WCC Lending Library Is Available - May '25 update

Hi Chess People!  

This is the May '25 update of the Lending Library books on loan and a reminder to check for any that you'd like at the library's site

New additions (thanks to Mike LaBudde!):

Mike was gracious enough to add more than 30 books to our collection.  They are all tagged and available for review at the site above, a couple of notables:

Book	Author
Comprehensive Chess Course Vol I & II	GM Lev Alburt
How not to play chess	Znosko-Borovsky
Masters of the Chessboard	Reti
And a number of beautiful 1st editions by Botvinnik collections of Paul Keres games from various points in his career, and a couple of books in German, if the English is giving you trouble...

Please thank him if you see him for his generous donations.

As always you can head over to the library to check out the full descriptions

Currently On Loan:

No Books currently on loan :(

Software update:

1 - Mike's done some great work with the main website.  There will be more updates there and here over the coming months to align their look and make better data available to you.  If you like to see anything, or if you think something looks great (Mike's doing) or dumb (my fault), let us know.

2 - See me if you'd like to use your Chessable rep material in Chessbase or other database tools - I have a tool that I'm looking for feedback on that turns Chessable into usable PGN.

One final plea:

If you don't happen to read books anymore...think about donating the 4 shelves of books I know you have to WCC - I'll get them loaded and tagged for others to read.  A book on a shelf is fun to look at, but there's nothing more exciting than seeing a kid (well, anyone, but especially a kid) with that book in their hands actually reading.

Like all things - let me know if you have any thoughts or ideas about this.  See you Wed.

John D

WCC Librarian

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This is the January '25 update of the Lending Library books on loan and a reminder to check for any that you'd like at the library's site

New additions (thanks to Jim N!):

As always you can head over to the library to check out the full descriptions

Book	Author
How to Get Better at Chess	Evans
50 Essential Chess Lessons	Giddins
Teach yourself better chess	Hartston
Everyone's 2nd Chess Book	Heisman

Currently On Loan:

Book	Author	Borrower	Date Loaned	Date Due	Date Returned
Chess Words of Wisdom	Henebry	Sabarish	22 Jan 25	9 Feb 25	9-Feb-25
Winning Chess Tactics Illustrated	Horowitz	Satish Akkina	18 Dec 24	15 Jan 25	2 Apr 25
Twelve Great Chess Players and Their Best Games	Chernev	Sabarish	18 Dec 24	15 Jan 25	8 Jan 25
The Most Instructive Games of Chess Ever Played: 62 Masterpieces of Chess Strategy	Chernev	Sabarish	18 Dec 24	15 Jan 25	8 Jan 25

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17-Dec-24 Launch Post:

Really excited to tell you that due to some very gracious donations and the patience and work of Jim Nickell, the WCC has a lending library available for you to use.

We use LibraryThing to manage the collection.  You don't need to sign up for anything.  Just click that link and you should see the WCC Lending Library Collection on the library page.  I also put a permanent link to the Lending Library in the Links section on the blog.

We have just short of 150 books for you to use.  The process is simple.  

1. Browse the library and look for a book you'd like to read
• There's a search box in the top right corner
• I've tried to tag books as best I can (lmk if you think I've gotten something wrong)
• The tags I used are:
• tactics, openings, strategy, endgame, game collection, tournament, biography, history, instruction-beginner, instruction-general, instruction-advanced, checkers, novel
• There's some tradeoff between keeping the number of categories both descriptive and small - if you think there's something better, let me know
2. Comment here or send me an email at chess@demastri.com saying that you'd like to borrow a book.
3. We'll use our regular Wed meetings to deliver / return books.  I'll bring the book to the next meeting for you to pick it up.  If there's lots of volume or demand, I'll see about something more automated.
4. When you're done (we can start with a 28 day window to read the book), bring the book back and you're done!  Let me know if you want to keep the book longer.  

We have everything from openings, strategy, tactics, many game and tournament collections - even a checkers book and a novel!  (amazingly not Queen's Gambit, though...anyone want to donate their copy?)  Unfortunately, some are in descriptive notation, and a couple are in Russian or Polish (or some other crazy language...).  Ask if you have questions about anything.

If you want to read something not in the library, just let me know - I'll search my library and ask around...  the board might even buy a book here and there for something that might be generally useful (my thoughts, not the board's....)

Who reads books when everything's online?  Lots of people.  Not all of us are 100 years old.  Sometimes having a paper book allows you to focus a little more.  Sometimes it's just easier to organize your thoughts with a book next to a real board.  If you're under 20, try it!!  You might like it!

Some of the commentary (opening tracts, esp.) may be a little dated, but guess what?  Your opponent isn't likely playing 30 moves of the latest theory in the Benko (for example).  Reading Pal Benko's thoughts on the opening, even from his 1973 book, will likely give you a deeper understanding of the IDEAS behind the opening than a 2024/5 Chessbase dump of 2700+ GM games will.  Ideas rarely go out of style, and when you're out of book (lol - see what I did there) at move 4, they're all you really have left.  Give some of these a try!

And if you don't happen to read books anymore...think about donating the 4 shelves of books I know you have to WCC - I'll get them loaded and tagged for others to read.  A book on a shelf is fun to look at, but there's nothing more exciting than seeing a kid (well, anyone, but especially a kid) with that book in their hands actually reading.

Like all things - let me know if you have any thoughts or ideas about this.  See you Wed.

John D - WCC Librarian (I guess...?)

o/b/o Jim Nickell - WCC Librarian Emeritus (I'm certain)