Hans Renette - Böcker

No chess player of the 19th century had a longer, more varied career than Henry Edward Bird (1829-1908). After pursuing a civil career for years his love for chess prevailed. He belonged to the top level of British players for decades but he really shone at Simpson's Divan. Bird's accessibility, fierce attacking style and contempt for draws made him a people's favorite but his proud and touchy character led him into disputes with his colleagues. A very strong and widely known player, he fell into oblivion after his death.This comprehensive first biography of Bird provides a detailed account of his personal life and a deeply researched coverage of his feats at the chess board. Almost 1,200 games are included, hundreds of them published here for the first time. Nearly 450 games--many of them thrilling all-out fights--are presented with a mix of contemporary and modern annotations.

Around 1860 a wave of talented youth intensified the Berlin chess scene. Within a short time Berthold Suhle, Philipp Hirschfeld and Gustav Neumann ranked among the best players in the world. After a few years, Suhle went on to become an authority in ancient Greek, and Hirschfeld proved a successful businessman (while remaining a sparring partner of Johannes Hermann Zukertort). Neumann retained a fascination for the game and grew into one of the world's strongest players.Despite their achievements little has been known about their lives and games. Drawing on a range of sources, the authors fill this gap, providing games with both old and new analyses. An introductory chapter on Berlin chess before 1860 and an appendix on Bernhard von Guretzky-Cornitz complete the book.

Emanuel Lasker (1868-1941) had the longest reign of any world champion in chess--27 years. From 1894 through 1921, he wielded exceptional dominance over several generations of contemporaries and is still regarded as one of the strongest players the world has seen. A multifaceted personality, he excelled in other fields as well, and his life has been the subject of a recent deep-digging biographic trilogy.The first of two parts, this book present for the first time a detailed examination of Lasker's chess career, with a complete collection of games, many presented with analysis by Lasker and other first rank masters. This volume covers through the end of 1907.

William Norwood Potter never played chess outside London, yet he must be considered a key figure in the development of 19th century chess. His play was surprisingly modern, while his writings are still a model of style, sense and competence. John Wisker was an amateur chess player who achieved excellent results among the few professionals of his time. He was recognized as the first British chess champion and had a prolific journalistic career. He spent the last seven years of his life in Australia, where he played an important role in a blossoming chess culture. This volume, besides retrieving lost particulars of their lives, contains all their known games and many passages of their prose. Among the book's appendices is coverage of the eventful life and brilliant games of William John Wilson.