Chess theory

In 1913, preeminent chess historian H.J.R. Murray wrote in his 900-page magnum opus A History of Chess that, "The game possesses a literature which in contents probably exceeds that of all other games combined." He estimated that at that time the "total number of books on chess, chess magazines, and newspapers devoting space regularly to the game probably exceeds 5,000". In 1949, B.H. Wood opined that the number had increased to about 20,000. David Hooper and Kenneth Whyld wrote in 1992 that, "Since then there has been a steady increase year by year of the number of new chess publications. No one knows how many have been printed..." The world's largest chess library, the John G. White Collection at the Cleveland Public Library, contains over 32,000 chess books and serials, including over 6,000 bound volumes of chess periodicals. Chessplayers today also avail themselves of computer-based sources of information unimagined by Murray.As a result, today there is a vast body of theory concerning the opening and endgame phases of the game, and to a lesser extent the middlegame. Those who write about chess theory, who are often but not necessarily also eminent players, are referred to as "theorists" or "theoreticians"