Serendipity strikes again ...
Just in time for my friend Bob van de Velde's 89th birthday (March 26th) and the 25th anniversary of the Emanuel Lasker Society, "guided coincidence" bestowed upon me a wonderful birthday present. It all started with this email from Anthony Saidy (also born in 1937), a longtime Lasker enthusiast and member of the CH&LS. Highest Level with Modest Participation
Tony wrote on February 10, 2026, in his usual style:
Reminds of an exchange I had in 1978 with a Soviet colleague.
"I saw where a bridge club in L'Grad was shut down by the police. Why?"
"We are not to do such things without authorization."
In the mid-1930s the great German-Jewish world champion (holding the crown for 27 years until 1921) also a mathematician & philosopher, made a move eastward w. his wife. Incredibly, at age 66 he sailed through the Moscow 1935 intl. tournament w/o a single loss, just a half-point behind the winners.
But Lasker did not like USSR at the height of the purges (all foreigners being under suspicion) and skirted to the scene of his overwhelming 1924 tnt. victory well ahead of the man who had dethroned him, NY.
There he found living under FDR more copacetic than either Hitler or Stalin. After all, it was his friend Einstein's adopted country. He died there in 1941 at 72 - and my oblivious(to chess) parents had not taken me at 4 to meet him. (Yes, I also walked on earth with Capablanca and Alekhine.)
He was adept at more than one game and even created his own, "Laska." It didn't catch on anywhere more than the chicken farm that the chess colossus once tried to run near Berlin.
Lasker Bridge Methods and Art of Playing. Riga 1930s. Russian avant-garde book bridge
Pre-owned $99.99 + $10.00 delivery, located in Latvia
Dr. Thomas Thomsen (*23.07.1934 - †02.04.2026)
An obituary by Michael Negele
The grand seigneur of the collecting community has left us forever.
Dr. Thomas Thomsen (*23.07.1934 - †02.04.2026)
As recently as March 14, 2026, I spoke with Thomas Thomsen at length on the phone. He sounded confident that he would overcome the health issues that had arisen following gall bladder surgery, and he was even considering coming to Berlin on the last weekend of April. In his mind, he already seemed to be looking forward to the planned CCI meeting in Lisbon.
CH&LS will painfully miss a good friend, and the CCI members will miss a — if not the — driving force of their organization. His invaluable knowledge and organizational talent are now irretrievably lost. May Thomas rest in peace; he can certainly look back on a fulfilled life.
Our acquaintance likely dates back to the CCI meeting in Hamburg in 2005 ...
In memory of a good friend, here are some photos from my archive.
Philidor’s Chess Set: The Story of a Heritage Rescue
By Jean Olivier Leconte, President of the Art, Culture and History Commission of the French Chess Federation (FFE)
Originally published in French on the website of the French Chess Federation.
This is the story of how the efforts of a small number of people helped save an exceptional object: Philidor’s personal chess set. They deserve to be warmly thanked here.
It all began on Wednesday, February 25, 2026. That day, I received a text message from François Zutter, a member of the Chess History and Literature Society, of which I am also a member, asking whether I had seen that Philidor’s chess set was to be auctioned in Paris on Friday, March 13.
For me, the news came entirely out of the blue. I had no prior knowledge of it whatsoever. And there was something extraordinary about the announcement, especially in this year marking the tricentenary of Philidor’s birth.
I had already had the opportunity to see and photograph this chess set during the exhibition devoted to Philidor at the museum in Dreux in the summer of 2025. A report I wrote on that exhibition can be found on lecafedelaregence.blogspot.com (in french).
Read more … Philidor’s Chess Set: The Story of a Heritage Rescue
How a Belgian researcher reconstructed a nearly 1.800-year-old Roman board game with the help of AI
[Note by Henri Serruys: This article was published on 10 February 2026 in Dutch on the website of the Flemish Radio and Television Company (VRT).]
Author: Kasper Nollet (VRT NWS)
A mysterious stone that has been gathering dust for years in a Dutch museum may in fact be an ancient Roman board game. This emerges from a Belgian study reported by RTBF. Using a specialised AI model and an extensive database of historical board games, the researchers even managed to unravel how the nearly 1,800-year-old game was once played.
Summary:
• An international research group led by AI scientist Eric Piette (UCLouvain) has determined that a mysterious stone in the Roman Museum in Heerlen is an ancient Roman board game, dating from approximately AD 200 to 400.
• With the help of a specialised AI database and simulations, the researchers discovered that it is a blocking game.
• “The patterns and possible rules correspond strikingly well with games from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries in Scandinavia,” says Eric Piette (UCLouvain), “which points to early cultural influence between the two regions.”
Michael Negele on the road again: Wismar, Brunswick and Wijk aan Zee
by Michael Negele
Dear members and friends of the CH&LS,
It was on July 5, 2019, that I published my last post on our website. It was about the 76th auction at Klittich-Pfankuch in Brunswick.
76th Auction at Klittich-Pfankuch auction house on 22nd June 2019
After almost six years of "hibernation," I was able to attend the 89th auction on November 21/22, 2025. It made me happy to meet many friends from the "good old days" and to feel so welcome.
Before that, I had surprised Siegfried Schönle on November 11, 2025, in Wismar, where I was able to attend his wonderful lecture. I was pleased to purchase his book on Schach im DP-Lager Landsberg und im Ghetto Terezín / Theresienstadt [Chess in the DP Camp Landsberg and in the Terezín/Theresienstadt Ghetto].
Read more … Michael Negele on the road again: Wismar, Brunswick and Wijk aan Zee
New Member: Roderick Edwards
Our new member, Roderick Edwards from Canada, introduces himself in the members area (you must be logged in to read).
New Member: Vladimir Hrtko
Our new member, Vladimir Hrtko from Slovakia, is introduced in the members' area. (you must be logged in to read).
New Book from a Member
La Historia del Ajedrez Puertorriqueño, Trebejos en movimiento, v 1, is a pioneering work that gathers and presents the fascinating history of chess on the Island. This chronicle traces its origins back to the arrival of the first chessboards on ships coming from Spain, integrating the game’s development — with its highs and lows — from its earliest stages up to the early 1950s. The book, the result of rigorous research, offers readers in a single volume relevant information drawn from articles published by various authors in different sources, organized and grouped into chapters, largely following a chronological order. This structure allows the reader to appreciate the succession of the most significant events related to the game of chess.
The author, our member Bernard Christenson (Arecibo, 1953), is a distinguished physician specializing in Infectious Diseases. He is known for his numerous medical and historical publications
The Final Months of Lionel Kieseritzky
by Jean Olivier Leconte - https://lecafedelaregence.blogspot.com/
The end of Lionel Kieseritzky’s life long remained unclear to me, until I discovered several documents that shed light on his final months. What follows is the result of my investigation.
In 1851, Kieseritzky travelled to London for the first major international chess tournament, held during the Great Exhibition. He went there as the leading French player of the time. The event was not a great success for him, but his name would remain forever in the annals of chess thanks to the so-called “Immortal Game” played against Anderssen on the sidelines of the tournament.
Tobiblion update
Per Skjoldager has updated the database of the BoC-Project. Numerous new items and descriptions have been added to Tobiblion as well as the data of the 88th Klittich auction. They are now available for members in Tobiblion.