How Purdy Won: 1st World Champion of Correspondence Chess

by C.J.S. Purdy, Frank Hutchings, Kevin Harrison

How Purdy Won recounts the journey of the world's first correspondence chess champion, Cecil Purdy. Included are the hardest games of Purdy's life. Through 6 years of correspondence play, Purdy was constantly learning. Now, he is sharing the secrets he learned with you.

Genres: Chess, Games

176 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 1998

Reviews

[notgettingenough · Rating 4 out of 5]

Purdy is one of the world's enduring writers on chess. His influence extended far beyond Australia. The magazine he edited from the 1920s on, which took on various names, Chess World being the most enduring, is something over which collectors fight and for good reason.

By the time I started playing he was already the grand old man and I doubt he ever knew I existed. Still, he played an important part in my life in 1976. I was on the Australian team to play in the Olympiad and the team was quite short of money. He hatched the brilliant plan of making a demand of the prime minister with the return address of the editor of a major Australian newspaper. The implication was clear that one way or another there would be publicity. It could be good...or bad. The choice was the PM's. Soon enough the money landed on the editor's desk. It was to his great surprise, one might add, since he knew nothing whatsoever of Cecil's coup.