The CCI-USA NEWS, 2014 #3

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THE CCI-US A NEWS 1

Photographs courtesy of George Sheynker

THE CCI – USA NEWSChess Collectors International Volume 2014 Issue 3

IN THIS ISSUE

The “Marches on Bosporan” Chess Set at the Chess Collectors’ XVI

International Convention, May 2014

New York, New York (Or Was It New York, New Jersey ?)

Photographs from the Chess Collectors’ XVI International Convention,

May 2014

German Chess Collectors’ Meeting, November 7th – 9th, 2014

in Weimar Germany

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“MARCHES ON BOSPORAN” CHESS SET, CHESS COLLECTORSINTERNATIONAL XVI CONVENTION, MAY 2014

By George Sheynker


The XVI convention of the Chess CollectorsInternational on the 30th year of its creationtook place in Jersey City on May 21-26 2014. With accordance to the Convention program, itsmember were kindly invited to see one of themost famous chessmen, chess descs and chesstables in John Crumiller's collection, the memberof CCI management, the famous historian andanalyst of chess sets and other objects connectedto chess. No less interesting was the visit toanother venerable collector, Israel Rafaelli.

In honor of the 30th Chess CollectorsInternational jubilee, the craftsmen of LobortasClassic Jewelry House created gold badges. IgorLobortas, the Jewelry House founder, presentedbadges to Floyd Sarisohn, the chairman of theXVI Convention of CCI, CCI executive team

member and to Dr. George Dean, honorary CCIpresident.

The convention was conducted to disclose theconnection between chess, universal history,culture, art, literature and the various areas ofscience. Over the past decades the interest inchess art has much increased. Regularexhibitions and widening range of new works a verity of which is limited only to human’s fantasyare proving it.

In the welcoming speech to the participants ofthe XVI Chess Collectors InternationalConvention, Yuriy Sergeyev, the AmbassadorExtraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Ukraine,the Permanent Representative of the Ukraine tothe United Nations, presented the work of

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3 MARCHES ON BOSPORAN CHESS SET

Ukrainian craftsmen and proposed thenext convention to be held in the UN.

The chess set "Marches on Bosporan" bycraftsmen of Classic Jewelry House

Lobortas - the world's first chess set withelectromechanical system - a rare exampleof technical innovation and jewelry artcombination was presented to the worldpublic and world chess collectors elite forthe first time within the framework of theConvention. The unique chess set wasannounced at the 40th Chess Olympiadin Istanbul, Turkey in 2012, then at theChess Collectors International North America Convention in Baltimore, MD inMay 2013; during the days of Kiev in

Moscow in October 2013; at the 84thFIDE Congress in Tallinn, Estonia inOctober 2013; at the European Congressof Chess Collectors International inMunich, Germany in November 2013. And was highly appreciated by the FIDEPresident, Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, and World chess champions such as GarryKasparov, Anatoliy Karpov and NonnaGaprindashvili. According to the Forbes Russia"Marches on Bosporan" chess set is in the Top

10 of the world's most expensive chess sets.

Supporting structure of the chess table base withlifting mechanism was implemented in the shapeof the book of history and the wheel of history. Telescopic double frame mechanism holds thespecially created lifting unit, which synchronizesmechanical and electrical drives. It is alsoequipped with a dual sensor system to guaranteecomplete security while moving the collapsibleframe. Of special value is a unique chess field.

Its ornament historically correlates with one ofthe exciting eras of the Great Roman Empire, when incrustation was blessed by the Emperors. The field was implemented in the best traditionsof the Renaissance era by kind of the complex inthe fitting Florentine mosaics of Tiger and Hawkeyes stones, creating an illusion of opticaliridescence. Florentine mosaics in terms of timeand labor is one of the most complex arts.

The concept's core is the gorgeous collection ofelite handcrafted chessmen, performed incompliance with all details of the national

costumes and epoch at hand. The characters ofsilver developed in the technique of the cabinetsculptural plastic art, excel with a staggeringexpressiveness and form the fanciful suite ofchessmen. In addition "Marches on Bosporan"possesses supernatural magic valued in AncientChina and Mesoamerica, when for a gram ofmaterial used in creation of the chess set it waspossible to buy a half of a province. It isreferred to the unique treasure of nature - jade,expertly faceted by the talented Classic JewelryHouse Lobortas. The world's only full jade fieldis made from rare light green and more commondark green jade.

Also for the first time at the Convention waspresented the "Zorum" chess set, which becamethe prize-holder of "XXI Century Classic Jewelry Art - 2013" - international contest , organized byClassic Jewelry House Lobortas.

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5 MARCHES ON BOSPORAN CHESS SET

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If I can MATE it there, I’ll MATE it, anywhere – it’s up to you,

NEW YORK, NEW YORK(OR WAS IT, NEW YORK, NEW JERSEY ?)

By Tom Gallegos,The Absentminded Antiquary

With apologies to Sinatra, Chess CollectorsInternational’s 16th Biennial Congress, which alsohappened to be the group’s 30th anniversary,took place in Jersey City, New Jersey from May21st through the 26th of this year.

This was always slated to be a New Yorkmeeting, repeating the popular venue from the1990 biennial. As the time grew closer, to helpmembers save on hotel costs, we switched overto Jersey City, the price of rooms in Manhattanhaving grown beyond all reason in the opinionof many. I felt a bit bad about this until I wasreminded that no less than Super Bowl XLVIIIdid exactly the same thing earlier this year.Often referred to during the season as a New York game, it was actually held in EastRutherford, NJ. We need not touch on thepainful subject of my home team’s performancethere.

So, CCI’s actual venue turned out to be theHyatt Regency Hotel in Jersey City. But this was

in some ways even better than a New Yorkhotel. Not only was it a mere 4-minute PATHtrain ride under the Hudson River to the heart ofthe Big Apple, but the view from the hotel’slarge terrace was utterly spectacular, aperspective on New York the like of which fewhad ever experienced. We found ourselvessituated right at the mouth of the Hudson River with a panoramic view of the New York skylinejust across the water. It was easy to becomehypnotized, watching sailboats, water taxis,

barges and transports of all kinds (not tomention the occasional gargantuan cruise ship)glide serenely up and down the river, as thesunshine glittered on the towering skyscrapers oflower Manhattan. This gave us the sensation ofhaving New York City almost in our very laps.

It was amazing to realize in how many ways thispart of New Jersey gets lumped in as an

honorary part of New York, and not just bybeing considered a part of the NY metropolitanarea. The lines are blurred in other ways as well.From this same hotel terrace, for example, justturn your head to the right and suddenly itbecomes obvious that even the Statue of Liberty,that verdigris-stained mother of all New YorkCity icons, is actually in New Jersey.

It’s true! While the question of whether LibertyIsland is jurisdictionally part of NY, part of NJ –or is actually Federal land – is a convoluted andmurky legal issue, the island really does hug theNew Jersey side quite closely there at the mouthof the Hudson River. It appears off to thesouth, tiny and distant from the Hyatt terrace,but from this vantage, definitely belonging moreto NJ than to NY. And NJ does in fact claimthe statue as a symbol no less than does NY.On US citizenship tests, in answer to thequestion, “Where is the Statue of Liberty?” New Jersey is actually considered one of the correctanswers, along with New York, New York

Harbor, the Hudson River, Liberty Island, and afew others.

Whether you consider it to be in New York orNew Jersey, is of little moment, however. Thestatue is claimed by many, for many differentpurposes and viewpoints. Our own conventionprogram, for instance, shows a picture of theStatue of Liberty with the motto, “Queen toPlay,” which seems to posit Lady Liberty as aqueen of Caissa. If that were really true, my only

question would be, where’s the rest of the set?In addition to the expected New York/New Jersey theme, the Ukraine of all places, thatproud old Cossack land, so recently fallen intoturmoil yet again, provided a kind of unofficialmotif running through the entire meeting. Forexample, representatives of Lobortas, Classic Jewelry House of the Ukraine, based in Kiev,

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were again on hand to exhibit and discuss theirincomparable “March on Constantinople” chessset, with an asking price in the millions.Furthermore, we were honored by the presenceof Mr. Yuriy Sergeyev, Permanent

Representative of Ukraine to the UnitedNations, also styled UN Ambassador, whojoined us for our dinner in the hotel on Friday. And last but not least, our simul later in the week was given by esteemed Grandmaster, teacherand author Lev Alburt, who was three-timechampion of the Ukraine before he was three-time champion of the U.S.

Let’s look at a few convention highlights:

WEDNESDAY, May 21st: The afternoon was spent checking into the hotel,checking in with Floyd and Bernice at theregistration table, greeting old friends andmeeting some new ones, after which we allgathered for our first group dinner in the hotel’s Vu Restaurant, no doubt named for thespectacular view from the terrace it overlooks. There are no real walls in this place (why wouldthere be?) just row upon row of panoramic windows. It’s hard to tear your eyes away from

the gorgeous vista of water and skyscrapers longenough to look down at your menu. It was animmediate reminder of one of the mostimportant reasons why we love to attend thesein-person meetings. As an old Ukrainian folk-proverb puts it, “You don’t really see the worldif you only look through your own window.”

THURSDAY, May 22nd:

This first full day was taken up with a bus trip to

Princeton, NJ, to view the chess collections of Jon Crumiller and Israel Raphaelli. Many of ushad seen these same two collections before,during the Princeton meeting in 2009, but ofcourse each collection had grown and changedsignificantly in the ensuing five years. One ofthe delights of connoisseurship is not just to visit, but to revisit great collections from time totime, noting and appreciating such changes.

The justly famed Crumiller collection focusespurely on antiques, both playing and decorativesets. For an antiquary like myself, to walk into Jon’s house is to hyperventilate and clutch mychest in fear of a heart attack. If I died and went

to Heaven, and could afford any sets I wanted,these would be the sets. They are better off with Jon, of course, for the sheer amount of passion,curiosity, and original, groundbreaking researchhe has poured into them. It takes a lot morethan mere wealth to build, display, and curatesuch a collection. It takes vision, a higher orderof intelligence, single-minded focus andunrelenting effort, all of which are abundantlyevident in this vast treasury of chess. TheCrumiller collection is not merely anagglomeration of exquisitely expensive antique

sets, boards, books, timers and other chessartifacts. It is one of the – perhaps the – world’spremier research collections for historians of thegame. Some of us (okay, me) would like to livein his basement, if we could.

Logistically, so as not to overwhelm eitherhouse, Floyd had split us into two groups, withthe bus racing back and forth, dropping half ofus at house A and half at house B, then back tohouse A to pick up that group to drop them off

for a nice luncheon at the same Princeton hotelthat hosted our 2009 meeting, then back tohouse B to add that group to the luncheon, andthen reversing the entire procedure after lunch,so both groups could visit both houses. It waslike a life-sized game of Missionaries andCannibals, that classic old river-crossing puzzle.(You know the one. Cannibals can neveroutnumber missionaries in the boat, or elsethey’ll eat them. It was known as “Hobbits andOrcs” back in my college years.) That must have

been

one

frazzled

bus

driver

by

the

end

of

the day.

The Raphaelli collection is no less chess-obsessed, but much more eclectic and all-encompassing than the Crumiller collection ifthat is possible, taking in both antique andmodern sets, playing and decorative, figural andabstract, classic and oddball items. The entirehouse is replete with colorful chessic whimsies

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9 NEW YORK, NEW YORK

and notions of all kinds, focusing less on history,but instead neatly capturing the endlesspermutations and the pure joy of chess as anartistic motif. Our hosts, longtime membersIsrael and Remi, reflected this joy in their

obvious delight at this rarest of events – havingan entire houseful of interested people to sharetheir obsession with. It never ceases to amazeme, in a field as narrow as one might think chesscollecting would be, how even in our tiny niche,no two collectors or collections are alike. Inmany ways the antidote to the Crumillercollection, the Raphaelli house held great appealfor many of our members, for whom the diet of“all antiques, all the time” can seem, well, just alittle bit stuffy.

After having to literally drag some people out ofthese two houses, the bus returned all of us tothe hotel for an evening viewing of no less thanfive separate chess exhibitions in one smallishroom, filling up a large group of display cases which Floyd had arranged to have brought in forthe occasion.

A newer member, Dr. Mark Lema had set up adisplay showing of examples of nearly all of theItalian ANRI chess sets in existence. A more

long-standing member, Phil Brykman had set upa large grouping of his exquisite and rare Japanese ivory sets, his specialty. Floyd Sarisohnhad set out just a few rarely encounteredsouthwestern Indian Kachina sets, to the specialdelight of our European members. The chesssets to be auctioned on Saturday formed a fourthgroup.

In the middle of the floor, commanding theroom, Lobortas Classic Jewelry House of Kiev in

the Ukraine, had set out their well-known“Marches on Bosporan” or “March onConstantinople” chess set, with its preciousmetal pieces stunningly modeled and itsByzantine mechanism for elevating the preciousjade board above the plain of battle to reveal theelegant storage niches for those pieces from theirplace of concealment at the sides. The piecesdepict an early 17th century conflict between a

legendary Cossack warlord, Hetman (a title like“Head Man” perhaps?) Petro Konashevych-Sahaidachnyi versus the Ottoman Sultan. Bothnames for the set seem to be correct, with“Marches on Bosporan” apparently derived from

the Ukrainian way of referring to the conflictnear the Bosporus Strait, translated into betterEnglish as the “March on Constantinople,” butstill referring to the same conflict. The price ofthis set is rumored to be in a region only the world’s wealthiest collectors might seriouslycontemplate. I’m not sure our group reallyqualifies. Alongside the “March onConstantinople,” and much more affordable(though still well beyond my budget) was thefirm’s “Zorum” chess set, with its silver andenamel pieces on a beautiful and unique maple

burl board featuring naturalistically-shapedstorage niches at the sides. The head of the firm,Igor Lobortas, presided over this impressivedisplay.

FRIDAY, May 23rd:

After an included breakfast buffet it was “Show& Tell” day, where each member got to emulatethe Crumillers and Raphaellis of the world, for afew minutes at least. Since it was not practical

for each attendee to bring his or her entire houseto the meeting, it had been decided that eachperson would bring just one set – their so-called“favorite” – although there is constant debateabout the meaning of that word, and whether itis possible for any collector to narrow downtheir possessions to only one example, saying“Yes, this is the best chess set I own. Itoutshines all my others.” If that were trulypossible, then we would only need to do Show & Tell once. Yet somehow I doubt this will be the

last occurrence of this increasingly popularsegment of our meetings.

Igor Lobortas of Lobortas Classic Jewelry Housealso made a brief presentation of awards ofappreciation in the form of CCI lapel pins whichhe gave to Dr. George Dean and chief organizerFloyd Sarisohn.

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The afternoon was given over to talks andseminars on various topics of interest. Ivoryexpert Ron Fromkin of Florida repeated his verypopular talk and demonstration from the BocaRaton meeting several years ago, about simple

do-it-yourself restoration techniques for chesspieces. Ron always shares his knowledge sogenerously, it almost seems as if he is trying toput himself out of business, the way heenthusiastically assures us that we can do thesethings for ourselves. Though the entire grouppaid rapt attention to his demo, I am betting thatmany of us “all-thumbs” collectors will continueto send our restoration jobs to him.

Dr. Mark Lema spoke about Italian ANRI chesssets, the subject of his display across the hall,

and how one goes about getting hooked ontrying to find and collect them all. He makes itsound like an easy and pleasurable habit to fallinto.

Phil Brykman also spoke about his Japaneseivory sets, also displayed across the hall. Thesesets are often referred to as “Army ofOccupation” chess sets, because most, if not allof them were carved after World War II, in theperiod from 1945 to roughly the mid-1970’s.

Manfred Eder, the noted chess historian fromGermany, walked us through a bit of speculativearchaeology, examining the question of whetherthe ancient terracotta figurines of Kanauj, Indiamight be some of the earliest known chess, orCaturanga , figures, or not. Barring some futurefind of a spectacularly definitive nature, ofcourse, this question may be doomed to remainlittle more than a maddeningly persistent enigma.

Doug Bandow, a CCI member who is also apolicy analyst and senior fellow at the libertarianCato Institute in Washington, DC, explained thecurrent status of the ivory crisis, a proposedrulemaking change by the U.S. Fish & WildlifeService which would stiffen the previous ban byoutlawing virtually all commercial trade inelephant ivory, effectively rendering many of the world’s finest chess sets – antique or not –

utterly without value. With me chiming in, sinceI have also been involved with this issue, Dougappealed to the group to write their congressmenas soon as possible to object to this plan, which would do nothing but destroy the economic

value of a vast number of collections of chessand other things in the United States, whilefailing to save the life of a single elephant in Africa. Many of us did write to ourcongressmen soon after returning home fromthe meeting. Let’s hope it does some good.

Later that evening we held a group dinner in aglass-fronted room overlooking the hotel’s grandscenic terrace, where we were honored by thepresence of Mr. Yuriy Sergeyev, PermanentRepresentative of Ukraine to the United

Nations, in other words, their UN Ambassador. As a result, the conversation at many tablesturned inevitably to the current crisis in theUkraine, which seems as if it would require atrue grandmaster of politics and diplomacy toresolve. As night descended, a sudden, powerfullightning storm over the Hudson lent anambiance of ominous mystery and drama to theoccasion.

SATURDAY, May 24th: The chess auction held in the hotel this morning was a new and experimental event for CCI. Aprivate, exclusive, high-end, do-it-yourselfauction, without the involvement or addedexpense of an outside auction house. Allbidding was in the room, not over the internet ortelephones. Bidders competed for a total of 45lots (with several late consignments), whichcame primarily from just a few well-known EastCoast collections. (Think Sarisohn, Levene,

Crumiller and Raphaelli – attractive provenances,all.) These were primarily high-end sets, many with starting bids around $1,000 and up. Withsuch high reserves, nobody had any illusions thatthe auction would sell out, but the organizersinsisted that would be fine, since none of theseconsignors really needed to sell anyway.

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Since the do-it-yourself format had originallybeen my idea, I was tapped to be the auctioneer, with the able assistance of Luann Woneis andtreasurer Bill Fordney handling the tabulations. A bit nervously, since I had never before

conducted an auction, I explained the groundrules, including the fact that I was going to bebidding on a few sets myself, through mydesignated proxy, Luann. To avoid any possibleconflict of interest, I strove mightily to getmyself outbid whenever one of the sets I wantedcame up. I remember one epic struggle over anice ivory Jaques “trolley” set (referring to thebox shape), which I wanted badly, but afterbegging and pleading for “just one more bid,” itended up going home with our President,Michael Wiltshire. I did end up with a few other

nice additions to my collection though, in spiteof all my begging and pleading.

After the auction, CCI did not handle themoney, but instead the buyer and seller of eachset met in person to settle up, with each party writing a separate check for a mere five percentof the hammer price as a charitable donation toCCI. (This sure makes a nice change frompaying a 25 or 26 percent buyer’s premium toone of the major auction houses!) This

charitable donation structure netted $1,600 forCCI’s coffers.

Of the 45 lots, nearly half found new homes,several of these in post-auction deals where aninterested party made inquiries as to whether oneof the passed lots might still be available at theopening bid price. Most of these were simple,“sure, no problem” deals, but one or two weretorturous negotiations where the consignor hadreconsidered his asking price or changed his

mind about selling the set in the first place. Iand a few other negotiators did our level best tohelp all interested parties obtain the sets they were after, and we were mostly successful. When it was all said and done, the auctiongrossed $16,000 in hammer prices, of which$15,200 went directly to the consignors, andpeople agreed, it certainly was an interestingexperiment.

After an “on your own” lunch break, thetraditional Chess Fair took place in the mainmeeting room. Wheeling and dealing and jawingabout sets were the order of the day. Ivory setscould be had on the cheap, due to everyone’s

fear and worry about what the Federalgovernment was going to do in the near future.But of course, I love the wooden sets every bitas much. I bought several nice old sets from Tony and Gillian Raynes, and several from JohnMazzucco.

As a side note, John and I got to play severalcasual games in Jersey City, even staying up untilthe wee hours one night to do so. It quicklybecame clear that his game has improvedimmensely from our previous encounters. I

used to beat him regularly, with some ease, butnow he has become a dangerous opponent,against whom I cannot afford to make even theslightest error. He modestly mumbledsomething about having dipped into Lev Alburt’s study course, I think.

How fantastic it was to be reminded that, at itsmost basic level, chess appeals to the universalhuman need to rise to a challenge. ApparentlyI’m going to have to sharpen my game for our

next meeting, or else concede that my place isnow in John’s shadow, as his used to be in mine.

Our group dinner that night was held at thenearby Iron Monkey Craft Beer Bar &Restaurant, a local watering hole with a convivialatmosphere. They had even brewed up a specialbeer in our honor, named “Chess Mate,” which we found quite tasty. As if we really neededbeer. Most of us have been drunk on chess foryears now.

One or two of those post-auction deals Imentioned earlier were still being negotiated atthe Iron Monkey, and even at breakfast the nextmorning. Now, I love a good post-auction dealas much as the next person. But perhaps it would not be too much to hope that, at the nextauction, people will simply bid when the lot is onthe block?

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SUNDAY, May 25th:

Some of us awoke this morning to the sinkingfeeling – er, I mean the exciting prospect – that we were about to face over the board one of thestrongest players in the world. Grandmaster Lev

Alburt did not disappoint. Before the simulbegan, a few ground rules were explained and we were asked if we had any questions. “Whatopening do you most hate and fear to playagainst?” someone stupidly called out. (Was thatme?!) The reply, “c4” came without hesitation. Whether a generous concession or a crafty bit ofdisinformation, I would never find out, as mygame that morning was hardly up to coffeehousestandards, much less world class play.Nevertheless, having the white pieces, andhaving had the temerity to ask such a rudequestion, I felt it would be impolite NOT to playc4, for all the good it did me.

The other brave CCI combatants buckled downto their boards as well, and one by one,Grandmaster Alburt, that Cossack of thechequered battlefield, slowly and methodicallychopped us up into little pieces.

I’m not making excuses – (Sun in my eyes?Hung over from the Iron Monkey?) – but let me

tell you how hard it is to concentrate on yoursimul endgame while people are walking aroundbehind you declaring in loud stage whispers,“The bus is leaving! The bus is getting ready to leaveRIGHT NOW! ” My position was in tattersanyway, so after a few more minutes of grindingmy teeth, trying in vain to ignore all thatincessant whispering, I tipped my king over,politely shook hands with the GM, and sprintedfor the bus, which of course took another good15 or 20 minutes to pull away from the hotel.

I was not quite the last person on the bus. Around of spontaneous applause broke out forPhil Brykman when he finally boarded, as thenews raced from ear to ear that he alone haddrawn with GM Alburt. An amazingaccomplishment. As Phil explained later, “Levasked me for a draw after his 33rd move and Iaccepted. (He probably just had to use the

bathroom.) Lev did win all his other games.Incidentally, he took the time to give me hismost recent book and inscribed it, ‘Incommemoration of our draw – sharp game – upand down – on May 25, 2014.’ He’s a class act.

And just for the record – I’m not that good. Justgot lucky.”

I dunno Phil…the game hasn’t been played withdice for many, many centuries now. Maybe, justmaybe luck had nothing to do with it.

The bus then took us into lower Manhattan,specifically Greenwich Village, for an afternoonof sightseeing, chess collectors’ style. Here wasCCI’s list of must-see tourist attractions, whichthe group dispersed to visit individually, in no

particular order:

1) The venerable Marshall Chess Club, the oldeststill-active chess club in Manhattan, founded in1915 by a group of players led by Frank Marshallhimself. New Yorkers might sometimes take theMarshall for granted, but for the out-of-townersamong us, it was a real treat to play a fewoffhand games there. For me, it was only thesecond time in my life I had been able to set footin the place. The first time was decades ago.

Who knows how long until I’ll be back? A fewof us took cell phone pictures of each other while trying not to disturb the regular players inthe library-like atmosphere. An underappreciatedresource to be sure, the Marshall.

2) The chess tables in Washington Square Park,home of New York’s open-air chess aficionados,and many of the city’s notorious “chesshustlers,” those often-unrated gamblers whomake their living by being vastly stronger than

the tourists expect them to be. No word on whether any of us managed to beat any of them.So famous is the spot, this same group of tables was used as a set in the 1994 chess-themed,drug-and-violence fueled hip hop movie Fresh ,and before that the 1993 movie, Searching forBobby Fischer . As we all know, Fischer foughthard during his career to have chess takenseriously as a paid profession, but somehow I

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don’t think the hustlers of Wash Square Park were quite what he had in mind.

3) The Chess Forum, the lone surviving chessshop and playing parlor on Thompson Street.

The bitter feud with its much older rival, the Village Chess Shop, was the stuff of urban retaillegend, but by the time CCI members got there,the VCS had long since tipped over its king.However, the retail part of the Forum was a worthwhile stop, with a large variety of sets,mostly modern, along with a few antiques, all atreasonable prices. The playing room, a longnarrow hallway in the back with a few tables,seemed a congenial, if claustrophobic habitat ($5an hour for adults), with notices for lessons andmuch evidence of casual play by the local cast of

characters. The Chess Forum is also one of thefew un-redeveloped shops left in the Village,retaining a bit of pre-hipster bohemian charmthat many doubt can survive for long.Definitely worth a visit, as recent history teachesthat you never know when places like thesemight disappear forever.

A little later, the bus returned us to the hotel,and in just a few hours it was time to get dressedup for the Gala Dinner. At that dinner, honored

guest Beatriz Marinello, Vice President of FIDE,stood to convey the best wishes of both FIDEand USCF to our group, and also presented aletter of goodwill from FIDE President KirsanIlyumzhinov.

The luminaries of CCI, our Founder Dr. GeorgeDean, and long-time President Dr. Thomas Thomsen, both made comments relating to thegroup’s long and distinguished history,reminding us of our origins at that fabled South

Florida meeting of some thirty years ago, in1984.

The group also sang Happy Birthday and had acake brought in for our good friend Dr. IrwinGross. Funny thing, but anytime CCI has ameeting in May, for some strange reason itusually seems to coincide with Irwin’s birthday.

MONDAY, May 26th:

CCI’s traditional Farewell Brunch at the hotel

was a busy affair, with last-minute networkingand contacts being made, business cardsexchanged, stories swapped and hugs and photosand friendly goodbyes. As the room thinnedout, Luann and I could only congratulate Floydand Bernice Sarisohn, our tireless Americanorganizers, on yet another successful meeting forChess Collectors International. Until next time.

CCI –USA NEWS

Floyd Sarisohn, Publisher PO Box 166Commack NY 11725Phone: 631.543.1330

Fax: 631.543.7901Email: [email protected]

Duncan Pohl, Editor

1391 Parkview Dr Woodland CA 95776Phone: [email protected]

Frank Camaratta, [email protected]

Do you have a picture you would like to see on the cover of theNewsletter? If so, please send a high resolution, uncropped, clearphotograph to [email protected]. First priority will begiven to pictures that accompany an article submitted forpublication - and used - within that particular issue. Every effort

will be made to follow the principle of first come, first served, but

the final decision will also depend on quality, subject matter, andother publication requirements that ultimately may dictate whatcan best be used.

ON THE COVER: Shown on the cover are some of the pieces from a reproductionof what are said to be the oldest chessmen ever discovered.Referred to as the Afrasiab set, they are said to date from about700 AD. They were unearthed by archeologist, Yuriy Buryokov,in 1977 under a fallen wall of the central cathedral of Afrasiab,the ancient city of Samarkand. The reproductions are limited to300 sets.

CCI-USA NEWS is made possible thanks to the volunteer workof all persons involved. We are not responsible for contents ofarticles, the performance of advertisers, the delivery or quality oftheir services or products, or the legality of any particular

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EDITORIAL COMMENTS AND POLICY The future and quality of this publication depends on yourcontributions. Please send comments, notes, reports, articles,photos, stories, etc., to any of the people listed above. Electronicform would be best. We would like to take this opportunity tothank all who contributed to this issue.

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PHOTOGRAPHS FROM THE CHESS COLLECTOR’S XVIINTERNATIONAL CONVENTION, MAY 2014

Photographs courtesy of Rick Knowlton, ancientchess.com

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15 PHOTOS FROM THE CCI XVI CONVENTION

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17 PHOTOS FROM THE CCI XVI CONVENTION

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19 THE CCI-USA NEWS

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GERMAN CHESS COLLECTOR’S MEETING,NOVEMBER 7

th – 9

th 2014, IN WEIMAR GERMANY

Dear Members and Friends of CCI,

We fondly remember the recent CCI Meeting inMunich with numerous attendants from

Germany and abroad. The InternationalCongress in New York was attended by a largenumber of members from Germany. This year we plan to meet in Weimar, many German andsome overseas Members have alreadysignalled their participation.

This time the meeting will be held incooperation with the “Ken Whyld Association” a group dedicated to thecollection of chess books.

Today I cordially invite you and yourfriends to spend a chess weekend in Weimar, the City of Schiller and Goethefrom November 7th to 9th, 2014.

As in previous years we will have achess market for about 2 hours in thehotel. Please bring chess items for saleor exchange and inform us in order toarrange for sufficient space. To coverthe room cost a small contribution of

EUR 10 – 15 per table will be collected. The chess market will take place in thelibrary of the hotel that features a largenumber of small elephants. It would benice if our members could bring one ormore chess elephants to supplement thecollection at least on a temporary basis.

A very special event will be thepresentation of the highlights of theMathieu and Ine Kloprogge collection

that will be auctioned off by A. Klittich-Pfankuch, Brunswick, on November20th and 22nd, 2014

We were able to negotiate special ratesfor us in the traditional 5-star hotel“ELEPHANT”.

Please make your own hotel reservations usingthe key word “Chess” at:

Hotel “ELEPHANT“Markt 9, 99423 Weimar

Telephone +49 3643 802 631Fax +49 3643 802 655email: elephantweimar@luxurycollecti

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21 INVITATION TO THE GERMAN CHESS COLLECTOR’S MEETING

Our special rates per night, including breakfastare: Single room €112.00, double room €127.00.Plus a City tax of EUR 2 or EUR 3 respectively. A contingent of rooms will be held for us up toSeptember 5th, 2014. Free parking is available in

the hotel parking lot.

In order to ensure a smooth and uncomplicatedmeeting we have negotiated special rates with theguides, museums and restaurants. Thus we havecombined all costs in a participation fee of EUR195.00 per person, which includes:- welcome drink on November 7th.- dinner in the Hotel on November 7th, 2014- all entry fees and guided tours on November

8th and 9th,, 2014- beverages and cookies during the coffee break

- lunch on November 8th, 2014 (incl. beverages)- dinner on November 8th,2014 (incl. beverages)

We kindly ask you to transfer this sumbeforehand to the following CCI account. Thepayment also serves as your registration:

Chess Collectors InternationalDeutsche Bank Account number 4712055 00Bank code 500 700 24

For international transfers:IBAN: DE06500700240471205500BIC: DEUTDEDBFRA

Should anyone prefer to pay the fee in cash at

the meeting, please notify us in order to register.

Attendants that do not stay in the conferencehotel will be charged EUR 20 to cover the costof room rents and the like.

The meeting place on Friday, November 7th,2014 starting from 6.00 pm is the lobby of theconference hotel "ELEPHANT". Following a welcome drink, we shall walk a few meters to therestaurant “Zum Weissen Schwan” for ouropening dinner at 20 pm, please note that this

meal is included in the participation fee.

The presentation of papers will start Saturday,November 8th, 2014 at 9.00 a.m. in theconference room of our hotel.

We hope that you will find the programattractive and we look forward to meeting manyof you in Weimar.

Sincerely yours,

signed: W. Angerstein Thomas H. Thomsen Wolfgang Angerstein Telephone +49 6174 4222 Telephone +49 2104 33503Fax +49 6174 24062 Fax +49 211 8119511email : [email protected] email : [email protected]

More information is available at www.klassik-stiftung.de www.hotelelephantweimar.com www.luxurycollection.com/elephant

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THE CCI-USA NEWS 22

Meeting of the German Section of CCIProvisional Programme 7. - 9. November 2014

Friday, November 7th, 2014

From 18.00 h

Meeting of the participants in the lobby of theconference hotel "ELEPHANT", Markt 19,99423 Weimar. Cocktail in the lobby followedby dinner in the nearby restaurant “Zum weißenSchwan” at 20.00 h (included in the conferencefee). During this event the President of theGerman Chess Federation, Mr. Herbert Bastian, will present the German Chess Award to theChess and Culture Magazine “Karl”.

Saturday, November 8th, 2014

9:00 – 12:45 h - Papers and seminars in the“Richard Wagner Room”, conference hotel.

Papers

9:00 Wolfgang Angerstein and Thomas H. Thomsen

“Welcome to Weimar”

9:15 Thomas H. Thomsen

“Short report on the 16 Biennial CCIConvention in New York”

9:30 Wolfgang Angerstein“Chessmen for Wargames”

10:00 Michael Negele"Chess for blind people and blind chess,a historical view"

10:30 Roger Klittich“Forthcoming auction of the Mathieu &Ine Kloprogge Collection of Chess Sets”

10:45 Ralf Niederhäuser“Chess – Sport, Culture orEntertainment?”

11:00 Coffee Break

11:30 Thomas Thomsen"The Bauhaus Chessmen"

11:45 Hans Holländer"Chess Elephants”

12:15 Jens-Frieder Mükke

“Emotions – was the carver a shrink?”12:45 End of morning session.

13:00 h

Joint lunch in the Cafe-Restaurant “Frauentor”,Schillerstrasse 2, (included in conference fee).

14:45 h

Visit of the Duchess Anna Amalia Library.

16:45 h

Return to the hotel.

17:00 bis 19.00 Uhr

Chess Market in the “Hotel Library”.

Preview of the Mathieu and Ine KloproggeCollection to be auctioned off on November 20th & 22nd.

20:00 h

Dinner in the restaurant "Zum Zwiebel",

Teichgasse 6, 99423 Weimar, (included in theconference fee). Walking distance from the hotelaprox. 300 m. Jacket and tie requested.

Sunday, November 9th, 2014

9:30 h

Meeting in the hotel lobby for a visit to thePalace Museum Weimar, the Bauhaus Museumand the Goethe National Museum

13:30 h Joint Goodbye Lunch for the participants still intown, venue to be announced (not included inconference fee)

End of the official part of the meeting.

Changes possible

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Documents

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