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MatPlus.Net Forum Internet and Computing Downloadable chess literature
 
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(1) Posted by Sarah Hornecker [Wednesday, May 9, 2007 11:23]; edited by Sarah Hornecker [07-05-10]

Downloadable chess literature


Ok, so can you help me to advance my collection of digital chess books and magazines?

I already found the following websites:
http://www.hilmar-ebert.de/ (Hilmar Ebert) [1]
http://web.telecom.cz/vaclav.kotesovec/links0.htm (Vaclav Kotesovec)
http://arves.org/ (ARVES) [2]
http://www.gadycosteff.com/eg/ (EG archive) [3]
http://www.schachbund.ch/presse/ssz.php (Schweizerische Schachzeitung)
http://www.strategems.org/issues/FreeSample.htm (two StrateGems issues)
http://www.evonet.be/~marcsmet/ebbs/menu-n.html (Marc Smet / L'Echiquier Belge) [4]

[1] most notably http://www.hilmar-ebert.de/wjptotal-Buch%201979-1994.pdf which shows 460 problems with up to 4 pieces, all kinds of material/stipulation
[2] EBUR archive up to 2000 can be downloaded at http://arves.org/EBUR_Index.htm - I'm proud to host some PDFs (rather all, but only some are linked)
[3] there's a little secret but I won't tell you. Vaclav Kotesovec may show it in a text file on his website if I remember correctly
[4] AJEC on http://www.evonet.be/~marcsmet/ebbs/bul-bvbs-ajec.html and magazine of Belgisch Schaakbord on http://www.evonet.be/~marcsmet/ebbs/bul.html

Please, no illegal downloads! Preferrably it should be in PDF or DjVu format.

As a bonus, here's a brillant song about Bobby Fischer: http://www.iliketrains.co.uk/video/AROOKHOUSEFORBOBBY2.mov


PS: Of course I know about Google Books but it's - well - annoying if one doesn't know what to search for. You can post links to books from there too but please only downloadable ones (or mark those that can't be downloaded). Oh, and they sadly don't have Dawson's "Retrograde Analysis".

Another PS, 12:43 (GMT+1): In the links section, I found http://www.anders.thulin.name/SUBJECTS/CHESS_PROBLEMS/ but it's the same as http://www.algonet.se/~ath/ which I also knew.

Next PS (May 10, 15:17 GMT+1): I only meant literature I don't have to pay for.
 
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(2) Posted by Hauke Reddmann [Wednesday, May 9, 2007 11:38]

The Speckmann book? (I'd have to google it too...)

Hauke, snickering at the thought of "Problem Chess Warez"
 
 
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(3) Posted by Frank Richter [Wednesday, May 9, 2007 21:32]

The Speckmann books are very easy to find:
http://www.problemschachbuch.de/
 
   
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(4) Posted by Sarah Hornecker [Tuesday, Sep 4, 2007 13:28]

Here is some more. I discovered it when I was looking for copyright things and somebody noted in Germany the copyright of the books of e.g. Aaron Nimzowitsch has expired. Someone else gave a link to this site then. [1]
http://www.chessville.com/downloads/misc_downloads.htm


Footnote

[1] Discussion in german forum: http://www.schachmatt.de/81-literatur-gesucht/2575-urheberrecht-alter-meister-und-jetzt.html
 
   
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(5) Posted by Vladimir Tyapkin [Tuesday, Sep 4, 2007 16:13]

One more source of really old chess problem books is new google books project. Some books available as pdf scans for download. Full-text search works from Google site only.

I posted links to some books I was able to find:
http://www.matplus.net/pub/start.php?px=1188914215&app=forum&act=posts&fid=prom&tid=204

It seems that google serves different pages to different users; Vaclav Kotesovec was not able to download it from Czech. If you don't see 'Save pdf' button on your google page, go to http://web.telecom.cz/vaclav.kotesovec/links0.htm, look for 'Google - books' section and find links to pdf files down below. I have a limited bandwidth on my server, so please do it only if you cannot get it from google.
 
   
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(6) Posted by Sarah Hornecker [Friday, Sep 21, 2007 21:45]; edited by Sarah Hornecker [07-09-25]

I don't know if this fits since it is not really chess literature, but here are two more (puzzle) books by Sam Loyd:

http://www.child-printables.com/samloyd.htm (see the Link "here" for full PDF version, almost 15 MB)
http://www.mathpuzzle.com/loyd/ (Cyclopedia; almost 40 MB if you want to download it)

http://www.samuelloyd.com/sams.puzzles.pdf (another link for the Cyclopedia, 43 MB), this time as a big PDF instead many single images
 
   
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(7) Posted by Sarah Hornecker [Thursday, Dec 20, 2007 00:01]; edited by Sarah Hornecker [07-12-20]

German Wikipedia lists a new article about Conte (!) Carlo Cozio. There, a link to his book is given on Google Books:

Part 1: http://books.google.com/books?id=aCcCAAAAYAAJ&printsec=toc&dq=as_brr=1 (13.9 MB)
Part 2: http://books.google.com/books?id=aScCAAAAYAAJ&dq=as_brr=1 (12.8 MB)

Il giuoco degli scacchi (etc.), 1766
 
   
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(8) Posted by Sarah Hornecker [Saturday, Feb 16, 2008 20:30]

I started a scan project for public domain or otherwise publishable books on February 13rh. Today you can download the first book, "Das indische Problem" (german language) by Johannes Kohtz and Carl Kockelkorn.

Warning: This applies to countries with a term of up to life of author and 70 years (which is almost an international standard). A few countries have longer copyright terms, most notably Mexico with life + 100 years. If you live in one of these countries, not every book will be suitable for you. It WILL take some time until new books come up and I'll try to make no doublettes that Google has. My webspace is limited so I can't host more than around 1000 pages. Mirrors are welcome!

http://scan.sh-kunstschach.eu/

Direct link: http://scan.sh-kunstschach.eu/kohtz_und_kockelkorn-das_indische_problem.pdf

Authors died in 1914 (Kockelkorn) and 1918 (Kohtz). A possible but not mentioned co-author died in 1935 (Walther Freiherr von Holzhausen). I can't say the source for him being a co-author, have read it somewhere a few days ago but could as well have been wrong.
 
   
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(9) Posted by Mario Velucchi [Saturday, May 10, 2008 22:56]

mirrors, well write me
mvalg@velucchi.it
 
   
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(10) Posted by Sarah Hornecker [Saturday, May 10, 2008 23:01]

At the moment it is no problem since there's not so many PD (and otherwise publishable) books I have. I also made an additional 90 MB space by deleting the Forchheim pictures which should be enough for maybe two more books. Wished I ever could get myself to scan the old ones. At the moment Toteutuneita oivalluksia (spelling?) and a Zukertort book wait for my attention.
 
 
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(11) Posted by [Sunday, May 11, 2008 09:35]

>Authors died in 1914 (Kockelkorn) and 1918 (Kohtz). A possible but not mentioned co-author died in 1935 (Walther Freiherr von >Holzhausen). I can't say the source for him being a co-author, have read it somewhere a few days ago but could as well have been wrong.

You may be thinking of his 'Logik und Zweckreinheit ...' that was published to the 25th anniversary of
"Das Indische Problem", and also is included in the Olms reprint edition of that title.
 
   
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(12) Posted by Sarah Hornecker [Sunday, May 11, 2008 13:00]

I'd prefer the original. :-)
 
   
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(13) Posted by Oliver Petrov [Monday, Oct 4, 2010 09:50]

The book "Chess problem gems by 8 eminent American composers", Kenneth S. Howard
http://theebooksbay.com/ebook/chess-problem-gems/
 
   
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(14) Posted by Sarah Hornecker [Friday, Jul 10, 2015 00:00]; edited by Sarah Hornecker [15-07-19]

It seems the website of Anders Thulin is down, but there is a fully functional link on the San Francisco Internet Wayback Machine, whereon I tested all downloads and found them working.

https://web.archive.org/web/20150418191653/http://www.anders.thulin.name/SUBJECTS/CHESS_PROBLEMS/


EDIT, 11 July 2015: Number 11 in Bláthy's "Vielzügige Schachaufgaben" is cooked in many ways, for example 5.Rb1, leading to a mate at move 13. I don't know how to save the composition easily. Anders Thulin might want to mention this if he has another look at the book.

EDIT, 19 July 2015: Sorry, I had somehow read a white rook on h3 instead of a black one. The problem is correct (apart from the trial at move 33). There is however problem 30 probably incorrect. Although I can't prove it, I believe 1.Q:c4 yields an advantage that should be big enough to mate at the 87th or an earlier move, for example 1.Q:c4 Qb2 2.Sc3+ Ka3 3.S:b5+ Ka2 4.B:b3+ S:b3 5.Sc3+, and so on, or 4.-Q:b3 5.Sc3+ Kb2 6.Sd1+!, and so on.
 
   
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(15) Posted by Eric Huber [Saturday, Jul 11, 2015 11:03]; edited by Eric Huber [15-07-11]

Thanks for bringing this thread up in the list.
Marian Stere has a nice site with scans of many books and magazines: http://www.stere.ro/

On the magazine page http://www.stere.ro/biblioteca-digitala/reviste/ , one can find for instance "1925–1992 - Revista Română de Șah" and "1971–2007 – Buletin Problemistic"
On the book page http://www.stere.ro/biblioteca-digitala/carti-de-sah/ one can choose downloading for example:
"1956 – P. Farago – Idei noi în șahul artistic" http://www.stere.ro/carti-de-sah/1956-p-farago-idei-noi-in-sahul-artistic/
or
"1967 – A.F. Ianovcic – Sahul artistic" http://www.stere.ro/carti-de-sah/1967-a-f-ianovcic-sahul-artistic/
 
   
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(16) Posted by Branislav Djurašević [Wednesday, Dec 16, 2015 11:11]

Please see new article:

Chess books on computers and tablets
by John Nunn

Technology now enables us to keep an entire chess library on a portable electronic device and to play over the moves on screen while reading your favourite book. Grandmaster John Nunn, author and Director at the prominent publishers Gambit, talks about the growing range of books his company is converting to app format, to run on iPads, Android tablets and smartphones. You can try it out for free.


http://en.chessbase.com/post/chess-books-on-computers-and-tablets
 
 
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MatPlus.Net Forum Internet and Computing Downloadable chess literature