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Editor: Dr Tim Harding |
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Editor: Dr Tim Harding |
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© Dr Tim Harding
Last modified:
11 November 2011
My book, Correspondence Chess in Britain
and Ireland, 1824-1987, was one of four titles shortlisted for the 2011 English Chess Federation Book of the Year award (but did not win).
It is published by McFarland, the US-based leading publisher of chess histories and biographies. The book is available through normal chess booksellers, Amazon etc. but NOT from this website. The book is a large softback (439 pages, 7x10 inch page format) at $49.95. The ISBN (for orders through bookshops) is 978-0-7864-4553-0.
I spoke about the book on radio on 29 May (MP3 file available).
Award citation and extracts from reviews of the book.
Partly based on sections of my doctoral thesis, together with additional research, the book presents a detailed picture of the development of postal chess from the earliest days to the eve of the computer era.
While focusing on Britain and Ireland, it also includes information on early correspondence chess in other countries and the growth of international CC. It includes about 200 games, annotated in varying degrees of detail,and 53 pictorial illustrations.
I have now added to this website a summary of Appendix I, which corrects the record of early inter-club CC matches.
More information will be added about this book and my future writing plans on this site when our new History Research Zone is developed further.
My current work in progress is writing for McFarland a collection of biographical essays on nineteenth century chess-players; research for this is virtually complete now and first drafts iof akl chapters are being written. I intend that an monograph about the social and cultural history of Victorian indoor pastimes (not just chess) will follow later.
Here is the Table of Contents of the CC history book:
1. Capital letters: Edinburgh v. London, 1824-8
2. Heyday of the inter-club matches
3. Penny post and private matches
4. Moves over the wires: telegraph and phone chess
5. The earliest postal tournaments, 1853-70
6. Changing times: the 1870s and 1880s
7. “Battle at long range”: UK v. USA, 1877-81
8. The growth of tournaments, 1870-97
9. Scottish correspondence chess to 1918
10. Irish and Welsh correspondence chess to 1918
11. The English scene, 1890-1918
12. From one war to the next, 1918-39
13. Correspondence Chess during World War Two
14. International revival, 1946-51
15. Domestic competitions, 1946-70
16. Crisis and resolution: Britain & ICCF, 1951-71
17. The home front: the 1970s and 1980s
18. Growth and success, 1972-82
19. Becoming World Champions
PLUS notes, appendices, index of opponents, index of openings, index of illustrations, general index.