Chess Collectors International
Chess Collectors International (CCI) is a worldwide association of collectors and experts of artistic chess pieces and boards. In addition, this community is reinforced by owners of large private chess libraries.
CCI was founded during the First Congress in 1984 in Florida , USA. Its task is to research the history of the game of chess and the chess pieces and to publish the results from the point of view of art, culture, humanities and literature. To this end, CCI organizes regular congresses that take place every two years internationally and annually within the German section.
The following international congresses have been held so far:
- 1984 Florida
- 1986 London
- 1988 Munich
- 1990 New York
- 1992 Paris
- 1994 St. Petersburg
- 1996 Washington DC
- 1998 Vienna
- 2000 Florence
- 2002 Philadelphia
- 2004 Madrid
- 2006 Berlin
For many events, the CCI can fall back on the support of well-known museums and national institutions, including a. the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York , the Victoria and Albert Museum in London , the French National Library Bibliothèque nationale de France in Paris , the Herzog August Library in Wolfenbüttel or the Royal Library in The Hague .
Due to the variety and quantity of possible collector's items, different directions or collector groups have emerged over time. One of the most important is the Königstein initiative group (1991) headed by the chess historian Egbert Meissenburg, which deals with research into the genesis of chess. Other typical demarcations according to which collection is made are figure material ( ivory , bronze , iron , porcelain , gold , with precious stones, etc.), styles of art history ( Renaissance , historicism , Art Déco, etc.) and publications (catalogs, classical chess textbooks , bulletins, etc.) . The most prominent German representative is the international grandmaster and publisher Lothar Schmid , who owns the largest private chess library in German-speaking countries.
Chess Collectors International is a member of the World Chess Federation FIDE . President is the German Thomas Thomsen. In addition to the German section, which has around 60 members, there are other national associations, e.g. B. England, Mexico, Italy and the United States.