Chess

The Library's Chess room houses a selection of items from the Chess Collection.

Where is the Chess room?

Located on the mezzanine overlooking the Arts Reading Room, entry to this room is via the stairs or lifts in the central lobby which are clearly identified on the Library floor plan.

Quiet room

This room is one of the Library’s designated quiet areas, reserved for silent work and study. Mobile phones should be switched to silent. If you wish to make phone calls, have conversations or hold group study sessions, we recommend you use other Library areas, such as the Information Centre and Redmond Barry Reading Room.

What's in this room?

Designed as a multi-purpose resource for anyone interested in chess, this L-shaped room contains a wide range of materials dedicated to the history, study and practice of chess. These include reference materials, indexes, and other works published after 1960 which are readily available for browsing and reading. 

Chess-related books, periodicals, and encyclopedias are easily accessed from the open shelves located in the centre of the room. Behind these shelves are a series of handwritten card catalogues and a selection of in-house indexes. These include indexes for the M. V. Anderson Chess Collection and Australian biography.

At the far end of the room, a purpose-built stand holds the latest magazines such as the British Chess Magazine, ChessMoves, Australian Chess and Schaak to name just a few. A selection of newly released books is also displayed in this area.

The Chess room also contains:

• Computer workstation
  This workstation provides access to the Library's catalogue where you can search for specific items in the Library's collection and, if desired, place a request. It also gives you access to the Library's databases and the web.

• Reading and studying facilities
  Individual reading carrels and communal work tables are spread throughout the Chess room, as are clusters of comfortable armchairs and study tables.

• Game tables
  For those who want test their skill, play out a famous game, or simply break the day with a game of chess, there are six tables in the room set out with chess boards and pieces.

• Display cabinets
  These cabinets contain facsimiles of the 12th century Isle of Lewis chess set as well as copies of the Tractatus de ludo scachorum treaty on chess and The Dux, the first book about chess published in Victoria.