Chessville - Site Reviews - Bill Wall's Chess Page - Reviewed by David Surratt, 12-4-2004

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Site Review - 12/4/2004
Bill Wall's Chess Page
http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Lab/7378/chess.htm

Bill Wall's Chess Page is already well known to many chess aficionados. He has assembled a vast & varied collection of chess information, all in one site. You might want to learn more about Bill, so start with his (chess) bio. Chessplayer, director, organizer, writer, collector, Bill has had many chess incarnations, and still at the tender age of just 53.

Bill Wall's Chess Page has everything from opening games collections (including many unorthodox openings) to chess humor, fiction, history, trivia, records and collections, well - just see for yourself:

Chess Links (over 600 chess links)
100 Classic King's Gambit Miniatures
ACM Computer Chess (history of ACM computer chess events)
Addicted to Chess (humor)
Age of Chess Masters
Ajeeb the Automaton
Alekhine and the Nazis
Alekhine's Shorts (Alekhine's short chess games)
Amar or Paris Opening (1.Nh3)
Annoying Your Opponent - best techniques (humor)
APCT Chess Miniatures
Art and Chess (Wall)
Automatons of chess - Turk, Ajeeb, Mephisto
Bad Chess (How Bad is Your Chess)
Beavis and Butthead chess
Best Games of Chess
The Bishop
Blackburne Shilling Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nd4)
Blackmar-Diemer Links (1.d4 d5 2.e4 dxe4)
Bogart and Chess
Books, New (humor)
Bourdonnais - McDonnell match (London, 1834)
Bourdonnais-McDonnell annoatated games
Brain Games links (Kasparov-Kramnik, London 2000)
Budapest Traps
Cambridge Springs 1904 Tournament history and games
Capablanca-Marshall, NY 1918 Marshall Attack
Chess books written by Bill Wall (29 books)
Chess Hall of Fame
Chessmen (a brief history of chess pieces)
Chess Olympics
Chess Players (birth, death, age, cause of death)
Chronology of Chess (Wall)
Classic Chess Sampler CD - recommended (A review by Bill Wall)
Comments on my home page
Composers of Chess
Computer Chess History
Death of chess players
DEEP BLUE (chess computer)
DEEP BLUE vs Kasparov (match 1)
DEEPER BLUE vs Kasparov (match 2 - Deep Blue wins)
Definitions in chess (humor)
Dunst Opening (1.Nc3)
Durkin's Opening (1.Na3)
Earliest Chess Games
Eccentric Chess Players
Einstein and Chess
Excuses in chess
Epigrams of Chess (chess quotes and sayings)
Famous people who play chess
FIDE History
Fireside Chess
Firsts in chess
Fischer, Bobby (bio)
Fischer's Early Chess Games (1953-1958)
Fischer's tournament and match record
Games, Chess (19th century chess games and tourneys)
Grob (over 400 games beginning with 1.g4)
Eduard Gufeld (1936-2002) by Wall
Hermann Helms, Dean of American Chess
Histogram of chess ratings
History of Chess - Earliest Chess References and Books
Horoscope for chess players (humor)
The Immortal Game (Anderssen-Kieseritzky, London 1851
KAISSA Chess Computer Program (a history)
Kasparov -Kramnik Games (Brain Games, London) (PGN)
Kasparov-Kramnik trivia
Knight Moves (endings involving a knight)
Larsen's Opening (short games with 1.b3)
Larsen's Opening (Wall's 1.b3 games)
Levy and Computers (David Levy and his bet)
limericks
Literature (Fiction) in chess

Losing (Why you lose at chess)
Manhattan Chess Club (quick history)
Masters of Chess - A Profile (Alekhine, Anderssen, Blackburne, Boleslavsky, Botvinnik, etc)
Morphy bio
Morphy's chess links
Morphy's Laws of Chess
Movies With Chess Scenes
Nicknames of chessplayers
Not Only Chess
Nottingham 1936 (won by Botvinnik and Capablanca)
Occupations of chess players
Old In Chess (old, older, oldest in chess)
Olympics - Chess
Opponents, Chess Players, and Chess Friends
Opening Frequency
Opening Names
Orangutan Opening (1.b4) (some short games)
Philidor's Defense (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 d6 - some miniatures)
postal chess
Presidents Involved in Chess
Principles of Chess
Pronounce that chess word
2.Qh5 (1.e4 e5 2.Qh5)
Quarterly for Chess History articles (article, volume, page)
Reinfeld and Chess (includes a list of Reinfeld's books)
Religion and chess
Resigning in chess (humor)
Reti Opening Miniatures
Rice Gambit
Robespierre and Chess
Ruy Lopez, Bird variation
Ruy Lopez, Schliemann variation
Saint George's Defense (1.e4 a6)
Scotch on the Rocks (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 - some miniatures)
Searching for Bobby Fischer (Josh Waitzkin) trivia
Sevastianov, Vitaly (Cosmonaut and Chess Enthusiast)
Shakespeare and chess
Short Games of Chess I (100 short games)
Short Games of Chess II (100 short games)
Short Games of Chess III (100 short games)
Short Games of Chess IV (100 short games)
Short Games of Chess V (100 short games)
Short Games of Chess VI (100 short games)
Short Games of Chess VII (400 short games)
Sicilian, Dragon
Sicilian, Rossolimo Variation (1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5)
Stamps - Chess
Staunton Chess Design
Staunton Chess Pieces, A History by Sean Evans
Staunton vs Saint Amant (Paris 1843)
The Collected Works of Wilhelm Steinitz CD-ROM by Sid Pickard - A Review
Team Chess Names
The Weak In Chess (Wall's short games)
Traps and Chess Miniatures (14 moves or less)
Traps and Miniatures (15 moves or more)
Two Knights Defense Variation Names
Trivia, Chess
Unorthodox Openings (Off the Wall Openings)
Unusual Opening Minaitures (1.a3; 1.a4; 1.Na3; 1.b4; 1.c3; 1.Nc3; 1.d3; 1.e3; 1.f3; 1.g3; 1.g4; 1.h3; 1.h4; 1.Nh3)
US Chess Champions
US Championship, 1845 games (Stanley vs Rousseau)
US Open, 1970 (Boston)
USA vs USSR radio match, 1945
Wall's chess bio
Wall's chess tournament and match record
Walls' who play chess
Ware's Defense (1.e4 a5)
The Weinsteins (Raymond, Norman, and Garik)
Widow, Chessplayer (humor)
Zweig and the Royal Game

Surely, there's something here for everybody. Now Bill's pages aren't full of fancy graphics, there isn't much in the way of navigation aids, still the collection of material is impressive. Like to know about some chess firsts? Here's a sampling, from before 1000 BC:

500 1st known form of chess, Chaturanga, originating in Northwest India.
590 1st written evidence of chess found in Sanskrit romance, 'Vasavadatta.'
600 1st Persian writing of chess (chatrang) in the Persian romance, 'Karnamuk.'
620 1st introduction of chess into Egypt, by Khusrau II.
720 1st literary references of chess in Arabic occur in romantic poems.
735 1st living chess played with people, in the Court of Charles Martel.
786 1st caliph of Islam, ar-Rashid, to play chess and grant pensions to players.
790 1st known chess piece of a carved King with Arabic inscription.
802 1st reference of a woman chess player, from an Islamic correspondence.
810 1st reference of chess among the Greeks, introduced to Nicephorus.
820 1st introduction of chess in Russia.
840 1st composed chess problem by the Caliph Billah of Baghdad.
910 1st analysis and published works of chess openings by al-Lajlaj.

Or maybe some chess humorous chess definitions are more to your taste:

ALEKHINE: type of battery for digital chess clock
ALGEBRAIC NOTATION: A way of recording games for those who can't describe them.
ATTACK: a short, sharp-pointed nail.
BAD BISHOP: another Catholic caught in a sex scandal
BAROQUE CHESS SET: Unrepaired chess set.
BIRD'S OPENING: a small hole in the side of a coop.
BISHOP PAIR: strange bed fellows.
BISHOPS OF OPPOSITE COLORS: a very strange couple.
BOARD: What chess widows are at chess tournaments with their husbands

The only negative I could discover about Bill's site was the slightly annoying ads that are part of almost every free-hosted site, and Bill's is hosted by Geocities. These are easily closed with a single click, and appear only in the upper right-hand corner of the page anyway. A small price to pay for the vast and a small price to pay for the vast and varied collection of chess stuff that Bill has collected together in one place for chess fans to enjoy.

Visit Bill Wall's Chess Page today, and see what you've been missing!

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