Edward Winter (born 1955) is an English

chess Chess is a board game for two players. It is an abstract strategy game that involves Perfect information, no hidden information and no elements of game of chance, chance. It is played on a square chessboard, board consisting of 64 squares arran ...

journalist,

archivist An archivist is an information professional who assesses, collects, organizes, preserves, maintains control over, and provides access to records and archives determined to have long-term value. The records maintained by an archivist can cons ...

, historian, collector and author. He writes a regular column on chess history, ''Chess Notes.''

''Chess Notes''

''Chess Notes'' started as a bimonthly periodical, and was described by its author, in the first issue (January–February 1982), as "A forum for aficionados to discuss all matters relating to the Royal Pastime". At the end of 1989, the periodical ceased publication. In 1993, Winter resumed publication of ''Chess Notes'', which appeared, this time, as a syndicated column, in many languages around the world. From 1998 to 2001, it was published exclusively in '' New In Chess''. Later, it appeared online at the Chess Café website. Since September 2004, ''Chess Notes'' has been located at the website Chesshistory.com. Between 1996 and 2006 four anthologies of ''Chess Notes'' were published in book form. On 15 March 2020, in C.N. 11763, Edward Winter announced that from the end of March 2020, ''Chess Notes'' would no longer be updated regularly.

Yasser Seirawan Yasser Seirawan (; born March 24, 1960) is a Syrian-born American chess grandmaster and four-time United States Chess Championship, United States champion. He won the World Junior Chess Championship in 1979. Seirawan is also a published chess au ...

calls Winter "the chess world's foremost authority on its rich history".

Jan Timman Jan Timman (born 14 December 1951) is a Dutch chess grandmaster who was one of the world's leading chess players from the late 1970s to the early 1990s. At the peak of his career, he was considered to be the best non-Soviet player and was known a ...

has commented: "Writers on chess history and the games of yesteryear are not normally pathfinders or perfectionists, but Edward Winter is an exception, taking great pains not only to tackle difficult research tasks but also to present the facts precisely."Winter, ''A Chess Omnibus'', p.2.

William Hartston William Roland Hartston (born 12 August 1947) is an English journalist who has written the Beachcomber column in the ''Daily Express'' since 1998. He is also a chess player who played competitively from 1962 to 1987 and earned a highest Elo ra ...

observed of him: "Edward Winter is probably the most meticulous and diligent researcher and chess writer around. For several years, from his home in Switzerland, he produced the much-admired ''Chess Notes'', a privately published journal of chess history and anecdotes that was the scourge of all that was sloppy or dishonest in chess. Winter's brilliantly scathing style, always adopted in the noble cause of accuracy, gives his writings a marvellously entertaining as well as instructive quality."

Harry Golombek Harold "Harry" Golombek OBE (1 March 1911 – 7 January 1995) was a British chess player, chess author, and wartime codebreaker. He was three times British chess champion, in 1947, 1949, and 1955 and finished second in 1948. Biography He was ...

remarked that Chess Notes is "written in a most refreshing acerbity of tone." Chess writers whom Winter has criticized for poor work include Eric Schiller,

Raymond Keene Raymond Dennis Keene (born 29 January 1948) is an English chess grandmaster, a FIDE International Arbiter, a chess organiser, and a journalist and author. He won the British Chess Championship in 1971 and was the first player from England t ...

, and Larry Evans. Timman has observed of Winter: "When he criticizes another writer, he does so fairly by setting out the facts for the reader to inspect for himself."

Capablanca

Winter has made a particular study of

José Raúl Capablanca José Raúl Capablanca y Graupera (19 November 1888 – 8 March 1942) was a Cuban chess player who was the third World Chess Championship, world chess champion from 1921 to 1927. A chess prodigy, he was widely renowned for his exceptional Chess ...

, and critics hailed his 1989 monograph on the Cuban world chess champion.

Nigel Short Nigel David Short (born 1 June 1965) is an English Grandmaster (chess), chess grandmaster, columnist, coach and commentator who has been the FIDE Director for Chess Development since September 2022. Short earned the title of grandmaster at the ...

described it as "undoubtedly one of the best chess books I have read," and

Jeremy Silman Jeremy Silman (August 28, 1954 – September 21, 2023) was an American chess player and writer. He obtained the title of International Master (IM). Early life Silman was born in Del Rio, Texas, on August 28, 1954. His father was in the military ...

called it "a piece of literature that has become a legend unto itself, and is universally viewed as one of the greatest books ever written about chess."

Books

* ''World Chess Champions'' (editor);

Pergamon Press Pergamon Press was an Oxford-based publishing house, founded by Paul Rosbaud and Robert Maxwell, that published scientific and medical books and journals. Originally called Butterworth-Springer, it is now an imprint of Elsevier. History The c ...

Ltd; 1981; * ''Capablanca: A Compendium of Games, Notes, Articles, Correspondence, Illustrations and Other Rare Archival Materials on the Cuban Chess Genius José Raúl Capablanca, 1888-1942'';

McFarland & Company McFarland & Company, Inc., is an American independent book publisher based in Jefferson, North Carolina, that specializes in academic An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of tert ...

; 1989; . ** Paperback edition; 2011; * ''Chess Explorations''; Cadogan Books; 1996; * ''Kings, Commoners and Knaves: Further Chess Explorations''; Russell Enterprises; 1999; * ''A Chess Omnibus''; Russell Enterprises; 2003; * ''Chess Facts and Fables'';

; 2006;

References

External links

Chesshistory.com

Selected ChessBase articles
{{DEFAULTSORT:Winter, Edward Living people 1955 births English chess writers Chess historians Place of birth missing (living people) Writers from Geneva