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The Chess
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Editor: Dr Tim |
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The Chess
History |
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Editor: Dr Tim |
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© Dr Tim Harding
Last modified:
24 October 2025
Our Chess History Research Zone was inaugurated in April 2011 with new content added throughout 2012 and again in 2015, 2016 and 2021.
For various reasons (including the British Library cyber-attack) we were unable to do serious research between 2022 and mid-2025 but we have now revived Tim's work in progress page which may be developed further soon.
There we write briefly about our new Carl Schlechter project and our intention to re-examine the Hastings 1895 international tournament (in which Blackburne, Schlechter and Steinitz all competed) and try to resolve the many discrepancies between tournament books and databases concerning what actually happened in more than twenty games from this event.
In general we are finding that no commercial database (not even ChessBase's Mega Database 2025 on which we spent good money) can be fully trusted when it comes to games played prior to the First World War.
We spent several days last week doing research at the Koninklijke Biblitheek (Royal Dutch Library) in The Hague which has by far the largest publicly accessible collection of chess literature in Europe.
We can report that unfortunately a change of policy, dating from about 2020, means that the library no longer purchases chess literature published abroad. Nevertheless the pre-existing collection (built upon the libraries of Dr Antonius van der Linde and Dr Meindert Niemeyer) remains intact and just as available to be consulted as it was previously.
Researches are allowed to use cameras (without flash) to photograph any printed texts which means you can collect a lot of material in a short visit and then work through it at home.
Many of the most important reference books are on open shelves, as are long runs of numerous chess magazines from a wide range of countries, although those have been moved to a different area of the downstairs reading room from where they were a few years ago. Items in their catalogue which have a snhelfmark beginning "LZ SCHAA" are on open shelves.
Some items in poor condition (such as the German periodical Deutsches Wochenschach) and some of which they do not hold originals have been microfilmed and available from cabinets in the microfilm reading room.
Most other chess literature (such as tournament books) can be ordered for a delivery within a few hours to the reading room, although you need a Jaarpass (15 Euro annually) to do this, or must ask librarians to help you.
Normal opening hours in the reading rooms are 10am-5pm with extended hours on Tuesdays (to 8pm). Rare items must be read in the Special Collections area which is only open from 10-5 Mondays to Fridays. The ordinary reading rooms are also open for a few hours on Saturday .
The library is located only two minutes walk from the railway station Den Haag Centraal and shares a modern building with the Dutch national archive. The atmosphere at the KB is relaxed and friendly and the staff are most helpful.
One thing we particularly like (compared with the British Librray where you ahve to queue outsiude until they are ready to let you in) is that access to the building is available well ahead of the opening time of the reading rooms. You can put your coats and bags in a locker, place your computer and other personal items in a basket provided, and then have a coffee or breakfast while waiting for 10am. There is also a restauramt open for light lunches until 2pm Mondays to Fridays.
In 2021 we published some of articles about problems with the records of important 19th century games in some books and databases.
The first article from 2021 dealt with serious issues concerning several games between the first two world champions, Steinitz and Lasker.
The second article examinedh other games from the later career of Steinitz.
In 2018 McFarland published Tim's book British Chess Literature to 1914: a handbook for historians. This included some of the research results formerly posted here (and much else besides).
It incorporates a great deal of Tim's discoveries and thoughts concerning chess columns, chess magazines and books and about chess history research in general.
Still available here, for a limited time only, are some topics not covered by that work and our new book on Steinitz:
Blackburne book: updates
MacDonnell versus Wisker match, 1874. This match is now examined in detail in the new book by Hans Renette and Fabrizio Zavatarelli about Wisker and Potter.
Zukertort in Dublin, 1879
London Vizayanagaram tournament, 1883
Dublin University Chess Club history