Subject:
      Site review - Chess Composition Books
Date:
      1999/07/13
Author:
      Mark Weeks <100046.2106@compuserve.com>

This 5th chess history site review is going to be short. The next bookmark on
the list is 'Chess Composition Books' by Anders Thulin & is at URL
http://www.algonet.se/%7eath/. The site is a single page
subtitled 'Electronic editions of public domain works'.

The page links to files which are electronic (Adobe Acrobat) versions of
problem collections where the copyright has expired on the original hardcopy
version. These files are not scans of the originals -- they are typeset using
software. Thulin is a member of the chess history
discussion group & frequently posts to this forum. At the end of May, he
explained his tools & methods in a message 'Chess e-texts - problem texts'.
The challenges to create the reproductions are considerable.

The page has five available titles, all but one with a 'Reading copy' & a
'Printing copy'. The files are listed with their ZIPped sizes. The finished titles
are 'English Chess Problems' by J. Pierce & W. T. Pierce, 'Canadian Chess
Problems' by C. F. Stubbs, 'Seventy-Five Chess Problems' by John Thursby,
& '777 Chess Miniatures in Three' by E. Wallis. The current work in progressis
'Schachaufgaben' by Philipp Klett. The page also contains links to the
software needed to decompress & read the files.

Thulin has an excellent, original idea which could be used on any public
domain chess material, whether composition or not. I look forward to the day
when someone, following Thulin's lead, tackles such treasures of chess
history as the White collection.

Respectfully,
Mark Weeks