until September 4 2011 Exhibition Prachtig portret at Stedelijk Museum Alkmaar with the chess players Dirk & Arnold van Foreest
October 1 2011 Meeting of Dutch, Belgian, French and Luxembourgian chess collectors at Differdange (Luxemburg)
February to December 2011 1000 Years chess in Ströbeck
June 18 2011 Another chess animation movie on Youtube:
June 13 2011 In the beautiful cathedral of Chartres, which is famous for its labyrinth and its stained glass windows, there are two chess images. In the picture below you can see one of them.
May 29 2011 In the Dutch capitol of cheese, Alkmaar, the local museum has an exhibition on the Van Foreest family which has played a very important role in the history of this region. Two members of this family, Dirk van Foreest and Arnold van Foreest have been several times Dutch chess champions (though the championships were not yet official). They are represented in this exhibition with portraits, a chess medal and a chess table with an interesting chess position.
May 21 2011 In a small village in the south of the Netherlands is the statue of the picture below. My 'opponent' is Prince Maurits who played a key role in the Dutch independance war against the Spaniards. He freed this small village in 1604. Prince Maurits was a great strategist and it is certain that he played chess.
April 30 2011 Another fine catch: The eternal game ... or The battle of the sexes by Leza Lidow. This book is about a giant chess set designed by Leza Lidow. Below you see the artist with her work of art.
April 13 2011 A quite rare book is Black & white passion by Catherine Jaeg. In this book we find a selection of her finest chess photos. Finally I have obtained this book via internet for only 10 euros. Quite a steal!
March 24 2011 Have a look at this very nice animation with music from Grieg's Peer Gynt
March 19 2011 Do you know the chess story The red king by Jeffrey Archer? You can find it in Archer's book Cat O'Nine Lives.
March 2 2011 A bizarre combination of chess and boxing in this video
February 15 2011 Grandmaster Mato Damjanovic has died at the age of 83 last Saturday. His name will live on forever because he appears in Donner's brilliant book "The King". His role is not heroic however, because Donner mentions his name in an article about quick draws. A quick search on the internet brings up his name in a not so favorable anecdote. It tells that when Gufeld became Grandmaster Gufeld asked Korchnoi if they were colleagues now. Korchnoi replied: "No. Now you are a colleague of Damjanovic." Gufeld got his revanche. When Korchnoi drew a game with Damjanovic in a tournament Gufeld sent a telegram to Korchnoi with exactly that same sentence "You are a colleague of Damjanovic".
GM Damjanovic died however the most heroic death for a chess player: while playing a chess game!
February 13 2011 The book we were waiting for since January 17 2008 has been published now! This is a complete biography on Bobby Fischer, written by Frank Brady. You can order this book at the New in Chess website.
February 2 2011
The Tata Steel Chess Tournament has ended. Not Magnus Carlsen, not Vishy Anand,
not Levon Aronian, but the surprisingly strong Hikaru Nakamura was the winner of
the 73rd edition of this magnificent tournament.
I was present almost every day selling books for
New in Chess. On the
picture (courtesy to Jan Hoosbeek) you can see me with my wife.
January 20 2011 The first appearance of chess in a movie (as far as I know)
January 12 2011 Friday is the start of the wonderful Tata Steel Chess Tournament in Wijk aan Zee. I will be there almost every day selling books for New in Chess. Below a picture from last year's edition.
January 9 2011 This is a brilliant chess film on Youtube.
January 1 2011 Happy new year! May all your wishes become reality!
Drawing by A. Paul Weber
December 25 2010 Another book on the Lewis chessmen has been published. To accompany the travelling exhibtion of a selection of these famous chessmen the National Museums of Scotland have published The Lewis Chessmen - Unmasked. It is written by David H. Caldwell, Mark A. Hall and Caroline M. Wilkinson. A beautiful book with many pictures in colour at a very low price. Don't miss it!
December 15 2010 Today it is exactly 75 years ago that Dutchman Max Euwe became World Chess Champion.
December 11 2010 This video shows you a church in Täby, Sweden. In the church there is a fresco picturing Death playing chess, painted by Albertus Pictor. This fresco was an important source of inspiration for Ingmar Bergman when he created his masterwork The seventh seal.
November 26 2010 Walter Solowjew brought the following music clip to my attention:
Neil Diamond - Morningside
November 21 2010 A new edition of Paul Morphy - The pride and sorrow of chess is on the market. This book is a must for every chess collector! For more detailed information you could have a look at the New in Chess website.
November 18 2010 Five years after the initial start of the Scacchis website I decided to make it internationally available. My native language is Dutch, but Dutch appears not to be the most spoken language of the world. Using this as the only criterium the texts on this website should be in Chinese. But since my Chinese is even worse than my English I prefer to use English for the Scacchis website. Do not hesitate to send me feedback!