Books and journals on Chess Variants

Index

Books

• D. B. Pritchard, The Encyclopedia of Chess Variants.
• J. Gollon, Chess Variations: Ancient, Regional, and Modern.
• Jean-Louis Cazaux, Guide des échecs exotiques et insolites.
• Pascal Reysset and Jean-Louis Cazaux, L'univers des Échecs.
• H. J. Murray, A History of Chess.
• David Moeser, Lotus Chess: The Book.
• J. Fairbairn, Shogi for Beginners.
• J. Fairbairn, How to Play Shogi.
• T. Leggett, Shogi - Japan's Game of Strategy.
• R.C. Bell, Board and Table Games (From Many Civilizations).
• R. Wayne Schmittberger, New Rules for Classic Games.
• C. Pickover, Mazes for the Mind.
• George Hope Verney, Chess Eccentricities. (Link to other file.)
• Anthony Dickins, A Guide to Fairy Chess.
• David Li, First Syllabus on Xiangqi - Chinese Chess 1.
• Sam Sloan, Chinese Chess for Beginners.
• H. T. Lau, Chinese Chess.
• David Li. Information on two books on Kriegspiel. (Link to other file.)
• T. R. Dawson, 5 Classics of Fairy Chess.
• Edward Falkener, Games ancient and oriental and how to play them.
• Stephen Addison, 100 other games to play on a chessboard.
• Wim van der Kolk, Een paard voor een koninkrijk.
• John William Brown, Meta-Chess.
• Tony Hosking, The Art of Shogi.
• Laszlo Polgar, Reform chess.
• J. Boyer, three French books on chess variants. (Link to other file.)
• David L. Brown, White and Black from Brown - A Selection of 168 Diagrams and Chess Related Fluff. Review.
• David Pritchard, Popular Chess Variants.
• Book: L U Kisljuk, The Japanese Heroes' Game. Information on a Russian book on chess variants. By Ivan A Derzhanski.
• A. Dickins, A guide to fairy chess. Short information on out-of-print book on fairy pieces and conditions from fairy chess problems.
• Ben R. Foster, Chancellor Chess. In the late 1800's, Ben R. Foster created a chess variant called Chancellor Chess, and also published a book on it.

Booklets

• Mario Velucchi, Bibliografia scacchistica, annotata.
• Schach mal anders.
• David Moeser, Neue Chess.
• Capt. George Hope Verney, Four-Handed Chess. (1881, full copy on the WWW.)

Periodicals

• Strategems. Chess problem journal. (Link to other page.)
• Abstract Games Magazine. Magazine on abstract board games. (Link to other page.)
• World Game Review. Game journal.
• Chessnuts 1999. Chessnuts is the newsletter of the Circular Chess Society. This is the 1999 issue. By Rob Stevens.

Chess books for children and beginners

• Review of: Winning Chess Piece by Piece, by Ted Nottingham, Al Lawrence, and Bob Wade. Book for improving chess for children.
• Review of Winning Chess: Tactics and Strategies, by Ted Nottingham, Al Lawrence, and Bob Wade. Book for improving chess for children.
• Review of: Sammy Seahorse Teaches Chess, by F. Donald Bloss and Andrew Kensler.

In the list below, you find more information, not indexed above.

A list of books and periodicals containing information on chess variants

David B. Pritchard, The Encyclopedia of Chess Variants

Games and Puzzles Publications, 1994. This is THE source of information on CVs. Anybody interested in different CVs, should read this book. It is available from

GAMES & PUZZLES PUBLICATIONS
P.O.Box 20
Godalming, Surrey
GU8 4YP UNITED KINGDOM

Highly recommended. See also:

• A review of this book by Philip M. Cohen.
• Ordering the book? There are a few on-line bookshops that carry the book. In the UK, you can order it via Amazon.co.uk (the British branch of Amazon.com). You can also directly order the book from Pritchard himself. In the US, try ordering it from Globe Pequot Press.
• See also the book Popular Chess Variants, by the same author.
• Interview with David Pritchard.
• Advertisement for this book.

Charles E. Tuttle Co., Inc., RR1 Box 231-5, North Clarendon, VT 05759-9700, USA, telephone (802)773-8930, fax. (802)773-6993. An older book, with more on historic variants. Recommended. ISBN 0-8048-1122-9. The book went out of print January 1995. With some luck, you might still be able to find a copy somewhere!

Jean-Louis Cazaux, Guide des échecs exotiques et insolites

• Home page of Jean-Louis Cazaux.
• Review of Jean-Louis Cazaux's Guide des échecs exotiques & insolites, by K.B.A. Bodlaender.

Pascal Reysset and Jean-Louis Cazaux, L'univers des Échecs

• Pascal Reysset and Jean-Louis Cazaux, L'univers des Échecs.

H. J. Murray, A History of Chess.

Originally printed in the beginning of the 20th century, it has recently been reprinted. 900 pages on history of chess, containing information on historic chess variants, Shatranj-puzzles, old manuscripts on chess, and much, much more. Reprint by Benjamin Press, Northampton, Massachusetts, ISBN 0-936-317-01-9.

One can order this book directly from Benjamin Press: tel. +1-4135866272; fax +1-4135862852. VISA is accepted. The book costs $39.95; postage costs (from the US to Europe) $4.85 (surface, delivery time 5-6 weeks.)

The Shogi Association, Ltd. P.O. Box 77, Bromley, Kent, United Kingdom, First published in Japan by Ishi Press Inc., 1984. Third printing September 1987. A book on Japanese chess, Shogi. You can buy this book from Amaz on.com. (If you buy the book using this last link, we receive a small percentage of the cost from Amazon.com, which will be used to cover the cost of this website.)

John Fairbairn, How to Play Shogi

1979. Published by: The Shogi Association, P.O. Box 77, Bromley, Kent, England. k 1.50. Booklet. English.

1966. Charles E. Tuttle Company, Inc. RR1 Box 231-5, North Clarendon, VT 05759-9700, USA, telephone (802)773-8930, fax. (802)773-6993. English. Does have some good examples for moves and a few Shogi problems. ISBN 0804819033; $16.95. This book is still in print.

You can buy this book from Amaz on.com. (If you buy the book using this last link, we receive a small percentage of the cost from Amazon.com, which will be used to cover the cost of this website.)

R.C. Bell, Board and Table Games (From Many Civilizations).

1979. Revised edition, two volumes bound as one. Dover Publications, Inc., 180 Varick Street, New York, NY 10014, U.S.A.. ISBN 0-486-23855-5.

You can buy this book from Amaz on.com. (If you buy the book using this last link, we receive a small percentage of the cost from Amazon.com, which will be used to cover the cost of this website.)

R. Wayne Schmittberger, New Rules for Classic Games.

This book contains rule variations on many games, including several chess variants, like extinction chess, middle Shogi, 3-d hook-move chess. Recommended.
John Wiley & Sons, Inc. New York; ISBN 0-471-53621-0. $9.95.

A translation of this book in Dutch (and likely in some other languages) exists. The title of the Dutch translation is: Mens erger je weer-Nieuwe regels voor klassieke spelen.

• Review of the book.

Variant Chess - periodical

Variant Chess is a regularly appearing periodical on chess variants. More information.

C. Pickover, Mazes for the Mind.

St. Martin's Press, New York, 1994. This book contains many different things, including a number of chess variants, for instance Too Many Bishops. Home page of C. Pickover.

Books on Shogi (Japanese Chess)

Anthony Dickins, A Guide to Fairy Chess

Contains many chess variants. This book has an emphasis on fairy chess problems, i.e., problems in chess variants. Published by Dover in 1971. The book may be hard to find, but a more recent German translation may be easier to obtain. The German Translation is: Anthony Dickins, Ma"rchenschach, Hesse Becker, 1986, ISBN 3-8036-3008-8.

David Li, First Syllabus on Xiangqi - Chinese Chess 1

A 136 page book on Chinese Chess. The book is available at L12 (or its equivalent in any European currency), airpost prepaid, from Premier Publishing Company, P O Box 341267, Bethesda MD 20827, USA. Personal cheque is okay. Information about this book. ISBN: 0963785257; Price $11.95.

David Li, Xiangqi Syllabus on Cannon; Chinese Chess 2

You can buy this book from Amaz on.com. (If you buy the book using this last link, we receive a small percentage of the cost from Amazon.com, which will be used to cover the cost of this website.)

Sam Sloan, Chinese Chess for Beginners

• Review of this book by Michael Keller.
• Stephen Leary's Chinese Chess FAQ writes about this book:

Gives the basic rules, info about personalities, etc. This book received a rating of 3.5 in XiangQi Review (on a scale of 1-10, 1 being the lowest).

ISBN: 0923891110. Price: $12.95.

H. T. Lau, Chinese Chess

Charles E. Tuttle Company, Inc. RR1 Box 231-5, North Clarendon, VT 05759-9700, USA, telephone (802)773-8930, fax. (802)773-6993. From the Chinese Chess FAQ:

Basic rules, opening, middle and endgame play. Many exercises. Material needed to win or draw various endings. Descriptions of popular opening variations. This book received a rating of 6 in XiangQi Review (on a scale of 1-10, 1 being the lowest).

ISBN: 0804816751.

Books on Chinese Chess from the FAQ

Mario Velucchi, Bibliografia scacchistica, annotata

Chess Variant enthusiast Mario Velucchi, (email removed contact us for address) .di.unipi.it, has written a booklet on Maths Chess, Retrograde Analysis, Chess problems and Computer, Fairy Chess, etc. Here are some bibliographic details: journal supplement: `Scacchi e Scienze Applicate' ISSN: 0392-0127; Bibliography - References of: Books, Magazines, Technical Reports, Articles ... Introduction and Comments in ENGLISH and ITALIAN. The booklet can be obtained by writing to:

Romano BELLUCCI
Castello 5449
I-30122 Venezia
ITALY

Nostalgia

The bulletin of NOST, Nostalgia contains always (I think) materials on chess variants.

Eteroscacco Magazine

Eteroscacco Magazine is the bulletin of AISE, an Italian organisation playing chess variants. Highly recommended, provided that you are able to read Italian!

Books on Kriegspiel

David H. Li wrote two books and some articles about Kriegspiel.

• Information on these books, including publishers address.

Book by T. R. Dawson. Peter Smith Pub, ISBN: 0844647276, $9. Published in 1991. Also published by Dover.

• Review and more information.

Edward Falkener, Games ancient and oriental and how to play them

Dover Publications, Inc., New York, S.B.N. 486-20739-0, 366 pages. In this book, a large number of games can be found, including some chess variants. With variants, one finds also some really played sample games. Also, one can find in this book a description of Turkish chess (on a board made of cloth).

Dutch version: 100 spelletjes op Uw schaakbord, BZZToH, 's-Gravenhage, 1986, 111 pages.

Dutch book. Bert Bakker BV, Amsterdam, 1976, 112 blz.

Chess problem magazines

1. Probleemblad. Magazine of the Dutch Chess Problem Society.

• A review. And ordering information.
• Index. And excerpt from the introduction.
• A second review.

• Schach mal anders. (In German.)

David Moeser, Neue Chess

David Moeser, Lotus Chess: the Book

Tony Hosking, The Art of Shogi

• More information.

Buying books

1. Chess and Go Shop Het Paard. (Link to their WWW site.)
2. EDILÁN. They have available facsimile copies of King Alfonso X's book of Chess, along with facsimiles of many other remarkable medieval codices. (Link.)
3. New, Used, Rare and Collectible Books and Games (Link.)