Bastian, Hoffmeister, Leconte - La France et son apport dans le jeu d'échecs en Europe

La France et son apport dans le jeu d'échecs en Europe est un livre avec du contenu en français et en anglais qui retrace une grande partie de l'histoire qui lie la France au jeu d'échecs au niveau européen.

On 20 March 2021, an 8-hour online conference was held in honour of the Fédération française des échecs (FFE), which had celebrated its 100th founding anniversary the day before. The revised lectures of the renowned chess historians from Spain, France, England, Belgium, Poland, the Czech Republic and Germany are now available in book form. Bound in fine linen, 304 generously illustrated pages illuminate the rich history of European and especially French chess from the end of the 15th to the middle of the 20th century. Herbert Bastian (Saarbrücken), Prof. Dr. Frank Hoffmeister (Brussels) and Jean-Olivier Leconte (Paris), experienced chess historians, are responsible for the editing.

Seven of the twelve lectures are written in English, five in French (English-language contributions contain a summary in French and vice versa). Some of the reflections deal with old manuscripts (MS Paris/DeLucia, Göttingen manuscript, MS Allemand ) as well as with Chapais' work rediscovered in 1990. Other contributions focus on the work of formative personalities such as Philidor, Deschapelles, Mouret, Kieseritzky, Harrwitz, Petroff, Rosenthal, Gromer and Alekhine. Two others deal with the formation of the FFE and its first 25 years. The articles are up to date and provide numerous new insights. The work, which fulfils scientific criteria, thus offers a well-founded introduction to recent chess history and provides numerous points of reference for those interested in chess history. It is published by Exzelsior Verlag Berlin, which recently proved its high standard with the Lasker trilogy.