The library came into existence when we were offered some chess books from a recently-deceased Guildford resident, Stuart Thompson. Like many older players he had been collecting chess books since the 1960s, and he had a decent collection of about 180 books. Since then we have received other book donations so the library now contains nearly 300 books covering all aspects of the game, from game collections to modern opening theory books.

The library works like this: the books (when not borrowed) are stored in the house of club member Tony Garrood. Mike Gunn has created a catalogue of the books which you can download by clicking the button below – this opens in a new window.

If you want to borrow one of the books then email Mike Gunn at mikewxyz@gmail.com and (if the book is not currently borrowed) he will ask Tony to bring the book to the chess club on the following Monday. If the book is currently borrowed then Mike will ask the current borrower to return the book to the club, also on the following Monday. It is Mike’s job to maintain the catalogue and a list of who has borrowed which books. The rules are simple:

1. Only paid-up members of Guildford Chess Club can borrow the books.
2. A member can request one new book every week and keep it for up to 6 weeks (if nobody else requests it). After six weeks it must be returned to the club on a Monday.
3. A member can have no more than six books in their possession at any time.

Further details:

1. Each book in the library is identified by an accession number which is in the first column of the spreadsheet of books. You can request a book simply by quoting this accession number.
2. As well as the book author and title the spreadsheet lists the year of publication, whether the book contains games in algebraic (modern) or English Descriptive (used up to 1980) notation, and a brief category describing the contents of the book.