Chess Player Cards

  1978-79   1978-79 Famous Chess Players Editor: Rockaden Chess Club, Malmo, Sweden Malmo, Sweden 30 Cards or More The now defunct Rockaden Chess Club of Malmo, Sweden issued this striking orange card set in 1978-79. They are stiff cardboard type paper with the word or acronym "JAC" printed on the back of all the cards, which are otherwise blank. "JAC" is likely the printing company advertisement. The club was located in the downtown Rosengard district of Malmo in the 1970's and 80's. The title card provides the production date for the set, 1978-79, and the producer, the Rockaden Chess Club, Malmo. The title card has the slogan "Schack For Arbetarklassen" which translates to "Chess for the Working Class". Only 6 cards from the set are known. They are numbered with the highest being #30 Tigran Petrosian, thus there are at least 30 cards if not more. Mikhail Tal appears on cards 17 and 18 but it is not known if other players repeat as well....

  1929 1929 W.A. & A.C. Churchman Men of the Moment-large (1st Series) United Kingdom 12 Cards Features 1 (one) chess player card #3 Sir George A. Thomas. Only the chess player card is listed here.  3. Sir George A. Thomas

  1928 1928 W.A. & A.C. Churchman Men of the Moment-small United Kingdom 50 Cards Features 1 (one) chess player card #8 Sir George A. Thomas. Only the chess player card is listed here.  8. Sir George A. Thomas

  1936 1936 N. V. Bakkerij "De Ster" Nederlansche Sportfiguren Netherlands 40 cards Features one chess player card: #36 Max Euwe. Only the chess player card is listed here. 36. Dr. Max Euwe ( Wereldkampioen  Schacken)

  1936 1936 Shirley's Gum Nederlansche Sportfiguren Netherlands 100 cards Features one chess player card: #36 Max Euwe. Only the chess player card is listed here. 36. Dr. Max Euwe ( Wereldkampioen  Schacken)

  1991-92 1991-92 Linares Diptych Pocket Calendar Card 1992 Linares Chess Tournament Spain 1 Diptych Calendar Card This diptych (two sided folding) calendar card was issued as promotional material for the 1992 Linares Tournament.  The red, white and green color "Match" logo and design style for the player portraits can also be seen in the same 1992 Linares tournament poster as well as the 1991 Linares program and pamphlet shown above . All 14 participants in the tournament are pictured and named on the card. Karpov Kasparov Ljubojevic  Salov Short Speelman Timman Yusupov Anand Bareev Beljavsky Gelfand Illescas Ivanchuk

  1921 1921 Thuringia Notgeld Kahla, Thuringia, Germany From a 6 note chess themed release A notgeld, or emergency money note issued in Thuringia Germany in 1921. 75 Pfenning note of Adolf Anderssen.  Only the chess player notgeld is listed here.  75 Pfenning Note: Adolf Anderssen

  1992 1992 Svetskih Senzacija Rekordi Editor: Dnevnik Former Yugoslavia  245 Stickers Features 1 (one) chess player sticker. #221. Garry Kasparov. These stickers are meant to be stuck into the album. The album cover is also shown above.  Only the chess player sticker is listed here.  221. Garry Kasparov

  1930    1930 World Celebrities & Film Stars (Turmac Silks) Editor: Turkish Macedonian (Turmac) Cigarette Company Netherlands 47 Silks Features 1 (one) chess player silk #5. Jose Capablanca. The silks were produced by the Turkish Macedonian (Turmac) Cigarette Company in Zevenaar, The Netherlands. General production began in the 1920's and ended in 1934 when The Netherlands banned advertising items, including silks, from being added as premiums to cigarette packs. While it is likely the Capablanca is from the c.1930 set of 47 silks known as "World Celebrities & Film Stars" I do not have a full set list to confirm this. (http://moviecard.com/misc_t-z/turmac-worldceleb.html) If a reader has further information please comment. Only the chess player silk is listed. (Info Credit:  https://www.trc-leiden.nl/trc/index.php/en/blog/1253-from-lindbergh-to-mickey-mouse) Update: A full set list, production information including year and potential variation information ha...

2014 2014 Sinquefield Cup SLCC Editor: St. Louis Chess Club (SLCC) USA 6 Cards This 6 (six) card set released for the 2014 Sinquefield Cup tournament is the first set of chess player cards issued by the St. Louis Chess Club. They are unnumbered and all 6 share the same back. They are notable for being the first know official tournament licensed chess player card set ever issued. They were sold through the SLCC store Qboutique but also distributed to local schools. A photo of Fabiano Caruana signing his card is included above.  NNO. Magnus Carlsen NNO. Fabiano Caruana NNO. Hikaru Nakamura NNO. Levon Aronian NNO. Veselin Topalov NNO. Maxim Vachier-Lagrave

  1959    1959 Crack Fulbito de Historia y Deportes Argentina 450 cards Features 5 (five) chess player cards #199 Oscar Panno, #200 Hermann Pilnik, #201 Raul Sanguineti #202 Miguel Najdorf and #203 Jaime Emma . The cards, or pogs, have numbered backs and are meant to be pasted into an album. Only the chess player cards are listed here.  199. O. Panno 200. H. Pilnik 201. Sanguinetti 202. Najdorf 203. Emma

  Barnaul Factory -  Фабрика  Барнаул 1965     1965 USSR Former USSR  8 Matchbox Label Set  Features 8 (eight) chess player matchbox labels. #NNO. Mikhail Tal, #NNO. Mikhail Botvinnik, #NNO. Tigran Petrosian, #NNO. Vasily Smyslov, #NNO. Elizaveta Bykova, #NNO. Nona Gaprindashvili, #NNO. Olga Rubtsova, #NNO. Lyudmila Rudenko. The matchbox labels are blank back. There is a 1964 set featuring the same design and 8 chess players.  (Source: https://www.matchlabel.com/publ/gost_1820_56/gost_1820_56_1965_g/sovetskie_chempiony_mira_po_shakhmatam/112-1-0-1598) NNO. Mikhail Tal NNO. Mikhail Botvinnik NNO. Tigran Petrosian NNO. Vasily Smyslov NNO. Elizaveta Bykova NNO. Nona Gaprindashvili NNO. Olga Rubtsova NNO. Lyudmila Rudenko

  Pobeda Factory -  Фабрика  Победа  Borisov Combine - Борисовский комбинат Gigant Association - Объединение Гигант  Gomel Combine - Гомельский комбинат Red Star Factory - Фабрика Красная Звезда  Revput Factory - Фабрика Ревпуть 1964     1964 USSR Former USSR  8 Matchbox Label Set (from 6 factories each with a color variation) Features 8 (eight) chess player matchbox labels. #NNO. Mikhail Tal, #NNO. Mikhail Botvinnik, #NNO. Tigran Petrosian, #NNO. Vasily Smyslov, #NNO. Elizaveta Bykova, #NNO. Nona Gaprindashvili, #NNO. Olga Rubtsova, #NNO. Lyudmila Rudenko. The variants and their matching factory names are shown above. The matchbox labels are blank back. There is a 1965 set featuring the same design and 8 chess players.  (Source:https://www.matchlabel.com/publ/gost_1820_56/gost_1820_56_1964_g/sovetskie_chempiony_mira_po_shakhmatam/106-1-0-1273) NNO. Mikhail Tal NNO. Mikhail Botvinnik NNO. Tigran Petrosian NNO. Vasily Smyslov NNO. Elizave...

  1983-87     1983-87 Pliva Tin i Tina Former Yugoslavia  81 Card Set (Unknown Number of Sets) Features 1 (one) chess player card. #74. Garry Kasparov (v. Mikhail Tal, not shown). These cards are from sets produced over multiple years for the Pliva Pharmaceutical Company. Each years' set is numbered to 81, meaning you will see multiple cards with the same number. There are potentially both blank back and biographical backs, however, there are no known examples of a blank back Kasparov and it may not have been printed for that years set. The photo for the Kasparov card was taken at the 1983 Niksic, Yugoslavia tournament, which Kasparov won. The tournament took place in the Fall of 1983 putting the earliest date for the card as 1983 but more likely in one of the following years before Croatian and Serbian sources say the production ended in 1987. Pictures above include the front and back of the card first. The biographical information does not help to fully clarify whe...