I am always excited when new material becomes available here on the Campfire Chess downloads page. That tiny little section of the site that began as a simple repository for game archives has grown into a fantastic collection of games from some of the greatest players in chess history, collections for select chess books, and various downloads that are designed to enhance your chess experience. Today I am excited to announce the addition of an e-book collection, which comes in part from the recently defunct Chessville website. Here is just a small sample of what is now available on the downloads page:
- The Book of the First American Chess Congress – This is the world-famous chess tournament in which Paul Morphy solidified himself as one of the greatest American chess players in history.
- On the Game of Chess – Written by Gioachino Greco, one of the first men in history to do extensive analysis and annotations of chess, this book is a collection of his theories and simulated games. It is a great primer for beginning students or chess history enthusiasts.
- The Tactical Grob – Love him or hate him, it is difficult to escape the elephant in the room: Claude Bloodgood. Claude was a controversial American chess player that spent most of his life in prison for killing his mother. While in prison he organized countless USCF prison tournaments and was accused of gaming the USCF ratings system. While incarcerated he wrote this book on an opening called The Tactical Grob, which may or may not make you shake your head in disbelief.
As always, each of these items (and more) are available for free on the downloads page. It is my hope that I will continue to collect items and use them to refine the downloads section for future updates. There is an almost endless fountain of information on chess, its history, and its personalities out there. Perhaps someday Campfire Chess will be the hub that puts it all together. Hey, a man can dream, can’t he…