California Chess Reporter 1951-1953 (Volume 1)

The California Chess Reporter ran for 25 year from 1951 to 1976. It was published six times a year. The first issue of the California Chess Reporter, that promised continuous coverage of the entire state, appeared on June 1951. Editor Dr. H. J. Ralston’s first editorial explained it best, “The unhappy demise of the Chess Digest early this year left the chess players of California without any organ for the systematic publication of chess news. It has been the fate of chess publications in the past to quietly expire unless they enjoyed the support of some solid organization of chess players.

California Chess Reporter 1951-1953 (Volume 1)

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California Chess Reporter 1958-1961 (Volume 4)

A special treat awaits in this volume! The short article, “Topsy-Turvy World of the Knight”, is written as only the renowned fantasy writer Fritz Leiber can. Regarded as a Grandmaster of fantasy and science fiction, he is the author of the award winning Fafhrd and Grey Mouser series. Chessplayers, of course, are mostly familiar with the California Expert’s later chess stories, “The 64-Square Madhouse” and Midnight by the Morphy Watch”. This volume also features the first California State Chess Federation Ratings list. Definitely a bonus! This volume of California Chess Reporter features first California State Chess Federation Ratings list and a discussion of the controversies concerning the rating system. Kerry Lawless has been working for years and years, at least 25 years that I know of and probably a lot longer than that, on compiling every game he can, published and, where possible, unpublished that has ever been played in the State of California. One result of these efforts is he has compiled every issue of the California Chess Reporter during its 25 year run from 1951 to 1976. At great personal expense to himself he has had all these volumes bound by a professional binding service. These bound volumes created by Kerry Lawless have been used to make these reprints.

California Chess Reporter 1958-1961 (Volume 4)

Kerry Lawless has been working for years and years, at least 25 years, on compiling every game he can, published and, where possible, unpublished that has ever been played in the State of California. The result of this great work is his website ChessDryad.com and his database calgames.pgn that contains at present 37,598 games, all played in the State of California from 1856 to the present. Kerry Lawless has also been making great efforts to compile all chess publications published in the State of California and, as much as possible, all articles about California chess. One result of these efforts is he has compiled every issue of the California Chess Reporter during its 25 year run from 1951 to 1976. At great personal expense to himself he has had all these volumes bound by a professional binding service. These bound volumes created by Kerry Lawless have been used to make these reprints.