From: "World Chess Championship", INTERNET:newsletter@mark-weeks.com
Date: 99/12/15, 08:43 
Re:   Chess History on the Web (1999 no.3)
 
The next review, following the Chess History bookmarks, is for 'On the
Square' by John S. Hilbert and other columnists. The home page, a table of
contents for the columns, is at... 
 
http://correspondencechess.com/campbell/monthly.htm. 
 
...Hilbert is one of more than a dozen 'On the Square' columnists. Other
frequent contributors are J. Franklin Campbell, Roy DeVault, & John P.
McCumiskey. Many 'On the Square' columns are about correspondence chess,
because the column is a feature of the 'Campbell Report - Correspondence
Chess' at...
 
http://correspondencechess.com/campbell/index.htm, 
 
...which is in turn a feature of 'Correspondence Chess.com' by John
Knudsen. The main site includes a lively message board for discussions
related to correspondence chess. 
 
When the bookmark was first added by another member of the Chess History
discussion group, Hilbert's name was specifically mentioned. I'll respect
that original reference by restricting this review to Hilbert, who has
indeed authored more 'On the Square' columns than have the other regular
columnists. This allows me to mention a few other Hilbert pages on the Web.
 
Who is John S. Hilbert? A quick search of the Web shows that he is the
author of two recent books published by Caissa Editions -- 'Buffalo 1901
and 1894 Chess Tournaments' (1996) & 'Napier: The Forgotten Chessmaster'
(1997). Reviews of both books are also on the Web -- 'Buffalo' may be
found at...
 
- http://www.chessmail.com/books/wicbk_11.htm#bk11_12 (1 paragraph)
- http://www.chesscafe.com/text/buffalo.txt
 
... while reviews of 'Napier' are at...
 
- http://www.chessdigest.com/catalog/biographies/bios2.html (1 paragraph)
- http://www.chesscafe.com/text/napier.txt
- http://www.insidechess.com/silman/silnap.html
 
A few 'On the Square' columns lead with a biography of Hilbert. There we
learn that, in addition to being the author of the two books, 'he also
edits a revived journal of chess history, "Lasker & His Contemporaries"',
and is working on at least two other books.
 
Hilbert also writes frequently for Chess Archaeology
(http://www.chessarch.com/arch.shtml), which I covered in the second of
these site reviews. Six articles may be found on the pages at...
 
http://www.chessarch.com/library/previous.shtml & 
http://www.chessarch.com/excavations/excavations.shtml. 
 
...With one exception, the articles are not copies of the 'On the Square'
material, although they exhibit many of the same qualities. 
 
Hilbert's interest in chess history centers on the turn of the century,
particularly in the Western New York & Eastern Great Lakes regions of the
United States. His approach to chess history is not to compile lists or to
create references. He assumes that his readers already know the great
players, the great tournaments, & the great games. He builds on this to
explore the lesser known players, tournament, & games. His essays are
about relatively obscure chess personalities -- George Mackenzie
(1837-1891), George Thornton (1851-1920), Emil Kemeny (1860-1925),
Mordecai Morgan (1862-1932?), William Napier (1881-1952). 
 
Like other chess historians, Hilbert fills his essays with stories, games,
& annotations. Unlike most other historians, he also describes the methods
& concerns which are peculiar to his avocation. One can easily picture him
leafing through yellowing chess columns which were clipped long ago from
19th century newspapers & carefully arranged in graying scrapbooks; or
playing the moves of a game between two unknown 19th century players,
neither of whom is likely to be honored with a game file at the UPitt
archives; or spending an entire afternoon in a rural library searching for
an overlooked tournament report, game score, or biographical detail. 
 
In 'Stalking the Blue-Eyed Chess Score', he describes the intellectual
pleasure in pursuing forgotten games of the great masters. 'And so, from
games played by a world champion to the correspondence chess efforts of
local enthusiasts, the stalking of historic chess game scores offers hours
and hours of entertainment for the person with persistence, time, and
interest.'
 
In 'Chess Columns: Now and Then', he compares a typical modern newspaper
chess column to its predecessor of a century ago. He notes an unfavorable
trend, but concludes on a note of optimism, 'After all, where are you
reading this column? Yes, the future in all likelihood does not bode well
for detailed chess coverage reappearing in the daily print press. Perhaps
the continued growth of Internet chess coverage will offer readers the
same detail, delight, and wonder as did the chess columns of so long ago.'
 
In a negative review of 'Emanuel Lasker' by Egon Varnusz, he calls the
book a 'dangerous disaster' and then asks, 'How can a chess book dealing
with games played approximately one hundred years ago be considered
"dangerous"? And to whom?'. He explains, 'The book appears reasonably well
constructed, [...] and thus suggests to the unwary reader that it stands
as a legitimate attempt to convey useful information about one of the
greatest chess players ever to play the game. [...] This work, clearly, is
not the best, nor even an adequate, book on Emanuel Lasker.'
 
In 'To Checkmate the Kaiser', he describes correspondence chess at the end
of the First World War. 'Chess players and their families are as patriotic
as anyone else. Just because we prefer to fight our battles within the
confines of sixty-four squares doesn't mean we forget the larger playing
board of world history.'
 
In 'Capablanca in Cleveland', he details the search for forgotten games of
the Cuban grandmaster. 'It is impossible to speculate how many more such
games could be unearthed were interested readers who either visit or live
in or near cities around the United States, and elsewhere, willing to
spend an afternoon examining the local newspaper microfilm available in
public libraries.'
 
In 'Napier: The Search Continues', he describes contacts with other chess
historians. 'One of the beauties of writing and publishing material on
historical chess figures is that one quickly learns there is a small, but
devoted, coterie of chess historians and aficionados quite willing to help
elucidate, and at times correct, details concerning the great players of
our game.'
 
If you are interested in chess history, but don't know how to contribute,
take Hilbert's hint. In every corner of the world, chess is played & has a
history. Much of that history is slowly being forgotten and risks being
lost forever. In Hilbert's words, 'While not every "find" will lead to
your name being mentioned in the history books, that really isn't the
point. My greatest pleasure from the experience was knowing that, no
matter in how small a fashion, I had added to the sum total of our shared
chess past, and that my efforts might one day give pleasure to someone
else who plays over those games. And the same pleasure is mine -- and can
be yours -- every time a small bit of chess history is unearthed.' [from
'Stalking the Blue-Eyed Chess Score'].
 
Bye for now,
Mark Weeks