Collectors Corner

Last edited: 28/08/04

Since 1995 I've been involved in book trade. My speciality is Russian chess literature and over these years I got in touch with many collectors in different countries. Most of them are very passionate about chess literature and have great knowledge on the subject. But so far I have not seen any place on the Net, where collectors can share information, exchange views and findings and ask others questions. I hope that this page will help to fill this gap and therefore I cordially invite everyone interested in chess literature (particularly old) to contribute to this page. Please e-mail me your materials about book collecting and I will post them here. I would try to answer any question regarding Russian chess literature here. With your help this page can become a meeting point for chess enthusiasts and collectors from all over the world, which will benefit all the participating parties.

With your contributions, ideas and suggestions please contact me via e-mail at baburin@hotmail.com or ababurin@iol.ie, over the phone - (353-1) 278-2276 or by post: Alexander Baburin, 3 Eagle Hill, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland.

Articles:

Capablanca's Worst Simul?

Message 1. John Elburg (n.elburg@consunet.nl) sent us two questions:

Why is the book by Bilguer from 1891, edited by Schallopp, so rare?
In 1923 Nimzowitsch played a match with Brinckmann (Kiel 1923), but in his book 'Die Praxis meines Systems' (1929) he also mentions a match with Brinckmann, but this time in Kolding 1922. Did Nimzowitsch two matches rather than one? If so, could anyone please help me to get the games!

If you know the answers, please e-mail John (n.elburg@consunet.nl) and me (ababurin@iol.ie) to share your knowledge with others - you reply may be posted on this site.

Reply:

The scores of three of the Nimzowitsch-Brinckmann match can be found in the Nimzowitsch file of the "Uncrowned Kings"site, at: http://www.phileo.demon.co.uk/

Eduardo Bauz‡ MercŽre

Reply:

Hi! Great website. I have an answer for John Elburg's query about Nimzowitsch and Brinckmann. They played a 4-game match in Kolding (Denmark) late December 1922 and early January 1923. Nimzowitsch won all 4 games. There was never a match in Kiel (Germany), which was Brinckmann's home town. That fact and the similarity of the city names are probably the reasons for the mistake.

Greetings, Birger Flindtholt.

Message 2. Maarten de Zeeuw (mdezeeuw@silk.org) is currently working on Tal's biography and would like to hear from people, who have similar interests. We feel that this subject will be of great interest for many players. Internet can be of great help in empowering such research and hopefully more games by Tal will be found soon. We would be more than happy to show any new findings here, on this page.

Please e-mail us at ababurin@iol.ie and also contact Maarten at mdezeeuw@silk.org, if you have any relevant information on the great Mikhail Tal. Below is the message from Maarten de Zeeuw:

Everything about Tal

Since 1994, when a chess publisher expressed his interest in publishing a Tal-biography to be written by me, I am collecting everything about Tal. Memories, newspaper clippings, simultaneous games etc. would be most welcome and will be published at this site. Important aspects of Tal's carreer which still need to be covered in greater depth include:

political, social and moral questions
the role of chess authorities
missing tournament and match-games
Political, social and moral questions
In February 1960 Tal was member of the "Central Soviet Union sport societies and organisation of the Latvian SSSR". Also he had been elected as a deputy of the Riga city council of worker's deputies. How long did Tal hold these offices? Which responsibilities were implied? Does it mean that Tal was a member of the Communist Party?
In his autobiography (p. 62) Korchoi wrote: "Tal certainly has troubles with his health, but to have a personal doctor - such a thing just isn't done in the Soviet Union." Who would comment?
Not long before his death, Tal met with Viktor Korchnoy, and said to him, referring to Korchnoy's match with Karpov in 1978: "It's good that you lost your match in Baguio. Had you won, I'm not sure you would have left the Philippines alive." Korchnoi himself had already made similar claims [e.g. Schaakbulletin 164-165 p. 435], and in late September 1999 the BBC interviewed Christopher Andrews, who had published a book with recently obtained KGB-materials, and who confirmed that the KGB had been planning to murder Korchnoy. How could Tal have obtained this information?

The role of chess authorities

Tal's carreer shows that it was not Campomanes who introduced incompetence and arbitrary use of power in the world of chess. Any information that could explain decisions taken by authorities in the following and other cases would be welcome.

In 1957 the Soviet chess federation proposed Tal for the title of International Grandmaster, although the formal grounds were inadequate: Tal had not reached the Grandmaster norm in an international tournament. Tal suggests it was horse trading with the US chess federation (the Americans L. Evans and A. Bisguier had failed to make the norm by a very narrow margin) which brought him the title.
The Candidates' Tournament of 1959 had been originally planned for seven players (an odd number, remarkable), with a maximum of four from the USSR. However, midway through the Interzonal of Portoroz 1958, a decision taken by the FIDE Congress raised the number of places in the Candidates' Tournament to eight, thus allowing a sixth player from the Interzonal, whether USSR or not, to qualify.
After the revenge match Smyslov-Botvinnik in 1958 FIDE had decided to abolish the revenge match but, inconsistently, that in 1961 this unreasonable Botvinnik-prerogative should still go on.
The interzonal and candidates tournaments of that time not only duplicated each other, but severely discriminated Soviet players by imposing quota, even still in 1965 when the candidates tournament was held in the form of matches to make a Soviet-combine impossible.
Tal, semi-finalist in the candidates tournament of 1968, did not take part in the Olympiad of Lugano in 1968, half a year later. The team consisted of Petrosyan, Spassky, Korchnoi, who all could make stronger claims than Tal, but also Geller, Polugayevsky and Smyslov. Tal was left out of the Soviet team at the last minute; why?
Alburt says the deputy head of the Sport Committee, V. Ivonin, did not like Jews [Schaakbulletin 171 p. 84]. Did Ivonin play a role in the life of Tal?
Between Wijk aan Zee 1968 and Wijk aan Zee 1973 Tal did not play individual tournaments abroad. Why?
In 1970 Tal was not entitled to participate in the USSR championship, but could take part in the 1971 championship without having qualified himself. Had lobbying efforts been involved?
In 1972 Tal was nominated for both the Wijk aan Zee (January) and Teesside (April/May) Grandmaster Tournaments but failed to turn up for either because of ill health. Did Vasyukov, whose participation in Teesside was cancelled as well, also suddenly fall sick?
In an interview with Dagobert Kohlmeyer [Rochade Europa December 1996 p. 20] Tals' widow Engelina declares: "Mischa hatte viele Probleme mit den Bürokraten im sowjetischen Schachverband. Krogius und Baturinski machten ihm das Leben schwer. Wie sie gegen ihn vorgingen, das war unverantwortlich! ... Sie lie§en ihn nicht aus dem Land, wenn er zu Turnieren eingeladen war. Für ihn war Schach sein Leben. Ohne das Spiel konnte er nicht sein. Und das wollten sie ihm wegnehmen." ["Misha had many problems with the bureaucrats in the Soviet chess federation. Krogius and Baturinsky made his life difficult. How they behave towards him was irresponsible! ... They did not let him leave the country, when he was invited for tournaments. For him chess was his life. Without the game he could not exist. And that they wanted to take away from him."] Which specific tournaments were concerned?

Missing tournament and match-games

According to Khalifman et al., Tal played about 2718 tournament and match games. From these, the following 154 games have not or only incompletely been preserved. Reactions providing information on any of these games are invited:

10th Latvian ch, Riga 1953: the win against Semenkin, the draws against Gipslis, Pigits, R. Skuya and Ruya, and the defeat against Klasups.
Team Championship of Soviet Republics, Leningrad (?) 1953: all 14 games, incl. wins against Panov and Ilivitski, a draw against Korchnoi, losses against Korchnoi and Saigin, an unknown result against Suetin.
11th Latvian ch, Riga 1954: the loss against Klasup, the win against Mileika.
Match with Saigin, Riga 1954: games 2, 4 and 5.
USSR Youth team championship, Leningrad 1954: 3 games against anonymous opponents; the games against Vinokur, Etruk, Gufeld, Spassky, Visotskis and Melik Pashayan have been preserved.
12th Latvian ch, Riga 1955: the wins against Darznieks, Kampenuss, and N. Zhuravlyov, the draws against Zhdanov, Zilber, Koblents, Klovans and Solmanis, and the loss against Balinsh.
Quarterfinal Vilnius 1955: Chukayev-Tal, Tal-Kamenetsky
Scheveningen tournament Latvia-RSFSR, Riga 1955: Antoshin-Tal, Tal-Vatnikov, Veltmander-Tal, Tal-Stolyar, Eremin-Tal, Tal-Zakharov
Voroshilovgrad 1955: NN (Kirghizia)-Tal, NN (Karelo-Finskaya)-Tal, Birbrager-Tal, Tal-Vistanetskis
Semifinal Riga 1955: Polyak-Tal, Tal-Korchnoi, Tal-Gurgenidze
Uppsala 1956: Tal-Saidy, Ghitescu-Tal, Tal-Bilek
Scheveningen tournament Tartu-Riga, Tartu 1956: Tal-Tarve, Heuer-Tal
Italian tour 1957: NN (Venice), NN (Reggio Emilia), NN (Florence)
15th Latvian ch, Riga 1958: Rozenberg-Tal, Tal-Blek, Mozan-Tal, Tal-Balyn, Grave-Tal, Tal-Alexandrov
Latvian Olympiad 1959: games against Brakmanis, Klasup, Dauga, Abrosimov, Neibults and Klyavinsh have been preserved, but the 7th game is missing.
Match Lithuania-Latvia, Vilnius 1959: Kholmov-Tal
Match Latvia-Georgia, Yurmala 1959: Shishov-Tal
8th USSR Team championship 1962: Tal-Keres
9th USSR Team championship 1963: Tal-Keres
USSR Team Cup 1964: Tal-Roizman, Stein-Tal
Latvia-Rumania 1967: Ciocaltea-Tal
35th USSR ch, Kharkov 1967: Sakharov-Tal, Furman-Tal, Tal-Taimanov, Polugayevsky-Tal
Training match with Kholmov 1968: Tal-Kholmov (m/2), Tal-Kholmov (m/4)
Poti 1970: Dzhindzhikhashvili-Tal, Tal-Chechelyan, Tal-Izvozchikov, Mikadze-Tal, Tal-Dzhanayev
Dnyepropetrovsk 1970: Bagirov-Tal (m/1), Tal-Savon (m/2)
Sochi 1970: Tal-Podgayets, Tal-Belyavsky
Cup of Baltic capitals, Riga 1971: Mikenas-Tal
USSR Team Cup, Rostov-na-Donu 1971: Taimanov-Tal, Bronstein-Tal
Cup of Baltic capitals, Vilnius 1972: Tal-Mikenas, NN (from Tallinn)-Tal
Viljandi 1972: Tal-Ludorf, Dvoretsky-Tal, Tal-Brashinsky, Tal-Suetin, Tal-Shamkovich
Dubna 1973: Tal-Lutikov, Tal-Vasyukov, Kholmov-Tal, Donchenko-Tal, Tal-Uytumen, Tal-Averkin
USSR Team Cup 1974: Tal-Chebanenko
Novi Sad 1974: Radulov-Tal, Jovi_-Tal, Marjan-Tal, Tal-Notaros, Suba-Tal, Hernandez-Tal, Forintos-Tal, Buljovcic-Tal
Belgrade 1974: Raicevic-Tal, Tal-Ljubojevic, Gligoric-Tal
Vojvodina 1974: Tal-Maric, Maric-Tal
Latvia-Georgia 1977: Gufeld-Tal, Tal-Gufeld
USSR Team cup semi-final, Mogilev 1978: Nei-Tal, Mochalov-Tal, Tal-Chikovani
Training tournament Sochi 1978: two games with Gufeld, two with Geller
15th USSR Team championship 1981: Tal-Spassky, Tal-Klovsky, Taimanov-Tal
Cup of Europe 1983/84: Tal-Martin Gonzales
Albena 1984: Pils-Tal, Farago-Tal, Cabrilo-Tal
17th USSR Team championship 1985: Tal-Lputyan, Georgadze-Tal, Sveshnikov-Tal
Cup of Europe 1985/86: Drashko-Tal, Tal-Hamann
Reykjavik 1986: NN-Tal (2x) (the games against Kristiansen, D. Olafsson, Gheorghiu, Petursson, Fedorowicz, Adianto, Geller, C. Hansen and Hjartarson have been preserved)
West Berlin 1986: NN-Tal (the games against Varasdy, Ballon, Popov, Dory, Shvidler, Foisor and Velikov have been preserved)
Chicago 1988: Peters-Tal, NN-Tal, Tal-NN (the games against Forbis, Maddex, Chiu, Meyer, Eversole and Rizzitano have been fully preserved)
Bundesliga 1989/90: Tal-Smejkal
Latvia-Estonia 1990: Tal-Oll (The late Lembit Oll had not preserved this game either)
Moscow 1991: Tal-NN (the games against Young, Gusev, Zaharov, Kummerov, Krasenkova, Muhametov, Naroditsky and Dragomaretsky have been preserved)
Leningrad 1991: Tal-Hofmann, Tal-Chekhov, Tal-Vasyukov