Albert W. Fox. A Chess Life On and Off the Board

Albert W. Fox was a man of many talents: newspaperman, family man, lawyer. He appeared on the chess scene with striking queen sacrifices, and soon won the championships of the prestigious Brooklyn and Manhattan clubs. He was the youngest participant at the historic Cambridge Springs 1904 tournament, winning games from Schlechter, Janowski, Chigorin and others. In 1915, Capablanca claimed Fox “was one of the most promising young players in the world at the time he gave up chess to engage in newspaper work, and I still think he is the best odds giver I have ever seen.” 

Fox’s byline appeared on the front page of the Washington Post, where he reported on politics and international affairs. His European education, fluency in multiple languages, and insider knowledge of senators, congressmen and presidents served him well. In his law career, his clients included the owner of the Hope Diamond. And through it all, he never stopped playing chess. Includes a full biography, 185 Fox games and fragments, 159 rarely seen games by other players, and 94 illustrations, with never-before-published photographs of Fox and his family.

“The real ‘Fox & Friends’ is here! Through games and biographical sketches, meet Albert Whiting Fox and his colleagues: Capablanca, Marshall, and dozens of lesser-known European and American chess players.”
Dr. Alexey W. Root, author of United States Women‘s Chess Champions, 1937-2020
 
“Hilbert expands his impressive archive of American chess history by yet another brilliant study. … a standard-setting achievement … the general reader will profit from Hilbert`s lucid prose …”
Professor Bernd-Peter Lange, Chess Historian
 
“John Hilbert, America’s premier chess historian, has made yet another significant contribution with Albert W. Fox A Chess Life On and Off the Board which doubles as a tribute to the amateur who defeated Janowski, Schlechter and Chigorin at Cambridge Springs 1904 and as a history of chess in Washington D.C.”
IM John Donaldson, Chess Historian
 
“In his inimitable style, world-renown chess historian John Hilbert again unravels the mysteries around one of the enigmatic figures of American chess history. The dazzling combinations of Albert W. Fox are as pleasing today as they were a hundred years ago. … Hilbert brings back to life an entire bygone era of American chess.”
IM Richard Forster, co-editor of Emanuel Lasker (3 volumes), and author of Amos Burn: A Chess Biography