The Curator and his team look after the Edinburgh Chess Club library which has over 2000 books, magazines, and periodicals that are available for members to consult and borrow.
Club members will be aware that there are a number of places around the club where books can be found on all aspects of chess.
In addition, the club owns copies of various magazines, and has full histories of some magazines dating back decades.
Finally, there are archives, showing some of the early history of the club.
The purpose of this page is to give information on:
- what books and magazines are held in the club
- where the different books and magazines are stored
- how members can borrow and consult the volumes
Any questions that aren’t answered on these pages can be directed to the Club Curator at:
The club owns in the region of 2000 books. Spread across the full spectrum of chess subjects.
Specifically, books can be found on each of the following subjects:
- Playing Information
- Opening
- Middlegame
- Strategy
- Tactics
- Endgame
- Player Improvement
- Teach Yourself
- Training Guides
- Puzzles
- Tournaments
- World Championships
- Candidates
- Interzonals
- Olympiads
- International Tournaments
- Eminent Players
- World Champions
- Grandmasters
- Deep Thinkers
- Biographies
- General Information
- General Chess
- Chess Pieces
- ‘Fun’ Chess
- ‘Casual’ Chess
- Donated Collections
- A number of former members have donated significant numbers of books to the club, which previously formed part or all of their own collections
- Foreign Language Books
- There are a number of books covering many subjects in many languages – usually written by the authors in their native language. In some cases the club also holds the translation into English as a separate book in the relevant section.
The club also has a large store of magazines and periodicals in various forms, some bound. We have complete years of magazines such as Scottish Chess, British Chess Magazine, etc. and many copies of regularly produced periodicals such as Informator, New in Chess, etc.
Books are grouped by general subject, and then by more detailed sub sections, in various different parts of the club.
At a high level:
- Openings are in the middle two shelves in the hallway
- Middle games, strategy and tactics are in the bottom shelf in the hallway
- Endgames are in the analysis room
- Championships & tournaments, and biographies are in the display cabinet in the playing room
- Self-improvement books are in the bottom shelf in the hallway, and across other storage areas where subjects crossover.
- Foreign language books are in the analysis room
- Collections are principally in the corner cupboard and the portmanteau (the big cupboard where the clocks are stored) in the playing room
- General books are in other parts of the hallway, analysis room, and in the corner cupboard and portmanteau in the playing room
A more detailed description of where different types of book are held, including a breakdown of openings, is given below:
POLITE REQUEST: If you take a book off the shelves either for the evening or borrowed for a period, please try to return it to the same shelf you took it from – this makes things much easier for our poor curator!
Playing Room Display Cabinet
| Periodicals | ||
| Top Shelf | World Championships, Interzonals, Tournaments, Selected Games | |
| Shelf 2 | Post WWII GM biographies and Games (Kasparov, Karpov, Korchnoi, Fisher, Spassky, Petrosian, Bronstein, Botvinnik, Keres, Carlsen) | |
| Shelf 3 | Pre WWII GM biographies and Games (Alekhine, Lasker, Euwe, Capablanca, Tarrasch, Morphy, Steinitz) | Miscellaneous lesser known GM biographies and Games |
| Bottom Shelf | Game collections | |
Hallway
If viewing this page on a phone, the following diagram is best viewed in landscape mode:
| Top Shelf | General, Miscellaneous | Miscellaneous | Miscellaneous | Miscellaneous, Puzzles |
| Shelf 2 | Queens Pawn Openings | Openings General | ||
| Queens Gambit, English, Slav, Semi-Slav, Chigorin | Kings Indian, Grunfeld, Benoni, Miscellaneous Openings | Nimzo-Indian, Queens Indian, Bogo-Indian | ||
| Shelf 3 | Kings Pawn Openings | |||
| Caro-Kann, French, Ruy Lopez | Kings Gambit, Bishops Opening, Scotch, Various lesser played Gambits | Sicilian (cont), Petroff, Miscellaneous Kings Pawn Openings | Sicilian | |
| Bottom Shelf | Middle Game | Strategy, Planning | Tactics, Combinations | Training, Self Teach |
Analysis Room
| Top Shelf | Miscellaneous |
| Shelf 2 | Endgames |
| Shelf 3 | Endgames |
| Shelf 4 | Foreign Language |
| Shelf 5 | Foreign Language |
| Bottom Shelf | Magazines |
Members are encouraged to borrow books from the library for their own use.
Borrowed books should be recorded in the blue book, which is kept either in the hallway beside the visitors book, or in the display cabinet in the analysis room. Note your name, date and the book you borrow…and remember to add the date when you return it!
POLITE REQUEST: If you take a book off the shelves either for the evening or borrowed for a period, please try to return it to the same shelf you took it from – this makes things much easier for our poor curator!
The club archives and certain books of historical interest are not for general borrowing, if you wish to peruse them within the club then please contact the curator who will arrange a convenient time for you to gain access.