Chess

The State Library of Victoria's Chess Collection is one of the three largest public chess collections in the world.

What's in the Chess Collection?

This collection, which is known as the Anderson Chess Collection, contains over 12,000 items including books, tournament reports, magazines and pamphlets.

What's special about this collection?

This collection was originally donated to the Library in 1956 by Magnus Victor Anderson, a Melbourne accountant and keen chess player. Anderson personally looked after the collection for the next 10 years, purchasing books including a selection of rare early publications, writing out catalogue cards and answering various requests from the general public. By the time he died in 1966, the Anderson Chess Collection had expanded from 1500 books to over 6000 volumes.

Since then, the Library has continued to acquire a wide range of materials relating to chess. This includes any work that is published in Australia, a range of manuscripts and ephemera, all books in English and major works in other languages, a variety of chess magazines in many languages, and reports of tournaments from every country.

How can I access material in this collection?

Current journals and items published after 1960 from the Anderson Chess Collection are available for reading and browsing in the Chess room. All other material is in closed storage and can only be accessed by appointment.