Originally posted by gaychessplayerThat's my understanding too.So what's the problem with gambitchess.com?
It's my understanding that chess games are public domain, but analysis of games can be copyrighted.
Taken from the site: "What is a DB Book?
A DB Book is a file with games (no annotations!) that are in chess books, published in Italy or in the World.
The files are available in ChessBase format (.cbv) and in .pgn format."
Yet some publishers claim they hold the copyright on some of the DB books he had on his site.I fail to see how this is possible 😕
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1. My System: 21st Century Edition - Aron Nimzowitsch;
2. Chess Fundamentals - Jose Raul Capablanca;
3. The Game of Chess - Siegbert Tarrasch
4. Lasker's Manual of Chess - Emanuel Lasker;
i haven't purchased these books yet but i dont really know if i need all of them. a friend told me that laker's manual of chess isn't as good as people make it out to be. he said that the openings are outdated. then the rest of the book has random tactic puzzles and strategy ideas.
what do you guys think? should i dont buy some of these... out of the books mentioned above are any of them must haves? and why?
Originally posted by ArrakShut up
1. My System: 21st Century Edition - Aron Nimzowitsch;
2. Chess Fundamentals - Jose Raul Capablanca;
3. The Game of Chess - Siegbert Tarrasch
4. Lasker's Manual of Chess - Emanuel Lasker;
i haven't purchased these books yet but i dont really know if i need all of them. a friend told me that laker's manual of chess isn't as good as people make it out to ...[text shortened]... buy some of these... out of the books mentioned above are any of them most haves? and why?
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Originally posted by KatastroofHi Katastroof,
I don't see the problem.It clearly states it's just the bare games without annotations.Can you copyright chessgames?
SF,as an author of a chessbook,would you mind if someone bought your book and made such a DB stripped of all your comments and annotations?It would just be a list of the games in your book.I don't understand what's wrong with that.
Somehow missed your posting at the time and just noticed it now that someone has resurrected the thread - apologies, I wasn't ignoring your question!
I'm not sure of the answer yet. One way of looking at it is, 'Well, it's just the games - no-one has copyright over bare game scores'. (Athough German GM Robert Hubner tried to take the Bundesliga to court over this issue I believe!?)
On the other hand, authors (such as myself) have put effort into selecting and putting together specific games which illustrate the points they are trying to put across. Although they might not make too much sense without the annotations, they are still to some extent 'original works' (even though they are stripped bare!).
I'm trying to think of an analogy to illustrate this better; the best I can come up with is this:- a work of art such as a colourful painting. Someone owns it and owns all the rights for its reproduction-someone comes along and decides he will take all the colour out of it and freely distribute it as a line drawing!
Thinking about it now, to me the basic point is - the (book) is not your work. You haven't put any effort into its conception, or its long hard birth, so what gives you the right to do anything at all with it?! Research your own games and put them together as a DB and charge for it or give it away for free!
As a sidenote, I believe game scores from tournaments remain the 'property' of the organisers!?