Sunday Book Review: Correspondence Chess in Britain and Ireland, 1824-1987

For many chess players, correspondence chess has been a kind of "secret weapon". With more time to consider, analyze, and make each move in a long distance game, new openings (some quite unorthodox, if that is where the interest runs) could be explored and prepared for over-the-board use. One need look no further than Alonzo Wheeler Jerome testing out his Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) in correspondence play, for a relevant example.

In addition, correspondence games, themselves, seem to have been excluded by and large from collections of over-the-board play. Many club players, masters and grandmasters prepared for their encounters largely untouched by this gold mine of "slower" chess.

A player who subscribed to the Chess Mail correspondence chess magazine, however, or who obtained the MegaCorr and UltraCorr CD databases, had access to hundreds of thousands (ultimately, over a million) additional games.

Both Chess Mail and Mega/UltraCorr were edited by Senior International Master of Correspondence Chess, Tim Harding, who is the author of today's reviewed book. 

Correspondence Chess in Britain and Ireland, 1824 – 1987
Tim Harding
McFarland and Co., 2011
softcover, algebraic notation
439 pages

This book is a massive work, a history, a games collection, an historical record — one likely to make it to many players' "desert island" book list.

In the words of the author

This is the story of a bygone age in intellectual sport, which ended in the latter part of the twentieth century. It tells the history of correspondence chess in Britain and Ireland from the first formal match between Edinburgh and London in 1824 up to the 1980s. This span of time saw a social transformation and an explosion in leisure activities including chess. Correspondence chess is that fascinating branch of the game where moves are exchanged with distant opponents by post or other means of communication. Nowadays it is mostly played on the internet, using email and web servers, but in the 1820s the mails were carried by stagecoach and the cost of sending letters was beyond the purse of a working man. In 1840, British postage charges were drastically reduced and postal chess became a novelty, which developed into a global competitive sport.

This book is aimed at all chess-players with an interest in the history of their game, not just postal chess, including as it does, for example, new revelation about the controversial Victorian master Howard Staunton (1810 – 1874). It should also interest social cultural and sports historians who may only have a passing acquaintance with chess. The story begins with the match which set the pattern for the rules of correspondence chess ever since.

Deeply researched and documented (its core was the author's doctoral thesis) Correspondence Chess in Britain and Ireland, 1824-1987 is also very accessible, both in readability and content. Harding has always known what will catch the eye of the average chess reader, and this title shows off his ability to tell a tale well.

Here is a peek at the Table of Contents

  Preface and Acknowledgments 
  Abbreviations 
  Annotation Symbols 
  1. Capital Letters: Edinburgh versus London, 1824–1828  
  2. Heyday of the Inter-Club Matches 
  3. Penny Post and Private Matches 
  4. Moves Over the Wires: Chess Adopts Technology 
  5. The Earliest Postal Tournaments, 1853 to 1870 
  6. Changing Times: The 1870s and 1880s 
  7. “A Battle at Long Range”: The United Kingdom versus the United States, 1877–1881 
  8. The Growth of Tournaments, 1870 to 1897 
  9. Scottish Correspondence Chess to 1918
10. Irish and Welsh Correspondence Chess to 1918
11. The English Scene, 1890 to 1918
12. From One War to the Next, 1918 to 1939
13. Correspondence Chess During World War II
14. International Revival, 1946 to 1951
15. Domestic Competitions, 1946 to 1970
16. Crisis and Resolution: Britain and the International
Correspondence Chess Federation, 1951 to 1971
17. The Home Front: The 1970s and 1980s
18. Growth and Success, 1972 to 1982
19. Becoming World Champions
Appendix I. Matches Between Clubs
Appendix II. Lists of Champions
Appendix III. Excerpts from Rules and Other Documents
Appendix IV. British and Irish Holders of I.C.C.F. Titles
Chapter Notes
Select Bibliography
Index of Images
Index of Opponents
Index of Openings by Name
Index of Openings by ECO Code
General Index

Whether you are looking for a slice of history (chess and otherwise), a measure of enjoyable chess games, an insight into openings that you play (or would like to play), or just a way to pleasantly while away a few hours at a time, Correspondence Chess in Britain and Ireland, 1824-1987 is a cornucopia of delight, waiting to be sampled.