A Chess Master’s Life in America, 1871–1931
Olimpiu G. Urcan, 286pp., 49 photos, diagrams, notes, bibliography, indexes (McFarland, 2010)

Julius Finn was born in Russian Poland, and came to New York in 1887 at the age of 16. From a humble start as a street peddler on the Lower East Side, Finn swiftly rose to become New York’s champion chess master and one of the country’s best blindfold chess entertainers. Finn’s chess success contributed to the rise of the chess scene in the Big Apple in the early twentieth century, and he fared equally well in business, parlaying his skills into a highly successful career. Along with a foreword by John S. Hilbert, this biography of Finn in America includes analysis of 96 of his chess games— most of them previously unknown or little studied—diagrams of game situations, and photographs.

Award-winning journalist Olimpiu G. Urcan writes for Chess Cafe, Quarterly for Chess History, Chess Monthly and New in Chess Magazine. A Romanian native, he lives in Singapore.