Edward G. Winter
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Edward Winter is a noted journalist and author about chess.
Winter is a chess historian based in Switzerland. He summarizes his goal as improving chess history by "providing new information that is accurate and exposing old information that isn't". He had done so mostly in his long-running chess column "Chess Notes" (see external links), now over 4000 in number. Four of his five books are a selection from "Chess Notes" with some additional material (original essays, historical research, book reviews, etc.). In addition, he wrote a biography of Jose Raul Capablanca and edited a book about the chess champions of the world.
A typical "Chess Notes" entry varies from a few lines to a few pages in length, and either describe an obscure game, position, player, etc., that deserves to be better known, or proves that a certain "well-known fact" about a famous chess player, game, or position is an invention. For example, Winter proved conclusively that the old story about Paul Morphy having "died in his bath surrounded by women's shoes" is a myth. He also rescued from obscurity one of the best players of the 19th century, Samuel Rosenthal, who is virtually unknown today.
Assessment of the qualities of Edward Winter varies widely. John Donaldson has called him "the world's greatest chess historian". Others claim he is a humorless pedant. Winter had created the most controversy with his book reviews. Extremely demanding himself (he refuses, as a matter of principle, to publish anything in his "Chess Notes" column without exact, verifiable sources), he has little tolerance for books that make historical claims without verifying them, or that have many inaccuracies and mistakes. In particular, two prolific authors, Raymond Keene and Eric Schiller, have been severely criticized by Winter for what Winter claims is an inordinate amount of historical and typographical mistakes in their books.
Schiller and Keene's supporters argue that Winter is merely being pedantic, unfairly judging their books, which are mostly about chess practice for beginners (opening theory, tactics, etc.) as if they were works of chess history for experts in the field. Winter's supporters claim that, while severe, Winter's criticism is almost invariably well-justified, and that historical accuracy is a necessity in all chess books, not only in those explicitly written from the historical or biographical point of view.
There are some who doubt that Winter exists, believing that Edward Winter is a pseudonym:
- "The English chess writer Edward Winter has this in common with God, that his existence can only be deduced from his works. Nobody has ever seen him. There are no photographs of him. He has an address in Geneva and he answers his mail, but intrepid seekers for biographical information get a curt reply that tells them that only matters of chess can be discussed." Ree, Hans (1996) ["Dutch Treat"], column of 16 November 1996 on chesscafe.com
External links
- [Chess Notes] archive by Edward Winter.
Books
- Chess Facts and Fables (2005) ISBN 0786423102
- A Chess Omnibus (2003) ISBN 1888690178
- Kings, Commoners and Knaves: Further Chess Explorations (2001) ISBN 1888690046
- Chess Explorations (1996) ISBN 1857441710
- Capablanca: A Compendium of Games, Notes, Articles, Correspondence, Illustrations and Other Rare Archival Materials on the Cuban Chess Genius Jose Raul Capablanca, 1888-1942 (1989) ISBN 0899504558
- World Chess Champions (1981) ISBN 0080240941
Notes
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