This rare book can up till now only be found from sellers abroad. It has a detailed biography of the German Chessmaster, Diemer who was the founder and main proponent of the Blackmar- Diemer gambit. Diemer was a controversial figure because of his Nazi political views . The gambit is very popular among players with ELO less than 2000, and for good reason, as it often leads to quick and flashy victories. In the United States, chessmasters like Peter Webster and Chuck Diebert have made it their main weapon as white so it is not just for class players. 56 annotated games are included after a 230 page biography. 280 pages in German language, easy to read with the Google translate app. The author Georg Studier is a German chess master who also played the gambit.

Light Paperback (1 lb or less)

Wisconsin

A life for chess in the mirror of his Times

Emil Joseph Diemer

The former world champion annotates 15 games in detail. Botvinnik is known as a very instructive teacher, and his books are chess classics. This book is now uncommon, with no copies available nor recent copy sold on eBay. Lowest price on the Book search engine site addall dot com as of early November 2024 is $14.95. This volume is an excellent condition with the former owner’s signature on the inside front cover.

15 games and their stories

Simon Williams

This is grandmaster Williams first book on the Dutch classical defense. It is his main stay as black against 1. d4. This book is short enough to be actually read and get you started playing it against any White variation. If you are under 1600 ELO, this is the only book you need to play this defense. It is a good weapon in Blitz. Chess as few class players have anything definite prepared. Stronger players will also need a longer book such as Williams‘s sequels, but their length is daunting and they are suitable as a reference work rather than something to get you going. Lowest price on eBay as of early November 2024 is $10.66.

Play the Classical Dutch

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This book contains the complete 120 games of the extremely strong tournament in Hastings 1971-1972. Just look at the list of annotators! Most of the games are annotated in informant style. The tournament was won by Karpov and Korchnoi. Lowest price currently on eBay as of early November 2024 is seven dollars. Buy my copy and save!

The Chess Player No. 134

Hastings 1972

This pamphlet contains the 120 games of the tournament in Las Palmas 1972. It was won by Portisch ahead of Larsen and Smyslov second and third place and Bronstein in fourth. Most of the games are annotated in informant style. It includes the famous victory of Larsen over Smyslov in 77 moves. This game is annotated by Larsen. A lesser copy is the lowest price currently on eBay as of early November 2024 at nearly $15.

The Chess Player No. 143

Las Palmas 1972

This book gives 100 games of the Benko gambit sorted by variation. The games are unannotated, but the chapter headings give some direction and analysis. It was published in 1989, so it gives a little historical background. Play over one game a day and in 100 days you’ll have a feeling for this opening.

Trends Benko Gambit

This book covers the variation 1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 d6 3 d4 cd4 4 Nd4 Nf6 5 Nc3 e6. This was Kasparov’s main defense to 1 e4 for many years. The format is deeply annotated games for the first half of the book followed by hundreds of unannotated examples. This book would serve as an introduction to the defense, but not a complete one volume resource. It is in overall excellent condition, but the left rear corner has been bumped as shown in the photos, so downgraded to good.

The Sicilian Scheveningen, 2d revised edition 

This is the autobiography of the outstanding British marathon runner. It is printed on quality glossy paper with many photographs some in color. 166 pages. Large format, 9.5“ x 6.75“. Adcocks held the record for the classic marathon course to Athens for many years. This book is unavailable from a North American seller from British sellers, it would cost over $20 including postage.

The Road to Athens

David Bronstein

Georgy Smolyan

Kenneth P. Neat

Hardcover First Edition 1st English Edn. Hardback, VG. 115pp. Discusses the sport-oriented nature of chess to the detriment of chess as an art form or element of culture, and investigates the psychology and thinking processes involved in chess. Contains little chess analysis. This book is in excellent condition but has a moderate amount of neat marginalia in one chapter as shown in the photos. The lowest price on eBay as of late October 2024 is $15.49. My price lowered due to marginalia.

Light Hardcover (1 lb or less)

Chess in the Eighties

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70+[2 ad] pages with photographs and tables. Duodecimo (6 3/4" x 5") bound in original publisher's stapled wrappers. Chess Player's Series number 103. (Lusis: 1527) First edition. The U.S. Open Championship is an open national chess championship that has been held in the United States annually since 1900. Through 1938, the tournaments were organized by the Western Chess Association and its successor, the American Chess Federation (1934–1938). The United States Chess Federation (USCF) has run the tournament since 1939. The seventieth edition of this tournament attracted 197 participants and was held in Lincoln, Nebraska August 10th through the 23rd. The tournament was hard fought and the first time the Open brought up the problem of a three way tie for first place. Pal Benko, Arthur Bisguier and Milan Vukcevic each had a score of 9.5/12. Benko was the first of equals as he had defeated two of his chief rivals, Vukcevic and Byrne and was awarded the first place trophy. The three winner evenly divided $2800 of the first three prizes. There was also a tie for third place with Robert Byrne, William Martz and Robert Gauntt. The tournament book lists all the players as well as the ranking cross-table of all the players. In addition there are photographs and game scores of the critical games. Also a cross table of the US speed championship. English descriptive notation. No notes to the games. Lowest price from an American seller on the Book search engine. Addall dot com as of late October 2024 is $25.

Chessplayer No. 103

70th Annual United States Chess Championship 1969

Covers are soiled, but this appears worse in the photos because of lighting than in real life. Small tape reinforcement to lower spine. Internally, the book is in excellent condition. It contains the games of the very strong 36th Soviet championship in Moscow 1969. Tal could only place 15th! See the tournament cross table in the photographs. The book contains detailed round introductions based on Soviet sources, with some game analysis. A few games are annotated in detail, particularlyTamanov’s brilliancy versus Lutikov. Photos, many diagrams, and openings survey.
Lowest price on eBay as of late October 2024 is $23.97.


Chessplayer No. 100

37th USSR Championship

This book covers the rare defense to the Royal Lopez with‘s 3…Bb4!?  It is a variation your opponent has almost certainly never seen this before. Great for a weapon in blitz. It has detailed analysis with text in German, which is easy to follow using the Google translate app. originally published at £7.50, I paid $13 for this,  now you can get a bargain!

The Alapin variation in the Ruy Lopez

Die ALAPIN- Variante in der Spanischen Eröffnung

This chess book is in German algebraic notation, but contains languageless informant type notes, so no knowledge of German is necessary. Published in 1987. It contains 33 deeply annotated games and has 84 pages. If you play 1 d4, this is the most potent variation against blacks, Benoni defense. It is also called the flick knife or Taimanov variation. If you play black, you need this book too learn how to defend against white’s most dangerous choice. There is minor wear to the cover corners, and a pencilled notation by the original seller on the title page.

Modern Benoni Three Pawn Attack

This book covers an area poorly understood by most players under 2000 ELO.  McDonald’s notes are entertaining and instructive. 129 pages, figurine algebraic notation is used.

Positional sacrifices

Lubomir Kavalek

The now defunct Grand Masters' Association, which comprised the world's top 25 players,  initiated a world chess competition based on the motor-racing Grand Prix circuit. This book is by Grand Master Lubomir Kavalek, Bobby Fischer’s second at Reykjavik. The Grand Prix was a series of grandmaster tournaments that ran from 1988 to 1989 organized by Lubomir Kavalek for Garry Kasparov's newly formed GMA (Grandmasters Association). The tournaments took place all over the world. This book contains a detailed account of each tournament along with all 1,600 games played on the grand prix. 22 of the games are well annotated. It contains many photographs on glossy paper. This book should please those interested in instruction or recent chess history. This copy is in excellent condition, but please note that the dust jacket is torn and repaired with tape as shown in the photos. The lowest price on eBay as of late October 2024 is $10.38.

Hardcover (1 to 2 lbs)

World Cup Chess

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This book is uncommon. It contains cogent annotations by the outstanding GrandMaster, BentLarsen. It contains caricatures, diagrams, and also the games of the players’ previous encounters. The pages are browning. I found one instance of a neat underlined sentence. There is also one area where there is a small piece of white tape, not covering any text as shown in the photos. As with all of these old Tartan publisher books, the binding is fragile, but is still fully intact. Former owner’s signature on the front free endpaper. lowest price on eBay as of October 2024 is $19.99. Notation is English descriptive.

The world chess championship 1978 Karpov vs Korchnoi

This may be White’s most effective all purpose opening, playable against most of black’s replies. Understanding the strategies and themes are more important than memorizing variations. Because of this, the analysis in this publication of 1993 is not very out of date. This book was written by grandmaster Henley and contains over 400 complete games. It is in algebraic notation. Apart from trivial bumping to the rear outer corners (but not pages) it is in almost like new condition. Lowest price on eBay as of late October 2024 is $11.99.

The chess base University blue book guide to winning with the Kings Indiana attack

The King’s Indian Attack!

This is the classic book of one of the strongest tournaments of the early year of chess. The games are annotated by the longtime world champion, Lasker. Alekhine praised the notes in this book. This book has become scarce and the lowest price on eBay as of mid October 2024 is over $20. The book is in English descriptive notation. It has 192 pages. It is in almost like new condition, apart from the almost invisible blacking out of the price with a marker on the upper right front cover as shown in the photos, former owner’s signature on the front free endpaper, and pencilled price on the rear free endpaper.

The international chess Congress St. Petersburg, 1909

110 deeply annotated games played by the strong American grandmaster, through 1946. The book was probably really written by Fred Reinfeld. The notes are clear and instructive and are in English descriptive notation. Condition is very good, but I am listing it as good because of a fold in the spine as shown in the photographs and Pango does not have a very good category. The binding is fully intact. Lowest price currently on eBay as of mid October 2024 is $9.00.

Formerly: Reshevsky on Chess

Reshevsky’s Best Games of Chess

This is the first version of Brady’s books about Bobby Fischer, reprinted in 1968 from the first edition in 1965. It has a biography through 1965 and 75 annotated games in English descriptive notation. Former owners signature on the front free  endpaper. Published at $1.95.

The life and games of Bobby Fischer

Profile of a prodigy

Roger Bannister

Sir Roger Bannister’s second autobiography includes his running career and his second career as a distinguished neurologist. He was the first man to run a mile in under four minutes. This book would be rated as being in excellent condition, except for bumping of about 20 page edges as shown in the photos. It includes about 16 pages of photographs on good paper, about half in color. Recommended for fans of sport, running, history, autobiography, and medicine. 373 pages I am fortunate to own a copy of his first autobiography which I had him sign in person, but this is a much better book. It was published at $19.99 (£9.99). No copies at under $6 currently on eBay (mid October 2024).

Paperback (1 to 2 lbs)

The Autobiography

It was a blustery late spring day in 1954 and a young Oxford medical student flung himself over the line in a mile race. There was an agonising pause, and then the timekeeper announced the record: three minutes, fifty-nine point four seconds. But no one heard anything after that first word - 'three'. One of the iconic barriers of sport had been broken, and Roger Bannister became the first man to run a mile in under four minutes. Sixty years on and the letters still arrive on Roger Bannister's doormat, letters testifying to the enduring appeal of the four-minute mile, and the inspiring effect it had on a generation. In this frank, truthful memoir, one of the iconic figures of sport tells for the first time the full story of the dedication and talent that led to his unprecedented achievement, and of his professional life as a distinguished doctor and neurologist once his (strictly amateur) athletic career drew to a close.

Twin Tracks

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See the last photograph for a full description. This book contains over 700 mostly annotated games in figurine algebraic notation. Many diagrams and complete cross tables. Published at $20 list price.

Heavy Paperback (2 to 4 lbs)

The games of the world correspondence, chess championships

This book covers the strong grandmaster chess tournament played in 1975. Look at the list of annotators! It contains photographs, caricatures, cross tables, and a brief history of the Hoogoven tournament. It has 272 pages, and unusually for RHM published books of the time the binding appears to be sewn and is fully intact. Lowest price on ebay as of late September 2024 is over $14. Former owner’s signature appears on the front free endpaper. I would rate the condition as very good but Pango doesn’t give this as an option, so I am being conservative about its condition. It is in English descriptive notation.

Wijk Aan Zee Grandmaster Tournament, 1975

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Tom Derderian

Joan Benoit Samuelson

Bill Rodgers

Shalane Flanagan

Amby Burfoot

This is the latest edition of the authors series on the Boston Marathon. It is the best Book covering a massive 827 pages. It has 16 pages of glossy color photographs on good paper, but the other pages are tanning due to the cheap paper used. Because of this, I have downgraded it from otherwise excellent condition to good. List Price $22.99, best price on eBay as of late September 2024 was $10.69

Year-By-Year Stories of the World's Premier Running Event

From running legend Tom Derderian comes a comprehensive look at one of the most storied and celebrated athletic events in the nation, the Boston Marathon. For more than 110 years, the race has been regarded as one of the world’s great racing traditions. From the narrow starting line on Main Street, through the Screams Tunnel, past the coeds of Wellesley, and up the infamous Heartbreak Hill, Derderian chronicles the unforgettable passions, triumphs, and pitfalls of every race in the marathon’s storied history. The book also includes interviews and race recaps from marathoning greats such as Bill Rodgers, Joan Benoit Samuelson, Meb Keflezighi, Uta Pippig, Alberto Salazar, Frank Shorter, Kara Goucher, Ryan Hall, Desiree Davila, Geoffrey Mutai, Robert Kipkoech Cheruiyot, and dozens more. Complete with more than one hundred photographs and results from every year, Boston Marathon belongs on the shelf of every runner.

Browse by categories

Georg Studier

Emil Joseph Diemer

Mikhail Botvinnik

15 games and their stories

Simon Williams

Play the Classical Dutch

Karpov, Korchnoi, Najdorf,Andersson, Unzicker, Mecking,Blackstock et al

Hastings 1972

Benko, Portisch, Bronstein, Smyslov, Andersson, Gheorghiu, Larsen, Botterill et al

Las Palmas 1972

Byron Jacobs

Trends Benko Gambit

Andrew Soltis

The Sicilian Scheveningen, 2d revised edition

Bill Adcocks and Trevor Frecknall

The Road to Athens

David Bronstein; Georgy Smolyan; Kenneth P. Neat

Chess in the Eighties

Jack Spence

70th Annual United States Chess Championship 1969

Bernard Cafferty, M H Horton

37th USSR Championship

Bernhard Lach

Die ALAPIN- Variante in der Spanischen Eröffnung

Jerzy Konikowski

Modern Benoni Three Pawn Attack

Neil McDonald

Positional sacrifices

Lubomir Kavalek

World Cup Chess

Bent Larsen

The world chess championship 1978 Karpov vs Korchnoi

Ron Henley

The King’s Indian Attack!

Emanuel Lasker

The international chess Congress St. Petersburg, 1909

Samuel Reshevsky

Reshevsky’s Best Games of Chess

Frank Brady

Profile of a prodigy

Roger Bannister

Twin Tracks

Timothy Harding

The games of the world correspondence, chess championships

Kavalek, Timman, Geller, Gligoric, Portisch et al

Wijk Aan Zee Grandmaster Tournament, 1975

Tom Derderian; Joan Benoit Samuelson; Bill Rodgers; Shalane Flanagan; Amby Burfoot

Boston Marathon

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