Publishing House Olympia Praha

Publishing House Olympia (Praha)

Bibliography of chess books 1971-1990

 

First published: August 16, 2008

Last Update:     July 3, 2017

The below list was compiled by Karel Mokry and Ivan Novak of Bratislava. There are no rarities among Olympia books as most titles were published in thousands of copies. However, most titles of this series are very popular in the Czech Republic due to the contents. The list is divided into 2 sections:

a) books with typical white covers, all of them have an illustration in top left quarter. We have marked this series unofficially as the "White Series". All books of the series are softcovers except Reti by Kalendovsky, which is cloth in a dust jacket

b) all other books published by Olympia. 

Olympia was founded in 1954 as "Statni telovychovne nakladatelstvi", its name has changed in 1957 to "Sportovni a turisticke nakladatelstvi, and finally since 1968 is the publishers name Olympia. The company is still active but chess books were published only in 1971-1990.   

All below listed books are in Czech and 20-25 tall (8vo) unless stated else. The books are arranged chronologically, in case of more titles within one year alphabetically by the author.

 

White Series (books with white cover and illustration in its top left quarter)

1973        Averbakh, Iuri / Beilin, Mikhail: Abeceda sachu. Soft cover, 140 pages. (The ABC of Chess; for beginners)

1973        Kopac, Lubos, ao: Abeceda sachoveho problemu. Soft cover, 260p. (The ABC of Chess Problem; with 329 diags.)

1974        Pithart, Frantisek: Sachove koncovky. Soft cover, 132 pages. (Chess Engames; with 246 diagrams)

1975        Hort, Vlastimil / Jansa, Vlastimil: Zahrajte si sachy s velmistry. Soft cover, 240p. (known as The Best Move ; chess tests)   

1975        Suetin, Alexei: Sachova zahajeni. Soft cover, 64 pages. (Chess Openings)


                                                        


1976        Suetin, Alexei: Skola sachove strategie a taktiky. Soft cover, 208 pages. (School of Chess Strategy and Tactics)
1977        Bjelica, Dimitrije: Sachova citanka. Soft cover, 148 pages. (Chess Reading-Book; for beginners)
1978        Alster, Ladislav: Miniaturni sachove partie. Soft cover, 144p. 1st edition (Miniature Chess Games; 2nd ed. was 1988)
1979        Filip, Miroslav: Sto dni v Baguiu. Soft cover, 96p + 8 pages photos. (100 Days in Baguio; match Karpov - Korchnoi) 

1979        Fritz, Jindrich: Vybrane sachove problemy. Soft cover, 184p. (Selected Chess Problems; 50 problems + 252 studies of  Fritz) 


                                                               


1980        Filip, M.: Cely svet se od nich uci. Soft cover, 184p. (The Whole World is Learning from Them; games of top players) 

1981        Vesely: Psychologicky pruvodce sachovou partii. Soft cover, 238p. 1st ed. (Psychological Guide through the Chess Game) 

1982        Hort, Vlastimil / Pribyl, Josef: Pirc-Ufimcevova obrana. Soft cover, 176, (16)p. (Pirc-Ufimcev Defence)

1983        Turov, Boris: Perly sachove tvorby. Soft cover, 256 pages. (The Pearls of Chess Creation)

1986        Vesely, Jiri: Jak hrat sachy?. Soft cover, 166 pages. (How to Play Chess?; for beginners) 


                                                               


1987        Vesely, Jiri: Psychologicky pruvodce sachovou partii. Soft cover, 238 pages. 2nd edition (unchanged) 

1988        Alster, Ladislav: Miniaturni sachove partie. Soft cover, 144p. 2nd edition (Miniature Chess Games; 1st ed. was 1978.

                     In this second edition, all three games of Vlastimil Hort, who emigrated in 1985, were replaced by other ones)

1989        Kalendovsky, Jan: Richard Reti, sachovy myslitel. Cloth with a dust jacket, 368 pages + 16 pages photos. 

                    (Richard Reti, the Chess Thinker; Biography of Reti with 200 games and 56 studies)

1990        Marsalek, Josef: Sachovou partii rozhoduji kralove. Soft cover, 144 pages. (The Kings determine the Chess Game)


                                               

 

Other books published by Olympia

1971        Hort, Vlastimil: Utkani stoleti SSSR-Svet. Soft cover, 148p. Illust. by Ota Masek. (Match of the Century USSR - the World)

1971        Kotov, Aleksandr: Cerne a bíle. Cloth with a dust jacket, 218p. (The Blacks and the Whites; a novel about A. Alekhine)

1973        Hort, Vlastimil: O sachovy trun. Soft cover, 276p. Illust. Ota Masek. (For the Chess Throne; match Spassky - Fischer)

1973        Pithart, Frantisek: Sachy pro trenery IV. tridy. Soft cover, 72, (4) pages. (Chess for Trainers of the 4th Class)

1973        Pithart: Sachy I. Prírucka pro trenery III. a II. tridy. Soft cover, 256p. (Chess for Trainers of the 3rd and 2nd Classes I)

1973        Pithart: Sachy II. Prirucka pro trenery III. a II. tridy. Soft cover, 242p. (Chess for Trainers of the 3rd and 2nd Classes II)

                                    


1974        Pithart, Frantisek: Sachy. Soft cover, 74 pages. (Chess)

1974        Podgorny, Jiri: Kralove sachoveho sveta. Cloth with a dust jacket, 192p. (Kings of the Chess World)

1975        Alster, Ladislav: Velvyslanci sovetskeho sportu. Hard cover, 252 pages. (Ambassadors of the Soviet Sport; 

                    includes articles on Botvinnik and Tal) 

1976        Pithart, Frantisek: Sachy pro trenery II. tridy. Soft cover, 40 pages. (Chess for Trainers of the 4th Class; ca 29 cm tall)

1976        Pithart: Sachy. Ucebni texty pro trenery III. tridy. Soft cover, 72p. (Chess for Trainers of the 3rd Class; ca 29 cm)

1976        Vasiljev, Viktor: Petrosjan - Tal, rytíri kralovske hry. Hardcover with a dust jacket, 376 pages. 

                    (Petrosjan - Tal, the Knights of the Royal Game; biographies of Petrosjan and Tal, with no games)

                                                                       

 

1977        Pithart, Frantisek: Sachy pro trenery IV. tridy. Soft cover, 44 pages. (Chess for Trainers of the 4th Class)

1986        Binas, Jindrich, and others: Pravidla praktickeho, korespondencního, skladebniho sachu platna od 1. 1. 1986. 

                    Soft cover, 48p. (Rules of practical-, correspondence- and composition chess valid from 1. 1. 1986)

1986        Gonsior / Skacel: Sachy. Ucebni text pro trenery IV. tridy. Soft cover, 112p. (Chess for Trainers of the 4th Class)

1986        Dolezal, Vladimir: Sachy. pro rozhodci vsech tridy. Soft cover, 172p. (Chess for Arbiters of All Classes; ca 29 cm tall) 

1987        Gonsior, Evzen / Skacel, Bohuslav: Sachy. Ucebni text pro trenery III. tridy. Soft cover, 104p. 

                    (Chess for Trainers of the 3rd Class, ca 29 cm).

1989        Gonsior, Evzen / Skacel, Bohuslav: Sachy. Ucebni text pro trenery II. tridy. Soft cover, 154 pages. 

                    (Chess for Trainers of the 2nd Class, ca 29 cm).

1989        Vesely, Jiri / Kalendovsky, Jan / Formanek, Bedrich: Mala encyklopedie sachu. Hard cover, 430 pages. 

                    (Small Encyclopedia of Chess; joint edition of Olympia and Sport Bratislava; encyclopedic dictionary).