volume (and growing) set on the Bulgarian Championships. But the new title I was excited to find is:

Team Championships 1931-1981
Edited by Stefan Sergiev
ISBN 978-954-9541-68-1

The book contains team crosstables for most of the Team Championship events in the period, some background information on the event, and a sampling of individual game scores for each. The number of games varies, but for example, the chapter on the 1964 championship contains the scores of about 60 games. Overall, the book has 961 games.

I already had posted a few of the events on my website, but this will greatly expand the coverage with additional information that was unavailable to me before. I am currently in the process of creating the team crosstables in my standard format. I will also be correcting some cases of crosstables that I previously had posted (but now have better information).

So look for this to be announced in the What’s New section on the homepage within a week or so!

Just a quick note on new sources and materials I have come across that will be reflected in upcoming postings to the website:
- Vol 5 of Sergiev’s Bulgarian Championships (1967-1973) fills in some missing Minev games from those years.
- A new Bulgarian title by Parva covering the history of the Bulgarian Team Championships. This has both new Minev games missing from my collection, and also crosstables of the tournament standings. I will be posting these in upcoming weeks.
- Some new Minev games received from Andy Ansel. The total collection now is at 1200 games. The list on the website will be refreshed.
- Adding a number of new crosstables (100+) from 1920-1950 from material that I have received permission to use (from C. Sericano’s website files). This should fill in a number of international and national events currently missing from those years. (He also has other files from other years that I will add after completing the 1920-1950 period).
- Several new Minev books are being worked on, including a couple of new titles in the “Fifty Great Short Games” series.