Irving Chernev


Irving Chernev was an American chess player and prolific chess author. He was born in Pryluky, Ukraine, then a part of the Russian Empire and emigrated to the United States in 1905. Chernev was a national master-strength player and was devoted to chess. He wrote that he "probably read more about chess, and played more games than any man in history."
Chernev's deep love for the game is obvious to any reader of his books. Chess historian Edward Winter commented:
He wrote 20 chess books, among them: Chessboard Magic!, The Bright Side of Chess, The Fireside Book of Chess, The Most Instructive Games of Chess Ever Played, 1000 Best Short Games of Chess, Practical Chess Endings, Combinations: The Heart of Chess, and Capablanca's Best Chess Endings, the last of these being highly regarded by Edward Winter:
In 1945, he and Kenneth Harkness wrote An Invitation to Chess, which became one of the most successful chess books ever written, with sales reaching six figures. Perhaps his most famous book is Logical Chess: Move by Move, first released in 1957. This takes 33 classic games from 1889 to 1952, played by masters such as Capablanca, Alekhine, and Tarrasch, and explains them in an instructive manner. An algebraic notation version was published by Batsford in 1998, with minor alterations to the original text. Similar editions followed for Winning Chess and The Most Instructive Games of Chess Ever Played. Chernev died in San Francisco in 1981. He was survived by his wife, Selma Kulik, and their son Melvin Chernev.

Books

  • Chess Strategy and Tactics ; Black Knight 1933
  • Curious Chess Facts; Black Knight 1937
  • Chessboard Magic!; Chess Review 1943
  • An Invitation to Chess ; Simon & Schuster 1945
  • Winning Chess Traps; Chess Review 1946
  • The Russians Play Chess; McKay 1947
  • The Bright Side of Chess; McKay 1948
  • Winning Chess ; Simon & Schuster 1948
  • The Fireside Book of Chess ; Simon & Schuster 1949
  • 1000 Best Short Games of Chess; Simon & Schuster 1955
  • Logical Chess: Move by Move; Simon & Schuster 1957
  • Combinations: The Heart of Chess; Crowell 1960
  • Practical Chess Endings; Simon & Schuster 1961
  • The Most Instructive Games of Chess Ever Played; Simon & Schuster 1965
  • The Chess Companion; Simon & Schuster 1968
  • Chess in an Hour ; Sentinel 1968
  • Wonders and Curiosities of Chess; Dover 1974
  • The Golden Dozen ; Oxford 1976
  • Capablanca's Best Chess Endings; Oxford 1978
  • The Compleat Draughts Player; Oxford 1981
  • 200 Brilliant Endgames; Simon & Schuster 1989