Walter Penn Shipley was crucial to the development of chess in the United States in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He organized correspondence chess in the United States in the 1890s, was a talented player and was a friend of world champions and contenders. He served as the president of the Franklin Chess Club in Philadelphia at the height of its power and prestige.This work is a complete biography and games collection of Walter Penn Shipley. It draws from original documents--correspondence with Steinitz, Lasker, Capablanca, Pillsbury and others, detailed Shipley family records--and extensive research conducted in contemporary newspapers, journals and magazines. The book contains approximately 250 games (most of them annotated), with 246 positional diagrams.
John S. Hilbert, a retired senior attorney with the Social Security Administration living in Buffalo, New York, has written 16 chess books and over 100 articles on chess biography and history, winning multiple national and international awards.
Table of ContentsIntroduction 1. Arrival and Antecedents (1860–1880) 2. Early Chess Club Play (1880–1887) 3. Philadelphia’s Champion (1887–1890) 4. Expansion and New Friends (1891–1893) 5. Golden Years, Golden Play (1894–1898) 6. Very Good Years (1899–1904) 7. Years of Transition, and Controversy (1905–1910) 8. Through the Decade (1911–1920) 9. Through the Years (1921–1942) Selected Bibliography Index
“I'm a great fan of books by [Hilbert]. They are always incredibly well researched and deep, usually uncovering material you will not find in any other book.”—American Chess Magazine
