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Edward Winter (chess historian)

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Edward Winter (born 1955[1]) is an English journalist, archivist, historian, collector and author about the game of chess. Very little information about him is publicly available. His correspondence with other chess historians as well as prefaces of his books suggest he lives in Geneva, Switzerland. He writes a regular column on chess history, Chess Notes, and is also a regular columnist for ChessBase.

Chess Notes

Chess Notes started as a bimonthly periodical, and was described by its author, in the first issue (January–February 1982), as "A forum for aficionados to discuss all matters relating to the Royal Pastime". At the end of 1989, the periodical ceased publication. In 1993, Winter resumed publication of Chess Notes, which appeared, this time, as a syndicated column, in many languages around the world. From 1998 to 2001, it was published exclusively in New In Chess. Later, it appeared online at the Chess Café website. Since September 2004, Chess Notes are hosted by the Chess History Center website.

Beginning in 1996, selected collections of Chess Notes have been published in book form.

Yasser Seirawan calls Winter "the chess world's foremost authority on its rich history".[2] William Hartston observed of him: "Edward Winter is probably the most meticulous and diligent researcher and chess writer around. For several years, from his home in Switzerland, he produced the much-admired Chess Notes, a privately published journal of chess history and anecdotes that was the scourge of all that was sloppy or dishonest in chess. Winter's brilliantly scathing style, always adopted in the noble cause of accuracy, give his writings a marvellously entertaining as well as instructive quality."[3]

Winter is noted for his abrasive style in his criticisms of other writers; frequent targets include Eric Schiller,[4] Raymond Keene,[5] and Larry Evans.[6]

Hans Ree wrote of Winter, "[He] is a just but stern supervisor of chess literature. Every chess writer in the English language knows: when he makes a mistake in a date, overlooks a mate in an analysis, or sins against the King's English, he will be flogged by Winter, whose eyes see everything."[7]

Books

  • World Chess Champions (editor); Everyman Ltd; 30 November 1981; ISBN 0-08-024094-1
  • Capablanca: A Compendium of Games, Notes, Articles, Correspondence, Illustrations and Other Rare Archival Materials on the Cuban Chess Genius José Raúl Capablanca, 1888-1942; McFarland & Company; 1 December 1989; ISBN 9780899504551
  • Chess Explorations; Cadogan Books; 30 March 1996; ISBN 978-1857441710
  • Kings, Commoners and Knaves: Further Chess Explorations; Russell Enterprises; May 1999; ISBN 978-1888690040
  • A Chess Omnibus; Russell Enterprises; June 2003; ISBN 1-888690-17-8
  • Chess Facts and Fables; McFarland & Company; 21 November 2005; ISBN 978-0786423101

References

  1. ^ Dutch National Library, retrieved on 2010-07-21
  2. ^ Winter, A Chess Omnibus, back cover.
  3. ^ The Independent, 14 November 1996, p.26
  4. ^ "A sorry case", 1999 ("with updates")
  5. ^ "World Champion Combinations", 1998 ("with additions")
  6. ^ "The Facts about Larry Evans", 2001, ("with updates")
  7. ^ Hans Ree (16 November 1996), "The Hermit of Geneva" (PDF), NRC-Handelsblad, Amsterdam (Newspaper), English translation published by ChessCafe.com, archived from the original (pdf) on 27 October 2006 {{citation}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
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